Feronia (mythology)
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In Etruscan and Sabine religion, Feronia was a goddess associated with wildlife, fertility, health, and abundance, also venerated by the Faliscans and later adopted into ancient Roman religion. As the goddess who granted freedom to slaves or civil rights to the most humble part of society, she was especially honored among plebeians and freedmen.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Her festival, the Feroniae, was November 13 (the ides of November) during the Ludi Plebeii ("Plebeian Games"), in conjunction with Fortuna Primigenia; both were goddesses of Praeneste.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=Dorcey-1992>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp
- Note that the similar-sounding Feralia on February 21 is a festival of Jupiter Feretrius, not Feronia.
Etymology
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Feronia's name is derived from a Sabine adjective corresponding to Latin fĕrus, but with a long vowel, i.e. Fērōnǐa. The root fer has cognate words in every Indo-European language (e.g. Greek Template:Math, Template:Math, English feral.) Latin fĕrus means "not cultivated, untamed" (Thesaurus Linguae Latinae), "of the field, wood", "untamed", "not mitigated by any cultivation" (Forcellini Totius Latinitatis Lexicon) which fits the environment of the sanctuaries of Feronia and is very close to rudis (rude).
Feronia is one of the Roman and Italic goddesses whose name is formed by a root ending with the suffix -ona or -onia. This form of a noun denotes a difficult or dangerous state or condition: The deity is a sovereign of that danger, only to help man to best avoid damage or get the greatest advantage, such as Angerona for the angusti dies near the winter solstice.
Myths and functions
Many versions of Feronia's cult have been supposed, and it is not quite clear if she was only one goddess or if she had only one function in ancient times. Some Latins believed Feronia to be a harvest goddess, and honoured her with the harvest firstfruits<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> in order to secure a good harvest the following year.
Festus's entry on the picus FeroniusTemplate:Refn of Trebula Mutuesca testifies the goddess had also prophetic qualities among the Sabines, as did the picus martius of Tiora Matiena ascribed to the Aborigines. Feronia also served as a goddess of travellers, fire,Template:Citation needed and waters.
Freedmen and Libertas
Varro identified Feronia with Libertas, the goddess who personified Liberty.Template:Efn According to Servius, Feronia was a tutelary goddess of freedmen (dea libertorum).<ref name=Servius-Aeneid/>Template:Rp A stone at the Terracina shrine was inscribed "let deserving slaves sit down so that they may stand up free." Livy notes<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> that in 217 Template:Sc freed women collected money as a gift for Feronia.<ref name=Dorcey-1992/>Template:Rp Some sources state that slaves were set free at her temple near Terracina.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Full citation
Sabine tribal matron
She was among the deities that Sabine moneyers placed on their coins to honor their heritage.<ref name=Farney-2007>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp She may have been introduced into Roman religious practice when Manius Curius Dentatus conquered Sabinum in the early 3rd century Template:Sc.Template:Refn
Insistence on wild places
Two stories about her sanctuary of Terracina highlight the character of Feronia as goddess of the wilderness: Servius writes that when a fire destroyed her wood and the locals were about moving the statues to another location, the burnt wood suddenly turned green.Template:Refn
Pliny states that all attempts at building towers in times of war between Terracina and the sanctuary of Feronia have been abandoned because all are without exception destroyed by lightning.Template:Refn The goddess thus refused any continuity and linkage with the nearby town.
Role in the Aeneid
In Vergil's Aeneid, troops from Feronia's grove fight on the side of Turnus against Aeneas.<ref name=Vergil>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp The Arcadian king Evander recalls how in his youth he killed a son of Feronia, Erulus, who like Geryon had a triple body and a triple soul; Evander thus had to kill him three times.Template:Refn Vergil identifies Erulus as the king of Praeneste, but he is otherwise unknown in literature.<ref> Template:Cite book</ref>
Dumézil's interpretation
Dumézil considers Feronia to be a goddess of wilderness, of untamed nature, and of nature's vital forces – but honoured because she offers the opportunity to put those forces to good use in acquiring nurture, health, and fertility. She fecundates and heals, and therefore despite her being worshipped only in the wild, she receives the first-fruits of the harvest. Because she permits the people to domesticate the wild forces of vegetation, she could be seen as favouring the transformation of that which is uncouth into that which is cultivated.<ref name=Dumézil-1977/>Template:Rp
Dumézil compares her to Vedic god Rudra: He and Feronia are similar in that Rudra represents that which has not yet been transformed by civilization – he is the god of the rude, of the jungle; at one time dangerous and uniquely useful: Healer, thanks to the herbs within his domain, protector of the freed slaves and of the outcast. Feronia, though, has only the positive or useful function of putting the forces of wild nature at the service of the people.<ref name=Dumézil-1977>
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- Italian translation of an expanded version of
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Cult and cult sites
Inscriptions to Feronia are found mostly in central Italy.<ref name=Dorcey-1992/>Template:Rp Feronia's shrines were all located in the wild, far from human settlements. Varro, however, places Feronia in his list of Sabine gods<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> who had altars in Rome.
Feronia's cults at Aquileia and Terracina were near springs that were used in her rites.<ref name=Farney-2007/>Template:Rp The Augustan poet Horace speaks of the water (lympha) of Feronia, in which "we bathe our face and hands."Template:Refn
Capena, Etruria
Her lucus at Capena was a place where everybody was allowed to come for worship and trade, attracting people from different nations, Sabines, Latins, Etruscans, and others from even farther away. The grove provided everybody with a neutral territory in which peace must not be perturbed.Template:Refn
Feronia's temple at the base of Mt. Soracte which was near Capena.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The Lucus Feroniae, or "grove of Feronia" (Fiano Romano) was the site of an annual festival in her honour,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=Coarelli-1987> Template:Cite book </ref> which was in the nature of a trade fair.Template:Efn The place, in the territory of Capena in southwestern Etruria, was plundered of its gold and silver by Hannibal's retreating troops in 211 Template:Sc, when he turned aside from the Via Salaria to visit the sanctuary;<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> later it became an Augustan colonia. Its status as a colony is recorded in a single inscription, copied in a manuscript of the rule of the Farfa Abbey<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> as colonia Iulia Felix Lucoferonensis.Template:Efn
Anxur, Terracina
Another important site was near Anxur (Terracina, southern Latium), in a wood three Roman miles from the town, where Servius recorded a joint cult of "the boy Jupiter" (puer Iuppiter) under the name of Anxyrus and "Juno the Virgin" (Iuno virgo), whom he identifies as Feronia.<ref name=Coarelli-1987/><ref name=Servius-Aeneid/>Template:Rp According to another tradition, slaves who had just been freed might go to the shrine at Terracina and receive upon their shaved heads the pileus, a hat that symbolized their liberty.
Campus Martius, Rome
Her temple in the Campus Martius, in what is now Largo di Torre Argentina, was probably also located in a grove, according to an inscription found on the site.Template:Refn It was established before 217 BCE. It may have been dedicated by Curtius Dentatus following his victory over the Sabines. His building program also included the Anio Vetus, a major new aqueduct, and a number of fountains near the temple.<ref> Template:Cite book </ref>
Late continuation
Charles Godfrey Leland reported surviving traditions of the "witch" Feronia in 19th century Tuscany.<ref> Template:Cite book </ref>
Namesakes
The asteroid 72 Feronia is named for her.
Footnotes
References
External links
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