Helernus, also known as Alernus, was an Archaic Roman deity. He was a minor god of the underworld, and god of the beans used during the
Lemuria festival during May. His sacred grove ''(
lucus
In ancient Roman religion, a ''lūcus'' (, plural ''lūcī'') is a sacred grove.
''Lucus'' was one of four Latin words meaning in general "forest, woodland, grove" (along with ''nemus'', ''silva'', and ''saltus''), but unlike the others it wa ...
)'' was near the mouth of the
Tiber river
The Tiber ( ; it, Tevere ; la, Tiberis) is the third-longest river in Italy and the longest in Central Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio, where it is joined by the Riv ...
. Sacrifices were made to him annually on the 1st of February by the
Roman Pontiffs, in which a black ox was killed. He had one daughter, named
Carna, who was goddess of protecting the intestines of children from vampires.
Poultney and others compare Helernus with the similarly (apparently) chthonic deity Hule/''Horse''/Huřie who shows up a couple times in the
Umbrian
Umbrian is an extinct Italic language formerly spoken by the Umbri in the ancient Italian region of Umbria. Within the Italic languages it is closely related to the Oscan group and is therefore associated with it in the group of Osco-Umbrian lan ...
Iguvine Tablets
The Iguvine Tablets, also known as the Eugubian Tablets or Eugubine Tables, are a series of seven bronze tablets from ancient Iguvium (modern Gubbio), Italy, written in the ancient Italic language Umbrian. The earliest tablets, written in the nat ...
.
[ Poultney, J.W. "Bronze Tables of Iguvium" 1959 p. 214 https://archive.org/details/bronzetablesofig00poul/page/n19/mode/2up]
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{{AncientRome-myth-stub
Roman gods
Deities of classical antiquity
Chthonic beings
Underworld gods