Bellona is the ancient Roman goddess of war. She is considered a minor goddess, with Minerva as the major goddess of war.
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"Bellona was an Ancient Roman goddess of war. Her main attribute is the military helmet worn on her head; she often holds a sword, spear or shield, and brandishes a torch or whip as she rides into battle in a four-horse chariot. Her iconography was further extended by painters and sculptors following the Renaissance.
Ancient cult goddess
Originally named Duellona in the Italic languages, Bellona was an ancient Sabine goddess of war, identified with Nerio, the consort of the war god Mars, and later with her Greek equivalent Enyo. Her first temple in Rome was dedicated in 296 BCE, where her festival was celebrated on June 3. Her priests were known as Bellonarii and used to wound their own arms or legs as a blood sacrifice to her. These rites took place on the 24 March, called the day of blood (dies sanguinis) after the ceremony. In consequence of this practice, which approximated to the rites dedicated to Cybele in Asia Minor, both Enyo and Bellona became identified with her Cappadocian aspect, Ma.
The Roman Campus Martius area in which Bellona’s temple was sited had extraterritorial status. Ambassadors from foreign states, who were not allowed to enter the city proper, stayed in this complex. The area around the temple of Bellona was considered to symbolize foreign soil, and there the Senate met with ambassadors and received victorious generals prior to their Triumphs. And it was here too that Roman Senate meetings relating to foreign war were conducted. Beside the temple was the war column (columna bellica), which represented the boundary of Rome. To declare war on a distant state, a javelin was thrown over the column by one of the priests concerned with diplomacy (fetiales) from Roman territory towards the direction of the enemy land and this symbolical attack was considered the opening of war.
In the military cult of Bellona, she was associated with Virtus, the personification of valour. She then travelled outside Rome with the imperial legions and her temples have been recorded in France, Germany, Britain and North Africa."
In sculptor Charles Whiffen's sculptural representation of the coming of the Great War of 1914, Bellona is a frightening, gaunt, screaming figure, bringing death, disease, and destruction to the world.
From the Ornamental Passions Blog: (
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"Posted by Chris Partridge at 09:53
Location: Lambeth, London Borough of Lambeth, London, UK
"Waterloo Station was in the throes of a rebuild when war broke out in 1914, a war that claimed the lives of 585 members of the railway staff. When peace came, it was decided to devote the only corner of the site that could be seen from any sort of distance to a memorial that would double as an imposing station entrance.
The sculpture was commissioned from the firm of Brindley and Farmer and may have been carved by Charles Whiffen.
. . .
To the left, a vision of 1914 with the goddess Bellona. Bellona is traditionally shown as a muse, a statuesque female in armour carrying a sword and a torch, but here she is more of a harpy, bringing suffering and death. Around her men and women shriek and mourn. To the left, a veiled woman raises the hand of blessing over a dead boy."