Saturnus
A mythical king of Italy to whom was ascribed the introduction
of agriculture and the habits of civilised life in general. The
name is, notwithstanding the different quantity, connected with
the verb sero, sevi, saturn, and although the ancients themselves
invariably identify Saturnus with the Greek Cronos, there is no resemblance whatever
between the attributes of the two deities, except that both were
regarded as the most ancient divinities in their respective
countries. 
The resemblance is much stronger between Demeter and Saturn, for all that the Greeks ascribe to their Demeter is ascribed by the Italians to Saturn, who in the very earliest times came to Italy in the reign of Janus. (The Aeneid by Virgil viii. Macrob. Sat. i. 10; P. Vict De Orig. Gent. Rom. 1, &c.)
Saturnus, then, deriving his name from sowing, is justly called the introducer of civilisation and social order, both of which are inseparably connected with agriculture. His reign is, moreover, conceived for the same reason to nave been the golden age of Italy, and more especially of the Aborigines, his subjects. As agricultural industry is the source of wealth and plenty, his wife was Ops, the representative of plenty. The story related of the god, is that in the reign of Janus he came to Italy, was hospitably received by Janus, and formed a settlement on the Capitoline hill, which was hence called the Saturnian hill. At the foot of that hill, on the road leading up the Capitol, there stood in aftertimes the temple of Saturn. (Dionys. vi. 1 ; The History of Rome By Titus Livius. xli. 27; Vict. l. c. 3, Reg. Urb. viii.)
Saturn then made the people acquainted with agriculture, suppressed their savage mode of life, and led them to order, peaceful occupations, and morality. The result was that the whole country was called Saturnia or the land of plenty. (The Aeneid by Virgil viii) Saturn, like many other mythical kings, suddenly disappeared, being removed from earth to the abodes of the gods, and immediately after Janus is said to have erected an altar to Saturn in the forum. (Macrob. l. c. ; Arnob. iv. 24; Fasti By Ovid. i. 238.)
It is further related that Latium received its name (from lateo) from this disappearance of Saturn, who for the same reason was regarded by some as a divinity of the nether world. (Plut. Quaest. Rom. 24.)
The Saturnalia was the festival solemnized by the Romans in honour of Saturn. The statue of Saturnus was hollow and filled with oil, probably to denote the fertility of Latium in olives (Plin. H. N. xv. 7. 7); in his hand he held a crooked pruning knife, and his feet were surrounded with a woollen riband. (The Aeneid by Virgil viii) In the pediment of the temple of Saturn were seen two figures resembling Tritons, with horns, and whose lower extremities grew out of the ground (Macrob. Sat. i. 8); the temple itself contained the public treasury, and many laws also were deposited in it. (Serv. ad Aen. viii. 319.) It must be remarked in conclusion that Saturn and Ops were not only the protectors of agriculture, but all vegetation was under their care, as well as every thing which promoted their growth. (Macrob. Sat. i. 7, 10; comp. Hartung, Die Religion der Römer, vol. ii. p. 122, &c.)
From Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and MythologyFrom Roman Antiquities and Ancient Mythology
There are two other temples, particularly worth notice, not so much for the magnificence of the structure, as for the customs that depend upon them, and the remarkable use to which they were put. These are the temples of Saturn and Janus.
The first was famous on account of serving for the public treasury—the reason of which some fancy to have been because Saturn first taught the Italians to coin money; but most probably it was because this was the strongest place in the city. Here were preserved all the public registers and records, among which were the libri elephantini, or great ivory tables, containing a list of all the tribes and the schemes of the public accounts.
The other was a square building, some say of entire brass, so large as to contain a statue of Janus, five feet high, with brazen gates on each side, which were kept open in war, and shut in time of peace.
From The Christ by John E. Remsberg
Among the life generating gods may be named Vishnu, Osiris, Zeus, Priapus, Adonis, Bacchus, Saturn, Apollo, Baal, Moloch, and Jehovah. Among the receptive life producing goddesses were Isis, Rhea, Ceres, Venus, Istar, Astarte, Aschera, Devaki, Eve, and Mary. Where the worship of the female element largely prevailed the Virgin and Child was a favorite deity. Isis and Hortrs, Rhea and Quirinus, Leto and Apollo, Devaki and Krishna, Mary and Christ, all had their inception in the sex worship of primitive man.
From Metamorphoses by Ovid. Book The First
The Silver Age
But when good Saturn, banish'd from above,
Was driv'n to Hell, the world was under Jove.
Succeeding times a silver age behold,
Excelling brass, but more excell'd by gold.
Then summer, autumn, winter did appear:
And spring was but a season of the year.
The sun his annual course obliquely made,
Good days contracted, and enlarg'd the bad.
Then air with sultry heats began to glow;
The wings of winds were clogg'd with ice and snow;
And shivering mortals, into houses driv'n,
Sought shelter from th' inclemency of Heav'n.
Those houses, then, were caves, or homely sheds;
With twining oziers fenc'd; and moss their beds.
Then ploughs, for seed, the fruitful furrows broke,
And oxen labour'd first beneath the yoke.
From The Non-Christian Cross, by John Denham Parsons
If we seek for that origin as a combination of the first two letters of some other Greek word than Christos, Christ, and for the moment assume the letters Ρ and Χ to have occurred in the same order as in that word, we see at once that the monogram may have been derived either from the word Chrestos, Good, or the word Chronos, Time, or the word Chrusos, Gold.
There is, by the way, another curious connection between the three Greek words in question. For the name of the famous god Kronos or Cronos was often spelt ΧΡΟΝΟΣ i.e., Chronos. And this god Chronos—the father of Zeus; and more or less a personification of Time, the Old Father from whom we are all descended—was identical with Saturn, while the Saturnian Age was, as in Virgil's fourth eclogue, ever that spoken of as the Golden age when the ancients were referring to what they pictured as the good old times.
Teutonic Mythology By Viktor Rydberg. The Learned Saga in Regard to the Emigration From Troy-Asgard
The tribes that departed with his master-workmen also fell into idolatry, excepting the one tribe which kept the Hebrew language. It preserved also the original and pure faith. Thus, while Babylon became one of the chief altars of heathen worship, the island Crete became another. There was born a man, by name Saturnus, who became for the Cretans and Macedonians what Zoroaster was for the Assyrians. Saturnus' knowledge and skill in magic, and his art of producing gold from red-hot iron, secured him the power of a prince on Crete; and as he, moreover, had control over all invisible forces, the Cretans and Macedonians believed that he was a god, and he encouraged them in this faith. He had three sons - Jupiter, Neptunus, and Plutus. Of these, Jupiter resembled his father in skill and magic, and he was a great warrior who conquered many peoples. When Saturnus divided his kingdom among his sons, a feud arose. Plutus got as his share hell, and as this was the least desirable part he also received the dog named Cerberus. Jupiter, who received heaven, was not satisfied with this, but wanted the earth too. He made war against his father, who had to seek refuge in Italy, where he, out of fear of Jupiter, changed his name and called himself Njord, and where he became a useful king, teaching the inhabitants, who lived on nuts and roots, to plough and plant vineyards.
From Myths and Legends of Babylonia and Assyria
The five planets Ninip, Merodach, Nergal, Ishtar, and Nebo were called by the Greeks after their gods Kronos, Zeus, Ares, Aphrodite, and Hermes, and by the Romans Saturnus, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and Mercurius. It must be recognized, however, that these equations were somewhat arbitrary. Ninip resembled Kronos and Saturnus as a father, but he was also at the same time a son; he was the Egyptian Horus the elder and Horus the younger in one. Merodach was similarly of complex character--a combination of Ea, Anu, Enlil, and Tammuz, who acquired, when exalted by the Amoritic Dynasty of Babylon, the attributes of the thunder god Adad-Ramman in the form of Amurru, "lord of the mountains". During the Hammurabi Age Amurru was significantly popular in personal names. It is as Amurru-Ramman that Merodach bears comparison with Zeus. He also links with Hercules. Too much must not be made, therefore, of the Greek and Roman identifications of alien deities with their own. Mulla, the Gaulish mule god, may have resembled Mars somewhat, but it is a "far cry" from Mars-Mulla to Mars-Nergal, as it is also from the Gaulish Moccus, the boar, called "Mercury", to Nebo, the god of culture, who was the "Mercury" of the Tigro-Euphrates valley. Similarly the differences between "Jupiter-Amon" of Egypt and "Jupiter-Merodach" of Babylon were more pronounced than the resemblances.
