Furrina (or Furina), was a Roman goddess. Her function in the Roman pantheon was mostly unknown at the time of Cicero.
However, modern archaeological research has revealed some tenuous evidence that seems to indicate that Furrina was associated with water.
Her antiquity is proven by the fact that she was one the Roman deities who had their own flamen, named Furrinalis, one of the flamines minores.[1]
According to Georges Dumézil Furrina was a goddess of springs, her name being related to the Indoeuropean root *bhr-u-n, Skr. bhurvan, indicating the moving or bubbling of water, Goth. brunna spring,, Latin fervere (from *fruur > furr by metathesis of the vowel), to bubble or boil.[2] Compare English fervent, effervescent etc.
Dumézil remarks that in the chronological order Roman of festivals, those separated by an interval of three days were interconnected and belonged to the same function, accepting an observation already made by Georg Wissowa. In the second half of July the grouping included the two Lucaria on the 19th and 17th, the Neptunalia on the 23rd and the Furrinalia on the 25th. This grouping is devoted to woods and running waters, intended as a shelter and a relief from the heat of the season, the canicula.
The goddess had a sacred spring and a shrine in Rome,[3] located on the South Western slopes of Mount Janiculum, on the right bank of the Tiber. The site has survived to the present day in the form of a grove, included within the gardens of Villa Sciarra. Excavations on the site conducted in 1910 have identified a well and a system of underground channels, as well as some inscriptions dedicated to Jupiter Heliopolitanus, Agatis, and the nymphae furrinae. However these findings look to be of later date (2nd century CE) and perhaps the weell is not the original spring..[4]
Martianus Capella states Furrina is a low ranking deity who has her seat just above the mountain peaks.
According to Cicero another sanctuary dedicated to the cult of Furrina was located near Satricum. This place was not the most widely known one but a hamlet near Arpinum.[5]
Other than this, the only well known fact relevant to Furrina is that Gaius Sempronius Gracchus was killed in the "Grove of Furrina." Her placation was the duty of the Flamen Furrinalis, her feast day being on July 25.
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