CARMENTA

CARMENTA. - C. or Carmentis is an ancient Roman goddess: her two festivals, the Carmentalia, on 11 and 15 January, appear in the oldest Roman calendar. She had a special priest, the flamen carmentalis; and her sanctuary was situated between the Capitol and the Tiber. Women, especially mothers, were involved in her cult. The matrons are said also to have dedicated her sanctuary, after regaining the right to use the carriage (carpentum). Her two cult names, Porrima and Postvort or Prorsa, Antevort and Postvort, were connected with childbirth: they must have referred either to the position of the foetus 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, connected with carmen. In myth too, C., conceived as the mother of Evandro, predicts the future greatness of Rome. The position of her two festivals, grouped around the day of the full moon (idus), in connection with the two cult names and the references to women’s life, shows her to be a lunar divinity.