Acca Larentia (1)
Publié le 22/02/2012
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(Acca Laurentia) Roman
A minor divinity, perhaps originating in Etruria,
honored in Rome during the annual festival of the
Laurentalia, held on December 23. Known commonly
as Larentia, this goddess appeared to have
an association with the world of the dead and the
early role of the Lares, guardian spirits of the dead.
Scholars studying Roman writers agree that the god
existed first and then, as Roman culture developed,
stories grew up around Acca Larentia to explain her
role in their culture.
The oldest stories say that Larentia was the wife
of the shepherd Faustulus, who found and brought
to her the twins Romulus and Remus, so that she
could nurse them and raise them as her own. She was
also believed to have been a prostitute who changed
her life and became revered as a saint, for the root
of her name, lupa, means both she-wolf and whore.
Through these similarities, it became convenient to
connect this ancient goddess with the mythology surrounding
these prominent twins, who, sons of Mars,
were rescued by a she-wolf from the Tiber River and
went on to found Rome.