Danuvius
Danuvius is the Roman personification (" river god ") of the river Danube ( lat : Danuvius, Danubius ).
etymology
The name of the river Danuvius is of Indo-European origin and derives from the root * deH 2 nu-, "river", which often appears in river names (Rhodanus, Don, Dniestr, Downy etc.). Several deities seem to have been named from the same root, including the Irish Danu and the Welsh Dôn , although any connections are not clear.
Inscriptions and representations
Dedicatory inscriptions for a river god Danuvius come from the Roman provinces of Raetia , Noricum and Pannonia . Once Danuvius is invoked with the Roman god father Jupiter and once with the river god Dravus (the Drava ). In Martial one can read of the "faithless horns" of the Danube, which is why Danuvius is sometimes seen as a "horned deity", similar to the "double-horned" Rhenus .
Dedication inscriptions have been found in Mengen ( Baden-Württemberg ), Rississen (Baden-Württemberg), Budapest ( Aquincum, Hungary ) and Osijek ( Mursa, Croatia ).
The famous depiction of a typical river god on the Trajan Column is often associated with Danuvius. The river god, with a strong resemblance to the Roman Neptunus , sits under the Trajan's Bridge and watches the Roman legions cross the Danube at the beginning of the Dacian Wars . However, since this bridge is located in that area of the lower course of the Danube, which was called Ister in antiquity - and who had a river god of the same name - it is just as likely that this is his image, especially since it is also the river god who worshiped the Dacians to be defeated .
Goths, Greeks, Dacians
The Goths , who invoked Danuvius ( Got . Δούναβις = * Donaws) as avenger, also swore in his name. The Gothic general Gainas even had the Romans who followed him sacrifice to the river.
The same applies to the lower course of the Danube, which was also called Hister or Istros in ancient times and was known to the Greeks very early on. In Hesiod's theogony, Istros is the son of Oceanus and Tethys . The Dacians swore by their river god (Ister). However, they were not aware of the unity of the Danube and the Ister.
literature
- Carmen Maria Petolescu: Danuvius . In: Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC). Volume III, Zurich / Munich 1986, pp. 343-344.
- Garrett S. Olmsted: The Gods of the Celts and the Indo-Europeans . Innsbruck 1994, ISBN 3-85124-173-8 , pp.?.
- Helmut Birkhan : Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-7001-2609-3 , p.
- Martina Meyr: Danuvius and the worship of river gods . In: In the service of Rome. Festschrift for Hans Ulrich Nuber . Remshalden 2006, ISBN 978-3-935383-49-3 , pp. 119-125.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Martial 9, 101, 17.
- ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 689 and note 10.
- ↑ CIL III, 11894 Aram / Danuvio / Q (uintus) Ver (atius?) Avian / us l (ibens) l (aetus) m (erito) / vo (tum) s (olvit)
- ↑ CIL III, 5863 In h (onorem) d (omus) d (ivinae) / I (ovi) O (ptimo) M (aximo) et Danu / vio ex vot / o Primanus / Secundi v (otum) s (olvit) l (aetus) l (ibens) / Muciano et Fabi / [an] o [co (n) s (ulibus)]
- ↑ CIL III, 3416 Danuvio / Defluenti / Haterius Ca / linicus vo (tum) / [3] V [
- ↑ CIL III, 10395 Danuvio / sacrum / [V] etulenus / [A] proni [a] nus / leg (atus) leg (ionis) [II] / [Ad] i (utricis) P (iae) [F (idelis )] / [
- ↑ CIL III, 10263 Danuvio / et Dravo / [[[pro sa] ut [e] et in [columit] a [te] (?)]] / [[[Imp (eratoris) Ca] es (aris) M ( arci) Aur (eli) [Antonini div] i]] / [[[Ant] onini [Magni f] il (ii) [3] M]] / [[[3] I]] / [[[3] V ]] / [[[3] IIEO [3]]] / [[[3] L [3]]] / [[[3] s [3]]] / [[[leg (atus) Aug (usti) ] pr (o) pr (aetore) [3]]] / [[3] V]
- ↑ Gottfried Schramm: North Pontic currents . Göttingen 1973, p. 37.
- ↑ Claudius Claudianus : De bello Gothico 81 f., 523.
- ^ Zosimos : Historia nea 5, 21, 9.
- ^ Hesiod: Theogonia 339.
- ^ Servius : Scholien zu Vergils Georgica 2, 94.