Roman religion Religion in ancient Rome consisted of varying imperial and provincial religious practices, which were followed both by the people of Rome as well as those who were brought under its rule. The Romans thought of themselves as highly religious, ...

, Angerona or Angeronia was an old Roman goddess, whose name and functions are variously explained. She is sometimes identified with the goddess

Feronia Feronia may mean: * Feronia (mythology), a goddess of fertility in Roman and Etruscan mythology * ''Feronia'' (plant), a genus of plants * Feronia Inc., a plantations company operating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo * Feronia (Sardinia) ...

Description

According to ancient authorities, she was a goddess who relieved men from pain and sorrow, or delivered the Romans and their flocks from ''angina'' ( quinsy). Also she was a protecting goddess of Rome and the keeper of the sacred name of the city, which might not be pronounced lest it should be revealed to her enemies. It was even thought that ''Angerona'' itself was this name. Modern scholars regard Angerona as a goddess akin to

Ops In ancient Roman religion, Ops or ''Opis'' (Latin: "Plenty") was a fertility deity and earth goddess of Sabine origin. Her equivalent in Greek mythology was Rhea. Iconography In Ops' statues and coins, she is figured sitting down, as Chthon ...

Acca Larentia Acca Larentia or Acca Larentina was a mythical woman, later goddess of fertility, in Roman mythology whose festival, the Larentalia, was celebrated on December 23. Myths Foster mother In one mythological tradition (that of ...

, and Dea Dia; or as the goddess of the new year and the returning sun. Her festival, called

Divalia The Divalia was a Roman festival held on December 21, in honour of the goddess Angerona In Roman religion, Angerona or Angeronia was an old Roman goddess, whose name and functions are variously explained. She is sometimes identified with the god ...

Angeronalia The Divalia was a Roman festival held on December 21, in honour of the goddess Angerona In Roman religion, Angerona or Angeronia was an old Roman goddess, whose name and functions are variously explained. She is sometimes identified with the god ...

, was celebrated on 21 December. The priests offered sacrifice in the temple of

Volupia In Roman mythology, Voluptas or Volupta is the daughter born from the union of Cupid and Psyche, according to Apuleius. The Latin word ''voluptas'' means 'pleasure' or 'delight'; Voluptas is known as the goddess of "sensual pleasures". She is ofte ...

, the goddess of pleasure, in which stood a statue of Angerona, with a finger on her mouth, which was bound and closed. She was worshiped as Ancharia at

Faesulae Fiesole () is a town and '' comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Florence in the Italian region of Tuscany, on a scenic height above Florence, 5 km (3 miles) northeast of that city. It has structures dating to Etruscan and Roman times. Si ...

, where an altar belonging to her was discovered in the late 19th century. In art, she was depicted with a bandaged mouth and a finger pressed to her lips, demanding silence.

Georges Dumézil Georges Edmond Raoul Dumézil (4 March 189811 October 1986) was a French philologist, linguist, and religious studies scholar who specialized in comparative linguistics and mythology. He was a professor at Istanbul University, École pratique d ...

considers Angerona as the goddess who helps nature and men to sustain successfully the yearly crisis of the winter days. These culminate in the winter solstice, the shortest day, which in Latin is known as ''bruma'', from ''brevissima (dies)'', the shortest day. The embarrassment, pain and anguish caused by the lack of light and the cold are expressed by the word ''angor''. In Latin the cognate word ''angustiae'' designates a space of time considered as disgracefully and painfully too short. Angerona and the connected cult guaranteed the overcoming of the unpleasant ''angusti dies'' narrow, short days. Dumézil pointed out that the Roman goddesses whose name ends with the suffix ''-ona'' or ''-onia'' to discharge the function of helping worshipers to overcome a particular time or condition of crisis: instances include

Bellona Bellona may refer to: Places *Bellona, Campania, a ''comune'' in the Province of Caserta, Italy * Bellona Reef, a reef in New Caledonia *Bellona Island, an island in Rennell and Bellona Province, Solomon Islands Ships * HMS ''Bellona'' (1760), a 7 ...

who allows the Roman to wade across war in the best way possible, Orbona who cares for parents who lost a child, Pellonia who pushes the enemies away,

Fessonia ''Fessonia'' is a genus of mite Mites are small arachnids (eight-legged arthropods). Mites span two large orders of arachnids, the Acariformes and the Parasitiformes, which were historically grouped together in the subclass Acari, but geneti ...

who permits travellers to subdue fatigue. Angerona's ''feriae'' named ''Angeronalia'' or ''Divalia'' took place on December 21 – the day of the winter solstice. On that day the pontiffs offered a sacrifice to the goddess ''in curia Acculeia'' according to

Varro Marcus Terentius Varro (; 116–27 BC) was a Roman polymath and a prolific author. He is regarded as ancient Rome's greatest scholar, and was described by Petrarch as "the third great light of Rome" (after Vergil and Cicero). He is sometimes calle ...

or ''in sacello Volupiae'', near the ''Porta Romanula'', one of the inner gates on the northern side of the Palatine. A famous statue of Angerona, with her mouth bandaged and sealed and with a finger on the lips in the gesture that requests silence, was placed in Angerona's shrine, on an altar to

. Dumézil sees in this peculiar feature the reason of her being listed among the goddesses who were considered candidates to the title of secret tutelary deity of Rome.

Macrobius Macrobius Ambrosius Theodosius, usually referred to as Macrobius (fl. AD 400), was a Roman provincial who lived during the early fifth century, during late antiquity, the period of time corresponding to the Later Roman Empire, and when Latin was ...

. ''Saturnalia'', III 8, 3-4. Dumézil considers this peculiar feature of Angerona's statue to hint to a prerogative of the goddess which was well known to the Romans, i.e. her will of requesting silence. He remarks silence in a time of cosmic crisis is a well documented point in other religions, giving two instances from Scandinavian and Vedic religion. Dumézil (1956) proposes that the association between ''Angerona'' and ''Volupia'' can be explained as the pleasure that derives from a fulfilled desire, the achievement of an objective. Thence the description ''θεός τῆς βουλῆς καί καιρῶν'' goddess of advice and of favorable occasions"given in a Latin-Greek glossary.

Footnotes

References

Bibliography

* Dumézil, G. (1977) ''La religione romana arcaica. Con un'appendice sulla religione degli Etruschi''. Milano, Rizzoli. Edizione e traduzione a cura di Furio Jesi based on an expanded version of ''La religion romain archaïque'' Paris Payot 1974 2nd edition. * Hendrik Wagenvoort, "Diva Angerona," reprinted in ''Pietas: Selected Studies in Roman Religion'' (Brill, 1980), pp. 21–2
online.
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