Nyx: Greek Goddess of the Night
Zeus once woke from a trick sleep in a rage, ready to fling the god who had lulled him off…
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Proserpina: Roman Goddess of the Underworld and Spring
In 70 BC a lawyer asked a Roman jury to picture a lake. Cicero was prosecuting Verres, the governor who…
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Aurora: The Roman Goddess of Dawn
Every morning she opens the gates of the east so the sun can drive through. The Romans gave her a…
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Luna: Roman Goddess of the Moon
Two thousand years ago, a small shrine on the Palatine Hill in Rome glowed after dark. The scholar Varro, who…
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Artemis: Greek Goddess of the Hunt and the Moon
A hunter comes over the ridge and finds a goddess bathing in a mountain pool. He gets one look. By…
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Trivia: Roman Goddess of the Crossroads
Walk out to the place where three roads meet. Do it after dark, on the night the moon goes black….
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Terra: Roman Goddess of the Earth
Every year on the fifteenth of April, Rome killed pregnant cows for her. Thirty-one of them, one on the Capitol…
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Bona Dea: The Good Goddess of Rome and Her Women-Only Rites
One night in early December of 62 BC, a young aristocrat put on a woman’s dress, took a lute, and…
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Vesta: Roman Goddess of the Hearth and the Sacred Fire
Rome kept one fire that was never allowed to go out. For close to a thousand years, six women tended…
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Uksahkka: The Sami Door-Woman and Guardian of the Threshold
Picture a Sami tent in winter. The fire burns in the center, the family sleeps along both sides, and a…
