Editing Egeria (mythology)

{{Short description|Legendary wife of Roman king Numa, minor goddess}}
{{Other uses|Egeria (disambiguation){{!}}Egeria}}
{{Infobox deity
| type         = Roman
| name         = Egeria
| deity_of     = Nymph, giver of laws and rituals
| member_of    =  
| image        = Halifax NS-02371 - Egeria (28443239444).jpg
| alt          = <!-- for alternate text of the title image per [[WP:ALT]] -->
| caption      = Sculpture of Egeria on a fountain in [[Halifax, Nova Scotia]]
| other_names  = Aegeria
| cult_center  = spring and grove near the [[Porta Capena]]; Nympheum of Egeria; [[Temple of Diana (Nemi)|Temple of Diana at Nemi]]
| consort      = possibly [[Numa Pompilius]]
| parents      = 
| siblings     = 
| offspring    = 
| predecessor  =
| successor    =
| mount        = 
| gender       = female
| Etruscan_equivalent            = possibly [[Vegoia]]
| festivals    = 
}}
[[File:Aegeria.png|200px|thumb|A 16th-century drawing of Egeria]]

'''Egeria''' ({{IPA|la|eːˈgɛria|lang}},<ref>{{cite book |language=en |editor-last=Glare |editor-first=P. G. W. |date=2012 |title=[[Oxford Latin Dictionary]] |place=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |edition=2nd |page=653}}</ref> {{langx|grc|Ἠγερία}}<ref>[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0081.tlg001.perseus-grc1:2.61.1 Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities, 2.61.1]</ref>) was a [[nymph]] attributed a legendary role in the [[Kingdom of Rome|early history of Rome]] as a divine consort and counselor of [[Numa Pompilius]], the second [[king of Rome]], to whom she imparted laws and rituals pertaining to [[Religion in ancient Rome|ancient Roman religion]]. Her name is used as an [[eponym]] for a female advisor or counselor.

==Origin and etymology==
Egeria may predate [[Roman mythology|Roman myth]]: she could have been of [[Ancient Italic peoples|Italic]] origin in the sacred forest of [[Aricia, Italy|Aricia]] in [[Latium]], her immemorial site, which was equally the grove of [[Diana Nemorensis]] ("Diana of [[Nemi]]"). At Aricia there was also a Manius Egerius, a male counterpart of Egeria.<ref>{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle=Egeria |volume=9 |pages=12–13}}</ref>

The name ''Egeria'' has been diversely interpreted. [[Georges Dumézil]] proposed it came from ''ē-gerere'' ("bear out"), suggesting an origin from her childbirth role.<ref>Georges Dumézil, ''La religion romaine archaïque'', Bibliothèque historique Payot, {{ISBN|2-228-89297-1}}, 1974, 2000, appendice sur la religion des Etrusques</ref> It may mean "of the [[Populus nigra|black poplar]]" (Greek αἴγειρος, ''aigeiros''). Her role as prophetess and author of "sacred books" is similar to the Etruscan [[Vegoia]], to whom were attributed various books of prophecy, including the "Libri Fulgurales", which were used to interpret the will of the gods through lightning strikes.<ref>"Vegoia", in [[August Pauly]], [[Georg Wissowa]], ''et alii'', ''[[Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft]]'' (Scientific Encyclopedia of the Knowledge of Classical Antiquities), J. B. Metzler, Stuttgart (1894–1980), 2nd series, 15th half-volume (1955), col. 577 ''ff.''</ref>

==Function==
Egeria as a nymph or minor goddess of the Roman religious system is of unclear origin; she is consistently, though not in a very clear way, associated with another figure of the [[Diana (goddess)|Diana]] type; their cult is known<ref>James George Frazer, ''The Golden Bough,'' I, "The magician king in primitive societies"</ref> to have been celebrated at [[sacred grove]]s, such as the site of [[Nemi]] at [[Aricia, Italy|Aricia]], and another one close to Rome (see section below); both goddesses are also associated with water bearing wondrous, religious or medical properties (the source in that grove at Rome was dedicated to the exclusive use of the [[Vestals]]<ref>Plutarch, "The parallel lives, Numa Pompilius"</ref>); their cult was associated with other, male figures of even more obscure meaning, such as one named [[Virbius]],<ref>Georges Dumézil, La religion romaine archaïque, Bibliothèque historique Payot, {{ISBN|2-228-89297-1}}, 1974, 2000, appendice sur la religion des Etrusques</ref> or a Manius Egerius, presumably a youthful male, that anyway in later years was identified with  figures like Atys or Hippolyte, because of the Diana reference (see Frazer).

Described sometime as a "[[Oread|mountain nymph]]" (Plutarch), she is usually regarded as a [[Naiad|water nymph]] and somehow her cult also involved some link with childbirth, like the [[Greek mythology|Greek]] goddess [[Ilithyia]], but most of all, Egeria gave wisdom and prophecy in return for [[libation]]s of water or milk at her [[sacred grove]]s. This quality has been made especially popular through the tale of her relationship with [[Numa Pompilius]] (the second legendary king of Rome, who succeeded its founder Romulus).

==Relationship with Numa Pompilius==
[[File:La ninfa Egeria dictando a Numa.jpg|thumb|''The nymph Egeria dictating the laws of Rome to [[Numa Pompilius]]'', by [[Ulpiano Checa]].]]
According to mythology, she counseled and guided the King [[Numa Pompilius]] (Latin ''[[numen]]'' designates "the expressed will of a deity"<ref>Georges Dumézil, La religion romaine archaïque, Bibliothèque historique Payot, {{ISBN|2-228-89297-1}}, 1974, 2000, appendice sur la religion des Etrusques,p47</ref>) in the establishment of the original framework of laws and rituals of Rome. Numa  is reputed to have written down the teachings of Egeria in "sacred books" that he had buried with him. When a chance accident brought them back to light some 500 years later, the Senate deemed them inappropriate for disclosure to the people, and ordered their destruction.<ref>[[Plutarch]], "The parallel lives, Numa Pompilius"; Livy AUC libri XXXVIII.</ref> What made them inappropriate was some matter of religious nature with "political" bearing that apparently has not been handed down by [[Valerius Antias]], the source that [[Plutarch]] was using. [[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]] hints that they were actually kept as a very close secret by the Pontifices.<ref>note by Gerard Walter, editor of Plutarch's ''Parallel Lives''; translation by Jacques Amyot, La Pléïade volume n°43, 1967</ref>

She is also gifted with oracular capabilities (she interpreted for Numa the abstruse omens of gods, for instance the episode of the omen from [[Faunus]]).<ref>Georges Dumézil, La religion romaine archaïque, Bibliothèque historique Payot, {{ISBN|2-228-89297-1}}, 1974, 2000, appendice sur la religion des Etrusques p377</ref> In another episode, she helps Numa in a battle of wits with Jupiter himself, whereby Numa sought to gain a protective ritual against lightning strikes and thunder.<ref>Plutarch, "The parallel lives, Numa Pompilius, §XXVII"</ref>

Numa also invoked communicating with other deities, such as [[Muses]];<ref>Plutarch, "The parallel lives, Numa Pompilius"</ref> hence naturally enough, the somewhat "pale" figure of Egeria was later categorized by the Romans as one of the [[Camenae]], deities who came to be equated with the [[Greek mythology|Greek]] [[Muses]] as Rome fell under the cultural influence of Greece; so [[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]] listed Egeria among the Muses.<ref>Dionysius of Halicarnassus, ii. 6o.</ref>

[[File:Claude Lorrain 005.jpg|320px|thumb|''Egeria mourns [[Numa Pompilius|Numa]]'' (1669) by [[Claude Lorrain]]]]

The precise level of her relationship to Numa has been described diversely. She is typically given the respectful label ''coniūncta'' ("consort"); [[Plutarch]] is very evasive as of the actual mode of intimacy between Numa and Egeria, and hints that Numa himself entertained a level of ambiguity.<ref>Plutarch, "The parallel lives, Numa Pompilius'', 4.2 and 8.6.</ref> By [[Juvenal]]'s day, that tradition was treated more critically. Juvenal called her Numa's ''amīca'' (or "girlfriend") in a sceptical phrase.<ref>Alex Hardie, "Juvenal, the Phaedrus, and the Truth about Rome" ''The Classical Quarterly'' New Series, '''48'''.1 (1998), pp. 234-251.</ref>

Numa Pompilius died in 673 BC of old age.  According to [[Ovid]]'s ''[[Metamorphoses (poem)|Metamorphoses]]'', with Numa's death, Egeria melted into tears of sorrow, thus becoming a [[Spring (hydrosphere)|spring]]  (''...donec pietate dolentis / mota soror Phoebi gelidum de corpore fontem / fecit...'' <ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses (poem)|Metamorphoses]]'' xv. 479.</ref>), traditionally identified with the one nearby Porta Capena in Rome.

==Egeria spring in Rome==
[[File:ninfeo egeria.jpg|thumb|upright|Apse of the ''Ninfeo d'Egeria'',  [[Park of the Caffarella|Parco della Caffarella]], Rome]]
A spring and a grove once sacred to Egeria stand close to a gate of Rome, the [[Porta Capena]]. Its waters were dedicated to the exclusive use of the [[Vestals]].<ref>Plutarch, "The parallel lives, Numa Pompilius"</ref>  The ''[[Nymphaeum|ninfeo]]'', a favored [[picnic]] spot for nineteenth-century Romans, can still be visited in the archaeological [[Park of the Caffarella]], between the [[Appian Way]] and the even more ancient [[Via Latina]],<ref>[http://www.romacivica.net/tarcaf/engfra/cafgen_e.htm Information about the Park of the Caffarella] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/19991011020918/http://www.romacivica.net/tarcaf/engfra/cafgen_e.htm |date=1999-10-11 }}</ref> nearby the [[Baths of Caracalla]] (a later construction).

In the second century, when [[Herodes Atticus]] recast an inherited [[Roman villa|villa]] nearby as a great landscaped estate, the natural [[grotto]] was formalized as an arched interior with an [[Apse|apsidal end]] where a statue of Egeria once stood in a niche; the surfaces were enriched with revetments of green and white [[marble]] facings and green [[Porphyry (geology)|porphyry]] flooring and friezes of [[mosaic]]. The primeval spring, one of dozens of springs that flow into the river [[Almone]], was made to feed large pools, one of which was known as ''Lacus Salutaris'' or "Lake of Health". Juvenal regretted an earlier phase of architectural elaboration:

:Nymph of the Spring! More honour'd hadst thou been,
:If, free from art, an edge of living green,
:Thy bubbling fount had circumscribed alone,
:And marble ne’er profaned the native stone.<ref>Juvenal, ''Satire'' 3.17–20, as translated by [[William Gifford]].</ref>

==In culture==
* In [[Nathaniel Lee]]'s [[English Restoration]] tragedy ''[[Lucius Junius Brutus]]'' (1680), Egeria appears in a vision to Brutus' son Titus.
* In Canto IV of [[Byron]]'s ''[[Childe Harold's Pilgrimage]]'' mentions Egeria twice and refers to her grotto.
* {{ws|[[s:Landon in The New Monthly 1826/Egeria's Grotto|Letitia Elizabeth Landon's poem ''Egeria's Grotto'' in The New Monthly Magazine, 1826, descriptive of an artistic representation of Egeria's Spring]]}}<ref>{{cite book|last =Landon|first=Letitia Elizabeth|title=The New Monthly Magazine, 1826|url=https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=KMg2AQAAMAAJ&pg=GBS.PA166|page=166|section=Egeria's Grotto|publisher=Henry Colburn}}</ref>
* Two letters written by [[John Adams]] to [[Charles Adams (1770–1800)|Charles Adams]] and [[John Quincy Adams]] in January of 1794 make allusions to the myth of Numa and Egeria in relation to recent developments in [[Thomas Jefferson]]’s political career. Adams’s references to Jefferson’s “Conversations with Egeria in the Groves” at Monticello have been interpreted by some historians as euphemistic acknowledgment of the affair between Jefferson and [[Sally Hemings]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/john-adams-out-thomas-jefferson-sally-hemings-180960789/#:~:text=Hemings%20was%20then%2014%20years,began%20having%20sex%20with%20Hemings | title=Did John Adams Out Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings? }}</ref>
* In [[Oscar Wilde]]'s ''[[The Importance of Being Earnest]]'', the canon Chasuble refers to Cecily's tutor Miss Prism as "Egeria."
* In [[Joseph Conrad]]'s ''[[Under Western Eyes (novel)|Under Western Eyes]]'', (1911)   Madame de S___, a Russian lady of "advanced views", is referred to as the Egeria of Peter Ivanovich, the "heroic fugitive" who wrote books preaching and practicing the cult of women under the rites of special devotion to the transcendental merits of Madame de S___.
* In the video game ''[[Genshin Impact]]'', Egeria, also known as the Mistress of Many Waters, was the original Hydro Archon, creator of the oceanids and Fontainian Humans, and the predecessor of the latest Hydro Archon, Focalors.
* In the ''[[Stargate]]'' franchise, Egeria is the founder of the Tok'ra.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://rdanderson.com/stargate/lexicon/entries/egeria.htm|title=Egeria|website=Stargate Lexicon}}</ref>

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{wiktionary|Egeria}}

* [http://www.romasotterranea.it/ita/sub/280.php Roma Sotterranea: Il ninfeo di Egeria: (in Italian) Ruins of Egeria's Nymphaeum]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/19991011020918/http://www.romacivica.net/tarcaf/engfra/cafgen_e.htm Park of the Caffarella]

{{Roman religion}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Egeria (deity)}}
[[Category:Childhood goddesses]]
[[Category:Classical oracles]]
[[Category:Naiads]]
[[Category:Oracular goddesses]]
[[Category:Roman goddesses]]
[[Category:Wisdom goddesses]]
[[Category:Agricultural goddesses]]
[[Category:Metamorphosis in folklore]]