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- Title
The Celtic roots of King Matruk and Saint Augusta in Veneto, Italy.
- Authors
Busatta, Sandra
- Abstract
King Matruk is a well-known character in the Vittorio Veneto area: Archbishop Minuccio de' Minucci, in full swing Counter-Reformation, narrated that Matrucus, a Germanic-speaking barbarian warrior king, persecuted Christians and did not scruple to torture and kill his daughter Augusta, later Saint Augusta. I believe that Matrucus was not a Germanic warrior, but a Celtic character possibly connected with the archaic cult of the bear and the feasts related to the spring equinox and the end of the harvest, in which the battle between spring and winter was celebrated. An analysis of the legend of St. Augusta and King Matruk shows that Augusta and Matruk belong to the much older Venetic and Celtic layers, which left us a number of toponyms as well as sanctuaries in the area. There are aspects of the landscape that are also connected with Matruk and Augusta. In sum, we have a multi-layered tradition of remarkable antiquity, which shows the merging of Venetic, Celtic and Roman traditions in a border territory, as well as their continuation in both the Christian hagiographic legend and Saint Augusta's cult.
- Subjects
VENETO (Italy); AUGUSTA; VERNAL equinox; SAINTS; TORTURE; GEOGRAPHIC names; COUNTER-Reformation; WORSHIP of saints
- Publication
Antrocom: Online Journal of Anthropology, 2020, Vol 16, Issue 2, p67
- ISSN
1973-2880
- Publication type
Article