Ceres was the goddess of cereal crops, and more general with the regenerative forces of nature. Originally identified with the Greek goddess Demeter, her cult was introduced in Rome in 499 BCE (or 496 BCE) after a famine. Her temple stood at the foot of the Aventine Hill, probably on the location of the church Santa Maria in Cosmedin in the Forum Boarium.
The cult of Ceres was associated with the cult of Liber and Libera, and the Temple of Ceres might have had three cellae like the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus.
Ceres had a special priest appointed, the Flamen Cerialis, and she was cebrated at the Cerialia