Cinxia

Derived from Latin cinctus meaning "girdle, belt, zone (vestment)", itself from the verb cingo "to gird, to encompass". This was the name of a Roman goddess of conception, possibly an epithet of Juno as tutelary goddess of marriage. Cinxia functioned within the zone or belt (cingulum) that a bride wore to symbolize that her husband was 'belted and bound' (cinctus vinctusque) to her. The belt was tied with the knot of Hercules, intended to be intricate and difficult to untie. Augustine calls this goddess Virginiensis (from virgo "virgin"), indicating that the untying of the bridal zone is the symbolic loss of virginity.

Cinxia may have been felt as present during a ritual meant to ease labor. The man who fathered the child removes his own belt (cinctus), binds it (cinxerit) around the laboring woman, then releases it with a prayer that the one who has bound her in labor should likewise release her: 'he should then leave.' Women who had experienced spontaneous abortions were advised to bind their bellies for the full nine months with a belt (cingulum) of wool from a lamb fed upon by a wolf.