Bellōna

, the godde of war, daughter to Phorcys and Ceto, was called by the Greeks Enyo , and often confounded with Minerva. She was anciently called Duelli on a , and was the sister of Mars, or, according to others, his daughter or his wife. She prepared the chariot of Mars when he was going to war; and she appeared in battles armed with a whip to animate the combatants, with dishevelled hair, and a torch in her hand. The Romans paid great adoration to her; but she was held in the greatest veneration by the Cappadocians, and chiefly at Comana, where she had about 3000 priests. Her temple at Rome was near the Porta Car mental is. In it the senators gave audience to foreign amba adors, and to generals returned from war. At the gate was a small column called the column of war , against which they threw a spear whenever war was declared against an enemy. The priests of this godde consecrated themselves by great incisions in their body, and particularly in the thigh, of which they received the blood in their hands to offer as a sacrifice to the godde . In their wild enthusiasm they often predicted bloodshed and wars, the defeat of enemies, or the besieging of towns. Juvenal , satire 4, li. 124 .— Varro , de Lingua Latina , bk. 5 .— Hesiod , Theogony , li. 270 .— Pausanias , bk. 4 , ch. 30 .— Virgil , Æneid , bk. 8 , li. 703 .— Statius , Thebiad , bk. 2 , li. 718 ; bk. 7 , li. 73 .— Silius Italic us , bk. 5 , li. 221 .