Hi,
I would like to know if the Capitoline Wolf, the she wolf that according to legend nursed Remus and Romulus had any other names. I was not able to find any.
I look forward to your feedback.
davidmich
I don’t think the wolf was generally known as the Capitoline Wolf. That’s just the name of one well-known statue of the wolf.
There is this from Livy:
Thank you.
davidmich
I can’t seem to find my copy of Adam Douglas’ The Beast Within- A History Of The Werewolf right now. So, I can’t give you the cite Douglas uses. However, I do know that he asserts that the word “lupa” meant both she-wolf and whore. Thus, it is possible to read the story as ‘Romulus and Remus were suckled by a prostitute.’
Yes. I found a reference to ‘lupa’ in Robert Hughes’ “Rome”.
Prostitutes were called ‘lupe’ or ‘she-wolves’ “in homage to the original lupa who suckled Romulus and Remus and brothels…known as ‘lupanars’” (p. 413 of “Rome” by Robert Hughes)
davidmich
I found the book
[QUOTE=Adam Douglas The Beast Within page 73]
Cynical Romans were not above suggesting other explanations of the legend. Livy, who was the official historian of the Augustan regime much as Virgil and Horace were its official poets, quotes one streetwise explanation, that the twins had actually been suckled by a whore (lupa, or “she-wolf”).
[/QUOTE]
I’m not familiar with Hughes. I defer to a more knowledgeable Doper as to whether the word for whore came before or after the story of Romulus and Remus.
I presume that Romulus and Remus just called her “Mom.”
Betty.
That’s not really possible to answer since the story is almost certainly older than our oldest examples of written Latin.
The word lupa is found in Plautus, who is pretty early as far as Latin literature goes. It’s meaning in the Epidicus is clear.
Well, if you look at the quote above, that’s what Livy is saying as an alternate explanation.