Strenia
A Sabine goddess of healthy physical development, of making strenuous,1 the counterpart of the Roman Salus. She is also connected with the custom of exchanging presents (strenae) and good wishes on the first of January.2 Some of the actual presents still exist: a cup with the inscription "Anno novo faustum felix tibi";3 a lamp with the same.4 Coins also were given, and a gold coin was the best of omens in Ovid's time:5 the poorer client brought a copper coin, and, to represent the gold, a gilded date.6
An old sanctuary of Strenia stood in the vicinity of the Colosseum, where the Via Sacra began.7
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References
Notes
- Augustine. City of God iv, 11.
- Symmachus. Epistulae x, 35; Ovid. Fasti i, 185-190.
- von Orelli, J.C. (1828). Inscriptionum Latinarum Selectarum Collectio, 4306.
- ibid., 4307.
- Fasti i, 221.
- Martial. Epigrammata viii, 33; xiii, 27.
- Varro. On the Latin Language v, 47. Festus, 293 (a), 3.
Source
- Smith, William. (1870). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. London: Taylor, Walton, and Maberly.