Rigani

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Rigani , also Rīganī , is believed to be the name of an ancient Celtic goddess . She may be equated with the goddess Rīgantona .

Inscriptions

A dedicatory inscription from the first half of the 1st century AD was found in Lezoux ( Département Puy-de-Dôme ), where it is apparently equated with the goddess Rosmerta :

e […] ieuririgani rosmertiac (“… I dedicated this to Rigani and Rosmerta”?).

Perhaps Rigani is also used here as an epithet of Rosmerta ("royal Rosmerta"?).

In other inscriptions, Rosmerta is given the Latinized title Regina , which was also used by other Celtic goddesses, such as Epona .

Jean Jacques Hatt and the "Gundestrup Fable"

The French author Jean-Jacques Hatt takes up the name of the goddess Rigani in his work Mythes et Dieux de la Gaule and connects her with a representation on the cauldron of Gundestrup , in which he claims to have deciphered the “core myth” of Celtic mythology. According to Hatt, Rigani is the mediator between heaven and earth, who always spent a certain amount of time with the lord of heaven and then descended and united with the lord of the underworld.

According to Hatt, the god Esus is said to be the son and lover of the mother goddess, who is awakened to new earthly life after his death through a fertility ritual and the sacrifice of a bull. At the beginning of spring, the dark winter figure of Cernunnos (hero of the Otherworld depicted with deer antlers, the deputy lord of the animals and treasure keeper) is to become his bright summer figure Esus, the protector of people.

Hatt's interpretation of the myth depicted on the cauldron is also known as the "Gundestrup fable". On the other hand, there is above all the criticism of the Austrian Celtologist Helmut Birkhan , who regards Hatt's interpretations as paperless speculations and overinterpretation of archaeological sources, since apart from portraits there are no written sources on Celtic mythology and many representations of gods have been given names arbitrarily and unsecured. Accordingly, Rigani was only a cult name that was given to some goddesses. The title is rendered translated as Queen . Rīganī corresponds etymologically to the equivalent Irish word rígain , which can also be found in the goddess name Morrigan .

See also

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt to present an overall picture of their culture . 1997, p. 525.
  2. ↑ a b Bernhard Maier: Lexicon of the Celtic religion and culture . P. 278 f.
  3. ↑ AE 1993, 01370 Rasgrad ( Abrittus , Roman province Moesia inferior [Lower Moesia ], today Bulgaria ): [3 dea] e (?) Eponae / Reg (inae) pro salu (te) d (omini) / n (ostri) M (arci) Aur (eli) Antonini [Pii] / Fel (icis) Aug (usti) Valerius Ruf (us?) / b (ene) f (iciarius) co (n) s (ularis) leg (ionis) / XI Cl (audiae) Anto / ninianae V [3] / Lae (to) II et Ceria [le co (n) s (ulibus)]
  4. ^ Sylvia and Paul F. Botheroyd: Lexicon of Celtic Mythology .
  5. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt to present an overall picture of their culture . 1997, pp. 379, 449.
  6. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt to present an overall picture of their culture . 1997, p. 988.