BELLONA
Quite a different goddess is the Bellona whom the Roman government brought from Comana in Cappadocia towards the beginning of the 1st century B.C., during the Mithridatic war. This Bellona was worshipped in a different locality, and with a service conducted by Cappadocian priests and priestesses. These Bellondrii (such was their name) moved through the city in procession at the festivals of the goddess in black raiment, and shed their blood at the sacrifice, wounding themselves for the purpose in the arms and loins with a two-edged axe, and prophesying amid a wild noise of drums and trumpets.
Pictures and Media
PRIEST OF BELLONA. From a Roman sepulchral relief (Guigniant, Nouv. Gall. Myth., p. 120, 368 b.)