לונה لونا Luna (goddess) lecti).[9] In this list, Luna is distinguished from both Diana and Juno, who also appear on it. The Romans dated the cultivation of Luna as a goddess at Rome to the semi-legendary days of the kings. Titus Tatius was supposed to have imported the cult of Luna to Rome from the Sabines,[10] but Servius Tullius was credited with the creation of her temple on the Aventine Hill, just below a temple of Diana.[11] The anniversary of the temple founding (dies natalis) was celebrated annu- ally on March 31.[12] It first appears in Roman literature Ox-drawn biga of Luna on the Parabiago plate (ca. 2nd–5th in the story of how in 182 BC a windstorm of exceptional centuries AD) power blew off its doors, which crashed into the Tem- ple of Ceres below it on the slope.[13] In 84 BC, it was In ancient Roman religion and myth, Luna is the di- struck by lightning, the same day the popularist leader [14] vine embodiment of the Moon (Latin luna; cf. English Cinna was murdered by his troops. The Aventine tem- “lunar”). She is often presented as the female comple- ple may have been destroyed by the Great Fire of Rome [15] ment of the Sun (Sol) conceived of as a god. Luna is during the reign of Nero. also sometimes represented as an aspect of the Roman As Noctiluna (“Night-Shiner”) Luna had a temple on the triple goddess (diva triformis), along with Proserpina and Palatine Hill, which Varro described as shining or glow- Hecate. Luna is not always a distinct goddess, but some- ing by night. Nothing else is known about the temple, and times rather an epithet that specializes a goddess, since it is unclear what Varro meant.[16] both Diana and Juno are identified as moon goddesses.[1] In Roman art, Luna’s attributes are the crescent moon and the two-yoke chariot (biga). In the Carmen Saec- 2 Juno as moon goddess ulare, performed in 17 BC, Horace invokes her as the “two-horned queen of the stars” (siderum regina bicor- nis), bidding her to listen to the girls singing as Apollo The Kalends of every month, when according to the lunar listens to the boys.[2] calendar the new moon occurred, was sacred to Juno, as all Ides were to Jupiter.[17] On the Nones, she was hon- Varro categorized Luna and Sol among the visible gods, ored as Juno Covella, Juno of the crescent moon.[18] Both as distinguished from invisible gods such as Neptune, Juno and Diana were invoked as childbirth goddesses [3] and deified mortals such as Hercules. She was one of with the epithet Lucina.[19] the deities Macrobius proposed as the secret tutelary of Rome.[4] In Imperial cult, Sol and Luna can represent the extent of Roman rule over the world, with the aim of guaranteeing peace.[5] 3 Chariot of the moon Luna’s Greek counterpart was Selene. In Roman art and literature, myths of Selene are adapted under the name of Luna. The myth of Endymion, for instance, was a popular subject for Roman wall painting.[6] 1 Cult and temples Varro lists Luna among twelve deities who are vital to agriculture,[7] as does Vergil in a different list of twelve, in which he refers to Luna and Sol as clarissima mundi lumina, the world’s clearest sources of light.[8] Varro also lists Luna among twenty principal gods of Rome (di se- In this relief depicting a Mithraic tauroctony, Luna drives 1 2 6 EXTERNAL LINKS a biga drawn by oxen (right), while the Sun drives a [3] Varro, frg. 23 (Cardauns) = Tertullian, Ad nationes horse-drawn quadriga (left) 2.2.14–2-; Attilio Mastrocinque, “Creating One’s Own Religion: Intellectual Choices,” in A Companion to Ro- man Religion, p. 383. [4] Jörg Rüpke, Religion of the Romans, p. 133. [5] William Van Andringa, “Religion and the Integration of Cities in the Empire in the Second Century AD: The Cre- ation of a Common Religious Language,” in A Companion to Roman Religion (Blackwell, 2007), p. 94. [6] Annemarie Kaufmann-Heinimann, “Religion in the House,” in A Companion to Roman Religion, p. 188. [7] Varro, De re rustica 1.1.4–6. [8] Vergil, Georgics 1.5–25. [9] Varro, as preserved by Augustine of Hippo, De Civitate Luna (top right corner) paired with the Sun (top left) in Dei 7.2. another depiction of the tauroctony [10] Varro, De lingua latina 5.74; Dionysius of Halicarnassus 2.50.3. Luna is often depicted driving a two-yoke chariot (biga), [11] Orosius 5.12.3–10; De Vir. Ill. 65; Lawrence Richardson, drawn by horses or oxen. In Roman art, the charioteer A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome (Johns Luna is regularly paired with the Sun driving a four-horse Hopkins University Press, 1992), p. 238. chariot (quadriga). [12] Ovid, Fasti 3.883–84; Richardson, A New Topographical Isidore of Seville explains that the quadriga represents Dictionary, p. 238. the sun’s course through the four seasons, while the biga represents the moon, “because it travels on a twin course [13] Livy 40.2.2; Richardson, A New Topographical Dictio- with the sun, or because it is visible both by day and by nary, p. 238. night—for they yoke together one black horse and one [14] Appian, Bellum Civile 1.78. white.”[20] [15] Tacitus, Annales 15.41; Richardson, A New Topographi- Luna in her biga was an element of Mithraic iconography, cal Dictionary, p. 238. usually in the context of the tauroctony. In the mithraeum of S. Maria Capua Vetere, a wall painting that uniquely [16] Varro, De lingua latina 5.68; Richardson, A New Topo- graphical Dictionary, p. 238. focuses on Luna alone shows one of the horses of the team as light in color, with the other a dark brown.[21] [17] Green, Roman Religion and the Cult of Diana, p. 73. A biga of oxen was also driven by Hecate, the chthonic [18] Varro, De lingua latina 6.27. aspect of the triple goddess in complement with the [19] Green, Roman Religion and the Cult of Diana, p. 73. “horned” or crescent-crowned Diana and Luna.[22] The three-form Hecate (trimorphos) was identified by Servius [20] Isidore, Etymologies 18.26, as translated by Stephen A. with Luna, Diana, and Proserpina.[23] According to the Barney et al., The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville (Cam- Archaic Greek poet Hesiod, Hecate originally had power bridge University Press, 2006), p. 368 online. over the heavens, land, and sea, not as in the later tradition [21] M.J. Vermaseren, Mithraica I: The Mithraeum at S. Maria [24] heaven, earth, and underworld. Capua Vetere (Brill, 1971), pp–15. 14; Plato, Phaedrus 246. [22] Prudentius, Contra Symmachum 733 (Migne); Friedrich 4 See also Solmsen, “The Powers of Darkness in Prudentius’ Contra Symmachum: A Study of His Poetic Imagination,” Vig- iliae Christianae 19.4 (1965), p. 248. • List of Roman deities [23] Servius, note to Aeneid 6.118. [24] Hesiod, Theogony 413f. 5 References 6 External links [1] C.M.C. Green, Roman Religion and the Cult of Diana at Aricia (Cambridge University Press, 2007), p. 73. Media related to Luna (mythology) at Wikimedia Com- [2] Horace, Carmen Saeculare, lines 33–36. mons 3 7 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses 7.1 Text • Luna (goddess) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna%20(goddess)?oldid=617947606 Contributors: Tucci528, RussBot, Cynwolfe, Cgingold, Addbot, BlazerKnight, Bob Burkhardt, Omnipaedista, Thehelpfulbot, Viciroth, ClueBot NG, KLBot2, ChrisGualtieri and Anonymous: 5 7.2 Images • File:MithrasIMG_5341.JPG Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/MithrasIMG_5341.JPG License: GFDL Contributors: Original artist: Cristian Chirita • File:Mithras_tauroctony_Louvre_Ma3441.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/Mithras_tauroctony_ Louvre_Ma3441.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: Jastrow • File:Patera_di_Parabiago_-_MI_-_Museo_archeologico_-_Diana_-_Luna_-_25-7-2003_-_Foto_Giovanni_Dall'Orto_-_ 25-7-2003.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/Patera_di_Parabiago_-_MI_-_Museo_archeologico_-_ Diana_-_Luna_-_25-7-2003_-_Foto_Giovanni_Dall%27Orto_-_25-7-2003.jpg License: Attribution Contributors: Own work Original artist: Giovanni Dall'Orto 7.3 Content license • Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 luna - Wiktionary https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/luna#Latin luna Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary See also: Luna , lun ă, lunã , lúna , łuna and łúna Contents 1 English 1.1 Etymology 1 1.1.1 Pronunciation 1.1.2 Noun 1.1.2.1 Synonyms 1.2 Etymology 2 1.2.1 Noun 1.2.2 Usage notes 1.3 Anagrams 1.4 References 2 Czech 2.1 Etymology 2.2 Noun 2.2.1 Synonyms 2.2.2 Related terms 3 Esperanto 3.1 Pronunciation 3.2 Adjective 4 Interlingua 4.1 Noun 5 Italian 5.1 Etymology 5.2 Pronunciation 5.3 Noun 5.3.1 Related terms 5.4 Anagrams 6 Latin 6.1 Etymology 6.2 Pronunciation 6.3 Noun 6.3.1 Inflection 6.3.2 Derived terms 6.3.3 Descendants 6.3.4 See also 7 Neapolitan 7.1 Etymology 7.2 Pronunciation 7.3 Noun 8 Occitan 8.1 Alternative forms 8.2 Etymology 8.3 Pronunciation 8.4 Noun 9 Polish 9.1 Etymology 9.2 Noun 9.2.1 Declension 9.2.2 Derived terms 10 Romanian 10.1 Noun 11 Serbo-Croatian 11.1 Etymology 11.2 Pronunciation 11.3 Noun 11.3.1 Synonyms 12 Sicilian 12.1 Etymology 12.2 Pronunciation 12.3 Noun 12.3.1 Derived terms 1 of 8 12/15/2014 12:18 AM luna - Wiktionary https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/luna#Latin 13 Slovak 13.1 Etymology 13.2 Pronunciation 13.3 Noun 13.3.1 Declension 13.3.2 Synonyms 13.3.3 Derived terms 14 Slovene 14.1 Etymology 14.2 Pronunciation 14.3 Noun 14.3.1 Declension 14.3.2 Synonyms 14.3.3 See also 15 Spanish 15.1 Etymology 15.2 Pronunciation 15.3 Noun 15.3.1 Derived terms English Etymology 1 WOTD – 28 December 2012 Borrowed from Latin lūna (“moon; month; crescent”).