Condatis (Gaulish: 'confluence') was an ancient Celtic deity worshipped primarily in northern Britain but also in Gaul. [1] He was associated with the confluences of rivers, in particular within County Durham in the North of England. [lower-alpha 1] Condatis is known from several inscriptions in Britain and a single inscription found at Alonnes, Sarthe, France. In each case he is equated with the Roman god Mars. [lower-alpha 2]
The theonym Condatis derives from the stem condāt-, meaning 'confluence', itself from Proto-Celtic *kom-dati-, from an earlier kom-dhh1-ti- ('put with, put together', i.e. 'grouping, reunion'). [3] [4]
The stem condāt- is also attested in personal names, including Condatus, Condatius, and Condatie, as well as in toponyms such as Condé, Condat, Candé , Conte , Condes, Candes , Cosnes, Condate (the old name of Rennes and Northwich), Condom, Condéon (both from *Condate-o-magos), Cond (< *Condate-dunum), Kontz , Conz (Trier), and Canstatt (Condistat). [5] [3]
The cult title is probably related to the place name Condate, often used in Gaul for settlements at the confluence of rivers. [6] The Celtic god Condatis is thought to have functions pertaining to water and healing. [7] [8]
Roman altar-inscriptions to the deity Condatis have been found near Roman forts in County Durham in the North of England that may suggest a " confluence-deity " cult and the possibility that river confluences may have been used as pagan ritual sacrifice sites. [lower-alpha 3] [lower-alpha 4] [lower-alpha 5]
An example of an altar-inscription to Mars Condatis has been found at Cramond Roman Fort in the north-west of Edinburgh, Scotland. [lower-alpha 6]
The following altar-inscriptions to Mars Condatis have been found in County Durham in the North of England.
Place name | Roman fort | Find date | Find location | Derived name [lower-alpha 7] | River confluence [lower-alpha 8] |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Chester-le-Street | Concangis | 1886 [lower-alpha 9] [lower-alpha 10] | Cong Burn [13] [lower-alpha 12] | Concangis [lower-alpha 13] | Cong Burn – River Wear |
Bowes | Lavatrae | c.1900 [lower-alpha 14] | Roman road [15] | River Greta | |
Piercebridge | Morbium | c.1709 [lower-alpha 15] [lower-alpha 16] | High Coniscliffe [18] | Coniscliffe [lower-alpha 17] | River Tees |
An example of an altar-inscription to Condatis has been found at Allonnes, Sarthe in France. [1]
Erecura or Aerecura was a goddess worshipped in ancient times, often thought to be Celtic in origin, mostly represented with the attributes of Proserpina and associated with the Roman underworld god Dis Pater, as on an altar from Sulzbach. She appears with Dis Pater in a statue found at Oberseebach, Switzerland, and in several magical texts from Austria, once in the company of Cerberus and once probably with Ogmios. A further inscription to her has been found near Stuttgart, Germany. Besides her chthonic symbols, she is often depicted with such attributes of fertility as the cornucopia and apple baskets. She is believed to be similar to Greek Hecate, while the two goddesses share similar names. She is depicted in a seated posture, wearing a full robe and bearing trays or baskets of fruit, in depictions from Cannstatt and Sulzbach. Miranda Green calls Aericura a "Gaulish Hecuba", while Noémie Beck characterizes her as a "land-goddess" sharing both underworld and fertility aspects with Dis Pater.
In Gallo-Roman religion, Ancamna was a goddess worshipped particularly in the valley of the river Moselle. She was commemorated at Trier and Ripsdorf as the consort of Lenus Mars, and at Möhn as the consort of Mars Smertulitanus. At Trier, altars were set up in honour of Lenus Mars, Ancamna and the genii of various pagi of the Treveri, giving the impression of Lenus Mars and Ancamna as tribal protectors honoured in an officially organized cult. Among the few statuettes left as votive offerings at the sanctuary of Mars Smertulitanus and Ancamna at Möhn is one of a genius cucullatus like those offered to the Xulsigiae at the Lenus Mars temple complex in Trier.
Belatucadros or Belatucadrus, was a deity worshipped in Celtic northern Britain, particularly in Cumberland and Westmorland. In the Roman period he was identified with Mars and appears to have been worshipped by lower-ranked Roman soldiers as well as by Britons. In five inscriptions he is called Mars Belatucadrus and the name is frequently translated as "fair shining one" or "fair slayer."
Belisama is a Celtic goddess. She was identified by Roman commentators with Minerva by interpretatio romana.
Esus, Esos, Hesus, or Aisus was a Celtic god who was worshipped primarily in ancient Gaul and Britain. He is known from two monumental statues and a line in Lucan's Bellum civile.
In ancient Celtic religion, Maponos or Maponus is a god of youth known mainly in northern Britain but also in Gaul. In Roman Britain, he was equated with Apollo.
Nemetona, or 'she of the sacred grove', is a Celtic goddess with roots in northeastern Gaul. She is thought to have been the eponymous deity of the Germano-Celtic people known as the Nemetes; evidence of her veneration is found in their former territory along the Middle Rhine as well in the Altbachtal sanctuary in present-day Trier, Germany. She is also attested in Bath, England, where an altar to her was dedicated by a man of the Gallic Treveri people.
*Nodens or *Nodons is a Celtic healing god worshipped in Ancient Britain. Although no physical depiction of him has survived, votive plaques found in a shrine at Lydney Park (Gloucestershire) indicate his connection with dogs, a beast associated with healing symbolism in antiquity. The deity is known in only one other location, in Cockersand Moss (Lancashire). He was equated on most inscriptions with the Roman god Mars and associated in a curse with Silvanus. His name is cognate with that of later Celtic mythological figures, such as the Irish Nuada and the Welsh Nudd.
In ancient Celtic polytheism, Verbeia was a goddess worshipped in Roman Britain. She is known from a single altar-stone dedicated to her at Ilkley. She is considered to have been a deification of the River Wharfe.
In Romano-British culture and Germanic polytheism, the Alaisiagae were a quartet of Celtic and Germanic goddesses deifying victory.
In the localised Celtic polytheism practised in Great Britain, Sulis was a deity worshiped at the thermal spring of Bath. She was worshiped by the Romano-British as Sulis Minerva, whose votive objects and inscribed lead tablets suggest that she was conceived of both as a nourishing, life-giving mother goddess and as an effective agent of curses invoked by her votaries.
Ancient Celtic religion, commonly known as Celtic paganism, was the religion of the ancient Celtic peoples of Europe. Because there are no extant native records of their beliefs, evidence about their religion is gleaned from archaeology, Greco-Roman accounts, and literature from the early Christian period. Celtic paganism was one of a larger group of polytheistic Indo-European religions of Iron Age Europe.
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The gods and goddesses of the pre-Christian Celtic peoples are known from a variety of sources, including ancient places of worship, statues, engravings, cult objects, and place or personal names. The ancient Celts appear to have had a pantheon of deities comparable to others in Indo-European religion, each linked to aspects of life and the natural world. Epona was an exception and retained without association with any Roman deity. By a process of syncretism, after the Roman conquest of Celtic areas, most of these became associated with their Roman equivalents, and their worship continued until Christianization. Pre-Roman Celtic art produced few images of deities, and these are hard to identify, lacking inscriptions, but in the post-conquest period many more images were made, some with inscriptions naming the deity. Most of the specific information we have therefore comes from Latin writers and the archaeology of the post-conquest period. More tentatively, links can be made between ancient Celtic deities and figures in early medieval Irish and Welsh literature, although all these works were produced well after Christianization.
Cramond Roman Fort is a Roman-Era archaeological site at Cramond, Edinburgh, Scotland. The settlement may be the "Rumabo" listed in the 7th-century Ravenna Cosmography.
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