Bona Dea

[boh-nuh dee-uh, dey-uh]

noun

1. an ancient Roman goddess of chastity and fertility.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Bona Dea¹

< Latin: literally, (the) Good Goddess

Example Sentences

Caesar’s second wife, Pompeia, was in charge of a rite for the goddess Bona Dea, a ceremony for women only, performed in Caesar’s house.

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The Bona Dea, it is said, was originally a woman named Fatua, who was famous for her modesty and fidelity to her husband, but who, unfortunately, having once found a cask of wine in the house, got drunk, and was in consequence scourged to death by her husband.

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The mysteries of the Bona Dea became, however, after a time, the occasion of great disorders.

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So too, at first, was the worship so popular among the Roman women of the Bona Dea—the ideal wife who according to the legend had, when on earth, never looked in the face or known the name of any man but her husband.122 “For altar and hearth” was the rallying cry of the Roman soldier.

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In the hereditary religion of Rome, the only power that could possibly have been invested with any such character was Jupiter Capitolinus, but he had too great a likeness to the other gods of Italy—the gods with names, that is, for some of the more significant had none—Bona Dea and Dea Dia for example.

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