LUCARIE. — In the most ancient Roman festive calendar, two days separated by the shortest possible interval (19 and 21 July) appear under the name L. Nothing is known of the deity to which the double festival was dedicated, nor of the rite celebrated; only the place of celebration is known: a locus (sacred grove) between the Via Salaria and the Tiber. The etiologic legend connected the festival with the Gallic invasion (though the festival is older): the survivors of the battle of Allia would have taken refuge in that grove (18 July is the dies Allienis). Immediately after the Lucaria come the Neptunalia.
BIBL.: W. Warde Fowler, The roman festivals, London 1899, pp. 182 ff.; G. Wissowa, Religion und Kultus der Römer, 2nd ed., Munich 1912, p. 225; Schur, Lucaria, in Pauly-Wissowa, XIII, col. 1553.