Brigantia (goddess)

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A statuette in the Museum of Brittany, Rennes, probably depicting Brigantia: c. 2nd century BCE.[1]

Brigantia or Brigindo

Late Antiquity
.

Through

Saint Brigid in Irish mythology
and legend have been argued to be connected to Brigantia, although the figures themselves remain distinct.

Etymology

Further information: Brigantes

The name is derived from Proto-Celtic *brigantī and means "The High One", cognate with the

Proto-Indo-European *bʰr̥ǵʰéntih₂ (feminine form of *bʰérǵʰonts, "high"), derived from the root *bʰerǵʰ- ("to rise").[3][4]

Evidence for Brigantia

This goddess appears in several locations across the Celtic world, sometimes likened to Brigindo in Gaul or Brigit in Ireland or Great Britain.[5]

Inscriptions

Altar to Jupiter Dolichenus and Caelestis Brigantia from Corbridge, on a 1910 postcard

Currently, there are eight known inscriptions to Brigantia in Britain.

Birrens (the Roman Blatobulgium), Dumfries and Galloway, in Scotland
, is an inscription:

Brigantiae s(acrum) Amandus / arc(h)itectus ex imperio imp(eratum) (fecit)[7]

Two inscriptions associate Brigantia with the Roman goddess Victoria, one from

consuls
:

D(eae) Vict(oriae) Brig(antiae) / et num(inibus) Aauugg(ustorum) / T(itus) Aur(elius) Aurelian/us d(onum) d(edit) pro se / et suis s(e) mag(istro) s(acrorum) // Antonin[o] / III et Geta [II] / co(n)ss(ulibus)

In Adel, an altar was found before 1816 with the inscription Deae Brigantiae Donum Cinge/ Tissa Posuit.[10]

At

Hadrians Wall – in antiquity, Coria – Brigantia has the divine epithet Caelestis ("Heavenly, Celestial") and is paired with Jupiter Dolichenus, a Roman god popular with members of the Roman army.:[11]

Iovi aeterno / Dolicheno / et caelesti / Brigantiae / et Saluti / C(aius) Iulius Ap/ol(l)inaris / |(centurio) leg(ionis) VI iuss(u) dei

There is an inscription at Irthington near Brampton in Cumbria DEAE NYMPHAE BRIGANTIAE—"to the divine nymph Brigantia".[12]

There are two inscriptions referring to Dia Brigantiae (the goddess Brigantiae).[13]

There is one inscription to "Tutela Brigantia Augusta".[14]

Garret Olmstead noted numismatic legends in

Iberian script, BRIGANT_N (or PRIKANT_N, as Iberic script does not distinguish voiced and unvoiced consonants) inscribed on a Celtiberian coin, suggesting a cognate Celtiberian goddess.[15]

Iconography

At

Gorgon's head on her breast, and holds a spear and a globe of victory like the Roman goddesses Victoria and Minerva.[17]
The inscription mentioned above assures the identification of the statue as Brigantia rather than Minerva. A statue found in Brittany also seems to depict Brigantia with the attributes of Minerva.

Toponymy

There are several placenames deriving from 'Brigantium', the neuter form of the same adjective of which the feminine became the name of the goddess. Association of these with the goddess is however dubious, since the placenames are easily explained as referring to a "high fort" or "high place" in the literal sense.

Lisa Bitel noted a wide spread through toponymy:

The town of

Brigit.[18]

Other towns which may also preserve this theonym include

Brigetio in Hungary[19] and also Briançonnet and Briançon, both in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France. In antiquity, Briançon was called Brigantio and was the first town on the Via Domitia. It is attested by an inscriptions mentioning munic(ipii) Brigantien(sium) (the town of Brigantio)[20] and Bri/gantione geniti (the Briganti people).[21] At Briançonnet, two third-century inscriptions mention ord(o) Brig(antorum).[22][23] There, oak trees were particularly venerated.[citation needed
]

The ancient name of

Íth glimpses Ireland and then sets sail across the Celtic Sea to invade and settle it.[citation needed
]

References

  1. ^ "Déesse du Menez-Hom". www.collections.musee-bretagne.fr (in French). Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  2. OCLC 965737514.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
    )
  3. ^ Matasović, Ranko (2009). Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic. Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series. Vol. 9. Brill. pp. 78–79.
  4. ^ Mallory, J. P.; Adams, Douglas Q., eds. (1997). Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture. Taylor & Francis. p. 269.
  5. JSTOR 23660263
    .
  6. ^ Epigraphik-Datenbank Clauss/Slaby.
  7. ^ RIB 2091.
  8. ^ AE 1892, 00098; RIB 628
  9. ^ RIB 627.
  10. ^ "RIB 630. Altar dedicated to Brigantia | Roman Inscriptions of Britain".
  11. ^ AE 1947, 00122; RIB 1131.
  12. ^ CIL VII, 00875, Nicholson.
  13. ^ McGarth, Sheena. Brigantia: Goddess of the North, 2015
  14. ^ McGarth, Sheena. Brigantia: Goddess of the North, 2015
  15. ^ Olmstead (1994), pp. 354–361.
  16. ^ Wolf (2021), p. 141.
  17. ^ Green (1996), p. 197.
  18. ^ Bitel (2001).
  19. ^ Green (1986), p. 161.
  20. ^ CIL XII, 00095
  21. ^ CIL XII, 00118
  22. ^ AE 1913, 00014.
  23. ^ CIL XII, 00057.

Bibliography

See also
Look up Brigantia in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
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