Ferentina was the patron goddess of the city

Ferentinum Ferentino is a town and ''comune'' in Italy, in the province of Frosinone, Lazio, southeast of Rome. It is situated on a hill above sea level, in the Monti Ernici area. History ''Ferentinum'' was a town of the Hernici; it was captured from th ...

Latium Latium ( , ; ) is the region of central western Italy in which the city of Rome was founded and grew to be the capital city of the Roman Empire. Definition Latium was originally a small triangle of fertile, volcanic soil ( Old Latium) on w ...

. She was protector of the Latin commonwealth. She was also closely associated with the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...

. A grove sacred to the goddess was used as the site of a famous meeting of the leaders of the Latin towns with the last king of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, at the beginning of his reign. The leading citizen of Aricia,

Turnus Herdonius Turnus Herdonius was a leading citizen and statesman of ancient Aricia in Latium who spoke out against the last king of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, and was killed as a result. At the outset of his reign, Tarquinius Superbus called a meeting ...

was murdered at the command of Tarquinius, by being drowned in the

sacred waters Sacred waters are sacred natural sites characterized by tangible topographical land formations such as rivers, lakes, springs, reservoirs, and oceans, as opposed to holy water which is water elevated with the sacramental blessing of a cleric ...

of the grove. The sacred grove also features in the history of

Gaius Marcius Coriolanus Gnaeus (or Gaius) Marcius Coriolanus was a Roman general who is said to have lived in the 5th century BC. He received his toponymic cognomen "Coriolanus" following his courageous actions during a Roman siege of the Volscian city of Corioli. He w ...

. In 491 BC, the

Volscian Volscian was a Sabellic Italic language, which was spoken by the Volsci and closely related to Oscan and Umbrian. Overview Volscian is attested in an inscription found in Velitrae (Velletri), dating probably from early in the 3rd century BC; it ...

leader

Attius Tullus Aufidius Attius Tullius was a well-respected and influential political and military leader of the Volsci in the early fifth century BC: according to Plutarch,Plutarch, ''Parallel Lives'', xx. 1-3; xxii. 1 who calls him Tullus Aufidius, his home town was Ant ...

sought to stir up trouble in Rome by contriving for the

Roman senate The Roman Senate ( la, Senātus Rōmānus) was a governing and advisory assembly in ancient Rome. It was one of the most enduring institutions in Roman history, being established in the first days of the city of Rome (traditionally founded in ...

to expel the Volsci from the city during the Great Games. Attius met the fleeing Volsci at Ferentina's grove, and spoke to them, stirring up their feelings against Rome. Attius' actions led to

a war ''A War'' () is a 2015 Danish war drama film written and directed by Tobias Lindholm, and starring Pilou Asbæk and Søren Malling. It tells the story of a Danish military company in Afghanistan that is fighting the Taliban while trying to pro ...

between Rome and the Volsci.

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding in ...

, '' Ab urbe condita'', 2:37

References

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References

Further reading