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InRoman mythology,Laverna was a goddess of gain or profit and theunderworld, who became associated with the protection of lower classes, refugees, and plans developed bythieves. She waspropitiated bylibations poured with the left hand. The poetHorace and the playwrightPlautus called her a goddess of thieves. InRome, her sanctuary was near the Porta Lavernalis, the gate on the northern summit of the Aventine Hill.

Several explanations have been given for the origins of the name:^[1]

1. from thePIE reconstruction*leh₂w-, meaning "profit, gain", which makes it cognate with the more familiarlucrum. This is currently cited as the most likely etymology;
2. from Ancient Roman writingslatere (Schol. on Horace, who giveslaternio as another form oflavernio, robber);
3. fromlavare (Acron on Horace, according to whom thieves were calledlavatores, 'washers', perhaps referring tobath thieves).

Laverna was anEtruscan deity in ancient Italy, originally one of the spirits of the underworld. A cup found in an Etruscan tomb bears the inscription "Lavernai Pocolom," (cf.poculum); and in a fragment of Septimius Serenus Laverna is expressly mentioned in connection with thedi inferi, the underworld. She was worshiped at many sites by the Etruscans.

By an easy transition into Ancient Roman mythology after Etruscan culture was superseded by that of Rome, Laverna came to be regarded as the protectress of thieves, whose operations were associated with darkness.^[1] She had an altar on theAventine Hill, near the gate named after her, Lavernalis, on the northern summit of the southernmost of the seven hills of Rome. She had a sacred grove on theVia Salaria, the road across Italy that connects Rome to the Adriatic Sea.

Roman sources state that her aid was invoked by thieves to enable them to carry out their plans successfully without forfeiting their reputation for piety and honesty.^[2]

A sacred mountain in Tuscany entitled, La Verna, was the site of an ancient sanctuary of the goddess. This remote "Sanctuary of La Verna" was given toSt. Francis by Count Orlando of Chiusi on May 8, 1213, and became the site where he chose to establish his religious order. In 1218, the Santa Maria degli Angeli chapel was built at the site.

Her name is used for the main antagonist in the CGI animationBarbie: Fairytopia film series. Laverna is an evil fairy who is the twin sister of the land's fairy queen, The Enchantress.

In "The Murders in the Rue Morgue",Edgar Allan Poe's Dupin describes the ineffective Prefect of Police as "too cunning to be profound. In his wisdom is no stamen. It is all head and no body, like the pictures of the Goddess Laverna."

"Laverna" is an unofficial nickname forOtter 841.^[3][4]

InThe Court of the Dead, a fictional version of Laverna appears as an antagonist.

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Laverna".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 16 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 293.

• Jordan, Michael (1993).Encyclopedia of Gods. Facts on File.

• Commerce goddesses
• Roman goddesses
• Trickster goddesses
• Underworld goddesses

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