Lŭcŭmo, the first name of Tarquinius Priscus, afterwards changed into Lucius. The word is Etrurian, and signifies prince or chief. Plutarch, Romulus.
Lucus, a king of ancient Gaul.——A town of Gaul at the foot of the Alps.
Lugdunensis Gallia, a part of Gaul, which received its name from Lugdunum, the capital city of the province. It was anciently called Celtica. See: [Gallia].
Lugdūnum, a town of Gallia Celtica, built at the confluence of the Rhone and the Arar, or Saone, by Manutius Plancus, when he was governor of the province. This town, now called Lyons, is the second city of France in point of population. Juvenal, satire 1, li. 44.—Strabo, bk. 4.——Batavorum, a town on the Rhine, just as it falls into the ocean. It is now called Leyden, and is famous for its university.——Convenarum, a town at the foot of the Pyrenees, now St. Bertrand in Gascony.
Lūna (the moon), was the daughter of Hyperion and Terra, and was the same, according to some mythologists, as Diana. She was worshipped by the ancient inhabitants of the earth with many superstitious forms and ceremonies. It was supposed that magicians and enchanters, particularly those of Thessaly, had an uncontrollable power over the moon, and that they could draw her down from heaven at pleasure by the mere force of their incantations. Her eclipses, according to their opinion, proceeded from thence; and on that account it was usual to beat drums and cymbals to ease her labours, and to render the power of magic less effectual. The Arcadians believed that they were older than the moon. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 12, li. 263, &c.—Tibullus, bk. 1, poem 8, li. 21.—Hesiod, Theogony.—Virgil, Eclogues, poem 8, li. 69.——A maritime town of Etruria, famous for the white marble which it produced, and called also Lunensis portus. It contained a fine, capacious harbour, and abounded in wine, cheese, &c. The inhabitants were naturally given to augury, and the observation of uncommon phenomena. Mela, bk. 2, ch. 4.—Lucan, bk. 1, li. 586.—Pliny, bk. 14, ch. 6.—Livy, bk. 34, ch. 8.—Silius Italicus, bk. 8, li. 481.
Lupa (a she-wolf), was held in great veneration at Rome, because Romulus and Remus, according to an ancient tradition, were suckled and preserved by one of these animals. This fabulous story arises from the surname of Lupa, prostitute, which was given to the wife of the shepherd Fastulus, to whose care and humanity these children owed their preservation. Ovid, Fasti, bk. 2, li. 415.—Plutarch, Romulus.
Lupercal, a place at the foot of mount Aventine sacred to Pan, where festivals called Lupercalia were yearly celebrated, and where the she-wolf was said to have brought up Romulus and Remus. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 8, li. 343.
Lupercālia, a yearly festival observed at Rome the 15th of February, in honour of the god Pan. It was usual first to sacrifice two goats and a dog, and to touch with a bloody knife the foreheads of two illustrious youths, who always were obliged to smile while they were touched. The blood was wiped away with soft wool dipped in milk. After this the skins of the victims were cut into thongs, with which whips were made for the youths. With these whips the youths ran about the streets all naked except the middle, and whipped freely all those whom they met. Women in particular were fond of receiving the lashes, as they superstitiously believed that they removed barrenness, and eased the pains of child-birth. This excursion in the streets of Rome was performed by naked youths, because Pan is always represented naked, and a goat was sacrificed because that deity was supposed to have the feet of a goat. A dog was added, as a necessary and useful guardian of the sheepfold. This festival, as Plutarch mentions, was first instituted by the Romans in honour of the she-wolf which suckled Romulus and Remus. This opinion is controverted by others, and Livy, with Dionysius of Halicarnassus, observes that they were introduced into Italy by Evander. The name seems to be borrowed from the Greek name of Pan, Lycæus, from λυκος, a wolf; not only because these ceremonies were like the Lycæan festivals observed in Arcadia, but because Pan, as god of shepherds, protected the sheep from the rapacity of the wolves. The priests who officiated at the Lupercalia were called Luperci. Augustus forbade any person above the age of 14 to appear naked or to run about the streets during the Lupercalia. Cicero, in his Philippics, reproaches Antony for having disgraced the dignity of the consulship by running naked, and armed with a whip, about the streets. It was during the celebration of these festivals that Antony offered a crown to Julius Cæsar, which the indignation of the populace obliged him to refuse. Ovid, Fasti, bk. 2, li. 427.—Varro, de Lingua Latina, bk. 5, ch. 3.
Luperci, a number of priests at Rome, who assisted at the celebration of the Lupercalia, in honour of the god Pan, to whose service they were dedicated. This order of priests was the most ancient and respectable of all the sacerdotal offices. It was divided into two separate colleges, called Fabiani and Quintiliani, from Fabius and Quintilius, two of their high priests. The former was instituted in honour of Romulus, and the latter of Remus. To these two sacerdotal bodies Julius Cæsar added a third, called from himself the Julii, and this action contributed not a little to render his cause unpopular, and to betray his ambitious and aspiring views. See: [Lupercalia]. Plutarch, Romulus.—Dio Cassius, bk. 45.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 8, li. 663.
Lupercus, a grammarian in the reign of the emperor Gallienus. He wrote some grammatical pieces, which some have preferred to Herodian’s compositions.