Mater Matuta
Template:Short description Template:Infobox deity Mater Matuta was an indigenous Latin goddess, whom the Romans eventually made equivalent to the dawn goddess Aurora and the Greek dawn goddess Eos.<ref>Marcus Tullius Cicero, De Natura Deorum, II, 48.</ref>Template:Sfn Mater derives from the Latin for "mother", a courtesy title commonly given to female deities indigenous to Rome. Matuta is connected to Latin, manes ("ghosts"), and matutinus ("early morning").Template:Sfn
Mater Matuta was the goddess of female maturation and later became linked to the dawn.Template:Sfn Her cult is attested to in several places in Latium; her most famous temple was located at Satricum.
Temples
Mater Matuta had a temple in the capital city of Rome, on the north side of the Forum Boarium, mentioned in Ovid's Fasti.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=":3" /> The sixth king of Rome, Servius Tullius, was thought to have personally consecrated the temple in the 6th century BCE.Template:Sfn It was destroyed in 506 BCE and rebuilt by Marcus Furius Camillus in 396 BCE.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The temple was associated with the Matralia festival.<ref name=":2"/> It was situated beside the temple of Fortuna, later discovered under the church of Sant' Omobono.Template:Sfn
A temple located at Satricum is described in literature by Roman historian Livy.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Full citation needed The earliest evidence of temple activity is dated simultaneously with votive deposits dating to the sixth century BCE.<ref name=":2"/> A second temple, larger and made of stone, replaced the first.Template:Sfn In the Template:Nobr another yet even larger temple was constructed.Template:Sfn<ref name=":2"/> The temple was struck by lightning in 206 BCE.Template:Sfn Excavation of thousands of objects has been itemized and recorded; vessels to eat and drink, statuettes, anatomical votives, and domestic animal votives.<ref name=":2"/> Votive material indicative of both male and female worship is attributed to this site.Template:Sfn
A temple in Campania, outside modern Capua, yielded dozens of votive statues representing matres matutae, found in the "Fondo Patturelli," a private estate. The site was severely damaged by unprofessional excavations in 1845 and 1873, executed by the Paturelli family, who owned the land. The family took it upon themselves to recover artifacts and then sold them for personal gain.<ref name=":4">Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Sfn In order to conceal their illicit activity, the family terminated the excavation, but not before they damaged the temple site. Eventually, a multitude of statues and valuables were recovered. An extensive collection of these votives is housed in the Museo Campano in Capua.Template:Sfn<ref name=":4"/>
Relationships with other deities
Mater Matuta is associated with Fortuna, due to the closeness of their temples in Rome and the dates of their festivals.Template:Sfn<ref name=":2" /> Because her temple at Pyrgi is located next to a port, she was associated with the sea.Template:Sfn Mater Matuta was linked with the Greek goddess Leucothea, previously known as Ino, an ancient sea goddess.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn According to the 1st-century CE historian Plutarch, Mater Matuta could be considered "almost identical with Leucothea."<ref>Plutarch. Camillus. 5.1.</ref> Similarly, both the 1st-century BCE statesman Cicero and the 1st-century BCE poet Ovid claim that Ino was referred to by the Greeks as Leucothea but by the Romans as Matuta.Template:Sfn<ref>Cicero. Tusculan Disputations. 1. 28.</ref><ref>Ovid. Fasti. 6.545-546.</ref> Statuettes at Satricum depicted a female figure with a solar disc behind her head an iconographic detail similar to representations of other goddesses, such as Uni in Etruria and the Phoenician Astarte.Template:Sfn
Matralia
At Rome, Mater Matuta's festival was the Matralia, celebrated on June 11 at her temple in the Forum Boarium.<ref>Template:Cite EB1911</ref> The philologist and historian Martin Litchfield West suggests that the date of this ceremony may relate to the solstice, noting that—according to John the Lydian—it occurred six months prior to a solar festival.<ref>John the Lydian. De Mensibus. 4. 155.</ref>Template:Sfn The festival was only for single women or women in their first marriage (Template:Lang), who offered prayers for their nephews and nieces. The crowning of garlands on the deity's image was for these revelers. Another aspect of the festival was eating specially prepared cakes.<ref name=":0" /> Varro, a 1st-century BCE polymath, states that—during this ceremony—Roman matrons would bake cakes in an earthen vessel referred to as a "Template:Lang."<ref>Varro. De Lingua Latina. 5.106.</ref> Likewise, Ovid mentions that, on the Matralia, mothers should offer to Matuta "the yellow cakes that are her due."<ref>Ovid. Fasti. 6.475-476.</ref>Template:Sfn The exact term utilized to describe the color of the cake, "Template:Lang," is also utilized by Ovid to describe the dawn goddess Aurora,<ref>Ovid. Amores. 1.13.2.</ref> perhaps indicating that the yellow cakes were associated with the sun in some manner.Template:Sfn Notably, a singular female slave participated in a ritual whereupon the woman was beaten and driven from the area by the freeborn women.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref>
In book VI (June) of the Fasti, Ovid describes the ancient festival in some detail:
"Go, good mothers (the Matralia is your festival), and offer to the Theban goddess the yellow cakes that are her due. Adjoining the bridges and the great Circus is an open space of far renown, which takes its name from the statue of an ox there, on this day, it is said, Servius consecrated with his own sceptered hands a temple of Mother Matuta. Who the goddess is, why she excludes (for exclude she does) female slaves from the threshold of her temple, and why she calls for toasted cakes."<ref name=":3">Template:Cite book</ref>