LARENTALIA. - A festival of the Roman religion which the oldest calendar already fixes on 23 December. On that date a rite of a funerary character took place at the Velabrum, celebrated by the flamen Quirinalis. The most precise location of the rite is indicated as the tomb of Acca Larentia (v.), known from Roman legendary tradition as the nurse of the founders of Rome. According to another legend, Acca Larentia was a prostitute who, having grown rich with the help of Hercules, left her property to the Roman state. The public festival unanimously attributed to this fi-

legendary figure, proves that she had originally been a divinity, whose precise memory had already been lost from public consciousness in the times when our historical documentation begins.

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: W. Warde Fowler, Roman festivals, London 1899, p. 275 ff.; G. Wissowa, Religion und Kultus der Römer, 2nd ed., Munich 1912, p. 233 ff.; E. Tabeling, Mater Larum, Frankfurt am Main 1932, p. 39 ff.

Angelo Brelich

@incollection{ec7_larentalia, author = {Brelich, Angelo}, title = {Larentalia}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VII}, pages = {917--918}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1951}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/larentalia} }

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