Mellona

Template:Short description Template:For Template:Sister project Mellona or Mellonia was an ancient Roman goddess said by St. Augustine to promote the supply of honey (Latin mel, mellis) as Pomona did for apples and Bubona for cattle. <ref>Augustine, De civitate Dei 4.34; Hendrik Wagenvoort, "Diva Angerona," in Pietas: Selected Studies in Roman Religion (Brill, 1980), p. 22.</ref> Arnobius describes her as "a goddess important and powerful regarding bees, taking care of and protecting the sweetness of honey."<ref>Arnobius, Adversus Nationes, IV. 7 (Mellonia dea est pollens potensque in apibus, mellis curans custodiensque dulcedinem) and 8.</ref>

W.H. Roscher includes Mellona among the indigitamenta, the list of deities maintained by Roman priests to assure that the correct divinity was invoked for rituals.<ref>W.H. Roscher, Ausführliches Lexikon der griechischen und römischen Mythologie (Leipzig: Teubner, 1890–94), vol. 2, pt. 1, p. 203.</ref>

See also

• Ah-Muzen-Cab, Mayan god of bees
• Aristaeus, ancient Greek god of bees
• Austėja, Lithuanian goddess of bees
• Bee (mythology)
• Bhramari, Hindu goddess of bees
• Bubilas, Lithuanian god of bees
• Colel Cab, Mayan goddess of bees
• Melissa, ancient Greek/Minoan nymph/goddess of bees