In Gallo-Roman religion, Arduinna (also Arduina, Arduinnae or Arduinne) was the eponymous tutelary goddess of the Ardennes Forest and region, thought to be represented as a huntress riding a boar (primarily in the present-day regions of Belgium and Luxembourg). Her cult originated in the Ardennes region of present-day Belgium, Luxembourg, and France. She was identified with the Roman goddess Diana. [1]
In The Gods of the Celts, Miranda Green states that some depictions of Arduinna show her riding a boar. [2] However, Simone Deyts [3] notes that the bronze Gallo-Roman statue of a woman in a short belted tunic, riding a boar sidesaddle and holding a knife, conserved in the Musée des antiquités nationales, St-Germain-en-Laye, [4] bears no inscription, and was simply assumed to be Arduinna by the 19th century antiquarian who discovered it—perhaps because the modern symbol of the Ardennes region is also a boar. [5] Another such bronze, from the collection of Richard Payne Knight, has been in the British Museum since 1824; it is traditionally identified as "Diana". [6] Both bronze statuettes are now headless.
Arduinna is directly attested from two inscriptions:
The name Arduinna derives from the Gaulish arduo- meaning height. [7] It is also found in several placenames, such as the Ardennes Woods (Arduenna silva) and the Forest of Arden in England, in personal names Arduunus and Arda — the latter from coinage of the Treveri [8] — and the Galatian Αρδή. The name Arduenna silva for "wooded heights" was applied to several forested mountains, not just the modern Ardennes: it is found in the départements of Haute-Loire and Puy-de-Dôme and in the French commune of Alleuze. [9]
It has also been suggested that the gemination -nn- is typical to a language of the Belgae, [10] being different from Celtic and thus suggesting a Nordwestblock etymology, which, generally speaking, is also assumed to be closer to Germanic.[ citation needed ]
In 585, Walfroy (Wulfilaich) preached to the local population of Villers-devant-Orval in the Ardennes to persuade them to abandon the worship of Diana. On the hill near Margut, there was, according to Gregory of Tours, a large stone statue of Diana where people would worship. Worshippers would also sing chants in Diana's honour as they drank and feasted. After some difficulties, Walfroy and his followers succeeded in pulling down the statue, which they demolished with hammers. [11]
The Main belt asteroid 394 Arduina, discovered on 19 November 1894, is named for Arduinna.
The French-Belgian television series Black Spot , set in the Ardennes, features a group of eco warriors named the Children of Arduinna (Les Enfants d'Arduinna). [12]
In Gallo-Roman religion, Rosmerta was a goddess of fertility and abundance, her attributes being those of plenty such as the cornucopia. Rosmerta is attested by statues and by inscriptions. In Gaul she was often depicted with the Roman god Mercury as her consort, but is sometimes found independently.
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.
Belisama is a Celtic goddess. She was identified by Roman commentators with Minerva by interpretatio romana.
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 Celtic mythology, Dea Matrona was the goddess who gives her name to the river Marne in Gaul.
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.
In Gallo-Roman religion, Bricta or Brixta was a Gaulish goddess who was a consort of Luxovius, god of the waters of Luxeuil-les-Bains.
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.
In Celtic mythology, Nantosuelta is the goddess of nature, the earth, fire, and fertility
Gallo-Roman religion is a fusion of the traditional religious practices of the Gauls, who were originally Celtic speakers, and the Roman and Hellenistic religions introduced to the region under Roman Imperial rule. It was the result of selective acculturation.
The Vocontii were a Gallic people dwelling on the western foothills of the Alps during the Iron Age and the Roman period.
Icovellauna was a Celtic goddess worshiped in Gaul. Her places of worship included an octagonal temple at Le Sablon in Metz, originally built over a spring, from which five inscriptions dedicated to her have been recovered, and Trier, where Icovellauna was honored in an inscription in the Altbachtal temple complex. Both of these places lie in the valley of the river Moselle of eastern Gaul in what are now Lorraine in France and Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany. One such inscription was, somewhat unusually, inscribed on a copper tablet in Roman cursive letters.
Lenus was a Celtic healing god worshipped mainly in eastern Gaul, where he was almost always identified with the Roman god Mars.
Moccus is a Celtic god who is identified with Mercury. He is the boar- or swine-god of the continental Celtic tribe of Lingones. Moccus was invoked as the protector of boar hunters and warriors. Boar meat was sacred among the ancient Celts, and features in accounts of feasts in Irish mythology. The Lingones, whose tribal center was at modern-day Langres, were a Gaulish tribe located in the area of the rivers Seine and Marne in what is now northeastern France. They were neighbors to the Celto-Germanic tribe of Treveri. Another tribe known as Lingones was located near the mouth of the Po River in northeastern Italy, and were known for agriculture, weaving and metalworking.
Toutatis or Teutates is a Celtic god who was worshipped primarily in ancient Gaul and Britain. His name means "god of the tribe", and he has been widely interpreted as a tribal protector. According to Roman writer Lucan, the Gauls offered human sacrifices to him.
Artaius is a Celtic epithet applied to the Roman god Mercury during the Romano-Celtic period. It is known from a single inscription from Beaucroissant in the Isère:
In Gallo-Roman religion, Sequana is the goddess of the river Seine, particularly the springs at the source of the Seine, and the Gaulish tribe the Sequani. The springs, called the Fontes Sequanae, are located in a valley in the Châtillon Plateau, to the north-west of Dijon in Burgundy, and it was here, in the 2nd or 1st century BC, that a healing shrine was established. The sanctuary was later taken over by the Romans, who built two temples, a colonnaded precinct and other related structures centred on the spring and pool. Many dedications were made to Sequana at her temple, including a large pot inscribed with her name and filled with bronze and silver models of parts of human bodies to be cured by her. Wooden and stone images of limbs, internal organs, heads, and complete bodies were offered to her in the hope of a cure, as well as numerous coins and items of jewellery. Respiratory illnesses and eye diseases were common. Pilgrims were frequently depicted as carrying offerings to the goddess, including money, fruit, or a favorite pet dog or bird.
Anvallus was a Gaulish god, known from several public inscriptions at Augustodunum (Autun). Two Latin inscriptions on altars were dedicated by gutuatres in requital of vows; both such dedications began with the formula Aug(usto) sacr(um). The title gutuater is typically understood to mean 'priest'; the gutuatres have at times been taken to be Romanized continuations of the druids. These altars were both discovered in 1900 on the site of Autun's railway station, along with a Greek-style helmet of thin bronze that would have been left there as a votive offering.
Xavier Delamarre is a French linguist, lexicographer, and former diplomat. He is regarded as one of the world's foremost authorities on the Gaulish language.
The Iemerii were a Celto-Ligurian tribe dwelling in the Val Chisone during the Iron Age.
