Matuta

• Matuta, the goddess of the morning or dawn, identical with Aurora, Lucr. 5, 656.—
• II A name of Ino (Gr. Λευκοθέα), called by the Romans also Mater Matuta, Cic. Tusc. 1, 12, 28; id. N. D. 3, 19, 48; Ov. F. 6, 479; 6, 545 sq.: Ino, postquam se praecipitavit, Leucothea, materque Matuta (dicta est), Lact. 1, 21; who had a temple at Rome, Liv. 5, 19; 23; 6, 33; 7, 27; 25, 7; and at Satricum, id. 28, 11.

commonly called Mater Matuta, is usually considered as the goddess of the dawn of morning, and her name is considered to be connected with maturus or matutinus (Lucret. 5.655; August. De Civ. Dei. 4.8); but it seems to be well attested that Matuta was only a surname of Juno (Liv. 34.53; P. Victor, Reg. Urb. xi.), and it is probable that the name is connected with mater, so that Mater Matuta is an analogous expression with Hostus Hostilius, Faunus Fatuus, Ajus Locutius, and others. If we look to the ceremonies observed at her festival, the Matralia, which took place on the 11th of June, we must infer that they were intended to enjoin that people should take care of the children of deceased brothers and sisters, as if they were their own, and that they should not be left to the mercy of slaves or hirelings, who were in fact so odious to the goddess, that she delighted in their chastisement. (Tertull. De Monogam. 17; Plut. Quaest. Rom. 16, 17.) A certain resemblance between these ceremonies and those of the Greek Leucothea led the Romans to identify Matuta and Leucothea, and thus to regard her as a marine divinity. (Plut. Camill. 5 ; Ov. Fast. 6.551, &c.; Cic. De Nat. Deor. 3.19, Tscul. 1.12.) A temple had been dedicated to Matuta at Rome by king Servius, and was restored by the dictator, Camillus, after the taking of Veii. (Liv. 5.19, 23, 25.7, 41.33.) Frequent mention of a temple of Matuta at Satricum.is made by Livy (6.33, 7.27, 28.11). [L.S]

• 1 MA-, the goddess of dawn, called alsoMater Matuta, C., L., O.

(usually Mater Matuta). An old Italian goddess of dawn and of birth, also goddess of harbours and of the sea, and hence identified with the Greek Leucothea (q.v.). In her temple at Rome in the Forum Boarium, on the 11th of June, the Matralia, or festival of mothers, was celebrated in her honour by the women of Rome; no slaves were admitted to it, and only a matron who had not been married before was allowed to place a wreath on the statue of the goddess. The women first prayed for the well-being of their nephews and nieces, and then for that of their own children. This custom was referred to the myth of Ino-Leucothea, who tended Dionysus, the son of her sister Semelé.