Viradecdis

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Viradecdis (widely varying spellings) was a female, Celtic / Germanic deity who was probably worshiped in particular by the Tungrians . The goddess is evidenced by several votive inscriptions of the second and third centuries in Great Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.

etymology

The name Viradecdis may be composed of the protoceltic word components * wīrjā - / * wīro- (= truth) and * dekos- (= honor) and is to be interpreted in the sense of "those who honor the truth" . It is noteworthy that the name does not end in -a following the Celtic usage , but on the appended syllable -dis , which is of Germanic origin. This speaks for an originally Celtic deity that was later assimilated by Germanic tribes of the empire .

Epigraphic evidence

Great Britain

An inscription from Blatobulgium discovered in 1772 on Hadrian's Wall in what is now the Council of Dumfries and Galloway reads:

" Deae Viradec / thi pa [g] us Con / drustis milit (ans) / in coh (orte) II Tun / gror (um) sub Silvi / o Auspice praef (ecto) "

"For the goddess Viradecthis by the members of the district of the Condrusen who serve in the 2nd cohort of the Tungrians under the prefect Silvius Auspex ."

Netherlands

Consecration stone for Viradecdis from the Église St. Nicolas in Strée-lez-Huy

A votive altar found in 1869 from Fectio (Vechten) in the province of Utrecht is dated to the second century. It contains the inscription:

" Deae / [Vir] adecd (is) / [civ] es Tungri / [et] nautae / [qu] i Fectione / [c] onsistunt / v (otum) s (olverunt) l (ibentes) m (erito) "

"The goddess Viradecdis (opposite) the citizens of the Tungrer and the boatmen who live in Fectio have honored their vows gladly and for a fee."

Belgium

The inscription on a consecration stone that was found in 1967 in the Église St. Nicolas of the Belgian village Strée-lez-Huy (Flemish: Strée) / Province of Liège when the high altar was moved into its foundation dates from the first half of the third century and reads:

" [I] nh (onorem) d (omus) d (ivinae) // D (eae) Virathe / thi Supe / rina Sup / ponis / v (otum) s (olvit) l (ibens) m (erito) "

“In honor of the imperial family; Superina, daughter of Suppo, fulfilled her vows to the goddess Virathethis with pleasure and for a fee. "

Germany

There are two confirmed epigraphic certificates from Germany.

A votive stone was discovered in Trebur walled up in a church tower. His inscription reads:

" [In h (onorem)] d (omus) d (ivinae) / [deae Vi] rodacthi / [pag] us Nidensis / et vicani August (ani) / publice fecerunt "

“In honor of the imperial family; The district of Nidensis and the inhabitants of the Vicus Augustanus had this dedication made to the goddess Virodacthis at public expense. "

The second inscription was found in Mogontiacum (Mainz) in 1881 and reads:

" Virodacti / sive Lucen (a) e / [A] ugustius Iustus ex voto / numinibus / [sa] nctissi / [mis "

"The Virodactis or Lucena has Augustius Iustus because of a vow, the most sacred divine powers ..."

On the other hand, an inscription from Kälbertshausen in the Neckar-Odenwald district, found in 1863, seems unsecured due to its strong naming discrepancy :

" In h (onorem) d (omus) d (ivinae) / d (e) ae Viroddi / Avita Max (i) mi / ni v (otum) s (olvit) l (ibens) l (aetus) m (erito) "

"In honor of the imperial family, the goddess Viroddis (opposite) Avita Maximinus fulfilled his vows gladly, joyfully and for a fee."

Functional and spatial distribution

Of the total of six inscription stones ( BH Stolte and Julianus Egidius Bogaers suspected three more on Dutch territory), two were donated by the military and four by civilians. This speaks against an interpretation of the deity as the goddess of war. Two of the inscriptions refer to the Tungrer, another comes from their area. (An inscription refers even more precisely to the Tungrian tribe of the Condrusen , while one comes from their area.) The remaining three finds all come from southwest Germany or - if one wants to follow Stolte and Bogaers - half from southwest Germany and half from the Netherlands, the both are not too far from the settlement area of ​​the Tungrians or the Condruses. It is possible that Viradecdis can therefore be regarded as the protective goddess of the Condruses.

literature

  • Johann Baptist Keune : Viradecdis, Virade [c] this, Virodact [h] is . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 6, Leipzig 1937, Sp. 325-327 ( digitized version ).
  • H. Wagenvoort: De Tungris nautical Fectione consistentibus (CIL XIII 8815) . In: Mnemosyne . Bibliotheca classica Batava . Tertia Series, Volume 8, 1939/40, pp. 57-64.
  • AG Roos: About the dedicatory inscription from Vechten to the Dea Viradecdis (CIL XIII 8815) . In: Mnemosyne. Bibliotheca classica Batava . Tertia Series, Volume 8, 1939/40, pp. 244-249.
  • GA Evers: Het Viradectis-altaar uit Vechten . In: Maandblad van "Oud-Utrecht". Vereeniging tot Beoefening en tot Verspreiding van de Kennis der Geschiedenis van Utrecht en Omstreken 15, 9, 1940, pp. 68-70 ( full text ).
  • BH Stolte : The religious conditions in Lower Germany . In: Hildegard Temporini , Wolfgang Haase (Hrsg.): Rise and decline of the Roman world . II, Vol. 18, 1. Religion (Paganism: The religious conditions in the provinces) . De Gruyter, Berlin, New York 1986. ISBN 3-11-010050-9 . Pp. 591-671, especially pp. 654f.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ CIL 7, 1073 .
  2. ↑ The Altar of Vechten ( Memento of the original from March 2, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.collectieutrecht.nl archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on collectieutrecht.nl, the official website of Landschap Erfgoed Utrecht , (Dutch), accessed on February 14, 2014.
  3. ↑ CIL 13, 8815 .
  4. ↑ On the Virathethis stone from the Église St. Nicolas ( Memento of the original of February 22, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the website brunehaud.be (French), accessed on February 14, 2014. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / brunehaud.be
  5. ^ AE 1968, 311 and Heidelberg Epigraphic Database HD014321 . See Robert Nouwen: De onderdanen van de keizer. 35 uitzonderlijke behavior van unieke mensen. Davidsfonds Uitgeverij, Leuven 2014, pp. 51–55.
  6. ↑ AE 1913, 123 , CIL 13, 11944 ( digitized online ), Epigraphic Database Heidelberg HD027171 . See AE 2010, 1085 . The noun belonging to Nidensis is supplemented differently ( AE 1913: [saltu] s ; CIL : vic [us] ).
  7. ↑ CIL 13, 6761 ( digitized online ) and Epigraphic Database Heidelberg HD055287 .
  8. ↑ CIL 13, 6486 and Epigraphic Database Heidelberg HD036547 .
  9. ↑ a b B. H. Stolte : The religious conditions in Lower Germany . In: Hildegard Temporini, Wolfgang Haase (Hrsg.): Rise and decline of the Roman world . II, Vol. 18, 1. Religion (Paganism: The religious conditions in the provinces) . De Gruyter, Berlin, New York 1986, ISBN 3-11-010050-9 , p. 654.