MACLEOD'S ROMAN MYTHOLOGY PAGE

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AETANA
Aetna is the mountain goddess after whom the Italian volcano Mount Etna is named.

ALEMONA
The goddess who guards the fetus.

AMOR
The god of Love.

ANGERONA
The goddess of the winter solstice, Angerona is shown with a bandaged mouth with a finger to her lips commanding silence. Her feast the Divalia or Angeronalia was celebrated on December 21.

ANTEVORTA
Antevorta is the goddess of prophecy.

ARICIA
Aricia is a minor goddess who ruled the prophetic visions sometimes experienced in wild places far from human habitation.

AURORA
The goddess of dawn.

BELLONA
The serpent haired goddess Bellona is often described as the feminine side of the god Mars. She represents conflict as well as peace in war.

BONA DEA
The "good goddess," Bona Dea became the most popular name by which the goddess Fauna or Fatua was known in Rome. She is worshippped only by women, and only in secrecy at rites in early December. Led by Vestal priestesses, these rites were held at the home of a high-ranking Roman matron. The room was decorated with vine branches and with wine flowing freely, it is thought these events were rather rowdy.

CAMENAE
These water spirits dwell in freshwater springs and rivers, their most notable haunt being the sacred spring at the Porta Capena, just outside of Rome. Their name means "foretellers." Their festival, the Fontinalia, was celebrated on October 13 by tossing good luck wreaths into wells.

CERES
The goddess Ceres is the force of crop growth personified and celebrated by women in secret rituals.

CONCORDIA
Concordia is the goddess of peace and in art shown as a heavyset matron holding cornucopia in one hand and an olive branch in the other.

CUBA
Cuba is the goddess who guards infants just out of the cradle.

CUNINA
Cunina is the goddess who guards infants still in the cradle.

DEVERA
Devera is the goddess that rules the brooms used to purify ritual sites.

DIANA
The goddess Diana was honored as the mother of the wild animals, and was also a goddess of forests and of the moon.

DISCIPLINA
Disciplina is the goddess of discipline.

EDUSA
Edusa is the goddess who oversees the weaning of infants.

FELICITAS
Felicitas is the goddess of good fortune, not to be confused with Fortuna.

FLORA
Flora is the embodiment of the flowering of all of nature, including human nature. The female body was honored at the Floralia, the festival of nude women celebrated until the 3rd century A.D., when Roman authorities demanded revelers must wear clothes. Flora is the queen of all plants. Romans called her the secret patron of Rome, without whose help the city would die.

FONS
Fons is the Roman goddess of fountains.

FORTUNA
The goddess Fortuna controls the destiny of every human being. She is the goddess who permits the fertilization of humans, animals and plants.

FRAUD
Fraud is the Roman goddess of treachery.

JANUS
Janus (ya-noos) is the god of two faces and the god of doorways.

JUNO
The Roman supreme goddess is Juno, married to the ruling god, Jupiter. She is believed to watch and protect all women. Every year, on the first of March, women hold a festival in honor of Juno called the Matronalia. To this day, many people consider the month of June, which is named after the goddess who is the patroness of marriage, to be the most favorable time to marry. The peacock is sacred to Juno.

LUCINA
The ladybug is the emblem of Lucina, who was later merged with Juno and Diana. She was later converted to Chirstianity as "St. Lucy." The early Lucina was a goddess of light and therefore - because birth is the first time humans see light - of labor and childbed. She was honored in September and December and her holidays were enforced by the superstition that any work done on those days would be undone by the next day.

LUNA
Luna is a minor moon goddess.

LUPERCA
Luperca is the goddess of pregnancy.

MEDITERINA
The goddess of medicine.

MELLONIA
Mellonia is the goddess of bees.

MINERVA
Minerva is the goddess of wisdom, commerce, crafts, and inventor of music. Ovid called her the "goddess of a thousand works." The Romans celebrated her worship from March 19 to 23 during the Quinquatrus, the artisans' holiday.

NECESSITAS
The goddess of human destiny and the mother of the Fates.

NONA
Nona is the goddess of the most important months of fetal gestation.

OPS
Ops, her name surviving in the word opulent, represents the opulence of the earth's fruits. She was worshipped at harvest festivals on August 25 and December 19. She is associated with the god Consus, ruler of the conservation of the grain Ops brings to her people. She is a very ancient Roman goddess, often identified with the Greek goddess Rhea.

PALLOR
Pallor is the goddess of fear.

PAN
God of flocks and music

PANACEA
Panacea is a goddess of health.

PARTULA
The goddess of parturition.

PAVOR
Pavor is a goddess of fear, similar to Pallor.

PERSERPINA
Goddess of spring

PIETAS
Pietas is the goddess of duty and filial respect.

PLUTO
God of the underworld.

POTINA
Potina is the goddess honored as the spirit of weaving and of drinking.

PROVIDENTIA
Providentia is a goddess whose name means "forethought."

PUTA
Puta is the goddess of tree pruning.

SALUS
Salus is a goddess of health.

SENTIA
Sentia is the goddess who heightens feelings.

SOL
A sun god.

SUADA
Suada is the personification of persuasion.

TELLUS MATER
The Roman "Mother Earth" is the constant companion of Ceres, and the two of them are patrons of vegetative and human reproduction. Tellus is also the mother death goddess since the dead are returned into her womb, the earth.

TELETE
Telete is the spirit of mystery religions.

TEMPESTATES
Tempestates is the goddess of wind and storm.

UNXIA
Unxia is the goddess of wedding anointment.

VAGITANUS
The goddess who induces the first cry of newborns.

VENUS
As the goddess of love, Venus is the "queen of pleasure" and mother of the Roman people. She is married to Vulcan, the lame god of the forge. She is also associated with her lover, Mars the god of war. She is also a nature goddess, associated with the arrival of spring. Venus is the bringer of joy to gods and humans.

VERPLACE
Verplace is the goddess of family harmony.

VESTA
Goddess of the hearth.

VIRGINIA
Virginia is the goddess of politics.

VOLUMNA
The goddess of will power.

VOLUPTAS
The goddess of sensual pleasure.