Libitina, also LibentinaorLubentina, is an ancient Roman goddessoffunerals and burial. Her name was used as a metonymy for death,[1] and undertakers were known as libitinarii.[2] Libitina was associated with Venus, and the name appears in some authors as an epithet of Venus.[3]
The grove (lucus) of Libitina was located on the Esquiline Hill,[4] as were several religious sites indicating that the area had "unhealthy and ill-omened" associations.[5] A public cemetery was located outside the Esquiline Gate, in the Campus Esquilinus.[6] A temple of Venus in the grove of Libitina celebrated its founding anniversary August 19, the day of the Vinalia Rustica.[7] When a person died, the treasury of the temple collected a coin as a "death tax" supposed to have been established by Servius Tullius.[8] During a plague in 65 AD, 30,000 deaths were recorded at the temple.[9] Livy notes two occasions when the death toll exceeded Libitina's capacity.[10] A panel (collegium) of funeral directors (dissignatores) was based in the grove of Libitina.[11]
Libitina is sometimes regarded as Etruscan in origin.[12] The name is perhaps derived from Etruscan lupu-, "to die."[13] Varro, however, offers a Latin etymology from lubere, "to be pleasing," related to libido, that attempts to explain the goddess's connection to Venus.[14] Venus LubentinaorLibitina may result from an identification with the Etruscan Alpanu (also as Alpan or Alpnu) who had characteristics of both a love goddess and an underworld deity. The Etruscan formula alpan turce is equivalent to libens dedit, "gave freely or willingly," in Latin.[15]
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