Mellona or Mellonia was an
ancient Roman goddess said by
St. Augustine to promote the supply of
honey
Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several species of bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of pl ...
(Latin ''mel, mellis'') as
Pomona did for apples and
Bubona for cattle.
Arnobius describes her as "a goddess important and powerful regarding bees, taking care of and protecting the sweetness of honey."
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.
[ W.H. Roscher, ''Ausführliches Lexikon der griechischen und römischen Mythologie'' (Leipzig: Teubner, 1890–94), vol. 2, pt. 1, p. 203.]
See also
*
Ah-Muzen-Cab,
Mayan god of bees
*
Aristaeus,
ancient Greek
Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...
god of bees
*
Austėja,
Lithuania
Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...
n goddess of bees
*
Bee (mythology)
*
Bhramari,
Hindu
Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...
goddess of bees
*
Bubilas,
Lithuania
Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...
n god of bees
*
Colel Cab, Mayan goddess of bees
*
Melissa,
ancient Greek
Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...
/
Minoan nymph/goddess of bees
References
{{AncientRome-myth-stub
Animal goddesses
Food goddesses
Roman goddesses
Bees in religion