BENDIS (Bendis) and Bendidie (Bendidēto). - Bendis is a Thracian goddess, identified by the Greeks with Artemis; Thracian women offered her ears of grain. She was also worshipped in Bithynia, where a month was named "bendidios" after her, and in Athens where, unlike other foreign divinities, she already had an official cult, it seems, in 429-428 B.C. Her sanctuary in Piraeus, on the hill of Munichia, was built by order of the oracle of Dodona; there the Thracian god Deloptes was also venerated. On reliefs and statuettes Bendis wears a short garment, covered by an animal skin, and a coarse cloak, tall boots and a Phrygian cap; in her right hand she holds a patera, in her left a spear.

In Attica, at Piraeus, the Bendidia were celebrated on the 19th or 20th of the month Thargelion (May): two associations, one Athenian, one Thracian, were charged with the cult and went in procession to the sanctuary; in the evening there were horse races with torches.

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: P. Foucart, Le culte de B. en Attique, in Mélanges Perrot, Paris 1903, p. 95 ff.; L. Deubner, Attische Feste, Berlin 1932, p. 219 ff.; G. Giannelli, s. v. in Enc. Ital., VI, p. 598 ff.

Luisa Banti

@incollection{ec2_bendis_bendis_e_bendidie_bendi, author = {Banti, Luisa}, title = {Bendis (ΒΕΝΔΊΣ) e Bendidie (ΒΕΝΔΊΔΕΤΟ)}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {II}, pages = {1214}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1949}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/bendis-bendis-e-bendidie-bendideto} }

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Bendis and Bendidia

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