.mw-parser-output .hidden-begin{box-sizing:border-box;width:100%;padding:5px;border:none;font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .hidden-title{font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;text-align:left}.mw-parser-output .hidden-content{text-align:left}@media all and (max-width:500px){.mw-parser-output .hidden-begin{width:auto!important;clear:none!important;float:none!important))You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Spanish. (October 2022) Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the Spanish article. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Spanish Wikipedia article at [[:es:Murcia (mitología)]]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template ((Translated|es|Murcia (mitología))) to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

Murcia was a little-known goddess in ancient Rome. Her name occurs as a surname of Venus.[1]

According to Livy[2] she had a temple at the foot of the Aventine Hill near to the Palatine Hill. Murcus is said to have been an old name for the Aventine Hill itself;[3] hence the adjective murtius (= murcius) was applied to the turning-posts of the Circus Maximus, which was also situated in a valley between the Aventine and the Palatine Hills.[4]

The name Murcia was linked to the name of the myrtle tree (Latin myrtus) by folk etymology; hence the spellings Murtia and Murtea. This association with myrtle, which was a sign of Venus, led to her naming as "Venus of the Myrtles".[5][6] Christian writers, in their turn, connected Murcia with the adjective murcus or murcidus "lazy, inactive", thus interpreting her as a "goddess of sloth and laziness".[7][8]

References

  1. ^ Smith, William. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology
  2. ^ Livy, Ab urbe condita, 1:33
  3. ^ Paulus Diaconus, Epitoma Festi, p. 148M
  4. ^ Apuleius, Metamorphoses, 6. 8
  5. ^ Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia, XV. 36
  6. ^ Plutarch, Quaestiones Romanae, 20
  7. ^ Augustine, De civitate Dei, IV. 16
  8. ^ Arnobius, Adversus Nationes, IV. 9

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