{{Short description|Roman goddess of the future}} In ancient Roman religion, '''Antevorta''' was a goddess of the future, also known as '''Porrima''' or '''Prorsa''' (a contracted form of ''Proversa''). She and her sister Postverta (or Postvorta) were described as companions or siblings of the goddess Carmenta, sometimes referred to as "the Carmentae".<ref>Ovid, ''Fasti'', I. 633; Aulus Gellius, ''Attic Nights'', XVI. 16; Macrobius, ''Saturnalia'', I. 7</ref> They may have originally been two aspects of Carmenta, namely those of her knowledge of the future and the past (compare the two-faced Janus).{{Citation needed|date=May 2026}} Ovid describes the deities as goddesses of prophecy, writing that Porrima was thought to have "sung" ("{{Lang|la|cecinisse}}") of the past ("{{Lang|la|porro}}"), whereas Postverta sung of the future.<ref>Ovid, ''Fasti'', I. 633.</ref>{{sfn|Bettini|2008|p=369}}

Antevorta and Postvorta had two altars in Rome and were invoked by pregnant women as protectors against the dangers of childbirth.<ref>Varro, cited by Aulus Gellius in his ''Attic Nights'', XVI. 16</ref> Antevorta was said to be present at the birth when the baby was born head-first; Postverta, when the feet of the baby came first.{{Citation needed|date=May 2026}} According to Aulus Gellius, a 2nd-century Roman grammarian, writes—citing the older author 1st-century BCE author Varro—that altars were constructed to the gods Postverta and Prorsa so as to avert the risk of difficult childbirth.<ref>Aulus Gellius. ''Attic Nights''. 16.4.</ref>{{Sfn|Magini|2015|pp=51-52}}

==Star name== Antevorta is an alternative star name for Gamma Virginis, officially named Porrima.

==See also== * Atropos * Camenae * List of Roman birth and childhood deities * Skuld

==References== {{reflist}}

====Bibliography==== * {{Cite journal |last=Bettini |first=Maurizio |year=2008 |title=Weighty Words, Suspect Speech: "Fari" in Roman Culture |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44578509 |journal=Arethusa |volume=41 |issue=2 |pages=313–375 |issn=0004-0975}} * {{Citation |last=Magini |first=Leonardo |title=The Movements of Venus (and the Moon), Female Fertility, and the Feast Days of Veneralia and Matralia |year=2015 |work=Stars, Myths and Rituals in Etruscan Rome |pages=45–52 |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07266-1_10 |access-date=2026-05-08 |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-07266-1_10 |isbn=978-3-319-07266-1|url-access=subscription }}

==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20101114055745/http://www.mythindex.com/roman-mythology/A/Antevorta.html Myth Index - Antevorta]

{{Time in religion and mythology}}

Category:Oracular goddesses Category:Roman goddesses Category:Time and fate goddesses

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