Maria Jennifer Falcone

SUMMARY: Angitia, a goddess of the Marsi, venerated in a temple near the Fucine Lake and in neighbouring Italian lands, was invoked for her magic arts and as a healer against venemous snakes. The Marsi were in contact with Greek-Etruscan Campania, and imported Greek gods and myths from it, among them Medea, who was often depicted as a snake charmer. The Marsi soon connected Angitia with Medea, and they did so independently of the Romans and before the Social War. The Romans could have inherited the cult of Angitia and this connection as well. When Latin texts, mainly drama, describe and perform Medea, they appear to have melted not only Greek, Magno-Greek and Hellenistic, but also Italic elements.