# Nerio

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{{Short description|War goddess, wife of Mars in Roman mythology}}
In  [ancient Roman religion](/source/Religion_in_ancient_Rome) and [myth](/source/Roman_mythology), '''Nerio''' (or '''Neriene''')<ref>Dexter, Miriam Robbins. ''Whence the goddesses: a source book''. The Athene Series. New York and London: [Teachers College Press](/source/Teachers_College_Press), Teachers College, Columbia University. 1990. p. 154. {{ISBN|0-8077-6234-2}}.</ref> was an ancient war goddess and the personification of [valor](/source/Courage). She was the partner of [Mars](/source/Mars_(mythology)) in ancient cult practices, and was sometimes identified with the goddess [Bellona](/source/Bellona_(goddess)), and occasionally with the goddess [Minerva](/source/Minerva). Spoils taken from enemies were sometimes dedicated to Nerio by the Romans. Nerio was later supplanted by mythologized deities appropriated and adapted from other religions.<ref>Grimal, p. 308.</ref>

==Cult role==
Ancient Roman literature seems to have pointed Nerio as one of two wives of war god Mars, the other being ''Moles''.<ref>Woodard, Roger D. "The Minor Capitoline Triad". In: ''Indo-European Sacred Space: Vedic and Roman Cult''. University of Illinois Press, 2006. pp. 21 and 112-114. Accessed September 17, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/j.ctt1xcmv6.5.</ref>

==Etymology==
The name of the goddess is thought to derive from a [Proto-Indo-European](/source/Proto-Indo-European_language) root ''*h₂nḗr-'', related to [Ancient Greek](/source/Ancient_Greek_language) ''ἀνήρ'', and both pertaining to the semantic field of masculine attributes, such as strength, vigour, valor.<ref>Mallory, J. P.; Adams, Douglas Q. (1997). ''Encyclopedia of Indo-European culture''. Taylor & Francis. p. 596. {{ISBN|978-1-884964-98-5}}.</ref>

Aulus Gellius, in his book ''Attic Nights'', remarked that her name was a [Sabine](/source/Sabines) word meaning 'strength and fortitude'.<ref>Dexter, Miriam Robbins. ''Whence the goddesses: a source book''. The Athene Series. New York and London: [Teachers College Press](/source/Teachers_College_Press), Teachers College, Columbia University. 1990. p. 154. {{ISBN|0-8077-6234-2}}.</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
*Grimal, Pierre. ''The Dictionary of Classical Mythology''. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1986. {{ISBN|0-631-20102-5}}

{{Roman religion|state=collapsed}}

Category:Roman goddesses
Category:War goddesses
Category:Personifications in Roman mythology
Category:Minerva
Category:Bellona (goddess)

{{AncientRome-myth-stub}}

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Nerio](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nerio) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nerio?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.