LUPERCAL
the cave or grotto at the foot of the Palatine, in which the
she-wolf suckled Romulus and Remus; from it issued a spring (
Dionys.
i. 32, 79; Serv.
Aen. viii. 90, 343;
Vell. i. 15; Ov.
Fasti ii. 380 ff.;
Cic. ad fam. vii. 20). This cave, with the
FICUS RUMINALIS (q.v.), was
undoubtedly at the south-west corner of the hill, very near the point
where the clivus Victoriae joins the vicus Tuscus. It seems to have been
a sanctuary of some sort, and at least it had a monumental entrance, for
its restoration by Augustus is recorded (Mon.
Anc. iv. 2), as well as the
erection of a statue to Drusus by decree of the senate (
CIL vi. 912 b
=31200; WR 561), and it is mentioned as existing in the late empire
(Clem. Alex.
Strom. i. 21. 108. 3; Not. Reg. X). It gave its name to
the Luperci and the Lupercalia (
Liv. i. 5; Ov.
Fast. ii. 421); for the
latter, see A. M. Franklin, The Lupercalia, New York 1921; cf. also
DuP 76).