Acca Larentia

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Acca Larentia with Romulus and Remus (Fonte Gaia, Siena )

Acca Larentia (also Larenta or Larentina ) is a goddess of early Roman times. Their holiday, Larentalia , was December 23rd .

myth

The myth of Acca Larentia has come down to us in two completely different versions: one version is the prostitute of Hercules and wife of Tarutius, the other the wife of the shepherd Faustulus and foster mother of the twins Romulus and Remus .

Acca Larentia as the prostitute of Hercules

According to the first version, Aedituus , the temple keeper of Hercules, was bored one night and asked the god to play a game of dice . The winner was to receive a meal and a girl as a prize. The temple keeper throws once for himself, once for Heracles, loses and prepares a meal in the temple, invites Acca Larentia (nicknamed Fabula , for example "chatterbox"), the most beautiful courtesan in the city, and leaves her alone in the temple at night. In fact, God is said to have enjoyed her and promised her as a reward the first man she would meet at the forum the next morning. This man was the Etruscan Tarutius, older and childless, but very wealthy. Larentia married him and after his death inherited his property, which she bequeathed to the Roman people. She allegedly disappeared at a place called Velabrum . At this point the dead sacrifice was donated to her every year by the Flemings of Quirinus .

This version has been handed down by Cato and Plutarch , among others .

Acca Larentia as Faustulus' wife

Faustulus brings Romulus and Remus to his wife ( Nicolas Mignard , 1654)

According to another version, Acca Larentia is said to have been the wife of the shepherd Faustulus . She was the mother of twelve sons and foster mother of Romulus , who with his adoptive brothers (after the death of the twelfth) formed the college of the "Flurbrüder" ( Fratres Arvales ), whose badge was a wreath of ears and the white band.

This version of the story goes by Mommsen to Licinius Macer back, the so the saga of the Capitoline Wolf wanted to explain. According to this, the twins Romulus and Remus only survived because they were suckled by a she-wolf. In order to free Roman history from legendary elements such as suckling she-wolfs, Macer resorted to the fact that in Latin lupa not only means "she-wolf", but also "prostitute". The originally nameless wife of Faustulus and nurse of the twins would have been mixed up with the courtesan Acca Larentia and the honorable nurse would have become at least a former prostitute.

Modern interpretations then tried to relate Acca Larentia to Mater Larum , the mother of the Lares , or to identify them.

literature

Web links

Commons : Acca Larentia  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ With Gellius she makes Romulus an heir. According to Macrobius, however, she lived at the time of Ancus Marcius .
  2. ↑ D. h. Instead of dying, “disappearance” is used, as with Romulus, according to Mommsen.
  3. ↑ Aulus Gellius Noctes Atticae 7,7,5-7
  4. ↑ Cato fr. 9 Peter. Plutarch Romulus 4,3; 5; Quaestiones Romanae 35. Macrobius Convivia primi diei Saturnaliorum 1,10,11-16. Aulus Gellius Noctes Atticae 7,7,5-7. Laktanz Divinae institutiones 1,20,5. Tertullian Ad natione s 2.10. Augustine De civitate dei 6.7
  5. ↑ Aulus Gellius Noctes Atticae 7,7,8. Pliny Naturalis historia 18.2.