Tungabis

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Tungabis is the name of a Germanic goddess , the only documented in a dedicatory inscription of the 2nd / 3rd centuries. Century from Inden-Pier in the Düren district . In the first archaeological description, the name was interpreted as a matron's nickname; in a new description from a more detailed linguistic, cultural and religious perspective, the consecration is ascribed to a separate individual deity, whose function lies in the area of ​​general benevolence and fertility.

Discovery and Inscription

During excavations in 1986 in the run-up to the development of the Inden-West open- cast lignite mine , a Franconian Merovingian period cemetery (cemetery Pier II from the 6th / 7th century) with 85 burials was uncovered in Pier. Numerous Roman consecration stones from former local sanctuaries were reused as spolia for the walls .

The stone for the Dea Tungabis was hewn for the purpose of the grave wall and has been handed down in fragments in its overall condition. The stone made of sandstone has a preserved dimension of 46 × 45 × 19 cm, above the inscription panel are traces of a former niche ( aedicula ) with the once figural representation of the goddess, on the narrow sides the lower part of a cornucopia are preserved as decorations. From the figural representation, or what was inferred from the rudimentary state of delivery, the first describer Thomas Franke sees the feet of a common matron trinity, he referred to the other Inden finds for comparison ( Alusneihae , Afliae , Grusduahenae , Hamavehae ). Gerhard Bauchhenß contradicts Franke, since according to his assessment of the reality, the dimensions and conception of the stone and niche did not offer the space for the representation of the usual three female figures and therefore only the execution of a single figure is plausible. Instead of the traces of the lower extremities interpreted by Franke, i. H. of the feet, the new writer Robert Nedoma interprets as the legs of a chair and the folds of a woman's dress.

Analogous to the overall condition, the inscription is severely disturbed to the point of illegibility due to massive material breaks, flattening and abrasion and the result of the early medieval processing as spoil. Only the letters in the first line are reasonably legible under the circumstances and have a letter / line height of around 3 to 3.5 cm.

Thomas Franke read the inscription as:

Tungabim
Vi [––]
FIIIEM
l (ibens) m (erito)

"Tungabim / Vi [3] / FIIIEM / l (ibens) [m (erito)]"

The new reading by Robert Nedoma is:

TVNGABIM (x)
VIxx (x) M
FixI E / F M (x)
L (M)

"Tungabi M (arcus) / Vi [-] / (...) / l (ibens) m (erito)"

"The [goddess] Tungabis Vi [-] (...) willingly [and for a fee]"

Nedoma rereads the first line to Franke. In the course of the theonym's writing, he notes that the upper part of the vertical and transverse haste has been preserved from the initial T and that the B appears as flattened, like the middle part of the line is affected by an arched depression. Also important for his overall reading, he rates the final (italic) M of the line as an abbreviation of the Roman prenom M (arcus) . He refers to the Euskirchen inscription of the consecration for the Matronae Fachinehae "Matronis / Fa (c) hinihis M (arcus) / ...". In this way he sets the dative singular Tungab-i against Franke, who reads the dative plural that is often used in the matron's name catalog Tungab-im .

Name and interpretation

Robert Nedoma derives the theonym Tungabis from the Germanic feminine Þung (a / i / u) -gabiz ("prosperous giver", "excellent giver").

literature

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ After: Robert Nedoma: Dea Tungabis. In: Contributions to name research. NF Vol. 51, 2016, p. 40, note 3.
  2. ^ Clauss-Slaby epigraphic database: images of the stone , accessed on August 30, 2018.
  3. ↑ AE 2001, 1431
  4. ↑ Robert Nedoma: Dea Tungabis. In: Contributions to name research. NF vol. 51, 2016, p. 39 f., Note 2 (autopsy March 8, 2013).
  5. ↑ CIL 13, 7970 ; Epigraphic database Heidelberg : HD 022469