Mater Matuta
Indigenous Latin goddess equivalent to Aurora
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Mater Matuta was an indigenous Latin goddess adopted by the Romans. Mater Matuta was a goddess of fertility, childbirth, and ripening grain who later became linked to the dawn.[1]: 90 Her cult is attested to in several places across Latium, with her most famous temple being located at Satricum.
| Mater Matuta | |
|---|---|
Fertility Goddess | |
Mater Matuta, seated and holding swaddled infants | |
| Major cult centre | Satricum |
| Day | June 11 |
| Gender | Female |
| Region | Latium |
| Temples | At the Forum Boarium |
| Festivals | Matralia |
| Equivalents | |
| Greek | Eos |
| Roman | Aurora |
As a goddess associated with the dawn, she shared attributes with the Greek goddess Eos and the Roman goddess Aurora.[2][3]: 487
Etymology
Temples and cult
Mater Matuta had a temple in the capital city of Rome, on the north side of the Forum Boarium, mentioned in Ovid's Fasti.[4] The sixth king of Rome, Servius Tullius, was thought to have personally consecrated the temple in the 6th century BCE.[5]: 4 It was destroyed in 506 BCE and rebuilt by Marcus Furius Camillus in 396 BCE.[6] The temple was associated with the Matralia festival.[7] It was situated beside the temple of Fortuna, later discovered under the church of Sant' Omobono.[5]: 4
A temple located at Satricum is described in literature by Roman historian Livy.[7][8][full citation needed] The earliest evidence of temple activity is dated simultaneously with votive deposits dating to the sixth century BCE.[7] A second temple, larger and made of stone, replaced the first. In the 5th century BCE, another yet even larger temple was constructed. The temple was struck by lightning in 206 BCE.[5]: 4 Excavation of thousands of objects has been itemized and recorded; vessels to eat and drink, statuettes, anatomical votives, and domestic animal votives.[7] Votive material indicative of both male and female worship is attributed to this site.[5]: 7
A temple in Campania, outside modern Capua, yielded dozens of votive statues representing matres matutae, found in the "Fondo Patturelli," a private estate.[citation needed] The Paturelli family, who owned the land, illegally excavated the site in 1845 and 1873.[9]: 29–31 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.[citation needed] An extensive collection of these votives is housed in the Museo Campano in Capua.[5]: 15–16
Temples of Mater Matuta were not necessarily exclusively utilized to honor this particular goddess. For instance, various stelae from a sanctuary to Mater Matuta at Pesaro mention the names of numerous deities, including Apollo, Juno Lucina, Diana, Feronia, Salus, Fides, Juno Regina, Marica, and Liber. Livy recounts a story in which Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus dedicated a tablet to Jupiter in the temple of Mater Matuta to commemorate a military victory in Sardinia.[10] Likewise, in one inscription from Cora, an individual named Magia Prisca had donated a statue of Jupiter to Mater Matuta.[11] In some cases, it appears that other deities were perceived as endorsing simultaneous worship of themselves alongside Mater Matuta—one inscription mentions that an individual named Flavia Nicolais Saddane constructed and dedicated an altar to Mater Matuta under the direction of Juno ("ex responso / deae Iunonis").[5]: 13
It is likely that women held an important role in the worship of Mater Matuta, as numerous Roman inscriptions mention female magistrae functioning as priestesses within the cult of this goddess. Many of the women stated to be involved with the cult of Mater Matuta were also married, though it is unclear if marriage was a requirement for attaining a high position within the cult.[5]: 6 The 2nd-century CE Christian theologian Tertullian implies that the responsibility of bedecking the cult statue of Mater Matuta was reserved for univirae—women who had only married once.[12] However, the archaeologist Maureen Carroll doubts the reliability of Tertullian as a source, suggesting that he may have conflated the cult of Mater Matuta with the cult of Fortuna Muliebris, whose cult statue was also stated by Dionysius of Halicarnassus to only be crowned by univirae. It is also unclear whether the cult of this deity was exclusive to women or open to both sexes. Archaeological excavation of a temple to Mater Matuta in Satricum has unearthed a 5th-4th century BCE votive pit with—among other objects—weapons and metal items, which may reflect masculine activity at the site. Nevertheless, Carroll considers this possibility uncertain, noting that the same pit also contains anatomical votives depicting uteruses and male genitalia. Carroll does, however, concede that depictions of both male and female figures and genitalia appear in another votive deposit dating between the 4th and 3rd centuries BCE.[5]: 7
Relationships with other deities
Mater Matuta is associated with Fortuna, due to the closeness of their temples in Rome and the dates of their festivals.[7][3]: 502–503 Because her temple at Pyrgi is located next to a port, she was associated with the sea.[3]: 506 Mater Matuta was linked with the Greek goddess Leucothea, previously known as Ino, an ancient sea goddess.[3]: 489–490 According to the 1st-century CE historian Plutarch, Mater Matuta could be considered "almost identical with Leucothea."[13] Similarly, both the 1st-century BCE statesman Cicero and the 1st-century BCE poet Ovid claim that Ino was referred to by the Greeks as Leucothea but by the Romans as Matuta.[14][15] 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.[3]: 499 According to Carroll, it is likely that the divine domain of Mater Matuta overlapped with numerous other deities, allowing the goddess to perform a plethora of functions and services for her suppliants.[5]: 13
Matralia
At Rome, Mater Matuta's festival was the Matralia, celebrated on June 11 at her temple in the Forum Boarium.[16] The philologist and historian Martin Litchfield West suggests that the date of this ceremony may relate to the solstice, noting that—according to John the Lydian—it occurred six months prior to a solar festival.[17][18]: 226 Ovid implies that the festival was reserved only for "bonae matres," meaning "good matrons."[19] Moreover, Plutarch implies that only freewomen were permitted to partake in the rites, stating "it is forbidden to slave-women to set foot in the shrine of Matuta."[20] The crowning of garlands on the deity's image was for these revelers. Another aspect of the festival was eating specially prepared cakes. Varro, a 1st-century BCE polymath, states that—during this ceremony—Roman matrons would bake cakes in an earthen vessel referred to as a "testu."[21] Likewise, Ovid mentions that, on the Matralia, mothers should offer to Matuta "the yellow cakes that are her due."[22] The exact term utilized to describe the color of the cake, "flava," is also utilized by Ovid to describe the dawn goddess Aurora,[23] perhaps indicating that the yellow cakes were associated with the sun in some manner.[18]: 226
Notably, a singular female slave participated in a ritual whereupon the woman was beaten and driven from the area by the freeborn women.[20] According to the philologist Georges Dumézil, this ceremony may connect to the Vedic dawn goddess Ushas, who is responsible for forcefully driving back the night.[24]: 191 Alternatively, the Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture instead suggests that the ritualistic beating reflects a Vedic myth in which Indra assails Ushas for her unwillingness to begin the day.[25]: 148 This story may itself reflect a broader Indo-European archetype of a reluctant dawn goddess, which also perhaps manifests itself in Greek myths regarding Eos and the Latvian deity Auseklis. In support of the connection between the Vedic and Roman deity, Dumézil cites another ritual described by Plutarch, during which women would not pray for "blessings on their own children, but only on their sisters’ children."[26] Dumézil connects this ritual to the maternal role of Ushas, who supposedly cares for the child of her sister Ratri.[27][24]: 192 The classicist Lesley E. Lundeen suggests that, during this ritual, the women would temporarily perform a maternal role for the nieces or nephews of their sister, thereby reinforcing matrilineal family bonds.[28]
In book VI (June) of the Fasti, Ovid 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."[29]
