Angitia

Or Anguitia, a goddess worshiped by the Marsians and Marrubians, who lived about the shores of the lake Fucinus. She was believed to have been once a being who actually lived in that neighborhood, taught the people remedies against the poison of serpents, and had derived her name from being able to kill serpents by her incantations (from angere or anguis1). According to the account given by Servius, the goddess was of Greek origin, for Angitia, says he, was the name given by the Marrubians to Medea, who after having left Colchis came to Italy with Jason and taught the people the above mentioned remedies. Silius Italicus2 identifies her completely with Medea.

Her name occurs in several inscriptions,3 in one of which she is mentioned along with Angerona, and in another her name appears in the plural form. From a third inscription4 it seems that she had a temple and a treasury belonging to it. The Silvia Angitia between Alba and lake Fucinus derived its name from her.5

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References

Notes

  1. Servius on Virgil's Aeneid vii, 750.
  2. viii, 498 ff.
  3. Orelli, Inscriptiones Latinae, p. 87, No. 116; p. 335, No. 1846.
  4. ibid., p. 87, No. 115.
  5. Solinus, c 2.

Source

  • Smith, William. (1870). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. London: Taylor, Walton, and Maberly.

This article incorporates text from Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) by William Smith, which is in the public domain.