Vesunna is a Celtic goddess worshipped in Roman Gaul. She was likely considered a giver of prosperity, abundance and good fortune, as evidenced by the cornucopia she is depicted carrying in her images. [1] [2] [3] [4]
Vesunna was also once the name of a town just south of the modern French city of Périgueux, where the goddess had a temple in ancient times; she was certainly the patron goddess of this city and its people and thus a protector.
In inscriptions found in Périgueux, Vesunna is identified with the Roman guardian goddess Tutela. Vesunna received votive and dedicatory offerings from her worshippers; otherwise little is known of the specifics of her cult. She had a temple in the city that bore her name. Vesunna was worshipped especially by the Gaulish Celtic tribe known as the Petrocorii, whose name survives in that of the modern French city of Périgueux, located just north of her great temple.
Vesunna's name is likely to derive from the Proto-Celtic *wesu, meaning ‘good’, 'worthy'.[ citation needed ] [5]
Alternatively, related to the name of the Greek goddess Hestia, whose name means "hearth, fireplace, altar", [6] This stems from the PIE root *wes, "burn" (ult. from *h₂wes- "dwell, pass the night, stay"). [7] [8] [9] And so likely also related to the name of the Latin goddess of the hearth, Vesta, though this connection is questioned by Beekes. [10]
Probably related to Umbrian Vesune which should be a dative singular of a *Vesuna, presumed to be a name of a goddess. Perhaps also related to the name of Mount Vesuvius. [11]
The theonym is the direct heir to another goddess of the same city of Sianna, and derives from vesannus, -a, -um - ‘cruel, furious, excited, unstoppable’ for Sianna as a definition relative to the mistress of wildlife and as a goddess of the hunt.[ citation needed ]
Vesunna is also called Tutela, indicating her role as a patron and defender of the city. [12]
There is one inscription from Baden-Baden with the invocation of goddess Visuna, probably an inscriptive variant of goddess Vesunna from Périgueux. On the altar stone are clearly visible the objects for libation. CIL 13, 11714 = Wagner-01, p 20 = AE 1907, 00110 dating: 101 to 250 EDCS-ID: EDCS-12600015 province: Germania superior place: Baden-Baden / Aquae Visunae / L(ucius) Salvius / Similis S(alvi) / Similis / fil(ius) Medi/omat(ricus) / v(otum) s(olvit) l(ibens) m(erito)[ citation needed ]
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Hestia is the virgin goddess of the hearth, the right ordering of domesticity, the family, the home, and the state. In myth, she is the firstborn child of the Titans Cronus and Rhea, and one of the Twelve Olympians.
Mercury is a major god in Roman religion and mythology, being one of the 12 Dii Consentes within the ancient Roman pantheon. He is the god of financial gain, commerce, eloquence, messages, communication, travelers, boundaries, luck, trickery, and thieves; he also serves as the guide of souls to the underworld and the "messenger of the gods".
Febris, or Dea Febris, is the Roman goddess of fevers, who embodied, but also protected people from fever and malaria. Because of this, Febris was a feared goddess whom people wanted the favour of. She does not have a myth of her own nor is she mentioned in a myth. Among her characteristic attributes are "shrewdness" and "honesty", according to Seneca the Younger's Apocolocyntosis.
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.
Artio is a Celtic bear goddess. Evidence of her worship has notably been found at Bern in Switzerland. Her name is derived from the Gaulish word for 'bear', artos.
Borvo or Bormo was an ancient Celtic god of healing springs worshipped in Gauls and Gallaecia. He was sometimes identified with the Graeco-Roman god Apollo, although his cult had preserved a high degree of autonomy during the Roman period.
In Gallo-Roman religion, Damona was a goddess worshipped in Gaul as the consort of Apollo Borvo and of Apollo Moritasgus.
In Celtic polytheism, Sirona was a goddess worshipped predominantly in East Central Gaul and along the Danubian limes. A healing deity, she was associated with healing springs; her attributes were snakes and eggs. She was sometimes depicted with Apollo Grannus or Apollo Borvo. She was particularly worshipped by the Treveri in the Moselle Valley.
Lugus is a god of the Celtic pantheon. His name is rarely directly attested in inscriptions, but his importance can be inferred from place names and ethnonyms and status as king of the gods. His nature and attributes are deduced from the distinctive iconography of Gallo-Roman inscriptions to Mercury, who is widely believed to have been identified with Lugus, and from the quasi-mythological narratives involving his later cognates, Welsh Lleu Llaw Gyffes and Irish Lugh Lámhfhada.
Nehalennia is a goddess of unclear origin, perhaps Germanic or Celtic. She is attested on and depicted upon numerous votive altars discovered around what is now the province of Zeeland, the Netherlands, where the Schelde River flowed into the North Sea. Worship of Nehalennia dates back at least to the 2nd century BC, and veneration of the goddess continued to flourish in northern Europe in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD.
Proto-Indo-European mythology is the body of myths and deities associated with the Proto-Indo-Europeans, speakers of the hypothesized Proto-Indo-European language. Although the mythological motifs are not directly attested – since Proto-Indo-European speakers lived in preliterate societies – scholars of comparative mythology have reconstructed details from inherited similarities found among Indo-European languages, based on the assumption that parts of the Proto-Indo-Europeans' original belief systems survived in the daughter traditions.
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 wished by her votaries.
Brigantia or Brigindo was a goddess in Celtic religion of Late Antiquity.
Worship or deification of fire is known from various religions. Fire has been an important part of human culture since the Lower Paleolithic. Religious or animist notions connected to fire are assumed to reach back to such early prehuman times.
The Petrocorii were a Gallic tribe dwelling in the present-day Périgord region, between the Dordogne and Vézère rivers, during the Iron Age and the Roman period.
Litavis is a Gallic deity whose cult is primarily attested in east-central Gaul during the Roman period. She was probably originally an earth-goddess. In medieval Celtic languages, various terms derived from *Litauia came to designate the Brittany Peninsula.
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.
A Romano-Celtic temple or fanum is a sub-class of Roman temple found in the north-western Celtic provinces of the Roman Empire. They were the main places of worship in Gallo-Roman religion. Romano-Celtic temples differ from classical Roman temples, and evidence shows they had much continuity with earlier Celtic temples. Many were built on earlier sacred sites of the Celtic religion.
Sianna or Stanna is a Romano-Celtic goddess from Roman Gaul, attested epigraphically from Vesunna, who is closely related to the Roman goddess Diana. The goddess Sianna is attested by an inscription composed of five fragments discovered in the buildings of the Vieilles Casernes or ‘old barracks’ in Périgueux (Dordogne), in the ancient territory of the Petrocorii, where she is partnered with the god Telo. By comparison of the various fragments, the suggested restoration is certain, except for the end of the first line and the beginning of the second line: Deo Telo et deae Stannae, solo A(uli) Pomp(eii) Antiqui, Per…ius, Silvani fil(ius) Bassus, c(urator) c(ivium) r(omanorum), consaeptum omne circa templum et basilicas duas, cum ceteris ornamentis ac munimentis, dat, which Noémie Beck translates as, ‘To the god Telo and to the goddess Stanna, Per[…]ius Bassus, son of Silvanus, curator of the Roman citizens, offers, at his own expense, this entire wall erected around their temple on the land of Aulus Pompeius Antiquus, and these two basilicas with the other embellishments and accessories’. This inscription is of great interest, for it mentions the existence of a temple dedicated to Telo and Stanna. The dedicator Per[…]rius Bassus was a Roman citizen and held official functions. He was a curator, which means he had been appointed by the emperor to manage and supervise the finances of the city. He offered a wall, two basilicas, ornaments and accessories extending and embellishing the sanctuary, which was built on the property of the Roman citizen Aulus Pompeius Antiquus. Sianna and Vesunna are two goddesses from the town of Périgueux in the territory of the Petrocorii.
The Tower of Vesunna is the vestige of a Gallo-Roman fanum (temple) dedicated to Vesunna, a tutelary goddess of the Petrocorii. The sanctuary was built in the 1st or 2nd century. Vesunna was the Gallo-Roman name for Périgueux, in the Dordogne department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region.
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