In ancient Roman religion, Rumina, also known as Diva Rumina, was a goddess who protected breastfeeding mothers, and possibly nursing infants. Her domain extended to protecting animal mothers, not just human ones. As one of the ''

indigitamenta In ancient Roman religion, the ''indigitamenta'' were lists of deities kept by the College of Pontiffs to assure that the correct divine names were invoked for public prayers. These lists or books probably described the nature of the various dei ...

'', Rumina lacked the elaborate mythology and personality of later Roman deities, and was instead a more abstract,

numinous Numinous () is a term derived from the Latin ''numen'', meaning "arousing spiritual or religious emotion; mysterious or awe-inspiring."Collins English Dictionary -7th ed. - 2005 The term was given its present sense by the German theologian and ph ...

entity. Rumina's temple was near the Ficus Ruminalis, the fig tree at the foot of the Palatine Hill where Romulus and Remus were raised by a she-wolf. Milk, rather than the typical wine, was offered as a sacrifice at this temple. In AD 58, the tree started to die, which was interpreted as a bad omen.

References

* Hammond, N.G.L. & Scullard, H.H. (Eds.) (1970). ''The Oxford Classical Dictionary'' (p. 940). Oxford: Oxford University Press. . Roman goddesses Childhood goddesses Animal goddesses Childhood in ancient Rome {{AncientRome-myth-stub