CARMENTIS
a shrine of Carmentis (or Carmenta),
originally a fountain
nymph, to whom were afterwards attributed functions of
prophecy and
assistance in child-birth. The shrine was at the foot of the
Capitoline
hill, near the
PORTA CARMENTALIS (q.v.), which was
named from the
shrine, and probably within the limits of the forum
Holitorium (
Solin.
i. 13:
pars etiam infima Capitolini montis habitaculum
Carmentae
fuit, ubi Carmentis nunc fanum est, a qua Carmentali
portae nomen
datum; Serv.
Aen. viii. 337:
(ara Carmentis) est iuxta
portam quae
primo a Carmente Carmentalis dicta est;
Dionys. i. 32:
βωμοὺς ἐθεασάμην
ἱδρυμένους Καρμέντῃ μὲν ὑπὸ τῷ καλουμένῳ
Καπιτωλίῳ παρὰ ταῖς Καρμεντίσι
πύλαις). Once it is referred to as sacellum (Ov.
Fast. i. 629; cf.
Liv. v. 47, ad Carmentis, and Plut. q. R. 56,
ἱερόϝ); twice as fanum
(
Gell. xviii. 7. 2;
Solin. i. 13); as ara in Vergil (
Aen. viii.
337) and in
Servius' note, ad loc.; as
βωμοί once (Dionys.
loc. cit.); and finally as
arae in Varro (ap.
Gell. xvi. 16. 4: huius periculi (i.e. the
danger of being
born feet first)
deprecandi gratia arae statutae sunt Romae
duabus
Carmentibus quarum altera Postverta cognominatast,
Prorsa altera, a
recti perversique partus et potestate et nomine). Ovid
(
Fast. i. 633-636）
and Servius (
Aen. viii. 336) explain these two Carmentes
Postverta and
Prorsa (under the form Porrima) as sisters or
companions of the Arcadian
goddess, Evander's mother, who derived their names
from the knowledge
of the past and power to foretell the future, and it may be
that besides
the original altar of Carmenta other altars were erected in
process of
time to Postverta and Prorsa representing either other
aspects of Carmenta
herself or her companions. In this way the use of varying
terms to
designate their shrine might be explained. For Carmenta
and this
question of terminology, see
Gilb. i. 258-259, 264-265;
WR 219-220;
Rosch. i. 851-854;
RE iii. 1594-1596, and literature cited;
BC 1913, 154-184; CIL i. p. 307 (11, 15 Jan.).
