In Roman mythology, Mefitis (or Mephitis; Mefite in Italian) was a minor goddess of the poisonous gases emitted from the ground in swamps and volcanic vapors.
Mefitis was the Samnite and Oscian goddess of the foul-smelling gases of the earth, worshipped in central and southern Italy since before Roman times, with her main shrine at the volcano Ampsanctus in Samnium.
There were temples dedicated to her in Cremona and on the Esquiline Hill in Rome. It is theorized that Mefitis was originally a goddess of underground sources, such as natural springs— the fact that many of these springs were sulfurous led to her association with noxious gases. She is almost always identified with volcanoes, having been worshipped at Pompeii. Her name, which likely means "one who smokes in the middle", is sometimes spelled Mephitis. The connection with subterranean spaces also links her with Chthonic deities.[1][2]
Foul-smelling geological fissures connected to the divinity (see below) are located in Italy along the Via Appia between Rome and Brindisi. There, the ancient Romans would rest on their travels and pay homage to the goddess by performing animal sacrifices using the fissure's deadly gases.[3] Many clay votive statuettes and other objects found in the Ansanto valley depict wild boars, perhaps indicating that these animals were particularly sacred to the goddess.[4] It has been proposed that Mefitis' shrines were associated with healing through adjacent sulphuric springs.[2]
Today, it lies near the village of Rocca San Felice in the province of Avellino (Campania region).[5]
Virgil describes this sanctuary in the Aeneid:
In midst of Italy, well known to fame,
There lies a lake (Amsanctus is the name) Below the lofty mounts: on either side Thick forests the forbidden entrance hide. Full in the center of the sacred wood An arm arises of the Stygian flood, Which, breaking from beneath with bellowing sound, Whirls the black waves and rattling stones around. Here Pluto pants for breath from out his cell,
And opens wide the grinning jaws of hell.
— Book VII, lines 563–570
Varro mentions a Grove of Mefitis on the Esquiline,[6] where the women-only festival of Matralia was celebrated on the 1st of March.[7] Nearby altars to Mala Fortuna, the aspect of the goddess Fortuna associated with misfortune, and Febris, the goddess of fevers, seem to indicate that the air in this part of Rome was considered unwholesome.[8]
At Rossano di Vaglio there was a sanctuary dedicated to the goddess.[1] Reconstructions of the settlement and the sanctuary are in the Museo delle Antiche Genti. Finds from this site link Mefitis with Mamers,[1] a fertility god worshipped by the Osci since pre-Roman times and thought to be a variant of Mars. Mirabella Eclano (Irpinia) was the site of another sanctuary. An inscription on the wall of the House of the Great Fountain in Pompeii mentions a festival celebrating Mefitis, organized by the gens Mamia.[1]
Mefitis was, like Cloacina, sometimes seen as an aspect of Venus. Other deities associated with sulfur springs, and hence with Mefitis, were Albunea and the Greek goddess Leucothea.
The etymology of the name Mefitis is controversial, but according to the Italian linguist Alberto Manco, the system of the epithets that identified the goddess from place to place would prove her relationship with a water-based dimension.[9] Many hypotheses have been put forward concerning the etymology of the name of the goddess. Poccetti suggested the derivation from the words "medhio-dhuīhtis" means “that which burns within”[3]
"Mephitic", derived from Mefitis, is now an adjective in the English language meaning "offensive in odour"; "noxious"; and "poisonous". In Italian, a mefite is also a solfatara or fumarole (i.e., a gaseous fissure).
The name of the family of animals Mephitidae (mephitids, or skunks and their kin) and of the genus Mephitis (skunks of North and Central America) are both related to mephitic, so named for the noxious secretions of their scent glands.
