Helernus

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Alernus)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Helernus, also known as Alernus, was an Archaic Roman deity.[1] He was a minor god of the underworld, and god of the beans used during the Lemuria festival during May.[2] His sacred grove (lucus) was near the mouth of the Tiber river.[3] Sacrifices were made to him annually on 1 February by the Roman Pontiffs, in which a black ox was killed.[a][1][5] He had one daughter, named Carna, who was goddess of protecting the intestines of children from vampires.[2]

Poultney and others compare Helernus with the similarly (apparently) chthonic deity Hule/Horse/Huřie who shows up a couple times in the Umbrian Iguvine Tablets. [6]

References

[edit | edit source]

Notes

[edit | edit source]
  1. ^ One of the evidences for his being a minor chthonic deity is his sacrifice being a black ox, as only gods of the underworld were given black animals as sacrifice.[4]

Citations

[edit | edit source]

Books

[edit | edit source]
  • Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  • Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  • Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  • Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  • Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).