Abnoba
Abnoba is a name with theological and geographical meanings: It is the name of a
Etymology
The etymology of the theonym is uncertain. It has been associated[
Celtic polytheism
Abnoba has been interpreted to be a
Geography
Abnoba, sometimes spelt Arnoba or Arbona,[3] has been used to refer to a mountain range comprising the Odenwald, Spessart, and Baar mountains. This composite range extends from the Rhine to the Neckar, and is referred to by one of the various names listed depending on the region it is passing through.[4]
According to Tacitus's Germania, Abnoba was the name of a mountain, from a grassy slope of which flows the source of the River Danube.
Pliny the Elder also gives us some statements about Abnoba (Natural History, 4.79). He says that it arises opposite the town of Rauricum in Gaul and flows from there beyond the Alps, implying that the river begins in the Alps, which it does not. If Rauricum is to be identified with the Roman settlement, Augusta Raurica, modern Augst in Basel-Landschaft canton of Switzerland, Pliny must be confusing the Rhine and its tributaries with the Danube.
The Danube begins with two small rivers draining the
Ptolemy's Geography (2.10) also mentions the mountain range, but incorrectly implies a position north of the Agri Decumates and Main river. It has been suggested that this error comes about through the use of differing and imperfect sources to make this section of the Geography. In effect Ptolemy has apparently confused the Abnoba with the Roman border, and therefore with what are today called the Taunus mountains.[5]
Bibliography
- ISBN 9780816029099.
- ISBN 2-87772-200-7. p.18.
- ^ Smith, William, ed. (1854–1857). . Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray.
- ^ Reynolds, Francis J., ed. (1921). . Collier's New Encyclopedia. New York: P. F. Collier & Son Company.
- ^ Schütte (1917), Ptolemy's maps of northern Europe, a reconstruction of the prototypes, Kjøbenhavn, H. Hagerup
Further reading
- Ellis, Peter Berresford, Dictionary of Celtic Mythology(Oxford Paperback Reference), Oxford University Press, (1994): ISBN 0-19-508961-8
- Wood, Juliette, The Celts: Life, Myth, and Art, Thorsons Publishers (2002): ISBN 0-00-764059-5
External links
