Bona Dea was essentially a deity of women, symbolizing their fertility; and was very nearly akin to Iuno and Genius. She was closely associated with Mater Matuta, Ops, Terra, and Tellus, and was originally of a nature similar to Silvanus, Pales, and Ceres, though later she lost her rusticity in her organized city worship.** The Greek Damia was identified with Bona Dea, and the rites of her worship were so similar that the cult usurped the name, thus assisting in eliminating that of Fauna, while the priestess of Bona Dea was called 'Damiatrix' (Paulus, p. 68).

Bona Dea, the symbol of health and life, was a prophetic deity with an oracle and practiced healing. Her chief temple in Rome, on the slope of the Aventine beneath a large rock, was a sort of herbarium, stored with medicinal herbs; and sacred serpents were kept there, but neither myrtle nor wine was allowed in her shrines owing to the legends concerning Fauna, except that wine was sometimes taken there in honey vases under the name of milk (Macrobius, op. cit., I, xii, 25 f.). The temples were cared for by women; women conducted all cultic ceremonies, and only women took part, but the cures were not limited to the female sex, since inscriptions show that ailments of men were also treated. In her therapeutic aspects, Bona Dea was identified with the Greek Panakeia, while as a healer of eyes she was called Oculata Lucifera, and of the ears, Bona Dea Aurita (CIL v, 759; vi, 68). The great festival of Bona Dea was held on May 1," but she was also honored at the festivals of Faunus, especially at the Faunalia Rustica on December 5, which was celebrated on the Insula Tiberina.66 Bona Dea likewise enjoyed a worship with sacrifice that did not appear

64 Fowler, op. cit., pp. 103-104.

64

65 Ib., p. 101; also Wissowa, op. cit., pp. 216-219. 66 Fowler, op. cit., pp. 255-256.

on the calendar, this taking place early in December, on the third or fourth, in the house of a prætor or consul, not in a temple, and being attended by vestals and women only. This was probably a survival of an old custom when the wife of the chief of the community, her daughters, and other matrons made sacrifice of a young pig, or pigs, to the goddess of fertility." It was originally a decorous rite and so continued until the sacrilege of Clodius, who invaded the ceremonies in female attire, wearing the mitre; but under the Empire it was accompanied by orgies to which Juvenal refers (op. cit., ii, 86 ff.; vi, 313 ff.). Bona Dea may also be the same as Cubrar matrer, 'Good Mother,' of a short Umbrian inscription found at Fossato di Vico.68

CAIA CECILIA (OR TANAQUIL)

CAIA CECILIA, the wife of Tarquinius Priscus, was apotheosized after her death and became a healing goddess. A statue, reputed to be of her, stood in the temple of Semo Sancus Dius Fidius on the Quirinal as the ideal Roman matron, and in her girdle the people found healing herbs (Festus, p. 234).

CLITUMNUS

CLITUMNUS, an Umbrian river-god and an oracular deity who was highly revered, had a sanctuary near a spring in a forest at the head-waters of a stream of the same name (Pliny, Epist., viii, 8). His cult flourished especially during the Empire, and many votive tablets have been found expressing the gratitude of those to whom he had revealed the future and given aid in illness."

67 Fowler, op. cit., p. 254; also Wissowa, op. cit., p. 60.

68 Conway, The Italic Dialects, p. 610; also Bücheler, Umbrica, p. 173.

69 Wissowa, op. cit., p. 224; also Hopf, Die Heilgötter und Heilstätten des Altertums, p. 44.

FASCINUS

70

FASCINUS, a Roman divinity representing the phallus, was identified with Mutunus Tutunus and often regarded as merely another form of Lar. His cult was similar to that of the Lares; and as they guarded the property of the State, he watched over the home. He was a symbol of the power most efficacious in averting evil influences, and was the protector against sorcery and malignant demons; while as a healing deity he protected the members of the family from illness and women until they had conceived. Children wore his image around their necks to avoid witchcraft and envy, and he was invoked just before the marriage ceremony, by young women, who sacrificed their maiden clothing to him." The State set up a statue in his honor.

FAUNA (FATUA, OR FATUELLA)

FAUNA was an ancient Italian goddess, described as the wife, sister, or daughter of Faunus (Fauna Fauni), and a deity of women as Faunus was of men. According to legend, she was beaten to death by Faunus with myrtle branches because, as his wife, she drank to excess; or, as his sister or daughter and a virgin, she would not drink wine and submit to his incestuous love." She was regarded as the symbol of the genii or Manes who give life; and, in another legend, was impregnated by Faunus in the form of a serpent."

Fauna, personifying the earth and its fertility, was originally an agricultural and prophetic divinity who bestowed health and blessing through her oracle. She was closely related to Ops and Mater Matuta, and was iden

70 Kissel, in Janus, 1848, iii, 628-629.

71 Wissowa, op. cit., p. 243. 72 Fowler, op. cit., p. 103.

73 Preller, op. cit., p. 340.

tified not only with Tellus, Terra, and the Greek Damia, but especially with Bona Dea, so that it was supposed that, the name clinging to her and finally supplanting her own, she was regarded as the same, her cult becoming known as that of the 'Good Goddess. "74 Fauna shared the honors of Faunus's festival, the Faunalia Rustica, on December 5, and in so far as Fatuus was regarded as identical with Faunus, she was also known as Fatua and Fatuella.

FAUNUS (FATUUS, FATUELLUS, OR INUUS) FAUNUS ('Kindly One,' 'speaker, or foreteller'), an ancient Italian deity of the woodland, pastures, and of shepherds, identified with the old god Tellumo ('earth') and with the Greek Pan, was one of the legendary founders of the Roman religion. He had a complex character, and neither his origin nor his development has been clearly followed or definitely interpreted. Faunus appears in various aspects and under several names, apparently of other independent divinities with whom he was syncretized or, more probably, whose characters were so nearly akin' that he was identified with them and assumed their names." He was regarded as dangerous to women and children; and if offended, he would call upon Silvanus and his woodland nymphs, or upon the Fauni, who caused fright and panic, mental disorders and cramps, and in this aspect he was known as Incubus, and Ficarius (Augustine, de Civitate Dei, xv, 23)." In his capacity as an earth-god, he was said, in one legend, to have assumed the form of a serpent when he impregnated Fauna.78

Faunus was the second State deity of healing and a prophetic divinity, giving his divinations in verse; and being known, therefore, as Fatuus" (Servius, op. cit., vi, 775) and Fatuellus,so he practiced healing with his oracle and by the use of the magic remedies of his father, Picus. His most celebrated sanctuary was in a sacred grove at Tibur, where was a sulphur spring over which the nymph Albunea (said to be of divine origin) presided. Those seeking his counsel lay down on a sheep-skin, and the fumes from the spring caused hallucinations which were interpreted as the revelations of the god (Vergil, op. cit., vii, 81-91; Ovid, op. cit., iv, 660 ff.). A similar healingoracle shrine was located at the hot springs of Abona, southwest of Padua, where many inscriptions to the spring-god Abonius have been found (Lucan, vii, 193). Faunus also possessed a sacred grove on the Aventine, and on the Cælian a circular temple surrounded with columns. Introduced into Rome in 196 B.C., Faunus averted a pestilence and unfruitfulness, whence, in recognition of his services, a temple was vowed to him, erected on the Insula Tiberina, and dedicated in 194 B.C. (Livy, xxxiii, 42; xxxiv, 53). His festival, the Faunalia Rustica, was held there on December 5 (Horace, op. cit., iii, 18).81

One of the oldest Roman feasts was the Lupercalia, celebrated on February 15 (Ovid, op. cit., ii, 268).82 Chiefly because of its name, it has been assumed by some that a god Lupercus was thus honored; but it is generally agreed that there was no such deity, and that the festival received its name from the priests of Faunus, who were known as Luperci (also called priests of Pan)." The ritual indi79 Cf. Fowler, op. cit., p. 259. 80 Wissowa, op. cit., p. 211. 81 Fowler, op. cit., p. 256.

82 Ib., pp. 310-321.

83 Wissowa, op. cit., pp. 208-216.