View source for Stata Mater

{{Short description|Ancient Roman goddess}}
{{Distinguish|Stabat Mater}}
{{Ancient Roman religion}}
In [[Religion in ancient Rome|ancient Roman religion]], '''Stata Mater''' ("[[List of Roman deities#Mater and Pater|Mother]] who stops or stabilizes") was a [[Compitalia|compital]] [[List of Roman deities|goddess]] who protected against fires. She had an image ''(simulacrum)'' in the [[Forum Romanum|Forum]],<ref>Lawrence Richardson, ''A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome'' (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992), p. 156.</ref> and her ''[[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#cultus|cultus]]'', as [[Sextus Pompeius Festus|Festus]] notes, spread from there throughout the neighborhoods ''([[vicus|vici]])'' of the city.<ref>Festus 416 (edition of Lindsay): "An image of Stata Mater used to be venerated in the Forum. After Cotta paved it, so the stones wouldn't be damaged by fire, which occurred there at night quite frequently, a large segment of the population transmitted the goddess's cult into their own neighborhoods" ''(Statae Matris simulacrum in Foro colebatur; postquam id Cotta stravit, ne lapides igne corrumperentur, qui †plurimis† ibi fiebat nocturno tempore, magna pars populi in suos quique u''cos rettulerunt ei''us deae cultum)''.</ref>
The original statue was set up by an [[Aurelia (gens)#Aurelii Cottae|Aurelius Cotta]] who had supervised the installation of new pavement in the Forum at the end of the 80s BC. The goddess's purpose was to safeguard the stonework from fire damage.<ref>John Bert Lott, ''The Neighborhoods of Augustan Rome'' (Cambridge University Press, 2004), p. 167.</ref> Only the [[Lares|Lares Augusti]] outnumber her as recipients of surviving dedications from compital shrines.<ref>Lott, ''Neighborhoods of Augustan Rome,'' p.189.</ref>
==In the neighborhoods==
The cult of Stata Mater was centered on compital shrines of the ''vici'', and numerous inscriptions to her were made by the heads of neighborhood associations ''(vicomagistri)''.<ref>For instance, ''[[Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae|ILS]]'' 3306–9.</ref> Her popularity attests to the everpresent threat and danger of fire in metropolitan Rome. She is sometimes given the additional title ''[[Augusta (honorific)|Augusta]]'', perhaps in reference to the reorganization of the [[14 regions of Augustan Rome|regions of Rome under Augustus]] in 7 BC.<ref>Richardson, ''Topographical Dictionary,'' p. 428.</ref> One of the outcomes of this redistricting was to create local boards or neighborhood watches ''(vigiles)'' tasked with fire control, as a response to recent arson in the Forum. The dedications mark the success of local fire brigades in putting out fires.<ref>Lott, ''Neighborhoods of Augustan Rome'' pp. 3, 79, 98, 168.</ref> One pairs Stata Mater Augusta with Volcanus Quietus Augustus, "the 'Quieted' [[Vulcan (mythology)|Vulcan]] [[Augustus (honorific)|Augustus]]."<ref>Lott, ''Neighborhoods of Augustan Rome,'' p. x.</ref> Stata Mater is perhaps to be identified with the Fortuna Augusta Stata named in an inscription.<ref>''CIL'' 6.761 = ''ILS'' 3308; Richardson, ''Topographical Dictionary,'' p. 157.</ref> Her cultivation is an example of localized [[Imperial cult (ancient Rome)|Imperial cult]] under [[Augustus]].<ref>Lott, ''Neighborhoods of Augustan Rome,'' p. 166.</ref>
A ''Vicus Statae Matris'' ("Stata Mater's Neighborhood") was located on the [[Caelian Hill]],<ref>''[[Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum|CIL]]'' 6.36809.</ref> and a ''Vicus Statae Siccianae'' in the [[Transtiberim]].<ref>Richardson, ''Topographical Dictionary,'' p. 157.</ref>
[[Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher|W.H. Roscher]] places ''Stata mater'' among the ''[[indigitamenta]]'', the list of deities maintained by Roman priests to assure that the correct divinity was invoked for rituals.<ref>[[Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher|W.H. Roscher]], ''Ausführliches Lexikon der griechischen und römischen Mythologie'' (Leipzig: Teubner, 1890–94), vol. 2, pt. 1, p. 223.</ref>
==See also==
* [[Vulcanalia]]
* [[Vesta (mythology)|Vesta]]
* [[Cacus]]
* [[Great Fire of Rome]]
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
* A [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pedestal_romano_004.jpg pedestal for Stata Mater] from [[Roman Spain]]
[[Category:Fire goddesses]]
[[Category:Roman goddesses]]