Editing Mater Matuta

{{Short description|Indigenous Latin goddess equivalent to Aurora}}
{{Infobox deity
| type = roman
| name = Mater Matuta
| deity_of = deity of the dawn, ripening grain, and female maturation; protector in childbirth; associated with sea harbors/ports
| cult_centre = Satricum
| day = June 11, [[Matralia]]
| gender = Female
| region = Latium
| temples = on the north side of the Forum Boarium; also Campania
| greek_equivalent = [[Eos]]
| roman_equivalent = [[Aurora (mythology)|Aurora]]
| image = Mater Matuta, VI-V a.C.jpg
}}
'''Mater Matuta''' was an indigenous Latin goddess, whom the [[Ancient Rome|Romans]] eventually made equivalent to the dawn goddess [[Aurora (mythology)|Aurora]] and the [[Ancient Greece|Greek]] dawn goddess [[Eos]].<ref>Marcus Tullius Cicero, ''[[De Natura Deorum]]'', II, 48.</ref><ref name=":0">{{cite book |last=Mantzilas |first=Dimitris |year=2018 |title=Mater Matuta: An overview of her cult |work=D. Mantzilas, Myrema (Mythology-Religion-Magic). 30 Articles and Essays, Ioannina: Carpe Diem Publications, 2018, pp. 487-540. |series=D. Mantzilas, Myrema (Mythology-Religion-Magic) |quote=30 articles and Essays |place=Ioannina |publisher=Carpe Diem Publications |pages=487–540 |url=https://www.academia.edu/36854802}}</ref>{{efn|
''[[wikt:mater|Mater]]'' derives from the Latin for "mother", a courtesy title commonly given to female [[di indigetes|deities indigenous to Rome]]. ''Matuta'' is connected to [[Latin language|Latin]], ''[[manes]]'' ("ghosts"), and ''[[wikt:matutinus|matutinus]]'' ("early morning").<ref>{{harvp|Mantzilas|2018}}</ref>
}}
Mater Matuta was the goddess of female maturation, and later became linked to the dawn.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Forsythe |first=Gary |year=2005 |title=A critical history of early Rome |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-94029-1 |location=Berkeley |oclc=70728478 |page=90 }}</ref> Her cult is attested to in several places in [[Latium]]; 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]], mentioned in [[Ovid]]'s ''[[Fasti (poem)|Fasti]]''.<ref>{{cite book |author=Publius Ovidius Naso |author-link=Ovid |editor-first=R. Joy |editor-last=Littlewood |year=2006 |section=''[[Fasti (poem)|Fasti]]'', Book&nbsp;VI  |title=A Commentary on Ovid  |publisher=Oxford University Press|doi=10.1093/oseo/instance.00089826 |isbn=978-0-19-927134-4 <!-- this URL is redundant: same as DOI=... key --- |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oseo/instance.00089826  |access-date=2023-12-23 --> }}</ref><ref name=":3" /> The sixth king of Rome, [[Servius Tullius]], was thought to have personally consecrated the temple in the 6th century BCE.<ref name=":1">{{cite journal |last=Carroll |first=Maureen |year=2019 |title=Mater Matuta, 'fertility cults' and the integration of women in religious life in Italy in the fourth to first centuries&nbsp;BC |journal=Papers of the British School at Rome |volume=87 |pages=5, 6, 7, 10, 21, 23 |doi=10.1017/S0068246218000399 |issn=0068-2462 |jstor=26842743 <!-- this URL is redundant: it just repeats the JSTOR=... key --- |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26842743 --> |url=https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/142101/1/Carroll_MaterMatutaPBSR.pdf }}</ref> It was destroyed in 506 BCE and rebuilt by [[Marcus Furius Camillus]] in 396&nbsp;BCE.<ref>{{cite book |author=Titus Livius  |author-link=Livy |title=Ab Urbe Condita |title-link=History of Rome (Livy) |at=V, 19 }}</ref> The temple was associated with the [[Matralia]] festival.<ref name=":2"/> It was situated beside the temple of [[Fortuna]], later discovered under the church of [[Sant'Omobono|Sant' Omobono]].<ref name=":1"/>

A temple located at [[Satricum]] is described in literature by Roman historian [[Livy]].<ref name=":2">{{cite book |first=Christopher |last=Smith |orig-date=2001 |date=11 June 2014 |chapter=Chapter&nbsp;10: Worshipping Mater Matuta: Ritual and context |edition=1 |editor1-last=Bispham |editor1-first=Edward |editor2-last=Smith |editor2-first=Christopher |title=Religion in Archaic and Republican Rome and Italy |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-97258-5 |type=e‑book |pages=137, 138, 139, 150 |language=en |doi=10.4324/9781315063591 |section-url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315063591-10/worshipping-mater-matuta-christopher-smith |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781135972585 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Titus Livius |author-link=Livy |date=14 August 2018 |editor-first1=John |editor-last1=Briscoe |title=Liviana: Studies on Livy |chapter=33 |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/oseo/instance.00265969 |isbn=978-0-19-882468-8 |at=6.27. 6.33 5, 28.1. 2 <!-- this url is redundant: it just duplicates the DOI link |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oseo/instance.00265969 |access-date=2023-12-23 --> }}</ref>{{full citation needed|date=July 2024 |The cited location ids are inconsistent with normal three-number references -- it looks as if numbers are missing; the erzats chapter "33" (formerly wrongly given as the title) needs to be made sensible.}} The earliest evidence of temple activity is dated simultaneously with votive deposits dating to the sixth century&nbsp;BCE.<ref name=":2"/> A second temple, larger and made of stone, replaced the first.<ref name=":1"/> In the {{nobr|5th century BCE,}} another yet even larger temple was constructed.<ref name=":1"/><ref name=":2"/> The temple was struck by lightning in 206&nbsp;BCE.<ref name=":1" /> Excavation of thousands of objects has been itemized and recorded; vessels to eat and drink, statuettes, anatomical votives, and domestic animal votives.<ref name=":2"/> Votive material indicative of both male and female worship is attributed to this site.<ref name=":1"/>

A temple in Campania, outside modern [[Capua]], 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.<ref name=":4">{{cite journal |last=Crawford |first=Michael Hewson |year=2009 |title=The Fondo Patturelli sanctuary at Capua : Excavation and interpretation |journal=Cahiers du Centre Gustave Glotz |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=29–56 |doi=10.3406/ccgg.2009.1689 |issn=1016-9008 <!-- redundant duplication of DOI=... key --- |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.3406/ccgg.2009.1689 --> }}</ref><ref name=":1"/> 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.<ref name=":1"/><ref name=":4"/>

== 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.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /> Because her temple at Pyrgi is located next to a port, she was associated with the sea.<ref name=":0" /> By the Roman Imperial period, Mater Matuta was linked with the Greek goddess [[Leucothea]], previously known as [[Ino (Greek mythology)|Ino]], an ancient sea goddess.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> 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 (mythology)|Uni]] in Etruria and the Phoenician [[Astarte]].<ref name=":0" />

== Matralia ==
At Rome, Mater Matuta's festival was the [[Matralia]], celebrated on June 11 at [[Temple of Mater Matuta|her temple]] in the [[Forum Boarium]].<ref>{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Mater Matuta |volume=17 |page=878}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book |author=Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus |author-link=Plutarch |section=Quaestiones Romanae [<nowiki/>[[Roman Questions]]<nowiki/>] |title=Moralia |title-link=Moralia |at=16 }}</ref>

In book VI (June) of the ''Fasti'', [[Ovid]] describes the ancient festival in some detail:

<blockquote>"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."<ref name=":3">{{cite book |author=Publius Ovidius Naso |author-link=Ovid |date=31 January 2015  |section=Book&nbsp;VI |title=Fasti |title-link=Fasti (Ovid) |pages=299–357 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/cbo9781316180273.007 |isbn=978-1-108-08246-4 <!-- URL redundant -- duplicates DOI=... --- |section-url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/cbo9781316180273.007 |access-date=2023-12-05  --> }}</ref></blockquote>

==See also==
* [[List of Roman birth and childhood deities]]
* [[Swaddled infant votive]]

==Footnotes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin|25em|small=yes}}

* {{cite journal |last=Desport |first=Marie |year=1947 |title=Matuta, l'Aurore chez Évandre |language=fr |journal=Revue des Études Anciennes |volume=49 |issue=1–2 |pages=111–129 |doi=10.3406/rea.1947.3366 |url=http://www.persee.fr/doc/rea_0035-2004_1947_num_49_1_3366 |via=persee.fr }}
* {{cite journal |last=Flacelière |first=R. |year=1950 |title=Deux rites du culte de ''Mater Matuta'', Plutarque, Camille, 5, 2 |language=fr |journal=Revue des Études Anciennes |volume=52 |issue=1–2 |pages=18–27 |doi=10.3406/rea.1950.3415 |url=http://www.persee.fr/doc/rea_0035-2004_1950_num_52_1_3415 |via=persee.fr }}
* {{cite journal |last=Kaizer |first=Ted |year=2005 |title=Leucothea as ''Mater Matuta'' at Colonia Berytus. A note on local mythology in the Levant and the Hellenisation of a Phoenician city |journal=[[Syria (journal)|Syria]] |volume=82 |pages=199–206 |doi=10.3406/syria.2005.8691 |url=http://www.persee.fr/doc/syria_0039-7946_2005_num_82_1_8691 |via=persee.fr }}

{{refend}}

==External links==
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Mater Matuta}}
* {{commons category-inline}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Solar goddesses]]
[[Category:Roman goddesses]]
[[Category:Dawn goddesses]]
[[Category:Aurora (mythology)]]