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Feronia

In Roman mythology, Feronia was a fertility goddess who was revered in order to secure a good harvest.

Many versions of her cult have been supposed, and it seems quite probable that it was an Etruscan-derived cult. She was also the goddess of travel and waters.

Her son was Herulus.

She had a temple at the base of Mt. Soracte[?] in Capena[?] (Fiano Romano[?]), another important one in Terracina[?] (Southern Latium) and one on the Campus Martius[?] in the center of Rome.

Slaves believed she was a goddess of freedom, and they believed that sitting on a holy stone in one of her sanctuaries would set them free.

Her festival was on November 15.


In Etruscan mythology, Feronia was a goddess of fire and fertility.


Feronia is also the name of a mysterious ancient site (now disappeared) near the town of Posada (Sardinia, Italy), which was in Ptolemy's maps and following until the Middle Ages.

It is supposed that, due to the peculiar character and history of the territory, the place was named after the Roman (or Etruscan) goddess.

Due to a few archaeological findings, recent studies tend to identify the site (and an eventual sacred area) in the Posada's suburb of Santa Caterina, but a relevant group of opponents prefer to consider it was near the Portus Luguidonis (a Roman harbour), at San Giovanni di Posada. This second theory is also based on the fact that a port would have had a reason for being included in a nautical map, while a simple sacred area (and Sardinia has really many of them) would have not been so important for the sailors of that age.



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