Arduinna
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In Celtic mythology, Arduinna (Arduina, Arduinnae, Arduinne) was the eponymous goddess of the Ardennes Forest and region, represented as a huntress riding a boar (primarily in the present-day regions of Belgium and Luxembourg). Her cult originated in what is today known as Ardennes, a region of Belgium, Luxembourg and France. She was later assimilated into the Gallo-Roman mythology of goddess Diana.
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[edit] Depictions
In The Gods of the Celts, author 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 derives 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[edit] Historical references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 (Research on the Bronze Figures of Gaul, Pre-Roman and Roman). Paris, Ecole Français de Rome.
- Colbert de Beaulieu, Jean-Baptiste and Fischer, Brigitte (1998) Receuil des Inscriptions gauloises (RIG) 4: les légendes monétaires. Paris, Editions du CNRS
- Delamarre, Xavier and Lambert, P.Y. (2003). Dictionaire de la Langue Gauloise (Dictionary of the Gaulish Language). 2nd edition. Paris, Editions Errance. ISBN 2-87772-237-6
- Deyts, Simone (1992) Images des Dieux de la Gaule (Images of the Gods of Gaul). Paris Editions Errance. ISBN 2-87772-067-5
- Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (CIL), volume 6, Italia
- Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (CIL), volume 13, Tres Galliae
- Green, Miranda (1986) The Gods of the Celts. Stroud, Sutton Publishing. ISBN 0-7509-1581-1
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