Gobannus
Gobannus (or Gobannos, the
A number of statues dedicated to him are preserved, found together with a bronze cauldron dedicated to Deus Cobannos,[1] in the late 1980s and illegally[failed verification] exported to the United States, now in the Getty Museum in the Getty Center, in California.[2] He is mentioned in an inscription found in the 1970s in Fontenay-près-Vézelay, reading AVG(VSTO) SAC(RVM) [DE]O COBANNO, i.e. dedicated to Augustus and Deus Cobannus.
Etymology
The theonym Gobannos, attested as Deo Cobanno on inscriptions,
A
Gobannus tablet
The best preserved dedication to Gobannus is found on the Bern zinc tablet, where his name is written ΓΟΒΑΝΟ (in the dative and in Greek letters). The tablet was found in the 1980s in Bern. It is inscribed with an apparently Gaulish inscription
- ΔΟΒΝΟΡΗΔΟ ΓΟΒΑΝΟ ΒΡΕΝΟΔΩΡ ΝΑΝΤΑΡΩΡ
Brenodor is probably a placename ( cf. Brennus); Nantaror may refer to the Aare valley (containing as first element nanto- "valley"; [[cf. Cornish nans, Welsh nant). Dobnoredo seems to be an epithet of Gobano, maybe composed of dubno- "world" (Old Irish dumh, c.f. Dumnorix, Donald, Devon) and rēdo- "travel" (Old Irish riad), or rēdā "chariot" i.e. "world-traveller" or "world-charioteer", so that the inscription may mean approximately "to Gobannus, the world-traveller, dedicated by the people of Brennoduron in the Arura valley".
Although called
References
- ^ Pollini, J (2002), Gallo-Roman Bronzes and the Process of Romanization: The Cobannus Hoard, Monumenta Graeca et Romana, vol. 9, Leiden: Brill
- ^ US Epigraphy project, inscription number CA.Malibu.JPGM.L.96.AB.54 Archived 2006-09-04 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ AE 1993, 01198; 1994, 01915; 2000, 01845; 2000, 01846; 2000, 01847.
- ^ a b c Delamarre 2003, p. 182.
- ^ a b c Matasović 2009, p. 164.
- ^ Blažek 2008, pp. 67–68.
- ^ Blažek 2008, p. 79.
- ^ Rehren, Thilo (1996). "A Roman zinc tablet from Bern, Switzerland: reconstruction of the manufacture". Archaeometry 1994 (ISA Ankara).
Secondary sources
- Blažek, Václav (2008). "Celtic 'Smith' and his Colleagues". Evidence and Counter-Evidence: Essays in honour of Frederik Kortlandt. Brill. pp. 67–85.
- ISBN 9782877723695.
- ISBN 9789004173361.