Clivicola is a Roman Goddess of Roads, specifically hilly streets,
Who presides over steep ground. Her name comes from the Latin clivi,
"slope" or "incline", and clivus was the word properly
used of streets that went uphill, such as the clivus Capitolinus which
led from the Roman Forum up to the Arx, the height on the Capitoline Hill. Her
name may mean "She Who Inhabits the Sloping Street", though Pliny
mentions a "bird of ill-omen" that he calls clivia. Clivicola
is probably one of the Indigites, if we go by the definition of those
as minor Deities Who were limited in scope, and Who tended to preside over one
specific function. Or She may be perhaps one of the Numina, who were
the spirits of anything the Romans considered to have divine power, including
natural features such as woods or caves, or living things or actions, such as
blossoming gardens or giving birth, or deified qualities such as mercy
or abundance.
It is rather remarkable (to me, anyway) that Clivicola is not
mentioned in St. Augustine's City of God, part of which consists of a
rather prissy rant making fun of all the minor Pagan Gods and Goddesses, as
contrasted with his one and only, and therefore obviously superior Christian
God. There are Deities Augustine lists that are unknown or barely known anywhere
else like Collatina, Goddess of Hills, and I'm
surprised that Clivacola is not mentioned in his nit-picking.
