Ucuetis

Ucuetis is the name of a Gaulish craft god who was worshiped together with his consort Bergusia in Alesia ( Alise-Sainte-Reine , Burgundy , Roman province of Lugdunensis ).

mention

Ucuetis is mentioned once in Latin with his companion Bergusia on an inscription from the 2nd century AD ( Celto-Romanesque period ) . This inscription was discovered between 1839 and 1908 on Mont Auxois, the site of ancient Alesia. A dedication in Gallic that was found near a building bears the following text:

"Martialis Dannotali ieuru Ucuete sosin celicnon, etic gobedbi dugiiontiio Ucuetin in [...] Alisia."

"Martiali's son of Dannotalus dedicates this keliknon (small temple?) To the Ucuetis , together with the blacksmiths who used the Ucuetis in [...] Alesia."

- Wolfgang Meid:

A stone relief found there that shows a god with a hammer and a goddess with fertility attributes is interpreted as Ucuetis and Bergusia. Thus Ucuetis would be a god of (metal) craftsmen. A bronze vase composed of fragments with the names of the two deities was found in a cellar, which is interpreted as the warehouse of a blacksmith's shop above because of further bronze and iron relics.

Apart from these finds, nothing is known about the goddess Bergusia.

See also

• List of Celtic gods and legendary figures
• Celtic religion
• Celtic mythology

literature

• Helmut Birkhan : Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-700-12609-3 .
• Miranda J. Green: Dictionary of Celtic Myth and Legend. Thames and Hudson Ltd. London, 1997, ISBN 978-0-500-27975-5 .
• Bernhard Maier : Lexicon of Celtic Religion and Culture (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 466). Kröner, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-520-46601-5 .
• Wolfgang Meid : The Celts. Reclams Universal Library , Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-150-17053-3 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ CIL XIII, 11247 : Deo Ucueti / et Bergusiae / Remus Primi fil (ius) / donavit / v (otum) s (olvit) l (ibens) m (erito) .
2. ^ Bernhard Maier: Lexicon of the Celtic religion and culture. P. 322.
3. ↑ CIL 13, 2880 .
4. ↑ The Celts. P. 23; According to the more recent view, Meid translates gobedbi as an instrumental form, in contrast to earlier etymologies, which adopted a dative form "... and also the forge ...", e.g. B. still with Birkhan.
5. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 612 f.
6. ^ Bernhard Maier: Lexicon of the Celtic religion and culture . P. 43.