Lucina (goddess)

In ancient Roman religion and myth, Lucina was the goddess of childbirth who safeguarded the lives of women in labour. Lucina was also an epithet for Juno. The name was generally taken to mean "she who brings children into the light" (Latin: lux, lucis, "light"), but may actually have been derived from lucus ("grove") after a sacred grove of lotus trees on the Esquiline Hill associated with the goddess, later the site of her temple. Her Greek equivalent was Eileithyia.

Lucina was chief among a number of deities who influenced or guided every aspect of birth and child development, such as Vagitanus, who opened the newborn's mouth to cry, and Fabulinus, who enabled the child's first articulate speech. The collective di nixi were birth goddesses, and had an altar in the Campus Martius.

The asteroid 146 Lucina and the extinct species of ostracod Luprisca incuba are named after the goddess.^[1]

See also

• List of Roman birth and childhood deities

References

Ancient Roman religion and mythology
Deities	Apollo Bellona Bona Dea Castor and Pollux Ceres Cupid Diana Dīs Pater Fauna Faunus Flora Genius Hercules Janus Juno Jupiter Lares Liber Libertas Lucina Mars Mercury Minerva Orcus Neptune Penates Pluto Pomona Priapus Proserpina Quirinus Saturn Silvanus Sol Venus Vesta Vulcan
Abstract deities	Abundantia Aequitas Concordia Fides Fortuna Pietas Roma Salus Securitas Spes Victoria Terra
Legendary figures	Aeneas Rhea Silvia Romulus and Remus Numa Pompilius Tullus Hostilius Servius Tullius Ancus Marcius Lucius Tarquinius Priscus Lucius Tarquinius Superbus
Texts	Vergil Aeneid Ovid Metamorphoses Fasti Propertius Apuleius The Golden Ass Varro
Concepts and practices	Religion in ancient Rome Festivals Interpretatio graeca Imperial cult Temples
See also	Glossary of ancient Roman religion Greek mythology Myth and ritual Classical mythology Conversion to Christianity Decline of Greco-Roman polytheism