CARMENTA

CARMENTA. — C. or Carmentis is an ancient Roman goddess: her two festivals, the Carmentalia, on the 11th and 15th of January, appear in the most ancient Roman calendar. She had a special priest, the flamen carmentalis; and her sanctuary was located between the Capitoline and the Tiber. Women, especially mothers, were involved in her cult. The matrons would also have dedicated her sanctuary after regaining the right to use the carriage (carpentum). Her two cultic names, Porrima and Postverta or Porsa, Anteverta and Postverta, were connected with childbirth: they were meant to refer either to the position of the fetus at the moment of birth, or to its past and future. This latter explanation is supported by the oracular character of the goddess, which is also expressed in her name, linked to carmen. In the myth, too, C., conceived as the mother of Evander, foretells the future greatness of Rome. The arrangement of her two festivals, grouped around the day of the full moon (idus), in connection with the two cultic names and with references to women’s lives, show her to be a lunar deity.