Bellona (goddess)

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1 Etymology
2 Attributes
3 In later culture

See Enyo for her Greek counterpart, and Bellona for other meanings of this word.

Bellona was an Ancient Roman war goddess. She is believed to be one of the numinous gods of the Romans (without a particular mythology and possibly of Etruscan origin), and is supposed by many to have been the Romans' original war deity, predating the identification of Mars with Ares. She accompanied Mars into battle and is taken variously as his sister, wife or daughter. Her festival was celebrated on June 3. She is also (as at her temple in Ostia) syncreted with Magna Mater

Bellona's attribute is a sword and she is depicted wearing a helmet and armed with a spear and a torch.

Politically, all Senate meetings relating to foreign war were conducted in the Templum Bellonae (Temple of Bellona) on the Collis Capitolinus outside the pomerium.

Bellona's festival was celebrated on June 3.

[edit] Etymology

Her name, Bellona, is derived from the Latin word for "war" (bellum), and is directly related to the modern English word "belligerent" (lit., "war-bearing"). In earlier times she was called Duellona, the name being derived from a more ancient word for war.

[edit] Attributes

In art, she is portrayed with a helmet, sword, spear, and torch.

[edit] In later culture

"Bellona", by Rembrandt

"Bellona", painted roundel by Constantino Brumidi, on Capitol Hill

"Bellona", by Rodin

Near the beginning of Shakespeare's Macbeth (I.ii.54), Macbeth is introduced as a violent and brave warrior when the Thane of Ross calls him "Bellona's bridegroom" (ie Mars). The goddess has also proved popular in post-Renaissance art as a female embodiment of military virtue, or a good opportunity to portray a woman in armour and helmet.

Also, the "Temple of Bellona" was a popular choice of name for the small mock-temples that were a popular feature of eighteenth and nineteenth century English landscaped gardens (eg William Chambers's 1860 'Temple of Bellona' for Kew Gardens, a small Doric temple with a four-column facade to contain plaques honouring those who served in the Seven Years War of 1756-64).