Verbeia

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In ancient Celtic polytheism, Verbeia was a goddess worshipped in Roman Britain. She is known from a single altar-stone dedicated to her at Ilkley (RIB 635). She is considered to have been a deification of the River Wharfe.^[1]

An image of a woman (also from Ilkley) may represent the goddess: she is depicted with an overlarge head and schematic features; she wears a long, pleated robe and she has two large snakes, represented as geometric zig-zags, which she grasps, one in each hand.

The name 'Verbeia' may conceivably be related to the Proto-Celtic *wera-beja meaning 'rain-strike' or *werbā- 'blister'.[1]

[edit] Sources

• Manor House Museum, Ilkley, Yorkshire, England.
• Dictionary of Celtic Myth and Legend, Miranda J. Green, Thames and Hudson Ltd, 1997