Approximately one third of her dedications are from men, some of whom can be identified as acolytes and priests of her cult. Personal dedications to her are attested among all classes, especially plebeians, freedmen and women, and slaves. Surviving statuary shows her as a sedate Roman matron with a cornucopia and a snake. The festival rites remained a subject of male curiosity and speculation, both religious and prurient.īona Dea's cults in the city of Rome were led by the Vestal Virgins and the Sacerdos Bonae Deae, and her provincial cults by virgin or matron priestesses. For his support of the prosecution, Cicero earned Clodius' undying hatred. Magna Graecia Historical region Clockwise from top left: Second Temple of Herain Poseidonia, Campania Doric-styled Temple, Segesta Taras' sculpture of a young man wearing cucullusand leading his donkey depiction of Eosriding a two-horsed chariot, on a kraterfrom Southern Italy. Clodius was found not guilty, but Caesar divorced Pompeia because " Caesar's wife must be above suspicion". Bona Dea was a goddess in ancient Roman religion. The latter festival came to scandalous prominence in 62 BC, when the politician Publius Clodius Pulcher was tried for his sacrilegious intrusion on the rites, allegedly bent on the seduction of Julius Caesar's wife, Pompeia. According to Roman literary sources, she was brought from Magna Graecia at some time during the early or middle Republic, and was given her own state cult on the Aventine Hill. According to Roman literary sources, she was brought from Magna Graecia at some time during the early or middle. She was associated with chastity and fertility in Roman women, healing, and the protection of the state and people of Rome. One was held at her Aventine temple, for the benefit of the Roman people the other was hosted by the wife of a Roman senior annual magistrate for an invited group of elite matrons and female attendants. Bona Dea (Latin: bna d.a 'Good Goddess') was a goddess in ancient Roman religion. Most often, she was identified as the wife, sister, or daughter of the god Faunus, thus an equivalent or aspect of the nature-goddess Fauna, who could prophesy the fates of women. Given that male authors had limited knowledge of her rites and attributes, ancient speculations about her identity abound, among them that she was an aspect of Terra, Ops, Cybele, or Ceres, or a Latin form of a Greek goddess, "Damia" (perhaps Demeter). According to Roman literary sources, she was brought from Magna Graecia at some time during the early or middle Republic, and was given her own state cult on the Aventine Hill. She was associated with chastity and fertility in women, healing, and the protection of the Roman state and people. Men were barred from her mysteries and the possession of her true name. Bona Dea was a divinity in ancient Roman religion. Her rites allowed women the use of strong wine and blood-sacrifice, things otherwise forbidden them by Roman tradition.
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