Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898), Larvae

Home Collections/Texts Perseus Catalog Research Grants Open Source About Help

Hide browse bar Your current position in the text is marked in blue. Click anywhere in the line to jump to another position:

This text is part of:

Greek and Roman Materials

View text chunked by:

Larvae

In Roman belief the Larvae, in contrast to the Lares (the good spirits of the departed), were the souls of dead persons who could find no rest, either owing to their own guilt, or from having met with some indignity, such as a violent death. They were supposed to wander abroad in the form of dreadful spectres, skeletons, etc., and especially to strike the living with madness. Similar spectres of the night are the Lemures. To expel them from the house, peculiar expiatory rites were held on three days of the year, the 9th, 11th, and 13th of May, the Lemuria, when all the temples were closed, and marriages avoided.

Harry Thurston Peck. Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. New York. Harper and Brothers. 1898.

The National Endowment for the Humanities provided support for entering this text.

Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar:

Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898)

This text is part of:

View text chunked by:

Table of Contents:

Larvae