Cardea

Cardea is the hinge. Ovid tells her story in the sixth book of the Fasti: a nymph pursued by Janus who gave her, in compensation, power over the hinge, and with it the ability to keep out what comes in at night — specifically the striges, the bird-shaped things that were believed to feed on infants. The remedy is whitethorn laid at the window. She belongs with Forculus and Limentinus in a threefold division of the doorway that later Christian writers found ridiculous and that the Romans found simply thorough: a door has a leaf, a hinge and a threshold, and each of them is a place where something might get in.

Domains

• boundary
• household protection

Relations

• ally: ForculusOne of the three powers of the doorway with Forculus and Limentinus: the leaf, the hinge and the threshold.Reference treatment of the Roman division of the doorway among Forculus, Cardea and Limentinus. (secondary)
• ally: LimentinusOne of the three powers of the doorway with Forculus and Limentinus.Reference treatment of the Roman division of the doorway. (secondary)

Sources

• Cardea is the Roman goddess of the door hinge, invoked to keep night-creatures from an infant's room; Ovid gives her rite of whitethorn at the threshold.: Ovid, Fasti 6, on Cardea, the hinge, and the whitethorn rite. (primary); Reference treatment of the threefold division of the Roman doorway. (secondary)