What plant was used to invoke the aid of Bellona?
By Chelsie Vandaveer
June 3, 2002
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In ancient Rome, June third was the Feast of Bellona. The goddess of war, Bellona was a battle companion to Mars. She is thought a deity of the older Sabine culture. Bellona was first invoked in a war against the Samnites. Should the battle go well, Appius Claudius the Blind vowed to build her a temple. In 296 BCE, her temple was dedicated and decorated with images of Appius Caludius' ancestors.
Bellona's temple was built near Porta Carmentalis (the Carmenta gate) near Circus Flaminius. A lone pillar, representative of lands outside the Empire, stood before the entrance. The Roman senate assembled at the temple for certain business; they gave audience to foreign ambassadors, declared war, and met with victorious Roman generals.
The Bellonarii (Bellona's priests) were chosen from the gladiators. When war was declared, the Bellonarii were responsible to invoke the aid of Bellona. A priest would launch a spear over the pillar, symbolic that the enemy's territory would be overrun.
In the Modern Herbal (1931), Mrs. Grieves mentions an "old tradition that the priests used to drink an infusion [of nightshade (Atropa belladonna)] before they worshipped and invoked the aid of Bellona." The tropane alkaloids in nightshade deaden pain and cause hallucinations. The Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1902) states, "Bellona was worshipped...to grant soldiers a warlike spirit and enthusiasm which no enemy could resist...."
Alexander Basok's "Rusty Pennies" has a photograph of an ancient Roman coin (211-207 BCE) with the head of Bellona. To view the coin, click on the link:
http://www.rustypennies.com/catalog/pix/af39.jpg
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