Mater Matuta was an indigenous Latin goddess, whom the Romans eventually made equivalent to the dawn goddess Aurora and the Greek dawn goddess Eos . Mater Matuta was the goddess of female maturation, and later became linked to the dawn. Her cult is attested to in several places in Latium ; her most famous temple was located at Satricum .
22-581: Mater Matuta had a temple in the capital city of Rome, on the north side of the Forum Boarium , mentioned in Ovid 's Fasti . The sixth king of Rome, Servius Tullius , was thought to have personally consecrated the temple in the 6th century BCE. It was destroyed in 506 BCE and rebuilt by Marcus Furius Camillus in 396 BCE. The temple was associated with the Matralia festival. It was situated beside
44-636: A multitude of statues and valuables were recovered. An extensive collection of these votives is housed in the Museo Campano in Capua. Mater Matuta is associated with Fortuna , due to the closeness of their temples in Rome and the dates of their festivals. Because her temple at Pyrgi is located next to a port, she was associated with the sea. By the Roman Imperial period, Mater Matuta was linked with
66-562: A wooden version, it was rebuilt in stone in the 2nd century BC. It once spanned the Tiber , connecting the Forum Boarium , the Roman cattle market, on the east with Trastevere on the west. A single arch in mid-river is all that remains today, lending the bridge its name Ponte Rotto ( Italian for the "Broken Bridge"). The oldest piers of the bridge were probably laid when the Via Aurelia
88-469: Is the earliest surviving marble building in Rome. For centuries, this was known as the Temple of Vesta . The Temple of Portunus is a rectangular building built between 100 and 80 BC. It consists of a tetrastyle portico and cella mounted on a podium reached by a flight of steps. The four Ionic columns of the portico are free-standing, while the six columns on the long sides and four columns at
110-815: The Capitoline , the Palatine and Aventine hills. As the site of the original docks of Rome ( Portus Tiberinus ) and adjacent to the Pons Aemilius , the earliest stone bridge across the Tiber, the Forum Boarium experienced intense commercial activity. The site was a religious centre housing the Temple of Hercules Victor , the Temple of Portunus (Temple of Fortuna Virilis), and the massive 6th or 5th century BC Ara Maxima . According to legend, when Hercules arrived in this area with Geryon ’s oxen, he
132-579: 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
154-463: 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. In order to conceal their illicit activity, the family terminated the excavation, but not before they damaged the temple site. Eventually,
176-596: The Greek goddess Leucothea , previously known as Ino , an ancient sea goddess. 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 . At Rome, Mater Matuta's festival was the Matralia , celebrated on June 11 at her temple in the Forum Boarium . The festival
198-763: The Minotaur , which was apt for a cattle market. During the late period of the Western Roman Empire , the area became overtaken with shops. Both temples were deconsecrated and converted to Christian churches. Across the street is the church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin , housing the Bocca della Verità . Beginning in the late 1990s, a partnership between the Soprintendenza speciale per i beni archeologici di Roma and World Monuments Fund resulted in
220-441: The Roman historian wrote: A Gaulish man and a Gaulish woman and a Greek man and a Greek woman were buried alive under the Forum Boarium. They were lowered into a stone vault, which had on a previous occasion also been polluted by human victims, a practice most repulsive to Roman feelings. When the gods were believed to be duly propitiated, Marcus Claudius Marcellus sent from Ostia 1500 men who had been enrolled for service with
242-504: The conservation of both temples in the Forum Boarium. The project also included new landscaping for the site. However, the Arch of Janus is still unrestored. [REDACTED] Media related to Forum Boarium at Wikimedia Commons Pons Aemilius The Pons Aemilius ( Latin for the " Aemilian Bridge"; Italian : Ponte Emilio ) is the oldest Roman stone bridge in Rome . Preceded by
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#1732781052615264-482: The dead. Marcus and Decimus Junius Brutus Scaeva put on a gladiatorial combat in honor of their deceased father with three pairs of gladiators. In 215BC, four victims were buried alive by the Romans under the Forum Boarium as human sacrifices to placate the gods after a series of events were seen as portents to great disaster. In volume five of Livy 's History of Rome , which was written about 200 years later,
286-546: The fleet to garrison Rome. The Temple of Hercules Victor ("Hercules the Winner") or Hercules Olivarius ("Hercules the Olive -Bearer) is a circular peristyle building dating from the 2nd century BC. It consists of a colonnade of Corinthian columns arranged in a concentric ring around the cylindrical cella , resting on a tuff foundation. These elements originally supported an architrave and roof which have disappeared. It
308-400: 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." Forum Boarium The Forum Boarium ( Classical Latin : [ˈfɔrʊm‿boˈaːriʊ̃] , Italian : Foro Boario ) was the cattle market or forum venalium of ancient Rome . It was located on a level piece of land near the Tiber between
330-452: The rear are engaged along the walls of the cella. It is built of tuff and travertine with a stucco surface. This temple was for centuries known as the Temple of Fortuna Virilis . Sources claim the Forum was the site for placement of a statue by the sculptor Myron , which had been looted from Aegina. While the source mentions a cow, it may have been a statuary group of Theseus defeating
352-409: The temple of Fortuna , later discovered under the church of Sant' Omobono . A temple located at Satricum is described in literature by Roman historian Livy . The earliest evidence of temple activity is dated simultaneously with votive deposits dating to the sixth century BCE. A second temple, larger and made of stone, replaced the first. In the 5th century BCE, another yet even larger temple
374-595: Was constructed in the mid-2nd century BC. According to Titus Livius , there existed a bridge in the same location as the Pons Aemilius in 192 BC. The first stone bridge was constructed by Censor Marcus Fulvius Nobilior several years after that, in 179 BC (although it was not completed until 151 BC). The bridge's piers date from this early period, although its arches were constructed by Scipio Aemilianus and L. Mummius in 142 BC. The bridge kept its place for several hundred years, although it
396-486: Was constructed. The temple was struck by lightning in 206 BCE. Excavation of thousands of objects has been itemized and recorded; vessels to eat and drink, statuettes, anatomical votives, and domestic animal votives. Votive material indicative of both male and female worship is attributed to this site. A temple in Campania, outside modern Capua , yielded dozens of votive statues representing matres matutae , found in
418-418: Was later rebuilt by Pope Gregory XIII ; the remnants of the bridge today still bear Latin inscriptions detailing Gregory XIII's renovation of the bridge. Finally, floods in 1575 and 1598 carried the eastern half away, resulting in its abandonment as a functioning bridge for several centuries. For many years, it was used as a fishing pier. In 1853, Pope Pius IX had the remnants of the bridge connected to
440-418: Was only for single women or women in their first marriage (univirae), 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. Notably, a singular female slave participated in a ritual whereupon the woman was beaten and driven from the area by the freeborn women. In book VI (June) of
462-539: Was repaired and rebuilt both by Augustus , and later by Emperor Probus in AD ;280. After the collapse of the Roman Empire, the bridge was damaged several times by floods, with each flood taking a greater and greater toll on the overall structure. It was first severely damaged in 1230, after which it was rebuilt by Pope Gregory XI . Later, the bridge was more seriously damaged by the flood of 1557, but again
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#1732781052615484-632: Was robbed of these by the giant Cacus , who lived in a cave at the foot of the Aventine hill. After slaying the giant, Hercules was honoured as a god by the ancient dwellers of the Palatine hill, who are said to have dedicated an altar to him. The tufa stone core of this altar is housed inside the church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin . The Forum Boarium was the site of the first gladiatorial contest at Rome which took place in 264 BC as part of aristocratic funerary ritual—a munus or funeral gift for
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