Terracotta relief of the Matres (the Vertault relief), from the Gallo-Roman settlement of Vertillum (Vertault) in Gaul.An altar of the Aufanian Matronae, excavated in the Bonn Minster (Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn)
The Matres (Latin for "mothers")[1] and Matronae (Latin for "matrons")[1] were female deities venerated in Northwestern Europe, of whom relics are found dating from the first to the fifth century AD. They are depicted on votive offerings and altars that bear images of goddesses, depicted almost entirely in groups of three, that feature inscriptions (about half of which feature Continental Celtic names and half of which feature Germanic names) and were venerated in regions of Germania, Eastern Gaul, and Northern Italy (with a small distribution elsewhere) that were occupied by the Roman army from the first to the fifth century.[2]
Matres also appear on votive reliefs and inscriptions in other areas occupied by the Roman army, including southeast Gaul, as at Vertillum; in Spain and Portugal, where some twenty inscriptions are known, among them several ones that include local epithets such as a dedication to the Matribus Gallaicis "to the Galician Mothers";[3] and also in the Romano-Celtic culture of Pannonia in the form of similar reliefs and inscriptions to the Nutrices Augustae, "the august Nurses" found in Roman sites of Ptuj, Lower Styria.[4]
^ abLindow 2002, p. 224.
^Simek 1996, pp. 204–205.
^CIL II 2776.
^K. Wigand, "Die Nutrices Augustae von Poeticio" Jahreshrift Österreiches Archäologisches Institut18 (1915), pp 118-218, illus., noted by Susan Scheinberg, "The Bee Maidens of the Homeric Hymn to Hermes" Harvard Studies in Classical Philology83 (1979), p 2.
and 21 Related for: Matres and Matronae information
The Matres (Latin for "mothers") andMatronae (Latin for "matrons") were female deities venerated in Northwestern Europe, of whom relics are found dating...
place names, and other sources. This article contains a comprehensive list of Germanic deities outside the numerous Germanic MatresandMatronae inscriptions...
their laps. In many areas, such Matronae were depicted in groups of three (or sometimes two) (see MatresandMatronae for the triads of mother goddesses...
The Matronae Aufaniae (or Matres Aufaniae or Deae Aufaniae) are Germanic Matronae attested on Roman era altars. The Aufaniae are one of the most frequently...
analyzed the name of the goddess and linked the figure to the Germanic MatresandMatronae. The first element of the goddess's name, Badu-, may be cognate to...
men, who have been pictured as kings and as three in number, bearing gifts for the infant Jesus. MatresandMatronae Myrrhbearers New Testament people named...
and Dionysus (god of mysteries, or the "sun" of the underworld), as in Plato's Phaedrus, concerning the myth of Dionysus and the Titans) The Matres or...
religions. The epigraphic record reveals many dedications to the Matres or Matronae, which are particularly prolific around Cologne in the Rhineland....
the MatresandMatronae. Simek says that Tamfana is perhaps best considered in the context of the widespread veneration of the Germanic Matresand Matronae...
Anthropomorphic wooden cult figurines of Central and Northern Europe). Notable from the Roman period are the MatresandMatronae, some having Germanic names, to whom...
in Celtic religion were also united in this way under the names MatresandMatronae. In the mythology of the British Celts almost no goddesses are present...
longer accepted among scholars, and "Alatervae" is presumably a native name for the deities the MatresandMatronae, perhaps originating with the Tungrian...
the title Matres or Matronae). See also Magna Mater (Great Mother) following. Gods were called Pater ("Father") to signify their preeminence and paternal...
Silvanae are sometimes thought to be Imperial forms of the Celtic Matres or Matronae, "mother" goddesses who often appear as a clothed triad bearing flowers...
singular form of Matronae or Matrones, mother goddesses attested in the Roman era among Celtic and Germanic regions; see Matresand Matrones St. Matrona...
first or second) and was dedicated to "the Alatervan Mothers and the Mothers of the Parade-ground" (Latin: Matres Alatervae et Matres Campestres). Early...
earlier goddesses Hecate / Artemis, Artio, the Matres of Engyon, the Matronae, and Epona, as well as figures from fairy-tales, such as Cinderella. A 16th century...
inscriptions dated to the 1st–2nd centuries AD and dedicated to the Matres Vediantiae were found near Tourrette-Levens and Cimiez. Matronis Vediantiabus P(ublius)...
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