Editing Matres and Matronae

{{Short description|Deities of fertility in Celtic and Germanic myth}}
[[Image:Deesses de Vertault (musée de Bibracte).jpg|thumb|Terracotta relief of the ''Matres'' (the [[Vertault relief]]), from the [[Gallo-Roman culture|Gallo-Roman settlement]] of [[Vertillum]] ([[Vertault]]) in [[Gaul]]]]
[[File:Matronenaltar.jpg|thumb|upright|An altar of the ''Aufanian Matronae'', excavated in the [[Bonn Minster]] (Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn)]]

The '''Matres''' ([[Latin]] for "mothers"){{Sfn|Lindow|2002|p=224}} and '''Matronae''' (Latin for "matrons"){{Sfn|Lindow|2002|p=224}} were female [[deity|deities]] venerated in [[Northwestern Europe]], of whom relics are found dating from the first to the fifth century AD. They are depicted on [[votive offering]]s and [[altar]]s that bear images of [[goddess]]es, depicted almost entirely in groups of three, that feature inscriptions (about half of which feature [[Continental Celtic languages|Continental Celtic]] names and half of which feature [[Germanic languages|Germanic]] names) and were venerated in regions of [[Germania]], [[Gaul|Eastern Gaul]], and [[Northern Italy]] (with a small distribution elsewhere) that were occupied by the [[Roman army]] from the first to the fifth century.{{Sfn|Simek|1996|pp=204–205}}

Matres also appear on votive reliefs and inscriptions in other areas occupied by the Roman army, including southeast Gaul, as at [[Vertillum]]; in Spain and Portugal, where some twenty inscriptions are known, among them several ones that include local epithets such as a dedication to the ''Matribus Gallaicis'' "to the [[Galicia (Spain)|Galician]] Mothers";<ref>CIL II 2776.</ref> and also in the Romano-Celtic culture of [[Pannonia]] in the form of similar reliefs and inscriptions to the ''Nutrices Augustae'', "the august Nurses" found in Roman sites of [[Ptuj]], [[Styria (Slovenia)|Lower Styria]].<ref>K. Wigand, "Die Nutrices Augustae von Poeticio" ''Jahreshrift Österreiches Archäologisches Institut'' '''18''' (1915), pp 118-218, illus., noted by Susan Scheinberg, "The Bee Maidens of the Homeric Hymn to Hermes" ''Harvard Studies in Classical Philology'' '''83''' (1979), p 2.</ref>

== Motifs ==
Matres and Matronae appear depicted on both stones with inscriptions and without, both as altars and votives. All depictions are frontal; they appear almost exclusively in threes with at least one figure holding a basket of fruit in her lap, and the women are either standing or sitting. In some depictions, the middle figure is depicted with loose hair and wearing a headband, and the other two wear headdresses. In addition, snakes, children, and diapers appear. Other motifs include depictions of sacrifice—including burning incense, pigs, bowls filled with fruit—and decorations of fruits, plants, and trees. In most cases, the votive stones and altars are not found singularly, but rather in groups around temple buildings and cult centers.{{Sfn|Simek|1996|p=206}}

== Function ==
The motif of [[triple deity#triple goddesses|triple goddesses]] was widespread in ancient Europe; compare the [[Fates]] (including [[Moirai]], [[Parcae]], and [[Norns]]), the [[Erinyes]], the [[Charites]], [[the Morrígan]], the [[Horae]], and other such figures, including the [[Tridevi]] of Hinduism.

[[Rudolf Simek]] suggests that the loose hair may point to maidenhood whereas the head dresses may refer to married women, the snakes may refer to an association with the souls of the dead or the underworld, and the children and diapers seem to suggest that the Matres and Matronae held a protective function over the family as well as a particular function as midwives.{{Sfn|Simek|1996|p=206}}

=== Veneration ===
Information about the religious practices surrounding the Matres is limited to the stones on which their depictions and inscriptions are found, of which more than 1,100 exist.{{Sfn|Simek|1996|pp=204–205}}

Motifs include depictions of sacrifice—including burning incense, pigs, bowls filled with fruit—and decorations of fruits, plants, and trees. In most cases, the votive stones and altars are not found singularly, but rather in groups around temple buildings and cult centers.{{Sfn|Simek|1996|p=206}}

== See also ==
* [[Matrika]]
* [[Dea Matrona]]
* [[Dís]]
* [[Idis (Germanic)|Idis]]
* [[Modron]]
* [[Mōdraniht]]
* [[Nehalennia]]
* [[Suleviae]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|30em}}

{{Commons category|Matres}}

==References==
* {{Cite book|last=Lindow|first=John|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KlT7tv3eMSwC|title=Norse Mythology: A Guide to Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs|date=2002|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-983969-8|language=en|author-link=John Lindow}}
* {{Cite book|last=Simek|first=Rudolf|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MZ24QgAACAAJ|title=Dictionary of Northern Mythology|date=1996|publisher=D.S. Brewer|isbn=978-0-85991-513-7|language=en|author-link=Rudolf Simek}}

==Further reading==
* {{Cite book|last=Garman|first=Alex Gustav|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CUARAQAAIAAJ|title=The Cult of the Matronae in the Roman Rhineland: An Historical Evaluation of the Archaeological Evidence|date=2008|location=[[Lewiston, New York]]|publisher=[[Edwin Mellen Press]]|isbn=978-0-7734-5224-4|language=en}}
* Spickermann, Wolfgang. "NOUVELLES RÉFLEXIONS RELATIVES À LA GENÈSE ET AUXVECTEURS DU CULTE MATRONAL DANS LA RÉGION DU RHIN INFÉRIEUR." Cahiers Du Centre Gustave Glotz 13 (2002): 141-67.  www.jstor.org/stable/24359212.

{{Death in Germanic mythology}}
{{Celtic mythology (ancient)}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Abundance goddesses]]
[[Category:Childhood goddesses]]
[[Category:Death goddesses]]
[[Category:Deities of classical antiquity]]
[[Category:Gaulish goddesses]]
[[Category:Germanic goddesses]]
[[Category:Mother goddesses]]
[[Category:Nature goddesses]]
[[Category:Triple goddesses]]