View source for Acca Larentia

{{short description|Ancient Roman mythological figure}}
{{use dmy dates |date=December 2020}}
[[File:Jacopo della quercia, acca larentia 01.JPG|alt=|thumb|Acca Larentia]]
'''Acca Larentia''' or '''Acca Larentina''' was a mythical woman, later a goddess of fertility, in [[Roman mythology]] whose festival, the [[Larentalia]], was celebrated on 23 December.<ref>{{cite book |last=Jordan |first=Michael |date=1993 |title=Encyclopedia of Gods |pages=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofgo00jord/page/2 2] |quote=over 2,500 deities of the world |place=New York, NY |publisher=Facts on File |isbn=9780816029099 |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofgo00jord |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive}}</ref>

== Myths ==

=== Foster mother ===
In one mythological tradition (that of [[Licinius Macer]], et al.), Acca Larentia was the wife of the shepherd [[Faustulus]].<ref>{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Acca Larentia |volume=1 | page=111 |short=x}}</ref> And after [[Romulus and Remus]] were thrown into the [[Tiber|Tiber river]], Faustulus brought them back to his home, where Acca Larentia would raise the children.<ref name=Monaghan-2010>{{cite book |last=Monaghan |first=Patricia |year=2010 |title=Encyclopedia of Goddesses and Heroines |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |location=Santa Barbara, California |isbn=978-0-313-34989-8}}</ref> She had twelve sons, and on the death of one of them Romulus took his place,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wiseman |first=T.P. |author-link=T. P. Wiseman |title=Myth, History, and Culture in Republican Rome |publisher=Antony Rowe |location=Chippenham |year=2003|isbn=0-85989-662-5}}</ref> and with the remaining eleven founded the college of the Arval brothers ([[Fratres Arvales]]).<ref>{{cite book |author=[[Massurius Sabinus]] |title=[no title cited]}}<br/>{{cite book |author=[[Aulus Gellius]] |title=Attic Nights |at=I. c.}}</ref> She 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.<ref>{{cite book |author=[[Licinius Macer]] |title=apud Macrob. |at=I.e.}}<br/>{{cite book |author=[[Ovid]] |title=[[Fasti]] |at=iii. 55, ff}} ;<br/>{{cite book|author=Pliny|title=Natural History|at=xviii. 2}}</ref>

===Benefactor of Rome===
Another tradition holds that Larentia was a beautiful prostitute (''scortum'') of notorious reputation, roughly the same age as [[Romulus and Remus]], during the reign of [[Ancus Marcius]] in the 7th&nbsp;century BCE. She was awarded to [[Hercules]] as a prize in a game of dice by the guardian of his temple, and locked in it with his other prize, a feast. When the god no longer had need of her, he advised her to marry the first man to proposition her as she stepped out that morning, who turned out to be a wealthy Etruscan named Carutius (or [[Tarutius|Tarrutius]], according to [[Plutarch]]). Larentia later inherited all his property and bequeathed it to the Roman people.<ref name=Monaghan-2010/> Ancus, in gratitude for this, allowed her to be buried in the [[Velabrum]], and instituted an annual festival, the [[Larentalia]], at which sacrifices were offered to the [[Lares (Roman deities)|Lares]].<ref>Compare {{cite book |author=[[Marcus Terentius Varro]] |title=[[De Lingua Latina]] |at=V. p.&nbsp;85}} ¿ed. Bip.?</ref> [[Plutarch]] explicitly states that this Larentia was a different person from the Larentia who was married to Faustulus, although other writers, such as [[Licinius Macer]], relate their stories as belonging to the same individual.<ref>{{cite book |author=[[Macrobius Ambrosius Theodosius]] |title=[[Saturnalia (Macrobius)|Saturnalia]] |at=I. 10}}<br/>{{cite book |author=[[Plutarch]] |chapter=Romulus |title=Quaest. Rom. |at=35:4, 5}}<br/>{{cite book |author=[[Massurius Sabinus]] |title=[no title cited]}}{{full citation needed|date=December 2020}}<br/>{{cite book |author=[[Aulus Gellius]] |title=Attic Nights |at=vi. 7}}<br/>{{cite book |author=[[Valerius Antias]] |title=[no title cited]}}{{full citation needed|date=December 2020}}</ref><ref name="OCD1">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Hornblower |first=Simon |year=1996 |title=Acca Larentia |encyclopedia=[[The Oxford Classical Dictionary]] |page=3 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford, UK}}</ref>

===Prostitute===
Yet another tradition holds that Larentia was neither the wife of Faustulus nor the consort of Hercules, but a courtesan called ''lupa'' by the shepherds. Lupa literally means "[[She-wolf (Roman mythology)|she-wolf]]", although the word colloquially meant "[[prostitute]]". The legend also states that she left the fortune she amassed through prostitution to the Roman people.<ref name=Monaghan-2010/><ref>{{cite book |author=[[Valerius Antias]] |title=Ant. ap. Gell. |at=I. c.}}<br/>{{cite book |author=[[Livy]] |title=History of Rome |at=i. 4.}}</ref>

===Connection to Lares ===
Whatever may be thought of the contradictory accounts of Acca Larentia, it seems clear that she was of [[Etruscan mythology|Etruscan]] origin, thus possibly connected with the worship of the [[Lares]].<ref name=Monaghan-2010/> It is entirely possible her name may be derived from Lares. This relation is also apparent in the number of her sons, which corresponds to that of the twelve country Lares.<ref>{{cite book |author=[[Macrobius Ambrosius Theodosius]] |title=[[Saturnalia (Macrobius)|Saturnalia]] |at=I. c.}}<br/>compare [[Karl Otfried Müller]], ''Die Etrusker'', ii. p. 103, &c.;{{full citation needed|date=December 2020}}<br/>[[:de:Johann Adam Hartung]], ''Die Religion der Römer'' ii. p. 144, &c.{{full citation needed|date=December 2020}}</ref><ref name="DGRBM">{{cite book |last=Schmitz |first=Leonhard |author-link=Leonhard Schmitz |year=1867 |contribution=Acca Larentia |editor-last=Smith |editor-first=William |title=[[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology]] |volume=1 |page=6 |place=Boston, MA |contribution-url=http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0015.html |via=ancientlibrary.com |access-date=21 September 2007 |archive-date=5 April 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070405170239/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0015.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[T. P. Wiseman|Wiseman]] explores the connections among Acca Larentia, Lara, and [[Larunda]] in several of his books.<ref>{{cite book |first=T.P. |last=Wiseman |author-link=T. P. Wiseman |title=Remus: A Roman myth}}{{full citation needed|date=December 2020}}<br/>{{cite book |first=T.P. |last=Wiseman |author-link=T. P. Wiseman |title=The Myths of Rome}}{{full citation needed|date=December 2020}}</ref> Acca Larentia has also been associated with another Roman Goddess named [[Dea Dia]].<ref name=Monaghan-2010/>

==Functions==
Like [[Ceres (Roman mythology)|Ceres]], [[Terra (mythology)|Tellus]], [[Flora (mythology)|Flora]], and others, Acca Larentia symbolized the fertility of the earth, in particular the city lands and their crops. Acca Larentia is also identified with [[Larentina]], [[Mana Genita]], and [[Muta (deity)|Muta]].

==In modern literature==
Acca is a character in [[David Drake]]'s story "To Bring the Light",<ref>{{cite book |first=David |last=Drake |author-link=David Drake |article=To Bring the Light |year=1996 |publisher=[[Baen Books|Baen]] |edition=double |title=Lest Darkness Fall and To Bring the Light}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=David |last=Drake |author-link=David Drake |article=To Bring the Light |year=2011 |edition=anthology |title=[[Lest Darkness Fall and Related Stories]]}}</ref> a reconstruction of Rome's beginnings around 751&nbsp;BCE. She is depicted as a sympathetic village woman in the small shepherd community on [[Palatine Hill]] from which Rome would begin.{{fact|date=September 2025}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{SmithDGRBM|title=Acca Larentia}}

== External links ==

* {{cite Q|Q115282732|editor1=Henry Gardiner Adams}}<!-- [[s:A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Acca, or Arca-Laurentia]] -->

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[[Category:8th century BC in the Roman Kingdom]]
[[Category:Characters in Roman mythology]]
[[Category:Roman goddesses]]
[[Category:Agricultural goddesses]]
[[Category:Ancient Roman courtesans]]
[[Category:Mythological Italian people]]