{{Expand Swedish, Sacerdos Bonae Deae, date=January 2021
Sacerdos Bonae Deae or Damatrix was the title of the Priestess of the goddess
Bona Dea
Bona Dea (; 'Good Goddess') was a goddess in ancient Roman religion. She was associated with chastity and fertility in Roman women, healing, and the protection of the state and people of Rome. According to Roman literary sources, she was brought ...
in
Ancient Rome
In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...
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She officiated over the famous December rites reserved for women. She also performed secret sacrifices and rites to benefit the welfare of the city in regard the health and fertility. The sanctuary of the goddess provided herbal medicine and functioned as a pharmacy, and the priestess are likely to have been expected to have knowledge within pharmacy and herbal medicine.Meghan J. DiLuzio : A Place at the Altar: Priestesses in Republican Rome ' She was the head of a large sanctuary staff including priestesses of lower rank called ministrae, who performed smaller ceremonies, as well as assistants, antistites who managed the temple pharmacy. Priestesses of lower rank could be freedwomen.