Cupra (also spelled Cubrar, Ikiperu, Kypra or Supra) was a chthonic

fertility Fertility is the capability to produce offspring through reproduction following the onset of sexual maturity. The fertility rate is the average number of children born by a female during her lifetime and is quantified demographically. Fertili ...

goddess of the ancient pre-Roman population of the

Piceni The name Picentes or Picentini refers to the population of Picenum, on the northern Adriatic coastal plain of ancient Italy. Their endonym, if any, is not known for certain. There is linguistic evidence that the Picentini comprised two different ...

and the

Umbri The Umbri were an Italic people of ancient Italy. A region called Umbria still exists and is now occupied by Italian speakers. It is somewhat smaller than the ancient Umbria. Most ancient Umbrian cities were settled in the 9th-4th centuries BC on ...

, and may have been associated with Etruscan Uni. Dedications to her have been found at Plestia (attested as ''matres ple(s)tinas'') and Ripatransone, and in

Cupramontana Cupramontana is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Ancona in the Italian region Marche, located about southwest of Ancona. Cupramontana borders the following municipalities: Apiro, Maiolati Spontini, Mergo, Monte Roberto, Rosor ...

and

Cupra Marittima Cupra Marittima ( la, Cupra Maritima) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Ascoli Piceno in the Italian region Marche, located about southeast of Ancona and about northeast of Ascoli Piceno. As of 1 January 2008, it had a populatio ...

, which are named after her.Palestini, Francesco. ''Studi sulle origini e sulla protostoria dell'odierna San Benedetto del Tronto''. 2016. pp. 314-321.

Etymology

Her name could derive from the Greek ''Kupria'', a name for

Aphrodite Aphrodite ( ; grc-gre, Ἀφροδίτη, Aphrodítē; , , ) is an ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, and procreation. She was syncretized with the Roman goddess . Aphrodite's major symbols inclu ...

. Another etymological possibility is from the same root of Roman god Cupid.

Legacy and influence

In the periodic table,

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

's symbol is Cu, which derives from ''Cupra'',

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

for copper.

Bibliography

* Betts, Eleanor. "Cubrar matrer: goddess of the Picenes?". In: Accordia Research Papers, 12 pp. 119–147. 2013. * Bradley, Guy. Archaic sanctuaries in Umbria. In: Cahiers du Centre Gustave Glotz, 8, 1997. pp. 111-129. OI: https://doi.org/10.3406/ccgg.1997.1436 ww.persee.fr/doc/ccgg_1016-9008_1997_num_8_1_1436* Capriotti, Tiziana. "Il santuario della dea Cupra a Cupra Maritima: una proposta di ubicazione". In: Hesperìa 26, Studi sulla grecità d'Occidente, a cura di Lorenzo Braccesi, Flavio Raviola e Giuseppe Sassatelli. Università di Padova (Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofa); Università di Bologna (Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia). 2010. pp. 119-160. * Colonna, G. "Il santuario di Cupra fra Etruschi, Greci, Umbri e Picenti". In: Paci G. (a cura di), Cupra Marittima e il suo territorio in età antica. Atti del Convegno di studi, "Picus", suppl. II. Tivoli. 1993. pp. 3-31. * Christie, Neil. The Journal of Roman Studies 85 (1995): 300-01. doi:10.2307/301120. * Delplace, Chirstine. ''La Romanisation du Picenum. L'exemple d'Urbs Salvia''. Rome: École Française de Rome, 1993. 444 p. (Publications de l'École française de Rome, 177). ww.persee.fr/doc/efr_0000-0000_1993_ths_177_* Gagé Jean. La mort de Servius Tullius et le char de Tullia. In: Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire, tome 41, fasc. 1, 1963. pp. 25-62. OI: https://doi.org/10.3406/rbph.1963.2451 ww.persee.fr/doc/rbph_0035-0818_1963_num_41_1_2451* Chronique — Kroniek. In: Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire, tome 47, fasc. 1, 1969. Antiquité — Oudheid. pp. 172-360. ww.persee.fr/doc/rbph_0035-0818_1969_num_47_1_2766* Galie, V. ''Grottammare e il culto della dea Cupra''. Archeoclub Grottammare 1992, pp. 89. * Lejeune, Michel. Noms osco-ombriens des eaux, des sources et des fontaines. In: L'Italie préromaine et la Rome républicaine. I. Mélanges offerts à Jacques Heurgon. Rome : École Française de Rome, 1976. pp. 551-571. (Publications de l'École française de Rome, 27 ww.persee.fr/doc/efr_0000-0000_1976_ant_27_1_1821 * Rocchi, G. ''Il cippo di Cupra e il suo tempio. Sessualità e antropomorfismo dell'antica "Dea".'' Archeoclub d'Italia, sede di Cupra Marittima 1992, pp. 189. * Susini, Giancarlo. Aspects de la romanisation de la Gaule cispadane : chute et survivance des Celtes. In: Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 109^e année, N. 1, 1965. pp. 143-163. OI: https://doi.org/10.3406/crai.1965.11831 ww.persee.fr/doc/crai_0065-0536_1965_num_109_1_11831* Toutain, Jules. X. — Religions de la Grèce et de Rome. In: École pratique des hautes études, Section des sciences religieuses. Annuaire 1925-1926. 1924. pp. 41-45. ww.persee.fr/doc/ephe_0000-0002_1924_num_38_34_20114* Whatmough, Joshua. ''The Foundations of Roman Italy''. Routledge. 2015. p. 241.

References

Italic goddesses Fertility goddesses Picenum {{Deity-stub