Libitina: the Venus of Funerals
Jul 07, 2025•52 min
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Episode description
Join us at the Institute for the Study of Feminine Myth--$10 "Thinker's Tavern" sessions on Thursdays in July!
https://instituteforfemininemyth.org/thinkers-tavern
This week's podcast is about Libitina, Roman goddess of funerals, corpses, and burials. We discuss the debated etymology of her name--is she connected to Venus and to voluptuous pleasure, or is that an error? Varro connects Libitina to "libido", and we also need to consider the ancient Etruscan goddess Alpanu, who is said to be Libitina's forerunner. What we may find is a different attitude toward the connection between life and death.
https://instituteforfemininemyth.org/thinkers-tavern
This week's podcast is about Libitina, Roman goddess of funerals, corpses, and burials. We discuss the debated etymology of her name--is she connected to Venus and to voluptuous pleasure, or is that an error? Varro connects Libitina to "libido", and we also need to consider the ancient Etruscan goddess Alpanu, who is said to be Libitina's forerunner. What we may find is a different attitude toward the connection between life and death.
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