This illustration, etched by the French artist Léon Davent (16th century) after a design by Francesco Primaticcio (c. 1504/5–1570), brings to life a Roman warrior goddess by the name of Bellona. She was an ancient deity of conflict, battle, and bloodshed from Rome’s earliest religious beliefs. A temple was known to have been built in her honor on the Roman Field of Mars—the Campus Martius—around the 290s BCE. Like many Mediterranean deities, she came to be associated (and somewhat interchangeable) with several other gods. In the Roman pantheon of Italian deities, Bellona was often associated with Nerio—consort of the war god, Mars (the Roman parallel of Ares). Additionally, as Roman and Greek religious beliefs fused, Bellona was identified with the Greek war goddess, Enyo. By the 1st century BCE, she also became associated with an Anatolian goddess named Ma, and this connection noticeably caused ceremonies of the goddess to become bloodier in nature.
Ancient Anatolian cults, such as those dedicated to Cappadocian and Phrygian deities, could often be quite gruesome in the way they worshipped their gods. Another Anatolian goddess, Cybele, was a prime example, as her cult (adopted into Rome in 204 BCE) practiced bull sacrifices, self-flagellation, and even castration. As for Ma-Bellona, the cult practices carried out for that goddess seemed to not be as graphic as the rites of Cybele, yet bloodletting indeed occurred. Instead of castration or flagellation, the cult of Ma-Bellona apparently opted for the route of ceremoniously cutting their own arms. This odd form of religious expression was mentioned by the Roman poets, Albius Tibullus (c. 55-19 BCE) and Lucan (c. 39-65 CE). The latter poet’s comment was brief, as Lucan simply wrote, “Then with their lacerated arms those who placate fierce Bellona sang of the gods…” (Civil War, Book 1, approximately line 565). Tibullus’ description of a priestess of Bellona was lengthier. He wrote:
“She, when she’s inspired by Bellona’s power, fears
No fierce flames, in her madness, nor the twisted lash:
She slashes her arms fiercely with the double-axe
And, unharmed, sprinkles the goddess with flowing blood,
Stands there with a spear in her side, wounds on her breast,
And chants the fate that the great goddess proclaims:”
(Tibullus, Elegies, 1.6.44-55)
It was this warrior goddess and her grisly cult that inspired Léon Davent’s etched illustration. Thankfully, the artwork focuses on the war goddess, herself, and her implements and symbols of war, rather than on her curious cultic followers with their injured arms. Perhaps, the artwork harkens back to Bellona’s original Roman roots, depicting the goddess in a state before her more bloody evolution.
Written by C. Keith Hansley
Sources:
- Civil War, by Lucan, translated by Matthew Fox. New York: Penguin Classics, 2012.
- The Oxford Dictionary of Classical Myth and Religion, edited by Simon Price and Emily Kearns. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
- https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/Tibullus.php
- https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/337369
