Cults Myths and Legends of Ancient Sicily
5 Minor Cults and Myths

By minor cults I mean those that have left very few traces of their existence, both in ancient literature and in archaeological finds. One of the reasons that led to the disappearance of these minor skins is the limited diffusion they had on the Sicilian territory. Another reason may be due to the fusion of a divinity with others having similar characteristics; this is true both for the indigenous cults, which underwent the process of Hellenization, and for the Hellenic cults, in which several divinities had the same characteristics. Orion, for example, the male personification of the hunt, sees his cult absorbed, in full respect of an emerging matriarchal society, by that of the corresponding female personification of the hunt, namely Artemis. The same argument, even if with the appropriate distinctions, can be made for Pluto, the male personification of the earth, whose cult was considered less important than that of the corresponding female figure (Demeter). 

Ignazio Caloggero