In one mythological tradition, she was the wife of the shepherd Faustulus, and therefore the adoptive mother of Romulus and Remus, whom she is said to have saved after they were thrown into the Tiber on the orders of Amulius.

Another tradition holds that Larentia was a beautiful girl of notorious reputation, roughly the same age as Romulus and Remus, during the reign of Ancus Marcius in the 7th century BC. She was awarded to Hercules as a prize in a game of dice, and locked in his temple with his other prize, a feast. When the god no longer had need of her, he advised her to marry the first wealthy man she met, who turned out to be an Etruscan named Carutius (or Tarrutius, according to Plutarch). Larentia later inherited all his property and bequeathed it to the Roman people.

Yet another tradition holds that Larentia was neither the wife of Faustulus nor the consort of Hercules, but a prostitute called "lupa" by the shepherds (literally "she-wolf", but colloquially "courtesan"), and who left the fortune she amassed through sex work to the Roman people.

Acca Laurentia symbolized the fertility of the earth, in particular the city lands and their crops.


Done for the Mithology Contest by Syccas-Stock

Reference used:
for Acca and her pose : Frog princess II (the sixth one of the set)
for the wolf : wolf pack (the second one of the set)

As usual the artwork was done in pscs5 with my wacom intuos 4. Time spent about 4 hours and 40 minutes...

Here the whole process in a few minutes speed paint video, hope you like it! :D