IUNO LUCINA, AEDES
(
θησαυρός Dionys.):
a temple built in 375 B.C.
(Plin.
NH xvi. 235) in a grove (lucus) that had been consecrated to the
goddess from very early times (Varro,
LL v. 49, 74, who assigns the
introduction of the cult to Titus Tatius;
Dionys. iv. 15). It was on the
Cispius, near the sixth shrine of the Argei (Varro,
LL v. 50; Ov.
Fast.
ii. 435-436;
iii. 245-246), probably not far west of S. Prassede and
just north-west of the Torre Cantarelli, in which neighbourhood inscrip.
tions relating to the cult have been found (
CIL vi. 356-361, 3694-3695,
30199;
BC 1888, 394;
1889, 40;
Mitt. 1889, 281). The grove probably
extended down the slope southwards from the temple (
BC 1905, 204-209),
and in 41 B.C. a quaestor, Q. Pedius, either built or restored a wall (
CIL
vi. 358:
locavit. . . murum lunoni Lucinae .. eidemque probavit),
which seems to have surrounded both. Servius Tullius is said to have
ordered the gifts for new-born children to be placed in the treasury of
this temple (
Dionys. iv. 15:
ἐς τὸν τῆς εἰλειθυίας θησαυρὸν ἣν ῾ρωμαῖαι καλοῦσιϝ ῞Ηραϝ Φωσφορον), so that there may have been a shrine of some
sort before that built in 375. In 190 B.C. the temple was struck by
lightning, and its gable and doors injured (
Liv. xxxvii. 3. 2). The annual
festival of the Matronalia was celebrated here on Ist March (Fest. 147;
Ov.
Fast. iii. 247; Hemer. Praenest. ad Kal. Mart., CIL iS. p. 310), the
day of dedication of the temple. It continued to exist during the empire,
as is shown by inscriptions (HJ 333-334;
Gilb. i. 174, 228;
iii. 357;
Rosch. ii. 602; WR 183; DEii. 2161-2162; REx. 1116).