Luna

"Moon." The moon. The sun and the moon were worshiped both by Greeks and Romans, and among the latter the worship of Luna is said to have been introduced by the Sabine T. Tatius, in the time of Romulus.1 But, however this may be, it is certain, notwithstanding the assertion of Varro that Sol and Luna were reckoned among the great gods, that their worship never occupied any prominent place in the religion of the Romans, for the two divinities had between them only a small chapel in the Via Sacra.2 Luna, on account of her greater influence upon the Roman mode of calculating time, seems to have been revered even more highly than Sol, for there was a considerable temple of her on the Aventine, the building of which was ascribed to Servius Tullius3 A second sanctuary of Luna existed on the Capitol, and a third on the Palatine, where she was worshiped under the name of Noctiluca, and where her temple was lighted up every night.4 Further particulars concerning her worship are not known.

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References

Notes

  1. Varro. On the Latin Language v, 74; Dionysius of Halicarnassus. Roman Antiquities ii, 50.
  2. Sextus Rufus. De Regionibus Urbis Romae iv.
  3. Ovid. Fasti iii, 883; Tacitus. Annales xv, 41; P. Victor. De Regionibus Urbis Romae xiii.
  4. Varro. On the Latin Language v, 68; Horace. Carmina iv, 6.38.

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.