MATER MATUTA AND MATRALIA. - Mater Matuta is an ancient goddess of the central-Italic and Roman religion. One of her important sanctuaries was that of Satricum (Conca), of which many votive statuettes have survived depicting women with children in their arms. In Rome, her temple stood in the Forum Boarium, adjoining that of Fortuna with an identical dedication day: June 11, which in the oldest calendar appears as the festival of the goddess, the Matralia.
The ancients identified the goddess with the Greek Ino Leucothea, nurse of Dionysus. They connected her both with maternity and with the dawn, also on the basis of her double name. Her cult preserved several singular archaic features, difficult to interpret. Only unicirare women (not remarried) could enter her temple. On the day of her festival, nevertheless, a slave woman was led into the temple, but only to be maltreated and driven out. The women prayed to the goddess not from M. Marconi, Ridessi Mediterranei nella più antica religione laziale, Milan, 1950, inv. 30
MATER MATUTA and MATRALIA - The seated goddess with two children on her knees, protectress of fertility, Capua, Museo Campano.
for their own children, but for the children of their sisters (cf. the myth of Ino, sister of the mother of Dionysus).
Bibliography4 worksW. Warde Fowler, Roman Festivals, London 1899, p. 154 foll.; G. Wissowa, Religion und Kultus der Römer, 2nd ed., Munich 1912, p. 110 foll.;
BIBL.: W. Warde Fowler, Roman Festivals, London 1899, p. 154 foll.; G. Wissowa, Religion und Kultus der Römer, 2nd ed., Munich 1912, p. 110 foll.; M. Halberstadt, Mater Matuta, Frankfurt am Main 1934; H. Lyngby, Die Tempel der Fortuna und der Mater Matuta am Forum Boarium in Rom, Berlin 1939.
Brelich, Angelo. “Mater Matuta e Matralia.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VIII, coll. 390–391. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1952. https://azioneromana.com/article/mater-matuta-e-matralia.
MLA
Brelich, Angelo. “Mater Matuta e Matralia.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VIII, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1952, coll. 390–391. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/mater-matuta-e-matralia.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec8_mater_matuta_e_matralia,
author = {Brelich, Angelo},
title = {Mater Matuta e Matralia},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {VIII},
pages = {390--391},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1952},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/mater-matuta-e-matralia}
}
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