she wolf

    Romulus and Remus were kept safe by the river deity Tiberinus, who made the cradle catch in the roots of a fig tree growing in the Velabrum swamp, which therefore has a high symbolic significance. He then brought the infant twins up onto the Palatine Hill. There, they were nursed by a wolf, Lupa in Latin, a designation also used for female prostitutes and for priestesses of a wolf goddess, leading to an alternative theory that the "wolf" was human. They were nurtured underneath a fig-tree and were fed by a woodpecker. Both animals were sacred to Mars.

    Romulus and Remus were then discovered by Faustulus, a shepherd for Amulius, who brought the children to his home. Faustulus and his wife, Acca Larentia, raised the boys as their own.

    In another Roman legend Hercules married Acca Larentia off to the shepherd Faustulus, who saved the lives of the twins Romulus and Remus after they had been thrown into the Tiber. She had twelve sons, and on the death of one of them, Romulus took his place. He and the remaining eleven, founded the college of the Arval brothers Fratres Arvales. Acca Larentia is therefore identified with the Dea Dia of that collegium. The flamen Quirinalis acted in the role of Romulus (deified as Quirinus) to perform funerary rites for his foster mother (as the goddess).
    Another tradition relates that Romulus and Remus were suckled by a wolf, has been explained by the suggestion that Larentia was called lupa (courtesan, literally she-wolf) on account of her immoral character (Livy i. 4; Ovid, Fasti, iii. 55).

    Yet another tradition relates also that Romulus and Remus were nursed by the Wolf-Goddess Lupa or Luperca, who was identified with Acca Larentia, but add that Luperca's husband is the Wolf-and-Shepherd-God Lupercus who brought fertility to the flocks, whose rapport with wolves kept them from harming the sheep.

    The many names associated with Acca Laurentia, are, Acca Larenta, Larentia, Laurentia, Lara, Larunda, Larenta, Larentina, and Mater Larum, the "Mother of the Lares" as well as, Fauna, who had an oracle on the nearby Aventine Hill and was the wife of Faunus, the Bona Dea, Lupa, Luperca, and Dea Dia.

    keyboard shortcuts: ← previous photo → next photo L view in light box F favorite < scroll film strip left > scroll film strip right ? show all shortcuts