Roman deities: Abeona and Adeona

Abeona and Adeona are goddesses of Roman Mythology included in the group of Di indigetes.

Table of Contents

1 Abeona and Adeona are goddesses of Roman Mythology included in the group of Di indigetes.
- 1.1 Like this:

Abeona is protector of departures, of children leaving their parents’ home for the first time or taking their first steps. Adeona is patroness of return, particularly that of children to their parents’ home. The statues of the two goddesses accompanied the statue of the goddess Libertas erected on the Aventine by Tiberius Gracchus, signifying that Libertas could go and return as she wished.

At first it was a single Goddess, first Italic and then Roman, in charge of the becoming of the world and life, connected to the birth of plant and animal life, including human beings. It was thus a representation of the Mother Goddess. In the course of time, however, the Goddess remained in the pantheon but split into two Goddesses with less demanding pertinences.

Children offered spelt buns and milk to the goddesses, while adults offered buns and wine.

Abeona (abeo = to depart), indicates the birth of plant and animal life, including human beings.

Adeona (adeo = to return, “She who returns”), is a Goddess of growth and death, plant and animal, including human beings.

Featured image: Mother breastfeeding a baby in the presence of the father, Detail from the sarcophagus of Marcus Cornelius Statius, who died as a young child. Source: wikimedia