![]() In the Imperial era, Macrobius identifies her as a universal earth-goddess, an aspect of Maia, Ops, Terra, Magna Mater and Fatua, worshiped under the name of Fauna. Lactantius, claiming the late Republican polymath Varro as his source, describes her as Faunus' wife and sister, named Fenta Fauna, or Fenta Fatua (Fenta "the prophetess" or Fenta "the foolish"). īased on what little they knew of her rites and attributes, Roman historians speculated her true name and identity. ![]() Her other, less common pseudonyms include Feminea Dea ("The Women's Goddess"), Laudandae.Deae ("The Goddess.to be Praised")., and Sancta ("The Holy One"). Approximately one third of her dedications are from men, some of whom may have been lawfully involved in her cult.īona Dea ("The Good Goddess") is both an honorific title and a respectful pseudonym the goddess' true or cult name is unknown. Personal dedications to her are attested among all classes, especially plebeians, freedmen and women, and slaves. She is depicted as a sedate Roman matron with a cornucopia and a snake. The rites remained a subject of male curiosity and speculation, both religious and prurient.īona Dea's Roman cults were led by the Vestal Virgins, and her provincial cults by virgin or matron priestesses. The latter festival came to scandalous prominence in 62 BCE, when the politician Clodius Pulcher was tried for his intrusion on the rites, allegedly bent on the seduction of Julius Caesar's wife, whom Caesar later divorced because "Caesar's wife must be above suspicion". One was held at her Aventine temple the other was hosted by the wife of Rome's senior annual magistrate, for an invited group of elite matrons and female attendants. Most often, she was identified as the wife, sister or daughter of the god Faunus, thus an equivalent or aspect of the nature-goddess Fauna, who could prophesy the fates of women. Given that male authors had limited knowledge of her rites and attributes, ancient speculations about her identity abound, among them that she was an aspect of Terra, Ops, the Magna Mater, or Ceres, or a Latin form of Damia. Men were barred from her mysteries and the possession of her true name. Her rites allowed women the use of strong wine and blood-sacrifice, things otherwise forbidden them byRoman tradition. According to Roman literary sources, she was brought from Magna Graecia at some time during the early or middle Republic, and was given her own state cult on the Aventine Hill. She was associated with chastity and fertility in women, healing, and the protection of the Roman state and people. Bona Dea ("The Good Goddess") was a divinity in ancient Roman religion.
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