Who Protects Children in the Roman Religion? From Whom? Some Reflections Concerning Carna, Ino, and Thesan, in connection with Mater Matuta

Pedrucci, Giulia (2020) Who Protects Children in the Roman Religion? From Whom? Some Reflections Concerning Carna, Ino, and Thesan, in connection with Mater Matuta. ACTA ANTIQUA ACADEMIAE SCIENTIARUM HUNGARICAE, 60 (3-4). pp. 335-352. ISSN 0044-5975 (print); 1588-2543 (online)

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Abstract

If we think of child protection in the Roman religion, the first goddess that comes to mind is Mater Matuta. This paper, however, does not focus directly on Mater Matuta, but on other divine figures to some extent related to her: Carna, Ino, and Thesan. Carna-Cranaë-Cardea, the nymph of the thresholds was celebrated on the calends of June, just ten days after the ceremony in the temple of Mater Matuta. The cult of Ino and Melicertes arose in Italy, where they were called by the Greeks Leukothea and Palaemon, and by the Romans Matuta and Portunus. Thesan was the Etruscan goddess connected with the Dawn, like Mater Matuta. To some extent, these divine figures are all related to kourotrophia. Incidentally, I will try to suggest that the Roman religious calendar from the 1st of June to the 11th of June was full of details which might allude to one another, with the aim of underlining the importance of human and divine kourotrophia, by using the concept of intertext in literary criticism.

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