Feronia. The Role of an Italic Goddess in the Process of Cultural Integration in Republican Italy

Abstract

Religion was, in ancient Italy, one of the crucial elements in the dynamics of cultural integration. This chapter presents a part of a wider research project about Feronia, an ancient goddess about whom there is a considerable amount of information from literary sources, as well as some epigraphical and archaeological evidence. A cult that was not originally Roman was introduced in the Urbs in the fourth or third century. The goddess was then carried throughout Italy, following the routes of Roman expansion. The Roman sources such as Varro always felt Feronia to be foreign goddess. She was especially important for people like the Sabines and Capenates who were not Romans but had been Romanized at an early stage and were involved in the process of the Romanization of the peninsula. Keywords:Capenates; cultural integration; Feronia; Feronia's cult; Italic goddess; Republican Italy; Sabines; Varro