EGERIA  , an

ancient Italian goddess of springs . Two distinct localities were regarded as sacred to her,—the grove of Diana Nemorensis at Aricia, and a spring in the immediate neighbour-hood of Rome at the Porta Capena . She derives her chief importance from her legendary connexion with King Numa, who had frequent interviews with her and consulted her in regard to his religious legislation (Livy i . 19; Juvenal iii . 12) . These meetings took place on the spot where the sacred shield had fallen from heaven, and here Numa dedicated a grove to-the Camenae, like Egeria deities of springs . After the death of Numa, Egeria was said to have fled into the grove of Aricia, where she was changed into a spring for having interrupted the rites of Diana by her lamentations (Ovid, Metam. xv . 479) . At Aricia there was also a Manius Egerius, a male counterpart of Egeria . Her connexion with Diana Nemorensis, herself a birth goddess, is confirmed by the fact that her aid was invoked by pregnant women . She also possessed the gift of prophecy; and the statement (Dion . Halic. ii .

6o) that she was one of the

Muses is due to her connexion with the Camenae, whose worship was displaced by them .