Celtic Mother Goddesses, Matres, Matronae, Muttergottheiten, déesses-mères

Celtic Mother Goddesses

Triad of Mother Goddesses | Triade des déesses mères | Muttergottheitentriade

In most parts of the Celtic world, we can identify a triad of mother goddesses, both in inscriptions and in scupture, though most of our evidence comes from Roman times.

They are usually called "mothers", matres or, in Cisalpine Gaul and the Rhineland, matronae. Though the name attested on Latin inscriptions is Latin, there are no equivalent 'mothers' or 'matrons' in Roman religion (the Roman Parcae are different...). The name matres, or in the dative matribus 'to the mothers', does actually sound quite similar to the Celtic equivalent, like the dedications matrebo from Nîmes and Glanum.
Though this triad of mother goddesses is widespread across the western Roman provinces as well as in Cisalpine Gaul, there are obviously numerous variations, for example in iconography (as we can see from the images above) and perhaps also in function.
Moreover, we do also get other names:
- Suleviae, 'the well-leading (goddesses)', is a Celtic theonym well attested in southern Gaul in Roman times. This may be a surname that represents one of the functions of the mother goddesses.
- Iunones - in southern Gaul, the Iunones seem to be equivalent to the mother goddesses.
Celtic or pre-Celtic...?

An interesting representation of the mother goddesses / matres was discovered at Vasio (Vaison-la-Romaine). We see the typical image of the three mothers, sitting, carrying a fruit basket on their laps. But this time, they are sitting on a podium in a temple-like structure, the size of a lararium (house altar). The backside is also decorated with plant motfs.

Matronae in Cisalpine Gaul | en Gaule Cisalpine | in Gallia Cisalpina

Matronae in Lower Germany | en Germanie Inférieure | in Germania Inferior

For further reading on the MATRONAE in Lower Germany, see for example the book by

Frank Biller: Kultische Zentren und Matronenverehrung in der südlichen Germania inferior. Verlag Marie Leidorf, Rahden/Westfalen 2010.
G. Bauchhenß - G. Neumann (Hrsg.), Matronen und verwandte Gottheiten (Beihefte BJ 41), Köln 1987.

More to come...

More Examples

Matres / Autun (photo: RH()

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