Erycina

"Venus from Eryx." A surname of Venus as originating from Mount Eryx in western Sicily. A temple of Venus Erycina was located near the Porta Collina. As the embodiment of "impure love," she was also the patron goddess of prostitutes (meretrices), who were excluded from the worship of the goddess on the Capitoline Hill.

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References

Sources

  • Livy. The History of Rome xxii, 10.
  • Servius on Virgil's Aeneid v, 760.
  • Strabo. Geography vi, 2.