Lucdta

Lucdta (Gr. Hithyia), in ancient mythology, the goddess who was supposed to preside at the birth of children. According to the Hesiodic theogony, she was a daughter of Jupiter and a sister of Hebe and Mars, but in later times she was regarded as identical with Juno or Diana. Her principal places of worship were Rome, Crete, and Athens. On her festival, celebrated March 1, the matrons adorned her temples with flowers and prayed for fecundity, an easy delivery, and a fortunate posterity. Her worship was probably founded among the Dorians in Crete, and thence spread over Delos and Attica. Her birthplace, according to Cretan tradition, was a cave in the territory of Cnossus; others believed that she came from the Hyperboreans.

Lucena

Lucena, a town of Andalusia, Spain, in the province and 34 m. S. S. E. of the city of Cordova; pop. about 20,000. It is chiefly inhabited by an agricultural population and provincial gentry. Manufactures of coarse linens, earthenware, etc, are carried on. In the environs are esteemed medicinal baths. The Moors besieged this city in 1483, and were defeated.

Lucera, Or Nocera

Lucera, Or Nocera, a town of S. Italy, in the province and 10 m. W. N. W. of the city of Foggia; pop. about 15,000. It is the seat of a bishop, and has a cathedral which was formerly a Saracenic mosque, a college, and a fine private museum. The present town was built in the 13th century on the site of Luceria, one of the most ancient towns of Apulia, which was destroyed by the Byzantines. The first inhabitants were Saracens who had been expelled from Sicily, and to whom the emperor Frederick II. granted a refuge.

Luchetto Da Genova

See Cambiaso.

Lucifer, Or Phosphorus

Lucifer, Or Phosphorus, (Lat. And Gr., the light bringer), the classic name of the planet Venus when it is the morning star, Vesper or Hesperus being its name when seen in the evening. In mythology Lucifer was the son of Astra3us and Aurora, and together with the Hours had charge of the horses and chariot of the sun. - Lucifer is also one of the names of the devil. It occurs in the old versions in a passage of the prophecy of Isaiah (xiv. 12), in which the king of Babylon is compared with the morning star, and which has been understood by the church fathers in an allegorical sense, according to the usage which makes Babylon the embodiment of evil, and its fall the overthrow of sin. This use of the name has been confirmed in literature by the poet Milton, who adopts it in "Paradise Lost," making Lucifer the original name of the archangel who fell, carrying with him the third part of the host of heaven, and who is now called Satan.

Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella

Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella, a Roman writer on rural affairs, flourished about A. D. 40. He was a native of Gades (Cadiz), but resided chiefly at Rome. His treatise De Re Rustica is one of the most valuable works on agriculture which have come down to us from antiquity. It is divided into 12 books, of which the 10th is in verse. The earlier editions of this work contain also his treatise De Arboribus, in one book. According to Pliny, Columella wrote a work on ancient sacrifices for obtaining the fruits of the earth, but this is lost. The editio princeps, printed in folio by Jenson at Venice, in 1472, and forming part of a collection of Rei Rusticae Scriptores varii, is very rare. The most complete edition is contained in the Scriptores Rei Rusticm of Schneider (4 vols. 8vo., Leipsic, 1794).