RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT ROMANS.
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occupations, war, assigned to him as his especial field, and to be regarded as the god who went out to battle at the invisible but really present head of each army who hurled his spear at the foe, struck terror into them, disordered their ranks, and gave to his worshippers the victory. Practically ousting Jupiter from the regards of men, he became Marspiter * (Maspiter, " Father Mars," the god to whom alone they looked for protection. The first month of the year was dedicated to him, and thence took the name The which it bears in most modern European languages. went out to they great muster-ground of the people before " and war itself was war became the " Campus Martius ;
sometimes designated by his name, as intellectual ability was by that of Minerva. As marching at the head of Roman troops, he was called Gradimis, as avenging them upon Like Jupiter, he had his High Priest their enemies, TJltor. " whose business it was to prethe " Flamen Martialis He had also attached to his sent to him burnt offerings. worship from very ancient times a college of priests known as Salii (" dancers "), who performed war-dances in his honor, clad in armor, and carrying the sacred shields supposed to have fallen from heaven, and called ancilia. The wolf, the horse, and the woodpecker were sacred to him. great festival was held in his honor at the beginning of each year, commencing on the 1st March.
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BELLONA. Bellona, or Duellonn,f stood to Mars as Juno to Jupiter, except that there was no etymological connection between the names. She was the goddess of war (bcllum or duellu,m\ was spoken of as the wife or sister of Mars, and had a temple in the Campus Martius, where the ceremony of proclaim-
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ing war was performed. college of priests, called Bcllonnrii, conducted her worship, and were bound, when they offered sncrifice in her honor, to wound their own arms or legs, and either to offer up upon her altar the blood which flowed from their wounds, or else to swallow it themselves.
The
124th to March was especially appointed for these ceremonies, and for this reason was known in the Uoman calendar " as the " day of blood Bellona was rep(dies sanguinis). Liv. t
vill. 9.
Fabretti,
"Corpus
Inscr. Italicarum," p. 323.