Feronia (mythology)

In ancient Roman religion, Feronia was a goddess associated with wildlife, fertility, health and abundance. Also as the goddess who grants freedom to slaves or civil rights to the most humble part of society, in fact she was especially honored among plebeians and freedmen. Her festival, the Feroniae, was November 13, Ides of November, during the Ludi Plebeii ("Plebeian Games"), in conjunction with Fortuna Primigenia; both were goddesses of Praeneste.

Varro places Feronia in his list of Sabine gods who had altars in Rome. Inscriptions to Feronia are found mostly in central Italy. She was among the deities that Sabine moneyers placed on their coins to honor their heritage. She may have been introduced into Roman religious practice when Manius Curius Dentatus conquered Sabinum in the early 3rd century BC.

Many versions of Feronia’s cult have been supposed, and it is not quite clear that she was only one goddess or had only one function in ancient times. Some Latins believed Feronia to be a harvest goddess, and honoured her with the harvest firstfruits in order to secure a good harvest the following year.

Feronia also served as a goddess of travellers, fire, and waters.

In Vergil's Aeneid, troops from Feronia's grove fight on the side of Turnus against Aeneas. The Arcadian king Evander recalls how in his youth he killed a son of Feronia, Erulus, who like Geryon had a triple body and a triple soul; Evander thus had to kill him thrice. Erulus, whom Vergil identifies as king at Praeneste, is otherwise unknown in literature.

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