Vagdavercustis
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)
- Burginatium near Kalkar –Altkalkar, AE 2003, 1227 . Inscription:
- Va] gda / [ve] rcust [i] / [Ca] ndidiu [s] / [
- Harenatium in cattle : CIL 13, 8702 . Inscription:
- [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
- Monterberg near Kalkar: CIL 13, 8662 . Inscription:
- [. . . eques] ale Nor (icorum) Iuliu [s] Quint. Vagevercu (sti) vo (tum) so (lvit) llm
- Plumpton near Penrith (Cumbria) , England, AE 1911, 00131. Inscription:
- 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."
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
- ^ 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.
- ↑ Vici.org: Temple district on the Kalkarberg
- ↑ Steve Bödecker: Weapons for Vagdavercustis. In: The Limes. News bulletin of the German Limes Commission, Volume 4, 2010, Issue 2, pp. 16–19 / digitized .
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Rudolf Much: Vagdavercustis , In: Journal for German Antiquity and German Literature 1917, p. 284.
- ^ 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.
- ↑ Steve Bödecker: Weapons for Vagdavercustis. In: The Limes. News bulletin of the German Limes Commission, Volume 4, 2010, Issue 2, pp. 16-19.
- ↑ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
literature
- Siegfried Gutenbrunner : The Germanic god names of the ancient inscriptions. Hall / S. 1936, pp. 103f.
- Heinz Günter Horn : The Romans in North Rhine-Westphalia . Theiss, Stuttgart, 1987, ISBN 3-8062-0312-1 , p. 275.
- Rudolf Much : Vagdavercustis . In: Zeitschrift für deutsches Altertum (ZfdA) 55, 1917, pp. 284–296.
- Hermann Reichert : Lexicon of the old Germanic names . Böhlau, Vienna 1987, p.?.
- Marcus Reuter: Hercules Magusanus and Vagdavercustis - In the realm of the gods. In: Archeology in Germany 2010, No. 4, pp. 32–35.
- Moritz Schönfeld : Dictionary of the old Germanic persons and national names. Carl Winter, Heidelberg 1911, p.
- 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.
- BH Stolte : The religious conditions in Lower Germany . In: Rise and Fall of the Roman World , II, Vol. 18.1 Religion (Paganism: The religious conditions in the provinces) , Wolfgang Haase (ed.). de Gruyter, Berlin - New York 1986. ISBN 3-11-010050-9 . Pp. 591-671.
- Jan de Vries : Old Germanic history of religion . De Gruyter, Berlin - New York 3rd unchanged. Edition 1970. Reprint 2010. Vol. 1 ISBN 978-3-11-002678-8 . Vol. 2 ISBN 978-3-11-002807-2 , pp.?.