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Roman Goddesses - L
Lara
Lara is a nymph who betrayed the love affair of Jupiter and Juturna. As
punishment, she was stricken with dumbness. She is regarded as the mother
of the Lares.
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Larenta
The Roman earth-goddess, also called Dea Tacita, the silent goddess. Her
festival, called the Larentalia, was observed on December 23. On this
day offerings were brought to her in a mundus, a opened groove.
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Latona
The Roman name of Leto. She functioned as a fertility deity, known as
the hidden and bright one, and her name came to be used for the moon Selene.
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Laverna
The Roman goddess of unlawfully obtained profits and therefore a goddess
of thieves, trickery, imposters and frauds. Her sanctuary in Rome was
near the Porta Lavernalis. She is remembered in Tuscan witch lore - see
Leland's Aradia, pp. 89-98. |
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Lavinia
The daughter of Latinus and Amata. Although she was engaged to Turnus,
king of the Rutuli, she was given by her father to Aeneas as his bride.
This resulted in a grim battle between Turnus and Aeneas, which is described
by Virgil in one of his last books of the epic 'Aeneas', and which ended
with the death of Turnus. Aeneas married Lavinia and she gave birth to
Silvius. The city Aeneas founded in Latium, called Lavinium, was named
after her.
Libera
A Roman goddess, wife of Liber ("The Free One", the old-Italian
god of fertility and growth in nature who in later times was equated with
Dionysus and thus became a god of viniculture) Their festival, the Liberia,
was observed on March 17. Libera was later equated with Proserpina.
Libertas
The Roman goddess of freedom. Originally as goddess of personal freedom,
she later became the goddess of the Roman commonwealth. She had temples
on the Aventine Hill and the Forum. Libertas was depicted on many Roman
coins as a female figure with a pileus (a felt cap, worn by slaves when
they were set free), a wreath of laurels and a spear.
Libitina
The Roman goddess of corpses and of the funeral, her name was often used
as a synonym for death itself. In her temple all the necessary equipment
for burials were kept. Here, people could rent these attributes as well
as grave diggers. Libitina was later equated with Proserpina.
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Lima
The Roman goddess of thresholds.
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Lua
The goddess to whom the Romans offered captured weapons by ritually burning
them.
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Lucina
Originally a Roman Goddess who represented light and birth, Lucina merged
with Juno thus becoming Juno-Lucina. In later years, she evolved into
St. Lucia and is still celebrated in Scandinavia on December 13th, represented
by a woman wearing a crown of candles, symbolizing the return of the light.
As Juno-Lucina, the ladybug and the cuckoo were her symbols. She eased
the pain of childbirth and made sure all went well. Lucina became later
an epithet of Juno, as "she who brings children into the light"
(Latin: lux).
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Luna
The personified goddess of the moon. Later she would be identified with
Diana and with Hecate. Her temple, on the Aventine Hill, was erected in
the 6th century BCE but was destroyed by the great fire under Nero's regime.
She is equivalent to the Greek Selene.
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Lupina
The she wolf goddess, Lupina and her adopted sons, the twin brothers
Romulus and Remus, who founded Rome. Their wolf surrogate mother symbolizes
freedom from society's constraints.
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