Editing Luna (goddess)

{{Short description|Roman goddess of the Moon}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2024}}
{{Infobox deity
| type = Roman
| name = Luna
| god_of = Goddess of the Moon
| image = File:Luna-MAHG MF 1317-P8050445-gradient.jpg
| caption = Luna ''(AD 150–200,<br />Musée d'Art et d'Histoire de Genève)''
| abode = 
| planet = [[Moon]]<ref>{{cite book |title=The History and Practice of Ancient Astronomy |first=James |last=Evans |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=1998 |pages=296–7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nS51_7qbEWsC&pg=PA17 |access-date=4 February 2008 |isbn=978-0-19-509539-5}}</ref>
| symbol = Chariot, crescent moon
| consort = 
| parents = 
| siblings = [[Sol (Roman mythology)|Sol]], [[Aurora (mythology)|Aurora]]
| children = 
| day = [[Monday]] (''dies Lunae'')
| mount = 
| temples = [[Aventine Hill]], [[Palatine Hill]]
| festivals = 
| Greek_equivalent = [[Selene]]
}}
In [[Sabine religion|Sabine]] and [[Religion in ancient Rome|ancient Roman religion]] and [[Roman mythology|myth]], '''Luna''' is the [[divine embodiment]] of the [[Moon]] (Latin ''Lūna'' {{IPA|la|ˈɫ̪uːnä|}}). She is often presented as the female complement of the Sun, [[Sol (Roman mythology)|Sol]], conceived of as a god. Luna is also sometimes represented as an aspect of the Roman triple goddess (''diva triformis''), along with [[Diana (mythology)|Diana]] and either [[Proserpina]] or [[Hecate]]. ''Luna'' is not always a distinct goddess, but sometimes rather an [[epithet]] that specializes a goddess, since both [[Diana (mythology)|Diana]] and [[Juno (mythology)|Juno]] are identified as moon goddesses.<ref>C.M.C. Green, ''Roman Religion and the Cult of Diana at Aricia'' (Cambridge University Press, 2007), p.&nbsp;73.</ref>

In [[ancient Roman art|Roman art]], Luna attributes are the crescent moon plus the two-yoke chariot (''[[biga (chariot)|biga]]''). In the ''[[Carmen Saeculare]]'', performed in 17 BC, [[Horace]] invokes her as the "two-horned queen of the stars" (''siderum regina bicornis''), bidding her to listen to the girls singing as [[Apollo]] listens to the boys.<ref>[[Horace]], ''Carmen Saeculare'', lines 33–36.</ref>

[[Varro]] categorized Luna and Sol among the visible gods, as distinguished from invisible gods such as [[Neptune (mythology)|Neptune]], and deified mortals such as [[Hercules in ancient Rome|Hercules]].<ref>Varro, frg.&nbsp;23 (Cardauns) = [[Tertullian]], ''Ad nationes'' 2.2.14–2-; Attilio Mastrocinque, "Creating One's Own Religion: Intellectual Choices," in ''A Companion to Roman Religion'', p.&nbsp;383.</ref> She was one of the deities [[Macrobius]] proposed as the secret [[tutelary deity|tutelary]] of Rome.<ref>[[Jörg Rüpke]], ''Religion of the Romans'', p.&nbsp;133.</ref> In [[Imperial cult (ancient Rome)|Imperial cult]], Sol and Luna can represent the extent of Roman rule over the world, with the aim of guaranteeing [[Pax Romana|peace]].<ref>William Van Andringa, "Religion and the Integration of Cities in the Empire in the Second Century AD: The Creation of a Common Religious Language," in ''A Companion to Roman Religion'' (Blackwell, 2007), p.&nbsp;94.</ref>

Luna's [[interpretatio graeca|Greek counterpart]] was [[Selene]]. In Roman art and [[Latin literature|literature]], myths of Selene are adapted under the name of Luna. The myth of [[Endymion (mythology)|Endymion]], for instance, was a popular subject for Roman wall painting.<ref>Annemarie Kaufmann-Heinimann, "Religion in the House", in ''A Companion to Roman Religion'', p.&nbsp;188.</ref>

==Cult and temples==
[[File:Autel l'effigie de Luna.jpg|thumb|Mithraic altar to Luna ''(2nd/3rd century)'']]

[[Varro]] lists Luna among twelve [[List of Roman agricultural deities|deities who are vital to agriculture]],<ref>[[Varro]], ''De re rustica'' 1.1.4–6.</ref> as does [[Vergil]] in a different list of twelve, in which he refers to Luna and Sol as ''clarissima mundi lumina'', the world's clearest sources of light.<ref>Vergil, ''[[Georgics]]'' 1.5–25.</ref> Varro also lists Luna among twenty principal gods of Rome (''[[di selecti]]'').<ref>Varro, as preserved by [[Augustine of Hippo]], ''[[De Civitate Dei]]'' 7.2.</ref> In this list, Luna is distinguished from both Diana and Juno, who also appear on it.

The Romans dated the [[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#cultus|cultivation]] of Luna as a goddess at Rome to the semi-legendary [[Roman Kingdom|days of the kings]]. [[Titus Tatius]] was supposed to have imported the cult of Luna to Rome from the [[Sabines]],<ref>Varro, ''De lingua latina'' 5.74; [[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]] 2.50.3.</ref> but [[Servius Tullius]] was credited with the creation of the [[Temple of Luna]] on the [[Aventine Hill]], just below a temple of Diana.<ref>[[Orosius]] 5.12.3–10; ''De Vir. Ill.'' 65; Lawrence Richardson, ''A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome'' (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992), p.&nbsp;238.</ref> The anniversary of the temple founding (''[[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#dies natalis|dies natalis]]'') was celebrated annually on March&nbsp;31.<ref>[[Ovid]], ''Fasti'' 3.883–84; Richardson, ''A New Topographical Dictionary,'' p.&nbsp;238.</ref> It first appears in Roman literature in the story of how in 182 BC a windstorm of exceptional power blew off its doors, which crashed into the Temple of Ceres below it on the slope.<ref>[[Livy]] 40.2.2; Richardson, ''A New Topographical Dictionary,'' p.&nbsp;238.</ref> In 84 BC, it was struck by lightning, the same day the [[populares|popularis]] leader [[Lucius Cornelius Cinna|Cinna]] was murdered by his troops.<ref>[[Appian]], ''Bellum Civile'' 1.78.</ref> The Aventine temple may have been destroyed by the [[Great Fire of Rome]] during the reign of [[Nero]].<ref>[[Tacitus]], ''Annales'' 15.41; Richardson, ''A New Topographical Dictionary,'' p.&nbsp;238.</ref>

As Noctiluna ("Night-Shiner") Luna had a temple on the [[Palatine Hill]], which Varro described as shining or glowing by night. Nothing else is known about the temple, and it is unclear what Varro meant.<ref>Varro, ''De lingua latina'' 5.68; Richardson, ''A New Topographical Dictionary,'' p.&nbsp;238.</ref>

==Juno as Moon goddess==
The [[Kalends]] of every month, when according to the [[lunar calendar]] the new moon occurred, was sacred to Juno, as all [[Ides (calendar)|Ides]] were to [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]].<ref>Green, ''Roman Religion and the Cult of Diana,'' p.&nbsp;73.</ref> On the [[Nones (calendar)|Nones]], she was honored as Juno Covella, Juno of the crescent moon.<ref>Varro, ''De lingua latina'' 6.27.</ref> Both Juno and Diana were invoked as [[List of Roman birth and childhood deities|childbirth goddesses]] with the epithet ''[[Lucina (goddess)|Lucina]]''.<ref>Green, ''Roman Religion and the Cult of Diana,'' p.&nbsp;73.</ref>

==Chariot of the Moon==
{{Also|Sun chariot}}
Luna is often depicted driving a two-yoke chariot called a ''[[biga (chariot)|biga]]'', drawn by horses or oxen. In Roman art, the charioteer Luna is regularly paired with the Sun driving a four-horse chariot (''[[quadriga]]'').

[[Isidore of Seville]] explains that the ''[[quadriga]]'' represents the sun's course through the four seasons, while the ''biga'' represents the Moon, "because it travels on a twin course with the sun, or because it is visible both by day and by night—for they yoke together one black horse and one white."<ref>Isidore, ''Etymologies'' 18.26, as translated by Stephen A. Barney et al., ''The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville'' (Cambridge University Press, 2006), p.&nbsp;368 [https://books.google.com/books?id=3ep502syZv8C&dq=biga+chariot+isidore+OR+isidorus&pg=PA368  online.]</ref>

Luna in her ''biga'' was an element of [[Mithraic mysteries|Mithraic]] iconography, usually in the context of the [[tauroctony]]. In the [[mithraeum]] of S. Maria Capua Vetere, a wall painting that uniquely focuses on Luna alone shows one of the horses of the team as light in color, with the other a dark brown.<ref>M.J. Vermaseren, ''Mithraica I: The Mithraeum at S. Maria Capua Vetere'' (Brill, 1971), pp.&nbsp;14–15; Plato, ''Phaedrus'' 246.</ref>

A ''biga'' of oxen was also driven by [[Hecate]], the [[chthonic]] aspect of the triple goddess in complement with the "horned" or crescent-crowned [[Diana (mythology)|Diana]] and Luna.<ref>[[Prudentius]], ''Contra Symmachum'' 733 (Migne); [[Friedrich Solmsen]], "The Powers of Darkness in Prudentius' ''Contra Symmachum'': A Study of His Poetic Imagination," ''Vigiliae Christianae'' 19.4 (1965), p.&nbsp;248.</ref> The three-form Hecate (''trimorphos'') was identified by [[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]] with Luna, Diana, and [[Proserpina]].<ref>[[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]], note to ''[[Aeneid]]'' 6.118.</ref> According to the [[Archaic Greece|Archaic Greek]] poet [[Hesiod]], Hecate originally had power over the heavens, land, and sea, not as in the later tradition Heaven, Earth, and underworld.<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''Theogony'' 413f.</ref>

== Gallery ==
<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px" perrow="4">
File:Bronze lamp representing the moon-goddess Luna. Roman 1st century AD. British Museum, London.jpg|Bronze lamp of Luna and her ox-drawn chariot ''(1st century AD)''
File:Statuette of the goddess Luna from the Macon treasure 150-220 AD (51233582893).jpg|Statuette of Luna from the [[Mâcon treasure]] ''(AD 150–220)''
File:Arte romana, cameo in sardonice con guiulia domna come dea luna o syria, 193-217.JPG|[[Julia Domna]] as Luna on a [[sardonyx]] [[Cameo (carving)|cameo]] ''(AD 193–217)''
File:Large polychrome tauroctony relief, from the mithraeum of S. Stefano Rotondo, end of the 3rd century AD, Baths of Diocletian Museum, Rome (22168758335).jpg|[[Polychrome]] [[tauroctony]] [[relief]], with Luna driving her ox-drawn ''biga'' (right), and the Sun his [[quadriga|four-horse chariot]] ''(late 3rd century)''
File:Patera di Parabiago - MI - Museo archeologico - Diana - Luna - 25-7-2003 - Foto Giovanni Dall'Orto - 25-7-2003.jpg|Ox-drawn ''biga'' of Luna on the [[Parabiago plate]] ''(2nd–5th century AD)''
File:Roundel with a Personification of the Moon MET DT285432.jpg|Abstracted Luna and chariot,  [[Carolingian]] [[cloisonné]] [[roundel]] ''(AD 860–890)''
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[List of Roman deities]]
* [[List of lunar deities]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category-inline|Luna (mythology)}}
{{Roman religion}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Luna (goddess)| ]]
[[Category:Sabine goddesses]]
[[Category:Roman goddesses]]
[[Category:Lunar goddesses]]
[[Category:Selene]]
[[Category:Personifications in Roman mythology]]
[[Category:Characters in Roman mythology]]
[[Category:Night goddesses]]
[[Category:Light goddesses]]
[[Category:Horned goddesses]]