Helernus
{{Short description|Archaic Roman deity}}
Helernus, also known as Alernus, was an Archaic Roman deity.{{sfn|Dutch Archaeological and Historical Society|1977|p=131}} He was a minor god of the underworld, and god of the beans used during the Lemuria festival during May.{{sfn|Turcan|Nevill|2001|pp=63-64}} His sacred grove (lucus) was near the mouth of the Tiber river.{{sfn|Elsner|Rutherford|2007|p=24}} Sacrifices were made to him annually on 1 February by the Roman Pontiffs, in which a black ox was killed.{{efn|One of the evidences for his being a minor chthonic deity is his sacrifice being a black ox, as only gods of the underworld were given black animals as sacrifice.{{sfn|Scullard|1981|p=72}}}}{{sfn|Dutch Archaeological and Historical Society|1977|p=131}}{{sfn|Frazer|2012|p=190}} He had one daughter, named Carna, who was goddess of protecting the intestines of children from vampires.{{sfn|Turcan|Nevill|2001|pp=63-64}}
Poultney and others compare Helernus with the similarly (apparently) chthonic deity Hule/Horse/Huřie who shows up a couple times in the Umbrian Iguvine Tablets. Poultney, J.W. "Bronze Tables of Iguvium" 1959 p. 214 https://archive.org/details/bronzetablesofig00poul/page/n19/mode/2up
References
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=Books=
- {{cite book |last1=Elsner |first1=Jas' |last2=Rutherford |first2=Ian |url=https://archive.org/details/pilgrimageingrae0000unse |title=Pilgrimage in Graeco-Roman and Early Christian Antiquity: Seeing the Gods |date=2007 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=9780191566752}}
- {{cite book |last1=Dutch Archaeological and Historical Society |title=Talanta: Proceedings of the Dutch Archaeological and Historical Society |date=1977 |publisher=Wolters-Noordhoff |edition=8-15 |oclc=1004669}}
- {{cite book |last1=Scullard |first1=H.H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bDETAQAAIAAJ |title=Festivals and ceremonies of the Roman Republic |date=1981 |publisher=Cornell University Press |location=Ithaca, N.Y. |isbn=9780801414022}}
- {{cite book |last1=Frazer |first1=James George |url=https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/3623 |title=The Golden Bough |date=2012 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230108221526/https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/3623 |archive-date=January 8, 2023 |url-status=live |isbn=9781108047319}}
- {{cite book |last1=Turcan |first1=Robert |last2=Nevill |first2=Antonia |url=https://archive.org/details/godsofancientrom0000turc |title=The Gods of ancient Rome: religion in everyday life from archaic to imperial times |date=2001 |publisher=Taylor and Francis |location=Hoboken |isbn=9781136058509}}
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