Bellona is the Romangoddess of war and the mother of Reyna and Hylla. She is an important goddess to the Romans, as she also controls the policy of foreign warfare.
Bellona, the Roman goddess of War, was closely associated with Mars, the Roman god of War. She is invariably his companion, although she can be called his wife, daughter, sister, or charioteer but mostly known for being his twin sister.
Her temple was built in the Campus Martius, the low-lying field by the Tiber River consecrated to Mars, located outside of the city walls. The area around her temple was considered to symbolize foreign soil, and there the Senate met with ambassadors, received victorious generals, and where war was officially declared. Beside her temple was the columna bellica or war column, representing the boundary of Rome. To declare war, a javelin was thrown over the column by one of the fetialis, a type of priest involved in diplomacy, and this act symbolized the attack on a foreign land. Bellona had several shrines and temples in Rome, though most are known only from inscriptions referencing them, as well as a temple in Ostia, the port city of Rome.
Bellona is usually shown in a plumed helmet and armor, armed with sword and spear, carrying a shield (being the war goddess); sometimes she carries a torch with a blood-red flame. She is described as loud and active, barking orders or war-cries, her weapons clanging as she runs. She is credited with inspiring violence, starting wars, and goading soldiers into battle; Virgil described her as carrying a bloodstained scourge or whip. She was believed to make wars and battles go well for those who invoked her.
The name Bellona derived from the Latin word for war (bellum), and is directly related to the modern English words belligerent (lit., war-waging), belicose and antebellum. In earlier times she was called Deullona, the name being derived from a more ancient word for battle.
Bellona is mentioned to be the mother of Reyna, a praetor of Camp Jupiter, and Hylla, the queen of the Amazons. She is also said to have her own temple at Camp Jupiter, as she is the most important goddess the Romans worship.
While Reyna talks to Annabeth, she explains the roles her mother plays in the Legion. She also explains when Romans go to war they throw a spear into a patch of soil inside her mother's temple to represent enemy soil.
The goddess has also proved popular in post-Renaissance art as a female embodiment of military virtue, and an excellent opportunity to portray the feminine form in armor and helmet.
28 Bellona, a large main-belt asteroid, is named after her; the name was chosen to mark the beginning of the Crimean War.
Bellona has no Greek form, but is similar to the Greek war goddess Enyo.
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