Also called Eos (Greek).
Their story
Aurora opened the gates of the east each morning, rose-fingered and saffron-robed, ahead of the Sun. Ovid tells of her grief for her son Memnon, killed at Troy, whose loss she mourns with the dew each morning. She loved the mortal Tithonus, who was granted endless life but not endless youth. Some Romans linked the old dawn goddess Mater Matuta with her.
Best times to give to them
- Sunrise on any day
- Matralia, 11 June (with Mater Matuta)
- Kalends of each month
What they like being given
- Rose petals
- Fresh water
- Morning incense
- Milk
How to honour them
- Greet the sunrise with a few words of thanks.
- Set intentions at dawn rather than at night.
- Leave out a dish of water overnight and pour it out at dawn.
How they can help you
- Fresh starts
- Early rising
- Hope after grief
Symbols
- rosy light
- saffron robe
- dew
- chariot
Aurora is largely a poetic figure; her cult in Rome is not well attested.
Sources
- Ovid, Metamorphoses 13
- Virgil, Aeneid 4
- Lucretius, De Rerum Natura 5
More Roman goddesses
- Juno Queen of heaven and protector of women
- Minerva Patron of craftworkers, teachers and healers
- Venus Mother of the Roman people and goddess of love
- Diana Lady of the woodland grove and the moon
- Vesta The living flame at the heart of home and Rome
- Ceres Mother of the grain and friend of the common people
- Luna The moon, shining through the night
- Libera Partner of Liber in the Aventine triad