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Libitina

Libitina, the goddess of corpses (in her temple were kept the funeral apparatus and the registries of death)

Lĭbĭtīna, ae, f. [libet, līber], the goddess of corpses, in whose temple everything pertaining to burials was sold or hired out, and where the registers of deaths were kept.
  • I Lit.: triginta funerum milia in rationem Libitinae venerunt, were registered, Suet. Ner. 39.—
  • II Transf.
    • A The requisites for burial, the apparatus of funerals: pestilentia tanta erat ut Libitina vix sufficeret, i. e. it was hardly possible to bury all the dead, Liv. 40, 19, 3: ne liberorum quidem funeribus Libitina sufficiebat, id. 41, 21, 6.—
      • 2 Esp., a bier, a funeral pile: dum levis arsura struitur libitina papyro, Mart. 10, 97; Plin. 37, 3, 11, § 45.—
      • 3 The undertaker's business, the disposal of corpses: Libitinam exercere, Val. Max. 5, 2, 10.—
    • B Death (poet.): multaque pars mei Vitabit Libitinam, Hor. C. 3, 30, 6; cf. id. S. 2, 6, 19: Libitinam evadere, Juv. 14, 122; Phaedr. 4, 18 fin.

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