Larvae

From Free net encyclopedia

This article is about spirits of the dead. For the juvenile form of animals with indirect development, see Larva.

Topics in Roman mythology
Important Gods:
Jupiter	Minerva
Mars	Mercury
Quirinus	Vulcan
Vesta	Ceres
Juno	Venus
Fortuna	Lares
Topics
Legendary History
Roman religion
The Flamens
Greek/Roman myth compared
Other minor Roman deities:
Penates	Larvae
Genius	Manes
Lemures	Terminus

In Roman mythology, the larvae or lemures were the spectres or spirits of the dead; they were the malignant version of the lares. Some Roman writers describe lemures as the common name for all the spirits of the dead, and divide them into two classes: the lares, or the benevolent souls of the family, which haunted and guarded the domus or household, and the larvae, or the restless and fearful souls of wicked men. But the more common idea was that the Lemures and Larvae were the same. They were said to wander about at night and to torment and frighten the living.

On May 9, 11, and 13, the Lemuralia or Lemuria, the Feast of the Lemures, occurred, when black beans were offered to the Larvae in the hopes of propitiating them; loud noises were also used to frighten them away.

Lemurs were so named by Linnaeus for their big eyes, noctural habits and unearthly noises they make at night. Some species of lemur were identified by their call before scientists had seen one.

Singular

The singular form of larvae is larva in both Latin and English. The singular of lemures is lemur in Latin; there is no commonly-accepted English singular form. Dungeons & Dragons and some other fantasy worlds have adopted lemure as the singular, following English singularization rules and therefore presumably pronounced as demure, immure, etc.

Trivia

An artist drawing the Magic: The Gathering card "Hyalopterous Lemure," based on the card name only, mistakenly drew a lemur instead of a lemure, turning what was presumably supposed to be a terrible monster into a moth-winged teddy bear.[1]