Feronia (mythology)

Feronia was an old Italian goddess who was also worshiped in Rome . It was supposedly of Sabine origin, associated with the Iuppiter Anxur or the Apollo Soranus , therefore it is also called Iuno Feronia .

Since she is called the flower lover and is put together with Proserpina , one can see in her a goddess of spring and earth.

At her feast in Trebula Mutuesca in the Sabinischen , flowers and first fruits were offered to her; a market took place which was one of the most visited markets in all of Italy .

Another famous sanctuary of the goddess was Lucus Feroniae in Etruria . There were other sanctuaries in Amiternum , Tarracina as well as with the Vestinians, Umbrians and in Picenum .

Feronia was also the patron goddess of the freedmen. According to prenestinian legend, she had given her son Herilus three souls , so that he had to be killed three times by Euandros .

literature

• Hermann Steuding : Feronia . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 1, 2, Leipzig 1890, Sp. 1477-1481 ( digitized version ).