Querquetulanae

The five trees on the reverse of this denarius have sometimes been interpreted as representing the Querquetulanae[1]

In ancient Roman religion and myth, the Querquetulanae or Querquetulanae virae were nymphs of the oak grove (querquetum) at a stage of producing green growth. Their sacred grove (lucus) was within the Porta Querquetulana, a gate in the Servian Wall.[2] According to Festus, it was believed that in Rome there was once an oakwood within the Porta Querquetulana onto the greening of which presided the virae Querquetulanae.[3]

  1. ^ Arthur Bernard Cook, Zeus: A Study in Ancient Religion (Oxford University Press, 1924), vol. 2, p. 402; Robert E.A. Palmer, The Archaic Community of the Romans (Cambridge University Press, 1990, 2009), p. 118; Mark D. Fullerton, The Archaistic Style in Roman Statuary (Brill, 1990), pp. 15–16.
  2. ^ Lawrence Richardson, A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992), p. 263.
  3. ^ Festus p. 261 L s.v.