Murcia, Murtea or Murtia
A surname of Venus at Rome, where she had a chapel in the circus, with a statue. (The History of Rome By Titus Livius.)
This surname, which is said to be the same as Myrtea (from myrtus, a myrtle), was believed to indicate the fondness of the goddess for the myrtle tree, and in ancient times there is said to have been a myrtle grove in the front - of her chapel at the foot of the Aventine.
Some of the ecclesiastical writers preferred the derivation from murcus, i. e. stupid or awkward. (Augustus De Civ. Dei, iv. 16 ; Arnob. adv. Gent. iv. 9.) Others again derived the name from the Syracusan word, tender. (Salmas. ad Solin. p. 637.)
From Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and MythologyFrom The History of Rome By Titus Livius. Book 1
At last Ancus, making an effort with all his forces, obtained a complete victory over them in a pitched battle, and having got a considerable booty, returned thence to Rome; many thousands of the Latins being then also admitted into the city, to whom, in order that the Aventine might be joined to the Palatium, a settlement was assigned near the temple of Murcia. The Janiculum was likewise added, not for want of room, but lest at any time it should become a lodgment for the enemy.
