Editing Carmenta

{{Short description|Roman goddess of childbirth and prophecy}}
{{for|the lepidopteran genus|Carmenta (moth)}}
{{Infobox deity
| type         = Roman
| name         = Carmenta
| deity_of     =Goddess of childbirth and prophecy, protector of mothers and children, patron of midwives, inventor of the alphabet
| member_of    = the [[Camenae]]
| image        = Nycostrata - Les vies des femmes célèbres d'Antoine Dufour.jpg
| alt          = <!-- for alternate text of the title image per [[WP:ALT]] -->
| caption      = Nicostrata-Carmenta inventing the [[Latin alphabet]] (Antoine Dufour, 1504)
| other_names  = Nicostrate
| cult_center  =a shrine near the [[Porta Carmentalis]]
| consort      =  
| parents      = 
| siblings     = 
| offspring    = [[Evander of Pallantium]]
| predecessor  =
| successor    =
| mount        = 
| gender       =female
| Greek_equivalent            =  
| festivals    = [[Carmentalia]]
}}
{{more footnotes|date=March 2013}}
[[File:Carmenta-Nicostrata.jpg|thumb|200px|'''Carmenta''' as Nicostrate/Nicostrata]]
In [[Religion in ancient Rome|ancient Roman religion]] and [[Roman mythology|myth]], '''Carmenta''' (Greek) or '''Carmentis''' (Latin)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Samuel Ball Platner, Thomas Ashby, A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome, CARMENTIS |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0054:entry=carmentis&highlight=carmenta |access-date=2025-05-01 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> was a goddess of childbirth and prophecy, associated with technological innovation {{citation needed|date=October 2020}} as well as the protection of mothers and children and a patron of [[midwife|midwives]]. She was also said to have invented the [[Latin alphabet]].

==Background==
[[Image:Plan Rome- Servische Muur.png|thumb|Porta Carmentalis (at location 12)]]

The name ''Carmenta'' is derived from Latin ''[[Carmen (verse)|carmen]]'', meaning a magic spell, oracle or song, and also the root of the English word ''charm''. Her original name was '''Nicostrate''' ({{Langx|el|Νικοστράτη}}, "victory-army"), but it was changed later to honor her renown for giving oracles (Latin singular: ''carmen''). She was the mother of [[Evander of Pallene]] (fathered by [[Hermes]])<ref>{{Cite book |last=[[Livy]] |title=[[History of Rome (Livy)|Ab Urbe Condita]] |volume=i |pages=7}}</ref> and, along with other Greek followers, they founded the town of [[Pallantium]] which later was one of the sites of the start of Rome. [[Gaius Julius Hyginus]] (''Fab. 277'') mentions the legend that it was she who altered fifteen letters of the Greek alphabet to become the Latin alphabet which her son Evander introduced into Latium.
Carmenta was one of the [[Camenae]] and the [[Cimmerian Sibyl]]. The leader of her cult was called the ''flamen carmentalis''.

It was forbidden to wear [[leather]] or other forms of dead skin in her temple which was next to the [[Porta Carmentalis]], and close to the [[Theatre of Marcellus|Theater of Marcellus]] in [[Rome, Italy|Rome]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Brandt |first=J. Rasmus |url=https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=1z6HgqVSQ-wC&oi=fnd&pg=PA289&dq=carmenta+temple&ots=j7B4-c2yTU&sig=r5GAn9zdBY_un5QxwtBvInsQhtM#v=onepage&q=carmenta%20temple&f=false |title=Greek and Roman Festivals: Content, Meaning, and Practice |last2=Iddeng |first2=Jon W. |date=2012-08-30 |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-969609-3 |language=en}}</ref> Her festival, called the [[Carmentalia]], was celebrated primarily by women on January 11 and January 15. She is remembered in ''[[De Mulieribus Claris]]'', a collection of biographies of historical and mythological women by the [[Florence|Florentine]] author [[Giovanni Boccaccio]], composed in 1361{{endash}}62. It is notable as the first collection devoted exclusively to biographies of women in Western literature.<ref name="Brown_xi">{{cite book |last=Boccaccio |first=Giovanni |author-link=Giovanni Boccaccio |year=2003 |translator=Virginia Brown |title=Famous Women |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=Cambridge, MA |series=I Tatti Renaissance Library |volume=1 |isbn=0-674-01130-9| page=xi}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Theodontius]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}
===Primary sources===
*Ovid, ''Fasti i.461-542''
*Servius, ''In Aeneida viii.51''
*Solinus, ''Collectanea rerum memorabilium i.10, 13''

===Secondary sources===
*The Dictionary of Classical Mythology by Pierre Grimal, page 89 "Carmenta"
*The Book of the City of Ladies, by Christine de Pizan, section I.33.2
*The Lincoln Beacon, Lincoln, Kansas, United States of America "Carmenta" 16 September 1880.

==External links==
*{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20000824023137/http://www.paralumun.com/mythroman.htm Roman Mythology]}}
*[http://www.unrv.com/culture/minor-roman-god-list.php List of Minor Roman Gods]
*{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20090627061227/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0598.html Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, page 589 (v. 1)]}}

{{Roman religion}}

[[Category:Childhood goddesses]]
[[Category:Creators of writing systems]]
[[Category:Oracular goddesses]]
[[Category:Roman goddesses]]