Romans cultivated Cloacina as the goddess of purity and the goddess of filth. Cloacina's name is probably derived from the Latin verb cloare (“to purify” or “to clean”), or from cloaca (“sewer)”.
The Shrine of Venus Cloacina (Sacellum Cloacinae or Sacrum Cloacina) was a small sanctuary on the Roman Forum, honoring the divinity of the Cloaca Maxima, the "Great Drain" or sewer of Rome. Cloacina, the Etruscan goddess associated with the entrance to the sewer system, was later identified with the Roman goddess Venus for unknown reasons, according to Pliny the Elder.