Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

MATER MATUTA (connected with Lat. man...

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 878 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

MATER MATUTA (connected with See also:

Lat. mane, matutinus, " See also:morning ') , an old See also:Italian goddess of See also:dawn. The See also:idea of See also:light being closely connected with childbirth, whereby the See also:infant is brought into the light of the See also:world, she came to be regarded as a See also:double of See also:Juno, and was identified by the Greeks with Eilithyia. Matuta had a See also:temple in See also:Rome in the See also:Forum Boarium, where the festival of Matralia was celebrated on the rrth of See also:June. Only married See also:women were admitted, and none who had been married more than once were allowed to See also:crown her See also:image with garlands. Under hellenizing influences, she became a goddess of See also:sea and harbours, the Ino-Leucothea of the Greeks. In this connexion it is noticeable that, as Ino tended her See also:nephew See also:Dionysus, so at the Matralia the participants prayed for the welfare of their nephews and nieces bef ere that of their own See also:children. The trans-formation was See also:complete in 174 B.C., when Tiberius Sempronius See also:Gracchus, after the See also:conquest of See also:Sardinia, placed in the temple of Matuta a See also:map commemorative of the See also:campaign, containing a See also:plan of the See also:island and the various engagements. The progress of See also:navigation and the association of divinities of the See also:sky with maritime affairs probably also assisted to bring about the See also:change, although the memory of her earlier See also:function as a goddess of childbirth survived till imperial times. See also:Ovid, See also:Fasti, vi. 475; See also:Livy xli. 28; See also:Plutarch, Quaestiones romanae, 16, 17.

End of Article: MATER MATUTA (connected with Lat. mane, matutinus, " morning ')

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
MATE, or PARAGUAY TEA 		[next]
MATERA

Site © 2006 - Net Industries