Carmenta
or
Carmentis. An ancient Italian goddess of prophecy who protected
women in childbirth. In Rome she had a priest attached to her, the
flamen
Carmentalis, and a shrine near the gate, under the Capitol, named after her Porta
Carmentalis. On this spot the Roman matrons celebrated in her honour the festival of the
Carmentalia, the flamen and pontifex assisting. Two Carmentae, called Porrima or Antevorta,
and Postvorta, were worshipped as her sisters and attendants. These names were sometimes
explained with reference to childbirth, sometimes as indicating the power of the goddess of
fate to look into the past and future. In the legend of the foundation of Roma, Carmenta
appears as the prophetic mother, or wife, of the Arcadian stranger
Evander (q.v.). See
Camenae.