![PachtenContiomagusStein](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/PachtenContiomagusStein.jpg)
Ritona (also known as Pritona) is a
Celtic goddess
The gods and goddesses of the pre-Christian Celtic peoples are known from a variety of sources, including ancient places of worship, statues, engravings, cult objects and place or personal names. The ancient Celts appear to have had a pantheon ...
chiefly venerated in the land of the
Treveri
The Trēverī (Gaulish: *''Trēueroi'') were a Celtic tribe of the Belgae group who inhabited the lower valley of the Moselle from around 150 BCE, if not earlier, until their displacement by the Franks. Their domain lay within the southern fringe ...
in what is now
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. Her cult is attested at
Pachten and at
Trier
Trier ( , ; lb, Tréier ), formerly known in English as Trèves ( ;) and Triers (see also names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle in Germany. It lies in a valley between low vine-covered hills of red sandstone in the ...
, where she "had a carefully built little temple" in the Altbachtal complex.
[Edith Mary Wightman (1970). ''Roman Trier and the Treveri.'' Rupert Hart-Davis, London. p. 217.] Ritona's temple was one of several in the Altbachtal to include
exedra
An exedra (plural: exedras or exedrae) is a semicircular architectural recess or platform, sometimes crowned by a semi-dome, and either set into a building's façade or free-standing. The original Greek sense (''ἐξέδρα'', a seat out of d ...
e and courtyards that may have been used to prepare ritual banquets and/or to place offerings. At Pachten her temple also had a theatre, presumably used for performances of a religious nature.
Name
The
theonym
A theonym (from Greek ''theos'' (Θεός), "god"'','' attached to ''onoma'' (ὄνομα), "name") is the proper name of a deity.
Theonymy, the study of divine proper names, is a branch of onomastics (the study of the etymology, history, and u ...
''Ritona'' is generally interpreted as meaning 'that of the ford', stemming from the
Gaulish
Gaulish was an ancient Celtic languages, Celtic language spoken in parts of Continental Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire. In the narrow sense, Gaulish was the language of the Celts of Gaul (now France, Luxembourg, Belgium ...
root ''ritu''- ('
ford
Ford commonly refers to:
* Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford
* Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river
Ford may also refer to:
Ford Motor Company
* Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company
* Ford F ...
'; cf. Old Irish ''Humar-rith'', Welsh ''rhyd'' 'ford'). This suggests that she was a goddess of fords; Jean-Marie Pailler remarks that, "Water crossings required religious precautions that were written into the landscape, toponymy, and ritual: Ritona is thus well at home among the 'crossers' who were the
Treveri
The Trēverī (Gaulish: *''Trēueroi'') were a Celtic tribe of the Belgae group who inhabited the lower valley of the Moselle from around 150 BCE, if not earlier, until their displacement by the Franks. Their domain lay within the southern fringe ...
". The translation 'that of the course
f the river is also possible, by deriving ''Ritona'' from the homonym root ''ritu''-, ''rito''- ('course'; cf. Old Irish ''riuth'', Welsh ''rhed'' 'course'), although the name ''Trēveri'' is also generally seen as meaning 'those crossing the river', that is to say the 'ferrymen'.
The variant ''Pritona'' is directly attested twice: on the goddess's only inscription at Pachten (
PRITONAE DIVINAE SIVE CA ..ONI),
[, retrieved from th]
Epigraphik-Datenbank Clauss / Slaby
on 29 March 2008. and in conjunction with ‘Ritona’ on an inscription from Trier (
DEA RITONA PRITONA). ''Pritona'' is also restored in a further, more fragmentary inscription from Trier (
RITO/ AESIVE EX IVSV PR
SV, Sv, sv, etc. may refer to:
Places and language
* El Salvador, ISO 3166-1 country code SV
* South Vietnam, an extinct state
* Svalbard, Norway, FIPS country code SV
* Swedish language, ISO 639-1 language code sv
* Silicon Valley, a region ...
ITONI E?/small>). A single inscription also honours her at Uzès
Uzès (; ) is a commune in the Gard department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. In 2017, it had a population of 8,454. Uzès lies about north-northeast of Nîmes, west of Avignon and south-east of Alès.
History
Originally ''Ucetia ...
in southern France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
.
Role
Lothar Schwinden characterizes Ritona as a mother goddess on the basis of the statue of a seated goddess found at Pachten, which he connects with the well-known local type of seated mother goddesses with dogs or babies on their laps (cf.
Aveta
In Gallo-Roman religion, Dea Aveta was a mother goddess, also associated with the freshwater spring at Trier in what is now Germany. Miranda Green. "The Celtic Goddess as Healer." In Sandra Billington (ed). 1996. The Concept of the Goddess'' Rou ...
).
![Abbaye Saint-Germain d'Auxerre-Stèle funéraire-Crain](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Abbaye_Saint-Germain_d%27Auxerre-St%C3%A8le_fun%C3%A9raire-Crain.jpg)
The Pachten inscription specifies that the goddess was invoked by an individual "for the well-being of the townsfolk of Contiomagium" (
PRO SALVTE / KANORVM CONTI/OMAGIENSIVM).
A votive sculpture from
Crain Crain may refer to:
People
* Crain (surname)
Places
* Crain, Yonne, a commune in the region Bourgogne, France
Other
* Crain (band), an indie rock band
* Crain Communications, an American publishing conglomerate
* ''Crain crain'', the common na ...
, depicting a male figure holding an offering-dish and pouring out liquid from a vessel, is dedicated to
Minerva
Minerva (; ett, Menrva) is the Roman goddess of wisdom, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. Minerva is not a patron of violence such as Mars, but of strategic war. From the second century BC onward, the Roma ...
and Ritona. On two of the inscriptions from Trier, Ritona is invoked in conjunction either with the ''
numina
Numen (plural numina) is a Latin term for "divinity", "divine presence", or "divine will." The Latin authors defined it as follows:For a more extensive account, refer to Cicero writes of a "divine mind" (''divina mens''), a god "whose numen ever ...
'' of the
Augusti
''Augustus'' (plural ''Augusti''; , ; "majestic", "great" or "venerable") was an ancient Roman title given as both name and title to Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus (often referred to simply as Augustus), Rome's first Emperor. On his death, it ...
(see
imperial cult
An imperial cult is a form of state religion in which an emperor or a dynasty of emperors (or rulers of another title) are worshipped as demigods or deities. "Cult" here is used to mean "worship", not in the modern pejorative sense. The cult may ...
) or in honour of the divine house (the imperial family).
[Finke 00030, retrieved from th]
Epigraphik-Datenbank Clauss / Slaby
on 29 March 2008.
References
;Bibliography
*
{{Celtic mythology (ancient)
Gaulish goddesses
Sea and river goddesses
Treveri