Bellona

Bellona is the name taken by a Norwegian environmentalist group, led by Fredric Hauge. They were very active in the 80s, doing demonstrations where they chained themselves to various industry gates and such to prevent normal operation. These days, Bellona has become much more "mature" and scientifically oriented in its work.

Bellona spend a lot of resources on environmentalist issues in the Kola peninsula in Russia, being straight over the border from Norway. In particular, they are concerned about old nuclear submarines that are basically dumped outside Murmansk. For this reason, the Russian Bellona employee Aleksandr Nikitin was arrested for being a spy in 1995. He has now been acquitted.

Roman mythology
Bellona was the Roman goddess of war. She often fought alongside Mars, and different sources list Bellona as either his wife, his sister, or his daughter. She is often depicted wearing a war helmet and carrying a sword or a spear.

Latin lesson for the day: Bellona's name is derived from the Latin root bellum, which is also the root behind a number of English war-related words (antebellum, belligerent, bellicose)

E2 Dictionary of Classical Mythology

The Roman goddess of war, who was for a long time ill defined and regarded as a personification of mere force, but gradually became identified with the Greek goddess of war, Enyo. She was sometimes portrayed as the wife of the god Mars and was also depicted as driving her own chariot in terrible guise, holding a torch, sword or spear in her hand, greatly resembling the traditional representation of the Furies.

{E2 DICTIONARY OF CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY}

Table of Sources:
- Aulus Gellius, NA 13, 23ff.
- August. CD 6, 10
- Plautus, Amphit. 42
- Stat. Theb. 5, 155

Bel*lo"na (?), n. [L., from bellum war.] Rom. Myth.

The goddess of war.

 

© Webster 1913.