Juturna

The nymph of a well in Latium, famous for its excellent healing qualities. Its water was used in nearly all sacrifices,1 and a chapel was dedicated to its nymph at Rome in the Campus Martius by Lutatius Catulus; sacrifices were offered to her on the 11th of January both by the state and private persons.2 A pond in the Forum, between the temples of Castor and Vesta, was called Lacus Juturnae, whence we must infer that the name of the nymph Juturna is not connected with jugis, but probably with juvare. She is said to have been beloved by Jupiter, who rewarded her with immortality and the rule over the waters.3

Arnobius4 calls her the wife of Janus and mother of Fontus, but in the Aeneid she appears as the affectionate sister of Turnus.

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References

Notes

  1. Servius on Virgil's Aeneid xii, 139; Varro. On the Latin Language v, 71.
  2. Ovid. Fasti i, 463; Servius, l.c.
  3. Virgil. Aeneid xii, 140, 878; Ovid. Fasti ii, 585, 606;
  4. iii, 29.

Sources

  • Hartung, J.A. Die Religion der Römer. Vol. 2, p. p. 101 ff.
  • 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.