Naenia

I.e. a dirge or lamentation, equivalent to the Greek Drēnos (Δρῆνος), such as was uttered at funerals, either by relatives of the deceased or by hired persons. At Rome Naenia was personified and worshiped as a goddess, who even had a chapel, which, however, as in the case of all other gods in connection with the dead, was outside the walls of the city, near the Porta Viminalis. The object of this worship was probably to procure rest and peace for the departed in the lower world; this may be inferred from the fact of Naeniae being compared with lullabies, and they seem to have been sung with a soft voice, as if a person was to be lulled to sleep.

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References

Sources

  • Arnobius. Adversus Nationes iv, 7; vii, 32.
  • Augustine. City of God vi, 9.
  • Festus, pp. 161, 163 (ed. Miller).
  • Horace. Carminae, iii, 28. 16.
  • Smith, William. (1870). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. London: Taylor, Walton, and Maberly.

This article incorporates text from Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) by William Smith, which is in the public domain.