Matres: the Celtic and Germanic goddesses (Mother Goddesses)

Synonyms: Mammau
Gaul: The Mother Goddesses

Triplism occurs frequently in Celtic mythos and iconography and Matres is a Latin title (literally meaning 'Mothers') given to these mother goddesses who are often represented as a triad of figures. The cult of the Matres extends from Gaul (including Germania Inferior and Superior), northern Spain, and northern Italy. It is also known from Roman inscriptions in Britain and may be represented in the ancient tales of Ireland. However, the heartland of the cult of the mothers is essentially within the boundaries of the La Tène-culture (The Celtic Heartlands) which strongly suggests that this cult was of Celtic origin. However, in Roman times it seems as if the cult was concentrated in cis-Alpine Gaul (Northern Italy) and the heartland of the Ubians along the Lower Rhine.

Literally hundreds of votive altars to the Mothers are known and iconographically they are almost always show seated (as in the examples shown here). In the northern (Ubian) group (as represented by the Aufunian Mothers, top) the two flanking women wear large hats and are sometimes shown with trees. The Matres also generally hold baskets of fruit and animals (thou they can also be accompanied by cornucopias and infants). Often the Matres are represented wearing long garments, the left breast of which are often beared (this being the archetypical feeding breast). All of these attributes suggest fertility and it is likely that the Matres represent a fertility cult. The lower image, above represents an un-named triad from Stuttgart-Zazenhausen, Stuttgrat, Germany.

The non-Ubian monuments (having a longer history of contact with the Romans) are more influenced by the Greek and Roman traditions and incorporate the attributes of Roman goddesses such as Cybele. The Matres' whose names we know for certain bear a remarkable range of names (Celtic, Latin and Germanic) which indicates that the original Celtic cult was adopted and incorporated into the pantheons of sucesive peoples. For example, the Aufunian mothers described above as well as the Glanicae are undoubtedly Celtic. The Alaferhuic mothers are Germanic, as well as the Hamavehic and the Hiannanefatic mothers of the Chamavi and Cananefates (Germanic tribes of the Netherlands. Other groups of mothers such as the Matres Paternae (ancestral mothers) gained Latin names.

In Insular Celtic mythos, the only goddess with a known triple aspect is the Irish Mórrígan who is a triple-goddess made up from Mórrígan, Badb, and Nemain. There may also have been an equivalent deity for the Brythonic Celts, as indicated by the survival of the goddess Rhiannon (another aspect of this goddess may be the Brythonic goddess Agrona) in Cymric mythology. The ancient Brythonic goddesses Sulis, Sulevia and Brigantia were also probably considered as triple godesses and probably Matres in their own right, which strongly indicates that the cult of the triple mother godesses was not confined to the continent alone.

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