Orbona
Orbona or Orbana was a Roman goddess who in modern research is one of the so-called " special gods ". As such it was probably listed in the indigitamenta , the libri pontificales (pontifical books ).
According to Tertullian and Arnobius , who comment on the function of the goddess and are one of the most important sources on the indigitamenta, she was responsible for killing children. Her parents became orbus , i.e. childless. According to Arnobius, parents who had been deprived of their child were therefore under their protection (in tutela sunt Orbonae orbati liberis parentes).
Cicero and, following him, Pliny , whose testimony only led to the conjecture of the corrupt point at Cicero, mention a small Orbona sanctuary, which was located near the Laren shrine on the Velia on the Via Sacra . She is named by both in the circle of other ominous, threatening deities: Febris (goddess of fever ) and Mala Fortuna (goddess of bad, evil fate).
literature
- Rudolf Peter: Idigitamenta . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 2.1, Leipzig 1894, column 209 ( digitized version ).
- Lawrence Richardson Jr .: Orbona, Fanum. In: A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 1992, ISBN 0-80184-300-6 , pp. 277 f.
Remarks
- ^ Tertullian, ad nationes 2.15 .
- ^ Arnobius, adversus nationes 4.7.
- ↑ Cicero, De natura deorum 3.63 ; Pliny, Naturalis historia 2.16 (2.5) .