Arduinna
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In Celtic mythology, Arduinna was the eponymous goddess of the Ardennes Forest (primarily in Belgium and Luxembourg). Her cult thus originated in the Ardennes, and the forest name from her. She was later assimilated to the Roman Diana.
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[edit] Statues
Green states that some depictions of Arduinna show her riding a boar (Green 1986, p.180). However, Deyts notes that the bronze Gallo-Roman statue of a woman in a short belted tunic, riding a boar sidesaddle and holding a knife (Boucher fig.292, or here), bears no inscription, and was simply assumed to be Arduinna by the 19th century antiquarian who discovered it - perhaps because the modern symbol of the Ardennes region is also a boar (Deyts 1992, pp.46-47).
[edit] Inscriptions
Arduinna is known from two inscriptions:
- Düren, Germany deae Arduinnae (CIL XIII 07848)
- Rome, Italy Arduinne (CIL VI, 00046)
[edit] Etymology
The name Arduinna is derived from the Gaulish arduo- meaning height (Delamarre p.51). It is also found in several placenames, such as the Ardennes Woods (Arduenna silva), in personal names Arduunus and Arda — the latter from coinage of the Treveri, (RIG-4, 36-43) — and the Galatian Αρδή. The name Arduenna silva for "wooded heights" was applied to several forested mountains, not just the modern Ardennes: it is found in the départements of Alleuze, Haute-Loire and Puy-du-Dôme (Delamarre pp.51-52).
[edit] Historical references
In 565, St. Walfroy (Wulfilaïc) preached to the local population of Villers-devant-Orval to persuade them to abandon worship of Arduinna.
[edit] References
- Boucher, S. (1976) Recherches sur les bronzes figurés de Gaule pré-romaine et romaine. Paris, Ecole Français de Rome. (...Figures of Gaul, Pre-Roman and Roman)
- Colbert de Beaulieu, Jean-Baptiste and Fischer, Brigitte (1998) Receuil des Inscriptions gauloises (RIG) 4: les légendes monétaires. Paris, Editions du CNRS
- Delamarre, X. (2003). Dictionaire de la Langue Gauloise. 2nd edition. Paris, Editions Errance. ISBN 2-87772-237-6
- Deyts, S. (1992) Images des Dieux de la Gaule. Paris Editions Errance. ISBN 2-87772-067-5
- Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (CIL), volume 6, Italia
- Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (CIL), volume 13, Tres Galliae
- Green, M. (1986) The Gods of the Celts. Stroud, Sutton Publishing. ISBN 0-7509-1581-1
