Damia

vol. IV p.2054

Damia

An old goddess of fertility, <20> she was worshipped along with Auxesia in Epidauros, Aigina, and Troezen. Her cult is also attested in Sparta by a dedicatory inscription to Ζεὺς Ταλετίτας, [Αὐξη]σία and Δαμοία; cf. F. Dümmler vol. II p.2616-2618. She was originally very much like Demeter. An archaic inscription, which F. Hiller von Gaertringen discovered in Thera (Santorini), south of the sanctuary of Apollo Karneios, in 1896, should be added to Dümmler's research. <30> Amongst the many names of deities found there, most of which have been cut into the blue limestone in rather irregular flat inscriptions, we find the names Λοκ(h)αία Δαμία next to a round hole cut into the stone (IGIns. III 361; cf. F. Hiller von Gaertringen Die archaische Cultur der Insel Thera, Berlin 1897, 19; Die Insel Thera in Altertum und Gegenwart I 1899, 150). On Loeschcke's advice, <40> v. Hiller at last supported the clearly only correct viewpoint that Lochaia exactly corresponded to the Aeginetan deity Auxesia, and that Lochaia and Damia should be interpreted as goddesses of childbirth. About Damia's worship in Rome under the name Bona Dea, see vol. III p.690.

[Kern.]

This article is referenced by: The Bona Dea