Si deus si dea is an Archaic Latin phrase meaning "whether god or goddess". It was used to address a deity of unknown gender. It was also written sive deus sive dea, sei deus sei dea, or sive mas sive femina ("whether male or female").
The phrase can be found on several ancient monuments. Archaic Roman inscriptions such as this may have been written to protect the identity of the god if Rome were captured by an enemy.[1] The construction was often used when invoking the god of a place (e.g., "Be you god or goddess who reigns over Carthage, grant us...").[citation needed] The classical scholar Edward Courtney claimed it was "intended to cover all bases as an acknowledgement of the limitations of human knowledge about divine powers".[2]
- ^ Description of the Altar to the Unknown Divinity, found at the Palatine Hill Museum.
- ^ De Numinibus, essay by Mauk Haemers