Foster Mother
In one mythological tradition (that of Licinius Macer, et al.), she was the wife of the shepherd Faustulus, and therefore the adoptive mother of Romulus and Remus, whom she is said to have saved after they were thrown into the Tiber on the orders of Amulius. She had twelve sons, and on the death of one of them Romulus took his place, and with the remaining eleven founded the college of the Arval brothers (Fratres Arvales). She is therefore identified with the Dea Dia of that collegium. The flamen Quirinalis acted in the role of Romulus (deified as Quirinus) to perform funerary rites for his foster mother.
Read more about this topic: Acca Larentia
Famous quotes containing the words foster and/or mother:
“Thatcher: You’re too old to call me “Mr. Thatcher,” Charles.
Charles Foster Kane: You’re too old to be called anything else. You were always too old.”
—Orson Welles (1915–1985)
“our part
To murmur name upon name,
As a mother names her child
When sleep at last has come
On limbs that had run wild.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)