Ancient legends of Roman history (1905) (14774184371)

Identifier: ancientlegendsof00pais (find matches)
Title: Ancient legends of Roman history
Year: 1905 (1900s)
Authors: Pais, Ettore, 1856-1939 Cosenza, Mario Emilio, 1880-1966, tr
Subjects:
Publisher: New York, Dodd, Mead & Company
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress



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.The cult of the latter (as we are explicitly told by theauthors) was located at the end of the Nova Via, and atthe foot of the Velabrum. In other words, it was situatedby the side of the Porta Romanula and of the Lupercal,—in the region within which were worshipped the divinitiesVolusia and Angerona.35 This mingling of cults is notsurprising; for both Angerona and Acca Larentia werechthonic deities connected with the death of the Sun. Theformer, indeed, was represented with closed lips as thegoddess of Death and of Silence. Her image, ore obligatoatque signato, stood in the sacellum of the goddess Volusia,which was near the Porta Romanula, the Lupercal and thesepulchre of Acca Larentia. This fact naturally explainswhy some should have thought that Angerona kept secretthe unknown name of the city of Rome,—a name which itwas not permitted to pronounce nor even divulge.36 The Pompeian fresco, then, rather than representing acreation of the artist, offers us topographical data of the
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THE ORIGINS OF ROME 53 highest importance. It is incumbent upon us, consequently,to endeavor to determine more exactly the identity of thetwo divinities in the lower corners of the painting. We have already seen that one of these figures representsa nympha Tiberina; and that the female figure accompaniedby Mercury is the goddess Lala or Acca Larentia. Thehypothesis consequently suggests itself that the nymphaTiberina is the sister of Acca Larentia,—namely, the nymphJuturna. It is, however, more difficult to establish the identity ofthe divinity which is represented upon a pedestal withina niche, and which is by the side of the group of the wolfwith the Twins. We must immediately declare that it wouldbe the height of folly to insist on any precise determina-tions. For, near the Lupercal, too, there was a statue rep-resenting the ancestress of the Cincii and of the Servilii,who was by some considered the mother of Romulus.37 Onthe other hand, we must recognize that the statue repre-se