RUMINA AND RUMINUS

Form: der. rumis or ruma, "a teat ".

Ancient Italian pastoral deities, who protected the suckling cattle and received offerings of milk. In Rome their sanctuary stood at the foot of the Palatine Hill, in the neighbourhood of the Lupercal; in the same place was the Ruminal fig tree (probably a primitive emblem of the nurturing goddess) [the Rumina ficus of Ovid, Fasti ii 412], under which Romulus and Remus were said to have been suckled by the wolf.