Egeria (mythology) - Function

Function

Egeria as a nymph or minor goddess of the Roman religious system is of unclear origin; she is consistently, though not in a very clear way, associated with another figure of the Diana type; their cult is known to have been celebrated at sacred groves, such as the site of Nemi at Aricia, and another one close to Rome, expedient for her presumed regular meetings with King Numa; both goddesses are also associated with water gifted with wondrous, religious or medical properties (the source in that grove at Rome was dedicated to the exclusive use of the Vestals); their cult was associated with other, male figures of even more obscure meaning, such as one named Virbius, or a Manius Egerius, presumably a youthful male, that anyway in later years was identified with figures like Atys or Hippolyte, because of the Diana reference (see Frazer).

Described sometime as a "mountain nymph" (Plutarch), she is usually regarded as a water nymph and somehow her cult also involved some link with childbirth, like the Greek goddess Ilithyia.

But most of all, Egeria gave wisdom and prophecy in return for libations of water or milk at her sacred groves. This quality has been made especially popular through the tale of her relationship with Numa Pompilius (the second legendary king of Rome, that succeeded its founder Romulus);

In this myth she is shown as counselor and guide to King Numa in the establishment of the original framework of laws and rituals of Rome, and in this role she is somehow uniquely in Roman mythology associated with "sacred books"; Numa (Latin "numen" designates "the expressed will of a deity") is reputed to have written down the teachings of Egeria in "sacred books" that he made bury with him; when some chance accident brought them back to light some 400 years later, they were deemed by the Senate inappropriate for disclosure to the people and destroyed by their order; what made them inappropriate was certainly of "political" nature but apparently has not been handed down by Valerius Antias, the source that Plutarch was using.Dionysius of Halicarnassus hints that they were actually kept as a very close secret by the Pontifices.

She is also gifted with oracular capabilities (she interpreted for Numa the abstruse omens of gods, for instance the episode of the omen from Faunus). In another episode she helps Numa in a battle of wits with Jupiter himself, whereby Numa sought to gain a protective ritual against lightning strokes and thunder.

The name Egeria has been diversely interpreted; it might mean "of the black poplar" (needs source); George Dumézil proposed it came from "e-gerere", suggesting it came from her childbirth role, though this sounds very unlikely; her role as prophetess and author of "sacred books" (even through the proxy of Numa) would compare her to the Etruscan figure of Vegoia (alleged author among other things of "Libri Fulgurales", which give keys to interpreting the meaning of lightning strokes, seen as ominous messages from deities, a variety of them) .

Numa also invoked communicating with other deities, such as Muses; hence naturally enough, the somewhat "pale" figure of Egeria was later categorized by the Romans as one of the Camenae, deities who came to be equated with the Greek Muses as Rome fell under the cultural influence of Greece; so Dionysius of Halicarnassus listed Egeria among the Muses.

The precise level of her relationship to Numa has been described diversely sometimes as Amica, but ordinarily has been qualified with the more respectful coniuncta ("consort"); Plutarch is very evasive as of the actual mode, and hints that Numa himself entertained a level of ambiguïty. In later years that tradition came under critical review in Juvenal's day.

Numa Pompilius died in 673 BC of old age. According to Ovid's Metamorphoses, after Numa's death Egeria was transformed into a spring, this sort of place being a usual site of inspiration and prophecy in antiquity.