Mater Matuta was an indigenous Latin goddess, whom the Romans eventually made equivalent to the dawn goddess

Aurora An aurora ( aurorae or auroras), also commonly known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly observed in high-latitude regions (around the Arc ...

and the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

dawn goddess

Eos In ancient Greek mythology and Ancient Greek religion, religion, Eos (; Ionic Greek, Ionic and Homeric Greek ''Ēṓs'', Attic Greek, Attic ''Héōs'', "dawn", or ; Aeolic Greek, Aeolic ''Aúōs'', Doric Greek, Doric ''Āṓs'') is the go ...

. Mater Matuta was the goddess of female maturation, and later became linked to the dawn. Her cult is attested to in several places in

Latium Latium ( , ; ) is the region of central western Italy in which the city of Rome was founded and grew to be the capital city of the Roman Empire. Definition Latium was originally a small triangle of fertile, volcanic soil (Old Latium) on whic ...

; her most famous temple was located at Satricum.

Temples

Mater Matuta had a temple in the capital city of Rome, on the north side of the

Forum Boarium The Forum Boarium (, ) was the cattle market or '' forum venalium'' of ancient Rome. It was located on a level piece of land near the Tiber between the Capitoline, the Palatine and Aventine hills. As the site of the original docks of Rome () ...

, mentioned in

Ovid Publius Ovidius Naso (; 20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace, with whom he i ...

's ''

Fasti In ancient Rome, the ''fasti'' (Latin plural) were chronological or calendar-based lists, or other diachronic records or plans of official and religiously sanctioned events. After Rome's decline, the word ''fasti'' continued to be used for simi ...

''. The sixth king of Rome,

Servius Tullius Servius Tullius was the legendary sixth king of Rome, and the second of its Etruscan dynasty. He reigned from 578 to 535 BC. Roman and Greek sources describe his servile origins and later marriage to a daughter of Lucius Tarquinius Pri ...

, was thought to have personally consecrated the temple in the 6th century BCE. It was destroyed in 506 BCE and rebuilt by

Marcus Furius Camillus Marcus Furius Camillus (; possibly – ) was a Roman statesman and politician during the early Roman republic who is most famous for his capture of Veii and defence of Rome from Gallic sack after the Battle of the Allia. Modern scholars are dub ...

in 396 BCE. The temple was associated with the Matralia festival. It was situated beside the temple of

Fortuna Fortuna (, equivalent to the Greek mythology, Greek goddess Tyche) is the goddess of fortune and the personification of luck in Religion in ancient Rome, Roman religion who, largely thanks to the Late Antique author Boethius, remained popular thr ...

, later discovered under the church of Sant' Omobono. A temple located at Satricum is described in literature by Roman historian

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding i ...

. The earliest evidence of temple activity is dated simultaneously with votive deposits dating to the sixth century BCE. A second temple, larger and made of stone, replaced the first. In the another yet even larger temple was constructed. The temple was struck by lightning in 206 BCE. Excavation of thousands of objects has been itemized and recorded; vessels to eat and drink, statuettes, anatomical votives, and domestic animal votives. Votive material indicative of both male and female worship is attributed to this site. A temple in Campania, outside modern

Capua Capua ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in the province of Caserta, in the region of Campania, southern Italy, located on the northeastern edge of the Campanian plain. History Ancient era The name of Capua comes from the Etruscan ''Capeva''. The ...

, yielded dozens of votive statues representing ''matres matutae'', found in the "Fondo Patturelli," a private estate. The site was severely damaged by unprofessional excavations in 1845 and 1873, executed by the Paturelli family, who owned the land. The family took it upon themselves to recover artifacts and then sold them for personal gain. In order to conceal their illicit activity, the family terminated the excavation, but not before they damaged the temple site. Eventually, a multitude of statues and valuables were recovered. An extensive collection of these votives is housed in the Museo Campano in Capua.

Relationships with other deities

Mater Matuta is associated with

, due to the closeness of their temples in Rome and the dates of their festivals. Because her temple at Pyrgi is located next to a port, she was associated with the sea. By the Roman Imperial period, Mater Matuta was linked with the Greek goddess

Leucothea In Greek mythology, Leucothea (; ), sometimes also called Leucothoe (), was a Water deity, sea goddess. Myths surrounding Leucothea typically concern her original identity, either as Ino (Greek mythology), Ino or Halia of Rhodes, Halia, and her t ...

, previously known as Ino, an ancient sea goddess. Statuettes at Satricum depicted a female figure with a solar disc behind her head an iconographic detail similar to representations of other goddesses, such as Uni in Etruria and the Phoenician

Astarte Astarte (; , ) is the Greek language, Hellenized form of the Religions of the ancient Near East, Ancient Near Eastern goddess ʿAṯtart. ʿAṯtart was the Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic equivalent of the East Semitic language ...

Matralia

At Rome, Mater Matuta's festival was the Matralia, celebrated on June 11 at her temple in the

. The festival was only for single women or women in their first marriage (univirae), who offered prayers for their nephews and nieces. The crowning of garlands on the deity's image was for these revelers. Another aspect of the festival was eating specially prepared cakes. Notably, a singular female slave participated in a ritual whereupon the woman was beaten and driven from the area by the freeborn women. In book VI (June) of the ''Fasti'',

describes the ancient festival in some detail:

"Go, good mothers (the Matralia is your festival), and offer to the Theban goddess the yellow cakes that are her due. Adjoining the bridges and the great Circus is an open space of far renown, which takes its name from the statue of an ox there, on this day, it is said, Servius consecrated with his own sceptered hands a temple of Mother Matuta. Who the goddess is, why she excludes (for exclude she does) female slaves from the threshold of her temple, and why she calls for toasted cakes."

Footnotes

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Solar goddesses Roman goddesses Dawn goddesses Aurora (mythology)