The Carmentalia (January 11 and 15) was the festival of Carmentis, or Carmenta, a prophetic goddess who was the most important of the Camenae. These two days were among the most distinguished festivals of the Roman matrons because Carmentis was considered to be the goddess of childbirth. The traditions which assign a Greek origin to her worship state that her original name was Nicostrate, and that she was the mother of Evander, with whom she came to Italy. After arriving in Latium with her son, she began to prophesy on the Capitoline hill, and was afterwards revered as a deity. Carmentis is also credited with the invention of the Latin alphabet.