ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on cult, that of Mater Matuta, and summarises the archaeological evidence from Satricum and Rome before endeavouring to open up some wider issues concerning the way in which polytheism works, and the relation of the literary accounts of Mater Matuta to cult and ritual. It explores Hinds work on intertext and allusion in literature as a model for religious thought, using Feeneys discussion of the importance of literature as part of the Roman religious mentality. The temple of Mater Matuta dominated the site of Satricum about sixty km south of Rome. The identity of the temples dedicatee is made reasonably certain by the combination of literary testimony in Livy and an inscription convincingly restored as dedication to the deity. The evidence for the cult of Mater Matuta in the Forum Boarium at Rome is similar in many ways to that at Satricum, though some of the similarities reflect wide-spread model of the development of Latin religious sites.
