Levana
Levana (from Latin levare, "to lift"[1]) is an ancient Roman goddess involved in rituals pertaining to childbirth. Augustine says that dea Levana is invoked when the child is lifted de terra, from the earth or ground.[2] Her function may be paralleled by the Greek Artemis Orthia, if interpreted as the Artemis who lifts or raises children.[3]
It is sometimes supposed that Levana was invoked in a ceremony by which the father lifted the child to acknowledge it as his own, but the existence of such a ceremony is based on tenuous evidence and contradicted by Roman law pertaining to legitimacy of birth.[4] More likely, Levana was the goddess who oversaw the lifting of the child by the midwife immediately after birth. Kneeling or squatting was a more common position for childbirth in antiquity,[5] and the newborn probably came to rest on the ground before the umbilical cord was cut.[6]