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The Matres (
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
for "mothers") and Matronae (Latin for "matrons") were female
deities
A deity or god is a supernatural being who is considered divine or sacred. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greate ...
venerated in
Northwestern Europe
Northwestern Europe, or Northwest Europe, is a loosely defined subregion of Europe, overlapping Northern and Western Europe. The region can be defined both geographically and ethnographically.
Geographic definitions
Geographically, Northw ...
, of whom relics are found dating from the first to the fifth century AD. They are depicted on
votive offering
A votive offering or votive deposit is one or more objects displayed or deposited, without the intention of recovery or use, in a sacred place for religious purposes. Such items are a feature of modern and ancient societies and are generally ...
s and
altar
An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paga ...
s that bear images of
goddess
A goddess is a female deity. In many known cultures, goddesses are often linked with literal or metaphorical pregnancy or imagined feminine roles associated with how women and girls are perceived or expected to behave. This includes themes of s ...
es, depicted almost entirely in groups of three, that feature inscriptions (about half of which feature
Continental Celtic
The Continental Celtic languages are the now-extinct group of the Celtic languages that were spoken on the continent of Europe and in central Anatolia, as distinguished from the Insular Celtic languages of the British Isles and Brittany. ''Contine ...
names and half of which feature
Germanic names) and were venerated in regions of
Germania
Germania ( ; ), also called Magna Germania (English: ''Great Germania''), Germania Libera (English: ''Free Germania''), or Germanic Barbaricum to distinguish it from the Roman province of the same name, was a large historical region in north- ...
,
Eastern Gaul, and
Northern Italy
Northern Italy ( it, Italia settentrionale, it, Nord Italia, label=none, it, Alta Italia, label=none or just it, Nord, label=none) is a geographical and cultural region in the northern part of Italy. It consists of eight administrative regions ...
(with a small distribution elsewhere) that were occupied by the
Roman army
The Roman army (Latin: ) was the armed forces deployed by the Romans throughout the duration of Ancient Rome, from the Roman Kingdom (c. 500 BC) to the Roman Republic (500–31 BC) and the Roman Empire (31 BC–395 AD), and its medieval contin ...
from the first to the fifth century.
Matres also appear on votive reliefs and inscriptions in other areas occupied by the Roman army, including southeast Gaul, as at
Vertillum
Vertillum is a Gallo-Roman site in the modern commune of Vertault in the Côte-d'Or department of eastern France.
It has been extensively (and often destructively) excavated over the past century.
Many of the objects found at the site are held in ...
; in Spain and Portugal, where some twenty inscriptions are known, among them several ones which include local epithets like a dedication to the ''Matribus Gallaicis'' "to the
Galician Mothers"; and also in the Romano-Celtic culture of
Pannonia
Pannonia (, ) was a province of the Roman Empire bounded on the north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia. Pannonia was located in the territory that is now wes ...
in the form of similar reliefs and inscriptions to the ''Nutrices Augustae'', "the august Nurses" found in Roman sites of
Ptuj
Ptuj (; german: Pettau, ; la, Poetovium/Poetovio) is a town in northeastern Slovenia that is the seat of the Municipality of Ptuj. Ptuj, the oldest recorded city in Slovenia, has been inhabited since the late Stone Age and developed from a Roman ...
,
Lower Styria
Styria ( sl, Štajerska), also Slovenian Styria (''Slovenska Štajerska'') or Lower Styria (''Spodnja Štajerska''; german: Untersteiermark), is a traditional region in northeastern Slovenia, comprising the southern third of the former Duchy o ...
.
[K. Wigand, "Die Nutrices Augustae von Poeticio" ''Jahreshrift Österreiches Archäologisches Institut'' 18 (1915), pp 118-218, illus., noted by Susan Scheinberg, "The Bee Maidens of the Homeric Hymn to Hermes" ''Harvard Studies in Classical Philology'' 83 (1979), p 2.]
Motifs
Matres and Matronae appear depicted on both stones with inscriptions and without, both as altars and votives. All depictions are frontal, they appear almost exclusively in threes with at least one figure holding a basket of fruit in her lap, and the women are either standing or sitting. In some depictions, the middle figure is depicted with loose hair and wearing a headband, and the other two wear head dresses. In addition, snakes, children, and nappies (diapers) appear. Other motifs include depictions of sacrifice—including burning incense, pigs, and bowls filled with fruit—and decorations of fruits, plants and trees. In most cases, the votive stones and altars are not found singularly, but rather in groups around temple buildings and cult centers.
Function
The motif of
triple goddesses
A triple deity is a deity with three apparent forms that function as a singular whole. Such deities may sometimes be referred to as threefold, tripled, triplicate, tripartite, triune, triadic, or as a trinity. The number three has a long histor ...
was widespread in ancient Europe; compare the
Fates
The Fates are a common motif in European polytheism, most frequently represented as a trio of goddesses. The Fates shape the destiny of each human, often expressed in textile metaphors such as spinning fibers into yarn, or weaving threads on ...
(including
Moirai
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Moirai (, also spelled Moirae or Mœræ; grc, Μοῖραι, "lots, destinies, apportioners"), often known in English as the Fates ( la, Fata, Fata, -orum (n)=), were the personifications of fate ...
,
Parcae
In ancient Roman religion and myth, the Parcae (singular, Parca) were the female personifications of destiny who directed the lives (and deaths) of humans and gods. They are often called the Fates in English, and their Greek equivalent were the ...
and
Norns
The Norns ( non, norn , plural: ) are deities in Norse mythology responsible for shaping the course of human destinies.'' Nordisk familjebok'' (1907)
In the ''Völuspá'', the three primary Norns Urðr (Wyrd), Verðandi, and Skuld draw wate ...
), the
Erinyes
The Erinyes ( ; sing. Erinys ; grc, Ἐρινύες, pl. of ), also known as the Furies, and the Eumenides, were female chthonic deities of vengeance in ancient Greek religion and mythology. A formulaic oath in the ''Iliad'' invokes ...
, the
Charites
In Greek mythology, the Charites ( ), singular ''Charis'', or Graces, were three or more goddesses of charm, beauty, nature, human creativity, goodwill, and fertility. Hesiod names three – Aglaea ("Shining"), Euphrosyne ("Joy"), and Thalia ...
,
the Morrígan
The Morrígan or Mórrígan, also known as Morrígu, is a figure from Irish mythology. The name is Mór-Ríoghain in Modern Irish, and it has been translated as "great queen" or "phantom queen".
The Morrígan is mainly associated with war and ...
, the
Horae
In Greek mythology the Horae () or Horai () or Hours ( grc-gre, Ὧραι, Hōrai, , "Seasons") were the goddesses of the seasons and the natural portions of time.
Etymology
The term ''horae'' comes from the Proto-Indo-European ("year").
F ...
and other such figures, including the
Tridevi
The Tridevi () are a trinity of supreme divinity in Hinduism, joining a triad of eminent goddesses either as a feminine version of the Trimurti, or as consorts of a masculine Trimurti, depending on the denomination. This triad is typically pers ...
of Hinduism.
Rudolf Simek
Rudolf Simek (born 21 February 1954) is an Austrian philologist and religious studies scholar who is Professor and Chair of Ancient German studies, German and Scandinavian studies, Nordic Studies at the University of Bonn. Simek specializes in G ...
comments that the loose hair may point to maidenhood, whereas the head dresses may refer to married women, the snakes may refer to an association with the souls of the dead or the underworld, and the children and nappies seem to indicate that the Matres and Matronae held a protective function over the family, as well as a particular function as midwives.
Veneration
Information about the religious practices surrounding the Matres is limited to the stones on which their depictions and inscriptions are found, of which over 1,100 exist.
Motifs include depictions of sacrifice—including burning incense, pigs, and bowls filled with fruit—and decorations of fruits, plants and trees. In most cases, the votive stones and altars are not found singularly, but rather in groups around temple buildings and cult centers.
See also
*
Matrika
Matrikas (Sanskrit: मातृका (singular), IAST: mātṝkās, lit. "divine mothers") also called Matar or Matri, are a group of mother goddesses who are always depicted together in Hinduism. The Matrikas are often depicted in a group ...
*
Dea Matrona
In Celtic mythology, Dea Matrona ("divine mother goddess") was the goddess who gives her name to the river Marne (ancient ''Matrŏna'') in Gaul.
The Gaulish theonym ''Mātr-on-ā'' signifies "great mother" and the goddess of the Marne has been i ...
*
Modron
Modron ("mother") is a figure in Welsh tradition, known as the mother of the hero Mabon ap Modron. Both characters may have derived from earlier divine figures, in her case the Gaulish goddess Matrona. She may have been a prototype for Morgan le ...
*
Mōdraniht
or (; Old English for "Night of the Mothers" or "Mothers' Night") was an event held at what is now Christmas Eve by the Anglo-Saxon pagans. The event is attested by the medieval English historian Bede in his eighth-century Latin work . It has b ...
*
Nehalennia
Nehalennia (spelled variously) is a goddess of unclear origin, perhaps Germanic or Celtic. She is attested on and depicted upon numerous votive altars discovered around what is now the province of Zeeland, the Netherlands, where the Schelde River ...
*
Suleviae
Notes
References
*
*
Further reading
*
* Spickermann, Wolfgang. "NOUVELLES RÉFLEXIONS RELATIVES À LA GENÈSE ET AUXVECTEURS DU CULTE MATRONAL DANS LA RÉGION DU RHIN INFÉRIEUR." Cahiers Du Centre Gustave Glotz 13 (2002): 141-67. www.jstor.org/stable/24359212.
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Agricultural goddesses
Celtic goddesses
Death goddesses
Earth goddesses
Fertility goddesses
Germanic goddesses
Deities of classical antiquity
Mother goddesses
Triple goddesses
Gaulish goddesses