A new votive altar with sacrificial scene dedicated the matronae from Mechernich (Kr. Euskirchen)

Abstract

In this paper, a new inscribed votive altar with sacrificial scene dedicated to the matronae is presented. The altar was allegedly found in the late 1980s in a ploughed field near Mechernich (Kr. Euskirchen) and has changed owners several times since. Apart from the top right corner, which has broken off but has been preserved, the altar is nearly complete. It was erected by the peregrine dedicator Masius Neganefi (filius), who is most likely to be identified with the man depicted on the right side of the sacrificial scene below. Wearing a tunic and the paenula Masius is about to offer wine on the burning altar. The woman on the left is wearing the typical headdress of the Ubian married woman; even if she has gone unmentioned in the inscription, she may be easily identified as his wife. The new find is the first example of a Lower Rhine votive altar with sacrificial scene that has been dedicated by someone of local origin who had not (yet) been enfranchised. Given the local background of the dedicators, it may be assumed that the couple belonged to a family of middle class farmers who possessed land in the immediate vicinity of the find spot of the altar.