Artaha (also spelled Artehe) is the name of an ancient goddess that was worshiped in Southern
Gaul
Gaul ( la, Gallia) was a region of Western Europe first described by the Romans. It was inhabited by Celtic and Aquitani tribes, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, most of Switzerland, parts of Northern Italy (only during ...
, in the region of
Aquitania. She is a protector goddess that is thought to be associated with bears.
The theonym is recorded in several inscriptions from
Saint-Pé-d'Ardet
Saint-Pé-d'Ardet (; oc-gsc, Sent Pèr d'Ardet) is a commune in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern France.
Population
See also
* Communes of the Haute-Garonne department
*Pic du Gar
Pic du Gar is a mountain of the Pyrenees. It is ...
, where there seems to have been a
Gallo-Roman-era cult center for the god:
:CIL 13, 64
:Lexeia Odanni f(ilia) Artehe
v(otum) s(olvit) l(ibens) m(erito)
:CIL 13, 70; AE 1888, 141
:Deo Artahe L(uci) P(ompei) Pauliniani
ep(os) 3
:ILTG 37
:Artahe deo Rufo IIFIS v(otum) s(olvit) l(ibens) m(erito)
:ILTG 38
:
..Artahe
..
From the same region - the village of
Lourde Lourde may refer to:
*Lourde, Haute-Garonne, a commune in the Haute Garonne department, France
*Lourde (river), a river in the Dordogne department, France
See also
*Lorde (disambiguation)
*Lourdes (disambiguation)
{{geodis ...
- comes another inscription bearing the name:
:CIL 13, 71
:Artehe deo Bonnexi Amandi v(otum) s(olvit) l(ibens) m(erito)
It is also recorded in an inscription from
Malvezie:
:CIL 13, 73 (4, p 2)
:Ar
e deoL(ucius) Antist(ius) Syntr
(h)us v(otum) s(olvit) l(ibens) m(erito)
Etymology
According to Spanish linguist and Vascologist , her name has been variously interpreted as either
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
* Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Fo ...
, related to ''Artaios'', or
Aquitanian. Following the second line of reading, the name appears to be of ancient
Aquitanian origin and may be cognate with
modern Basque ''arte'' "oak". The place name
Ardet may be derived from the theonym, or vice versa.
[Whatmough, Joshua, The Dialects of Ancient Gaul, Harvard, 1970, p. 253]
References
{{Reflist
AE:
L'Année Épigraphique, 1888
CIL:
Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum
The ''Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum'' (''CIL'') is a comprehensive collection of ancient Latin inscriptions. It forms an authoritative source for documenting the surviving epigraphy of classical antiquity. Public and personal inscriptions throw ...
, Berlin, 1863-
ILTG: Wuilleumier, P., Inscriptions latines des Trois Gaules (France), (XVIIe Supplement à Gallia) Paris, 1963
Basque goddesses
Basque mythology