CARMENTA. - C., or Carmentis, is an ancient Roman goddess: her two festivals, the Carmentalia, on January 11 and 15, appear in the oldest 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 were said to have dedicated her sanctuary as well, 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 fetus at the moment of birth, or to its past and future. This last explanation rests on 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 Evander, foretells the future greatness of Rome. The position of her two festivals grouped around the day of the full moon (idus), placed in connection with the two cult names and with the references to female life, reveal in her a lunar divinity.

Bibliography

BIBL.: R. Pettazzoni, C., in Studi e materiali di storia delle religioni, 17 (1941), p. 1 ff.

Angelo Brelich

@incollection{ec3_carmenta, author = {Brelich, Angelo}, title = {Carmenta}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {III}, pages = {900--901}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1949}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/carmenta} }

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