The Roman land preserved the remembrance of a very remote time during which Saturn and Janus reigned on the site of the city before its foundation: the Capitol was called mons Saturnius.

[7](p 244) Earlier was Saturn's association with Lua ("destruction, dissolution, loosening"), a goddess who received the bloodied weapons of enemies destroyed in war.

[13] (Like satus, however, satureia, Saturae palus, and probably also Satria, as indeed the apparently closely related Satricum, all also have a short a in the first syllable vs. the long ā of Sāturnus.)

Since farming is so closely linked to seasons and therefore an understanding of the cyclical passage of time, it follows that agriculture would then be associated with the deity Saturn.

The sickle or scythe of Father Time is a remnant of the agricultural implement of Cronus-Saturn, and his aged appearance represents the waning of the old year with the birth of the new, in antiquity sometimes embodied by Aion.

[7] Conversely, however, his follower Dominique Briquel has attempted a thorough interpretation of Saturn utilising Dumézil's three-functional theory of Indo-European religion, taking the ancient testimonies and the works of A. Brelich and G. Piccaluga as his basis.

[12][20] The main difficulty scholars encounter in studying Saturn lies in determining how much is original to his (Roman) character and how much the product of later hellenising influences.

These two deities correspond to the helper gods of the sovereign in Vedic religion (Briquel[12] refers to Dhritarashtra and Vidura, the figures of the Mahabharata) and to the Cyclopes and Hecatoncheires in Hesiod.

Whereas the helper gods belong to the second divine generation they become active only at the level of the third in each of the three instances of India, Greece and Rome, where they become a sort of continuation of Jupiter.

Whereas in Jupiter these double features have coalesced, Briquel[12] sees Saturn as showing the characters of a sovereign god of the Varunian type.

[25] Briquel concludes that Saturn was a sovereign god of a time that the Romans perceived as no longer actual, that of the legendary origins of the world, before civilization.

Although mastership of knots is a feature of Greek origin [citation needed] it is also typical of the Varunian sovereign figure, as apparent e.g. in Odin.

[29] The stone wore a red cloak,[30] and was brought out of the temple to take part in ritual processions[31] and lectisternia, banquets at which images of the gods were arranged as guests on couches.

[32](pp 385–386) Even though their origin and theology are completely different the Italic and the African god are both sovereign and master over time and death, a fact that has permitted their association.

[14](1.8.5) The revelries of Saturnalia were supposed to reflect the conditions of the lost "Golden Age" before the rule of Saturn was overthrown, not all of them desirable, except as a temporary relief from civilized constraint.

[34][14](1.1.8–9) The renewal of light and the coming of the new year was celebrated in the later Roman Empire at the Dies Natalis of Sol Invictus, the "Birthday of the Unconquerable Sun," on December 25.

Macrobius states explicitly that the Roman legend of Janus and Saturn is an affabulation, as the true meaning of religious beliefs cannot be openly expressed.

[14](1.7.18) In the myth[14](1.9.-)[36] Saturn was the original and autochthonous ruler of the Capitolium, which had thus been called the Mons Saturnius in older times and on which once stood the town of Saturnia.

[f] In Versnel's view his contradictions – a foreigner with one of Rome's oldest sanctuaries, and a god of liberation who is kept in fetters most of the year – indicate Saturn's capacity for confounding social distinctions.

Saturn was also said to have founded the five Saturnian towns of Latium: Aletrium (today Alatri), Anagnia (Anagni), Arpinum (Arpino), Atina and Ferentinum (Ferentino, also known as Antinum) all located in the Latin Valley, province of Frosinone.

[38](p 144) Saturn's chthonic nature connected him to the underworld and its ruler Dis Pater, the Roman equivalent of Greek Plouton (Pluto in Latin) who was also a god of hidden wealth.

[43][i][14](1.10.24) In 104 BCE, the plebeian tribune Lucius Appuleius Saturninus issued a denarius depicting Saturn driving a four-horse chariot (quadriga), a vehicle associated with rulers, triumphing generals, and sun gods.

The Saturnian imagery played on the tribune's name and his intent to alter the social hierarchy to his advantage, by basing his political support on the common people (plebs) rather than the senatorial elite.