Pier Leone Ghezzi, The Purification of Aeneas in the River Numicius (ca. 1725)
The Numicus was a river of ancient Latium which flowed into the sea between the towns of Lavinium and Ardea. According to the mythology of Livy, Aeneas lies buried on its banks[1] (from the original: 'Situs est, quemcumque eum dici ius fasque est super Numicum flumen'). The river is also represented in ancient texts as a river-god Numicius (Greek: Νουμικίος, Numikíos). As described by Ovid, at the behest of Venus, Numicus cleans Aeneas of all of his mortal parts so that he might become a god, known as Indiges.[2]
References
^Titus Livius (translated by Rev. Canon Roberts). The History of Rome, Everyman's Library (London: J. M. Dent and Sons, 1912), Book I, 2.
