Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/499

Rh I BELLIENUS. phon's life only by 6«ving, that he drew upon him- 8Plf the hatred of the gods, and, consumed by grief, wandered lonely through the Aleian field, avoiding the piiths of men. We must here remark with Eustathius, that Homer knows nothing of Bellero- phon killing the Chimaera with the help of Pegasus, which must therefore be regarded in all probability as a later embellishment of the stor^'. The man- ner in which he destroyed the Chimaera is thus de- scribed by Tzetzes (/. c.) : he fixed lead to the point of his lance, and thrust it into the fire-breathing mouth of the Cliimacra, who was accordingly killed by the molten lead. According to others, Bellero- phon was assisted by Athena Chalinitis or Ilippia. (Pans. ii. 1. § 4; Pind. I.e.; Strab. viii. p. 379.) Some traditions stated, that he attempted to rise with Pegasus into heaven, but that Zeus sent a gad-fly, which stung Pegasus so, that he threw off the rider upon the earth, who became lame or blind in consequence. (Pind. Isth. vii. 44 ; Schol. cui Pind. 01. xiii. 130 ; Herat. Carm. iv. 11. '26.) A peculiar story about Bellerophon is related by Plu- tarch. {De Virt. Mul. p. 247, &c.) Bellerophon was worshipped as a hero at Corinth, and had a sanctuary near the town in the cypress grove, Craneion. (Paus. ii. 2. § 4.) Scenes of the story of Bellerophon were frequently represented in an- cient works of art. His contest with the Chimaera was seen on the throne of Amyclae (ii. 18. § 7), and in the vestibule of the Delphic temple. (Eurip. Io7i, 203.) On coins, gems, and vases he is often seen fighting against the Chimaera, taking leave of Proetus, taming Pegasus or giving him to drink, or falling from him. But, until the recent discoveries in Lycia by Mr. Fellows, no represent- ation of Bellerophon in any important work of art was known ; in Lycian sculptures, however, he is seen riding on Pegasus and conquering the Chimae- ra. [Comp. Chimaera and Pegasus.] [L. S.] BELLERUS. [Bellerophon.] BELLIE'NUS, the name of a family of the An- nia gens. The word is sometimes written Bilienus. 1. L. (Annius) Bellienus, praetor in b. c. 107, served under Marius in the war against Ju- gurtha and Bocchus. (Sail. Jtig. 104.) 2. C. Annius Bellienus, one of the legates of M. Fonteius in Gallia Narbonensis, b. c. 72. (Cic. pro Font. 4.) 3. L. (Annius) Bellienus, the uncle of Cati- line, killed, by command of Sulla, Lucretius Ofella, who attempted to obtain the consulship contrary to Sulla's wish. Bellienus was condemned in B. c. 64. (Ascon. in Tog. Catid. p. 92, ed. Orelli ; comp. Appuin, ^. C. i. 101.) 4. L. (Annius) Bellienus, perhaps a son of the preceding, whose house was burnt down after the murder of Caesar in B. c. 44. (Cic. PhU. ii. 36.) 5. Bellienus, originally a slave, bom in the family of one Demetrius, was stationed at Inteme- lium with a garrison in B. c. 49, where he put to death, in consequence of a sura of money which he had received from the opposite party, Domitius, a ■ man of noble rank in the town, and a friend of Caesar's. Thereupon the Intemelians took up arms, and Caelius had to march to the town with some cohorts, to put down the insurrection. (Cic. ad Fam. viii. 15 ; comp. xvi. 22.) C. BELLIE'NUS, a distinguished Roman orator and jurist, who was prevented by the disorders which occurred in the time of Marius from attain- ing the conaulship, (Cic, Brut. 47.) He is stip- BELUS. 481 posed by Trietanus {Comtn. P. i. p. 90) to be the same person with C. Annius Bellienus mentioned above [No. 2], but Emesti {Clav. Cic.) repudiates this conjecture, as not easily reconcileable with dates. [J. T. G.] BELLI'NUS, a Roman praetor, who was taken prisoner by the pirates, about B.C. 68 (Plut. Pomp. 24 ; comp. Appian, Mithr. 93^, may perhaps be a false reading for Bellienus. BELLO'NA, the goddess of war among the Romajis. It is very probable that originaliy Bel- lona was a Sabine divinity whose worsliip was carried to Rome by the Sabine settlers, jjhe is frequently mentioned by the Roman poets as tlie companion of Mars, or even as his sister or his wife. Virgil describes her as armed with a bloody scourge. (V'irg. Aen. viii. 703; Lucan, Phars. vii. 569; Horat. Sut. ii. 3. 223.) The main object for which Bellena was worshipped and invoked, was to grant a warlike spirit and enthusiasm which no enemy could resist ; and it was for this reason, for she had been wor- shipped at Rome from early times (Liv. viii. 9), that in b. c. 296, during the war against the Samnites, Appius Claudius the Blind vowed the first temple of Bellona, which was accordingly erected in the Campus Martins close by the Circus Flaminius. (Liv. x. 19; Ov. Fast. vi. 201, &c.) This temple subsequently became of great political importance, for in it the senate assembled to give audience to foreign ambassadors, whom it was not thought proper to admit into the city, to generals who returned from a campaign for which they claimed the honour of a triumph, and on other oc- casions. (Liv. xxviii. 9, xxx. 21 ; Diet, of Ant. s.v. Legatus.) In front of the entrance to the temple there stood a pillar, which served for making the symbolical declarations of war; for the area of the temple was regarded as a symbolical representation of the enemies' country, and the pillar as that of the fi-ontier, and the declaration of war was made by launching a spear over the pillar. This cere- mony, so long as the Roman dominion was of small extent, had been performed on the actual frontier of the enemy's country. (Ov. Fast. vi. 205, &c.; Serv. ad Aen. ix. 53 ; Liv. i. 32 ; Diet, of Ant. s. v, Fetiales.) The priests of Bellona were called Bel- lonarii, and when they offered sacrifices to her, they had to wound their own arms or legs, and either to offer up the blood or drink it themselves, in order to become inspired with a warlike enthu- siasm. This sacrifice, which was afterwards soft- ened down into a mere symbolic act, took place on the 24th of March, which day was called dies sanguinis for this reason. (Lucan, i. 565 ; Martial, xii, 57; TertuU. ^;>o/o(5r. 9 ; Lactant. i. 21; comp. Heindorf, ad Hor. Sat. L c. ; Hartung, Die Relig. der Romer, ii. p. 270, &c.; C. Tiesler, De Bellonae CuHu et Sacrisy Berlin, 1842, 8vo.) [L. S.] BELLOVE'SUS. [Ambigatus.] BELUS (BrjKos). 1. A son of Poseidon by Libya or Eurynome. He was a twin-brother of Agenor, and father of Aegyptus and Danaus. He was believed to be the ancestral hero and national divinity of several eastern nations, fi:om whence the legends about him were transplanted to Greece and became mixed up with Greek mvths. (Apol- lod. ii. 1. § 4 ; Died. i. 28; Serv. ad'Acn. i. 733.) 2. The father of Dido, who conquered Cyprus and then gave it to Teucer. (Virg. Aen. I. 621 ; Serv. ad Aen. i. 625, 646.) [L.S.] 2 I