ancient Roman religion Religion in ancient Rome consisted of varying imperial and provincial religious practices, which were followed both by the Roman people, people of Rome as well as those who were brought under its rule. The Romans thought of themselves as high ...

and

myth Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...

, Caca or Cacia is the

giantess Giantesses are imaginary, gigantic women. They are widely believed to be mythological by the humans of modern-day, since the term "giantess" is so generic, it seems possible to describe female giants not native to Earth which fall under the very ...

sister of Cacus, the son of Vulcan who stole cattle from

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the Gr ...

during the course of his western labors. Caca betrays her brother by revealing the location of the cattle to Hercules, who had in turn stolen the cattle from Geryon. According to Lactantius and Servius, she was cultivated as a deity in recognition of her service to the

god In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

. In his conceptual approach to Roman deity, Michael Lipka gives Cacus/Caca as one of the examples of divine pairs differentiated by gender but bound by kinship, as Libera was the sister of Liber and

Fauna Fauna (: faunae or faunas) is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding terms for plants and fungi are ''flora'' and '' funga'', respectively. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively ...

the daughter, sister, or wife of

Faunus In Religion in ancient Rome, ancient Roman religion and Roman mythology, myth, Faunus was the rustic god of the forest, plains and fields; when he made cattle fertile, he was called Inuus. He came to be equated in literature with the Greek god ...

. Lipka suggests that these deities did not come into existence as pairs, but developed to provide complementary gender balance within their sphere of influence, in this case cattle-raising. Despite the lateness of the only ancient sources that mention her, Caca is probably an older Roman goddess. Servius says she had a '' sacellum'' (shrine), probably located in Rome, where sacrifices were made to her through the agency of the Vestals. She has thus been seen as a sort of "proto- Vesta", a fire goddess sharing in her brother's Vulcan-inherited capacity for fire-breathing.Mark Marinčič, "Roman Archaeology in Vergil's Arcadia (Vergil ''Eclogue'' 4; ''Aeneid'' 8; Livy 1.7)," in ''Clio and the Poets: Augustan Poetry and the Traditions of Ancient Historiography'' (Brill, 2002), p. 158.

References

Roman goddesses Legendary creatures in Roman mythology Giants Fire goddesses Mythology of Heracles Children of Vulcan (mythology) {{AncientRome-myth-stub