Vagdavercustis

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Weihaltar of T. Flavius ​​Constans. The altar is exhibited in the Roman-Germanic Museum in Cologne. Inventory number: 670.

Vagdavercustis was a Germanic goddess who was worshiped in the Roman Empire , especially on the Lower Rhine . She is interpreted as a war goddess or goddess of battle.

Geographical distribution

The name of the deity is preserved in inscriptions on a total of eight votive stones and plates . The core area of ​​the veneration of the Vagdavercustis is evidently the Lower Rhine, where most of the previously known consecrations were found. A temple dedicated to her was found near Kalkar. Two of the eight known sites are outside the Rhineland, one consecration was found in northern England on Hadrian's Wall ( Carrawburgh ), and another in the Pannonian Plain in Hungary. Almost all of the finds are archaeologically in a military context and relate to the Roman military stationed on the Lower Rhine.

Votive stones and inscriptions

Vagdavercutis is mentioned in the following inscriptions:

Deae / Vagdavercusti / Titus Flavius ​​/ Constans praef (ectus) / praet (orio) em (inentissimus) v (ir)
Va] gda / [ve] rcust [i] / [Ca] ndidiu [s] / [
[D] eae // VA // [g] daver / [c] usti [//] et suis v (otum) s (olvit) l (ibens) / Imp (eratore) n (ostro) IIII co (n) s (ule)
[Vagdav] ercust (i) / [sacr] um / [3] us Iustus / [3 leg (ionis)] XXX V (ulpiae) V (ictricis) / [pro se] et suis
Deae Vagdavercusti Sim [p] li / cius Super dec (urio) alae Vocontior (um) / exerci [t] uus Britannici
[. . . eques] ale Nor (icorum) Iuliu [s] Quint. Vagevercu (sti) vo (tum) so (lvit) llm
Omnibus / dibus (!) Unse / nis Fersome / ris Burcanius / Arcavius ​​Vagda / varcustus Pou [1] / [1] c [1] arus vex (illationis) MA / VI [2 pr] o salute / sua et suorum v ( otum) s (olverunt) l (ibentes) m (erito)
Deae Vagdaevercusti M. Simplic (ius) Quietus trib. coh. III Batavorum (milliariae) equ (itatae) Antoninian (a) e

All the inscriptions bear the Latin names of their donors, the Plumpton consecration stone is the exception with the, according to Gutenbrunner, clearly Germanic personal name Unsenis . All donors were soldiers from the Legion.

A special testimony to the veneration of the Vagdavercustis is the Weihaltar found in Cologne in 1909. In 165 AD, Titus Flavius ​​Constans , one of the two Prefects of the Praetorian Guard at the time , donated an altar to the goddess on which he is depicted in sacrificial clothing ( " cinctus Gabinus " ) performing an act of sacrifice (see illustration). Mark Aurel presumably commissioned the prefect with a special mission and sent him to Germania. According to another interpretation, T. Flavius ​​could have been a citizen of Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium . The exact reason for the dedication is unknown. The votive stone is made of limestone and is 1.17 × 0.82 × 0.43 meters in size. The inscription above the relief reads:

"The goddess Vagdavercustis (by) Titus Flavius ​​Constans, Praetorianerpraefekt, member of the knighthood."

- Hartmut Galsterer, Brigitte Galsterer : The Roman stone inscriptions from Cologne , Cologne 1975, p. 146.

Vagdavercustis sanctuary on the Kalkarberg

So far only one temple complex dedicated to the goddess Vagdavercustis is known. The sanctuary is located on the Kalkarberg, an elevation between Kleve and Kalkar, which is part of the Lower Rhine ridge . It consists of a Gallo-Roman temple , hypocausted priests' quarters and a rectangular building, which is addressed as a meeting room for the community. In 2000 the temple district on the Kalkarberg was archaeologically examined . The site had previously been explored for years by a probe, until in 1999 he presented a fragment of a larger-than-life bronze statue to the Office for Land Monument Preservation and disclosed its provenance. The excavation showed that Roman soldiers from the Legio XXX Ulpia Victrix stationed in Vetera Castra and cavalrymen from the nearby Burginatium worshiped the goddess at this location . The soldiers primarily dedicated weapons and military equipment as offerings .

Inscriptions found show that the complex was consecrated to the goddess Vagdavercustis.

From the inventory and the consecration objects, the archaeologists found only crushed metal fragments at the excavation site in addition to potsherds. Apparently the sanctuary had been abandoned in late antiquity and the metal melted down.

interpretation

The interpretation of the goddess in her function depends on the different etymological and onomastic interpretations and is not entirely clear. Since Rudolf Much , the name and subsequently the function and nature of the Vagdavercustis has been interpreted as a goddess of war, and especially as a deity who has courage and lust for battle, from the basic elements of the name compound consisting of the terms vagda and ver [custis] promotes. The Germanic first link vagda is derived from the Latin virtus , which gives an interpretation of the vagdavercustis as the goddess of martial prowess.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Rudolf Simek: Lexicon of Germanic Mythology (= Kröner's pocket edition. Volume 368). 3rd, completely revised edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-520-36803-X , p. 456.
  2. ↑ Vici.org: Temple district on the Kalkarberg
  3. ↑ Steve Bödecker: Weapons for Vagdavercustis. In: The Limes. News bulletin of the German Limes Commission, Volume 4, 2010, Issue 2, pp. 16–19 / digitized .
  4. ^ Hermann Reichert: Lexicon of Old Germanic Names , Vienna 1987, pp. 1401f .; Rudolf Simek: Lexicon of Germanic Mythology (= Kröner's pocket edition. Volume 368). 3rd, completely revised edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-520-36803-X , p. 456.
  5. ^ Siegfried Gutenbrunner: The Germanic god names of the ancient inscriptions. Hall / S. 1936, pp. 21, 102; Hermann Reichert: Lexicon of Old Germanic Names , Vienna 1987, p. 1382.
  6. ^ Rudolf Much: Vagdavercustis , In: Journal for German Antiquity and German Literature 1917, p. 284.
  7. ^ Werner Eck : Cologne in Roman times. History of a city under the Roman Empire. (= History of the City of Cologne. Vol. 1). Cologne 2004, ISBN 3-7743-0357-6 , p. 350ff.
  8. ↑ Steve Bödecker: Weapons for Vagdavercustis. In: The Limes. News bulletin of the German Limes Commission, Volume 4, 2010, Issue 2, pp. 16-19.
  9. ↑ Julia Obladen-Kauder, Frank Willer: Apollo - Mithras - Vagdavercustis. Finds from the temple district in Kalkar-Altkalkar. In: Landschaftsverband Rheinland , Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn : War and Peace. Celts - Romans - Teutons. Primus Verlag, Darmstadt 2007, p. 291.
  10. ^ Karl Helm: Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte vol. 1. Carl Winter, Heidelberg 1913, p. 378; Rudolf Simek: Lexicon of Germanic Mythology (= Kröner's pocket edition. Volume 368). 3rd, completely revised edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-520-36803-X , p. 456.
  11. ^ Siegfried Gutenbrunner: The Germanic god names of the ancient inscriptions. Hall / S. 1936, pp. 103f .; Rudolf Much: Vagdavercustis , In: Journal for German Antiquity and German Literature 1917, pp. 285f., 295; Rudolf Simek: Lexicon of Germanic Mythology (= Kröner's pocket edition. Volume 368). 3rd, completely revised edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-520-36803-X , p. 456.

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