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Murcia was a little-known goddess in ancient Rome. Her name occurs as an epithet of Venus.[2]
According to Livy[3] she had a temple at the foot of the Aventine Hill near to the Palatine Hill. Murcus is said to have been an old name for the Aventine Hill itself;[4] hence the adjective murtius (= murcius) was applied to the turning-posts of the Circus Maximus, which was also situated in a valley between the Aventine and the Palatine Hills.[5]
The name Murcia was linked to the name of the myrtle tree (Latin myrtus) by folk etymology; hence the spellings Murtia and Murtea. This association with myrtle, which was a sign of Venus, led to her naming as "Venus of the Myrtles".[6][7] Christian writers, in their turn, connected Murcia with the adjective murcus or murcidus "lazy, inactive", thus interpreting her as a "goddess of sloth and laziness".[8][9]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Humphrey 1986, p. 95.
- ^ Smith, William. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology
- ^ Livy, Ab urbe condita, 1:33
- ^ Paulus Diaconus, Epitoma Festi, p. 148M
- ^ Apuleius, Metamorphoses, 6. 8
- ^ Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia, XV. 36
- ^ Plutarch, Quaestiones Romanae, 20
- ^ Augustine, De civitate Dei, IV. 16
- ^ Arnobius, Adversus Nationes, IV. 9
Sources
edit- Humphrey, John H. (1986). Roman Circuses: Arenas for Chariot Racing. University of California Press.
External links
edit
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