Bandua

Last updated

Bandua was a theonym used to refer to a god or goddess worshipped in Iberia by Gallaeci and Lusitanians. Whether the name referred to a discrete deity or was an epithet applied to different deities is arguable.

Contents

Epigraphy

The deity's name is found, in epigraphy, with a series of epithets: [1]

In Rairiz de Veiga, Bandua is acknowledged as a god of the Vexillum and partner of Mars:

DEO VEXILOR[UM] MARTIS SOCIO BANDUAE [5] [6]

At Espinhosela, the name Bandua alone is found. At Codosedo, Alenquer and Xinzo de Limia however, the name Bandua is qualified by the epithet Aetobrico(m). At Cáceres, Bandua is qualified by Araugelensis, at Curbián by Bolleco(m), at Miguel o Anjo by Brico(m), at Mixo(m) by Calaigus, at La Mezquitilla by Itobrico(m), at Eiras by Lanobrica, at Rairiz de Veiga by Veigebreaeco(m), at Arcuelos by Verubrigo(m), at Seisco de Anciães by Vordeaeco(m) and at S. Martinho by Vorteaecio(m). [1]

Extent of worship

The theonym Bandua has been found recorded in Portugal and Galicia. Along with Cosus, Nabia and Reo, Bandua is one of the best documented deities in large areas of western and north-western Iberia: six epigraphies from the Province of Ourense. [7]

It has been proposed that the worship of Bandua spread from the north (Gallaecia and Asturia) into the south (Lusitania), along with that of Cosus and Nabia, [8] [9] so contrasting with the worship of Reo that would have extended in the opposite direction.

According to scholars Jürgen Untermann and Blanca María Prósper, the form Bandue, and the form Bandua or Banduae, predominate in the Galician territory north of the Douro River, while the Bandi ~ Bande form is more common in the Lusitanian area to the south. [10] [11]

Professor Olivares Pedreño argues that, in relation to the attestation of epithets Roudeaco/Roudaecus, the name pertains to a place named uicus Rouda, and their discovery in different locations suggests a migration or population displacement. [12]

Interpretations

Possible water deity

Bandua has been associated with water [13] in order to explain the hydronym Banduje, in Portugal, or the toponym Banhos de Bande (a thermal spot whose medieval name, Vanate, is unrelated) [14] and the proposed [13] relationship of the name with fords.

Polish linguist Krzysztof Tomasz Witczak also sees some possible cognate relationship between Lusitanian Bandua and Illyrian god Bindus , a deity of water sources also equated to Roman Neptune. [15]

Possible protective deity

Their epithets seem to allude more to dwelling places, at least those containing the element -briga or -bris, "fortress": Lanobrigae, Aetobrigo, than to the worshipping communities themselves. [16] [17] [18] In the same vein, Olivares Pedreño, while calling Bandua a male deity, noted that their name is attested with place names (e.g., Etobrico, Brialeacui, Isibraiegui, Longobricu, Veigebreaego, Lansbricae), which seems to indicate its relation to ancient vici and castelle - locations distant from romanized population centers. [19] In a later article by Olivares Pedreño, this association seems to highlight their connection with local indigenous communities, as their protector. [20]

Divine pair

The "location theory" has been criticized by de Bernardo Stempel, [21] who interprets what have traditionally been considered singular thematic datives of male attributes as plural genitive forms referring to groups of people (B'andue Aetobrico(m), Cadogo(m), Roudeaeco(m), Veigebreaego(m)). She also states that they depend on a theonym, Bandua, which would be feminine as a consequence of the above, and which was probably created later than its masculine counterpart. Thus, we would have a pair of deities, Bandus (male) and Bandua (female), comparable to other Celtic pairs like Bormanos & Bormana, Belisama & Belisamaros, Camulos & Camuloriga and Arentius & Arentia.

Other interpretations

In a 2000 article, María Prósper offered another etymology: a reconstructed stem *bandu- would account for variations Bandue, Bandi and Bandei, ultimately deriving from Proto-Indo-European *gʷem-tu-. Thus, she argued, they are a deity of passageways, akin to Roman Ianus. [22]

Legacy

Researcher Ladislao Castro Pérez proposed that St. Torquatus, one of the Seven Apostolic Men responsible for the introduction of Christianity to Hispania, whose relics are kept in Santa Comba de Bande (Ourense), may be a Christian version of Bandua. [23]

See also

Related Research Articles

Lusitanian mythology is the mythology of the Lusitanians, an Indo-European speaking people of western Iberia, in what was then known as Lusitania. In present times, the territory comprises the central part of Portugal and small parts of Extremadura and Salamanca.

The Iberian language was the language of an indigenous western European people identified by Greek and Roman sources who lived in the eastern and southeastern regions of the Iberian Peninsula in the pre-Migration Era. An ancient Iberian culture can be identified as existing between the 7th and 1st centuries BC, at least.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ataegina</span> Iberian Goddess possibly related to the Underworld

Ataegina was a goddess worshipped by the ancient Iberians, Lusitanians, and Celtiberians of the Iberian Peninsula. She is believed to have ruled the underworld.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nabia</span>

Nabia was a goddess of the Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula, although she also had an extended cult during the Roman occupation of the peninsula.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tongoenabiagus</span>

Tongoenabiagus was the god of the Fonte do Ídolo, a 1st-century shrine in Braga with an inscribed fountain dedicated both to Tongoenabiagus and the goddess Nabia. His name may derive from the Celtic root *tenge(o)- and so he may have been associated with the swearing of oaths.

Trebaruna, also Treborunnis and possibly *Trebarunu, was a Lusitanian deity, probably a goddess. Trebaruna's cult was located in the cultural area of Gallaecia and Lusitania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lusitanian language</span> Extinct Indo-European language of Iberia

Lusitanian was an Indo-European Paleohispanic language. There has been support for either a connection with the ancient Italic languages or Celtic languages. It is known from only six sizeable inscriptions, dated from c. 1 CE, and numerous names of places (toponyms) and of gods (theonyms). The language was spoken in the territory inhabited by Lusitanian tribes, from the Douro to the Tagus rivers, territory that today falls in central Portugal and western Spain.

The Quaquerni or Querquerni were an ancient tribe of Gallaecia, living in the Baixa Limia region of southern Galicia, where the Roman fort of Aquis Querquennis has been found.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tartessian language</span> Extinct unclassified language of southwest Iberia

Tartessian is an extinct Paleo-Hispanic language found in the Southwestern inscriptions of the Iberian Peninsula, mainly located in the south of Portugal, and the southwest of Spain. There are 95 such inscriptions, the longest having 82 readable signs. Around one third of them were found in Early Iron Age necropolises or other Iron Age burial sites associated with rich complex burials. It is usual to date them to the 7th century BC and to consider the southwestern script to be the most ancient Paleo-Hispanic script, with characters most closely resembling specific Phoenician letter forms found in inscriptions dated to c. 825 BC. Five of the inscriptions occur on stelae that have been interpreted as Late Bronze Age carved warrior gear from the Urnfield culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Castro culture</span> Archaeological culture of the northwestern regions of the Iberian peninsula

Castro culture is the archaeological term for the material culture of the northwestern regions of the Iberian Peninsula together with the Spanish regions of Galicia, Asturias, and western León) from the end of the Bronze Age until it was subsumed by Roman culture. It is the culture associated with the Gallaecians and Astures.

Late Basquisation is a minority hypothesis that dates the arrival of the first speakers of the Basque language in northeastern Iberia from Aquitaine to the 5th or 6th century AD – as opposed to the mainstream view of it being the last remaining descendant of one of the pre-Indo-European languages of Prehistoric Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Torquatus of Acci</span>

Saint Torquatus is venerated as the patron saint of Guadix, Spain. Tradition makes him a Christian missionary of the 1st century, during the Apostolic Age. He evangelized the town of Acci, identified as Guadix, and became its first bishop.

Reo is a name appearing on Latin dedications to a Lusitanian-Gallaecian deity, usually with an epithet relating to a place, such as Reo Paramaeco discovered in Lugo in Galicia. The name Reo is in the Latin dative case, for a Latinized name *Reus.

Gallaecian or Northwestern Hispano-Celtic is an extinct Celtic language of the Hispano-Celtic group. It was spoken by the Gallaeci in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula around the start of the 1st millennium. The region became the Roman province of Gallaecia, which is now divided between the Spanish regions of Galicia, western Asturias, the west of the Province of León, and the North Region in Portugal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cancho Roano</span> Cultural property in Zalamea de la Serena, Spain

Cancho Roano is an archaeological site located in the municipality of Zalamea de la Serena, in the province of Badajoz, Spain. It is located three miles from Zalamea de la Serena in the direction of Quintana de la Serena Quintana, in a small valley along the stream Cagancha.

The Suessetani were a pre-Roman people of the northeast Iberian Peninsula that dwelt mainly in the plains area of the Alba (Arba) river basin, in today's Cinco Villas, Aragon, Zaragoza Province and Bardenas Reales area, west of the Gallicus river, east of the low course of the Aragon river and north of the Iberus (Ebro) river, in the valley plains of this same river. Their location, in relation to other tribes, was south of the Iacetani, west of the Vescetani or Oscenses north of the Lusones and Pellendones, also north of the Sedetani, and southeast of the Vascones.

Francisco Villar Liébana is a Spanish linguist, full professor of Indoeuropean linguistics at the University of Salamanca, beginning in 1979.

Blanca María Prósper Pérez is a Spanish linguist and scholar of Celtic studies. Since 2019, she has been Professor (Catedrática) in Indo-European linguistics at the University of Salamanca.

Arentius and Arentia are considered to be a pair of indigenous deities that belong to the Lusitanian pantheon, and attested mainly in epigraphy.

References

  1. 1 2 Inventaire des divnités celtiques de l’Antiquité, L’Arbre Celtique
  2. 1 2 Anderson, James M. (1985). "Preroman indo-european languages of the hispanic peninsula". Revue des Études Anciennes. 87 (3–4): 321. doi:10.3406/rea.1985.4212..
  3. 1 2 3 4 Olivares Pedreño, Juan Carlos (2003). "Reflexiones sobre las ofrendas votivas a dioses indígenas en Hispania: ámbitos de culto y movimiento de población". Veleia. 20: 302. doi:10.1387/veleia.5399..
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 González Rodríguez, María Cruz (2021). "Nombres de divinidades locales en el noroeste español: revisitando a Mª Lourdes Albertos". Veleia. 38: 187–189. doi: 10.1387/veleia.22048 . hdl: 10810/52405 ..
  5. ↑ Eduardo Peralta Labrador (2003). Los cántabros antes de Roma. Real Academia de la Historia. ISBN   9788489512597.
  6. ↑ CIL II, *00215.
  7. ↑ Nicols, John (1987). "Indigenous Culture and the Process of Romanization in Iberian Galicia". The American Journal of Philology. 108 (1): 147. doi:10.2307/294918..
  8. ↑ Prósper, Blanca María (2002). Lenguas y religiones prerromanas del occidente de la península ibérica (1. ed.). Salamanca: Ed. Univ. de Salamanca. pp. 440–441. ISBN   8478008187.
  9. ↑ Prósper, Blanca M. (2000:440-441). ‘Ein Beitrag zur Vergöttlichung der Flüsse in der Antike: Arentia, Arantia. Beiträge zur Namenforschung.’ Neue Folge 35: 41-65. 2002 Lenguas y religiones prerromanas del Occidente de la Península Ibérica. Salamanca: Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca.
  10. ↑ Untermann, Jürgen, n.d. ‘Los teónimos del noroeste peninsular y la gramática de las lenguas indígenas de esta región.’ In II Colóquio Internacional de Epigrafia: Divinidades indigenas e interpretatio romana, Sintra, 16-18 março de 1995.
  11. ↑ Prósper, Blanca María (2000). "La divinidad galaico-lusitana BANDVE/BANDI y los dioses del pasaje del indoeuropeo occidental". AION: Annali del Istituto Orientale di Napoli. 20: 266..
  12. ↑ Olivares Pedreño, Juan Carlos (2003). "Reflexiones sobre las ofrendas votivas a dioses indígenas en Hispania: ámbitos de culto y movimiento de población". Veleia. 20: 302, 306, 309. doi:10.1387/veleia.5399..
  13. 1 2 Prósper, Blanca M. (2000:272). ‘Ein Beitrag zur Vergöttlichung der Flüsse in der Antike: Arentia, Arantia. Beiträge zur Namenforschung.’ Neue Folge 35: 41-65. 2002. Lenguas y religiones prerromanas del Occidente de la Península Ibérica. Salamanca: Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca.
  14. ↑ Veiga Arias, Amable (1983). Algunas calas en los orígenes del gallego. Vigo: Galaxia. p. 262. ISBN   9788471544230.
  15. ↑ Witczak, K. T. (2006). "Two Phonological Curiosities of the Thracian Language". In: Linguistique Balkanique 45(3), p. 491.
  16. ↑ Pedrero Sancho, Rosa (1999). ‘Aproximación lingüística al teónimo lusitano-gallego Bandue/Bandi.’ In: Francisco Villar and F. Beltrán (eds), Pueblos, lenguas y escrituras de la Hispania prerromana, pp. 535-543. Salamanca: Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca.
  17. ↑ Pedrero Sancho, Rosa (2001). ‘Los epítetos del teónimo lusitano-gallego Bandue/Bandi.’ In Francisco Villar and M.P. Fernández Álvarez (eds), Actas del VII Coloquio sobre lenguas y culturas paleohispánicas, pp. 541-560. Zaragoza-Salamanca: Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca.
  18. ↑ de Hoz Bravo, Javier, and F. Fernández Palacios (2002). ‘Band-’ In Luis Raposo (ed.), Religiôes da Lusitânia. Loquuntur saxa, pp. 45-52. Lisboa: Museu Nacional de Arqueología.
  19. ↑ Olivares Pedreño, Juan Carlos (1999). "Dioses indígenas Vinculados a Núcleos De población En La Hispania Romana". Espacio Tiempo Y Forma. Serie II, Historia Antigua (12 (enero)): 327–330, 334, 343. doi: 10.5944/etfii.12.1999.4360 . hdl: 10045/131609 ..
  20. ↑ Pedreño, Juan Carlos Olivares (11 November 2005). "Celtic Gods of the Iberian Peninsula". E-Keltoi. Guimarães, Portugal: E-Keltoi: Journal of Interdisciplinary Celtic Studies. 6: 636, 638. ISSN   1540-4889.
  21. ↑ Bernardo Stempel, Patricia de (2003). ‘Los formularios teonímicos, Bandus con su pareja Bandua y unas isoglosas célticas.’ Conimbriga 42: 197-212.
  22. ↑ Prósper, Blanca María (2000). "La divinidad galaico-lusitana BANDVE/BANDI y los dioses del pasaje del indoeuropeo occidental". AION: Annali del Istituto Orientale di Napoli. 20: 270–275..
  23. ↑ Castro Pérez, Ladislao (1992). Los torques de los dioses y de los hombres. A Coruña: Ayuntamiento de La Coruña.[ page needed ]

Bibliography

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.