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Mater Matuta was an indigenous Latin goddess, whom the Ancient Rome eventually made equivalent to the dawn goddess Aurora and the Ancient Greece dawn goddess Eos.Marcus Tullius Cicero, De Natura Deorum, II, 48. 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.
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 another yet even larger temple 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 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, a multitude of statues and valuables were recovered. An extensive collection of these votives is housed in the Museo Campano in Capua.
In book VI (June) of 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 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."
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