Endovelicus
Endovelicus (Portuguese: Endouellicus, Endovélico; Spanish: Endovélico, Enobólico) is one of the pre-Roman Lusitanian and Celtiberian gods of the Iron Age. He was originally a chthonic god. He was the God/Lord of the Underworld and of health, prophecy and the earth, associated with vegetation and the afterlife. Later accepted by the Romans themselves, who assimilated it to Pluto or to Serapis and made him a relatively popular god.[1][2]
Endovelicus had a temple in São Miguel da Mota in
The cult of Endovelicus prevailed until the 5th century, just when Christianity was spreading in the region.Etymology
In the last two centuries of scholarship, several etymologies have been proposed to Endovelicus's name.[5][6]
In the 19th century, António da Visitação Freire classified it as a mixed
An alternate reading derives the word velicus from the Celtic vailos ("wolf"). Wolves were symbolic animals to the god.[8]
Another, more recently proposed possibility suggests a loanword from
Temples and cult
There were several places where researchers think his cult could be observed:
In the municipality of
The temple is rocky and hemmed in by a rocky formation that protects the site and the chiselled flooring is often related to Roman sacrificial altars. This sort of monument is not uncommon in the North of Portugal and on the Spanish Meseta.
Leite de Vasconcelos mentions that the site was used by the inhabitants of the
In Castro of Ulaca in Province of Ávila, a city of the Vettones, a sanctuary dedicated to Vaelicus has been discovered. The name could be related to Endovelicus.
The most notable sanctuary hypothetically dedicated to Endovelicus, is the
See also
- Lusitanian mythology
- List of deities
References
- ^ Monteiro Teixeira, Sílvia. 2014. Cultos e cultuantes no Sul do território actualmente português em época romana (sécs. I a. C. – III d. C.). Masters’ dissertation on Archaeology.. Lisboa: Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa.[page needed]
- ^ Encarnação, José d’. 2015. Divindades indígenas sob o domínio romano em Portugal. Second edition. Coimbra: Universidade de Coimbra.[page needed]
- ^ Monteiro Teixeira, Sílvia. 2014. Cultos e cultuantes no Sul do território actualmente português em época romana (sécs. I a. C. – III d. C.). Masters’ dissertation on Archaeology.. Lisboa: Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa.[page needed]
- ^ Encarnação, José d’. 2015. Divindades indígenas sob o domínio romano em Portugal. Second edition. Coimbra: Universidade de Coimbra.[page needed]
- ^ Monteiro Teixeira, Sílvia. 2014. Cultos e cultuantes no Sul do território actualmente português em época romana (sécs. I a. C. – III d. C.). Masters’ dissertation on Archaeology. Lisboa: Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa.[page needed]
- ^ Encarnação, José d’. 2015. Divindades indígenas sob o domínio romano em Portugal. Second edition. Coimbra: Universidade de Coimbra.[page needed]
- ^ Vasconcellos, José Leite de. Religiões da Lusitania na parte que principalmente se refere a Portugal. Lisboa: Imprensa nacional, 1897. pp. 124-125.
- ISBN 9788495983169.
- ^ Encarnação, José d’. 2015. Divindades indígenas sob o domínio romano em Portugal. Second edition. Coimbra: Universidade de Coimbra.[page needed]
- Loução, Paulo Alexandre: Portugal, Terra de Mistérios, Ésquilo, 2000 (third edition; ISBN 972-8605-04-8).
- Vasconcellos, José Leite de. Religiões da Lusitania na parte que principalmente se refere a Portugal. Lisboa: Imprensa nacional, 1897. pp. 111-145.
Further reading
- Grenier, Albert. "Le dieu lusitanien Endovellicvs". In: Études Celtiques, vol. 6, fascicule 1, 1952. pp. 195-197. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3406/ecelt.1952.1252; www.persee.fr/doc/ecelt_0373-1928_1952_num_6_1_1252
- Ledo Caballero, A. C. (2017). "Niger fluvius: aguas oscuras y dioses infernales. El caso de Endovélico". In: Hispania Sacra, 69(139), 7–17. https://doi.org/10.3989/hs.2017.001
- Parrilla, José María González. "Endovélicus, un dios minero para una comarca". In: El Andévalo, paisajes y humanidad: Actas de las V Jornadas de Patrimonio del Andévalo. Valverde del Camino, 21, 22 y 23 de noviembre de 2014. 2015, pp. 51-63. ISBN 978-84-8163-541-6.
- Ribeiro, José Cardim. "O "Deus Sanctus Endovellicus" durante a romanidade ¿uma interpretatio local de "Faunus Silvanus"?". In: Palaeohispánica: Revista sobre lenguas y culturas de la Hispania antigua (Ejemplar dedicado a: Actas del IX coloquio sobre lenguas y culturas paleohispánicas (Barcelona, 20-24 de octubre de 2004)), Nº. 5, 2005. pp. 721-766. ISSN 1578-5386.
- Schattner, Thomas; Guerra, Amílcar; Fabião, Carlos. "Die Idealköpfe des Endovellicus - ein Zwischenbilanz". In: Gaggadis-Robin, V.; Hermary, A.; Reddé, M.; Sintes, C., Actes du X Colloque International sur l'Art provincial Roman. Aix-en-Provence: 2009. pp. 483-494. [ISBN missing].
- On epigraphy
- Gaspar, Catarina (2020). “The Endovellicus Sanctuary in Portugal: An Example of Language Variation Throughout Votive Inscriptions in Latin”. In: Acta Classica Universitatis Scientiarum Debreceniensis 55 (August): 59–73. https://doi.org/10.22315/ACD/2019/4.
- Ordozgoiti, David Serrano. "Ara de mármol en honor de Endovélico procedente de San Miguel de Mota (Évora)". In: Boletín del Archivo Epigráfico, Nº. 3, 2019, pp. 52-57. ISSN 2603-9117.
- Schattner, Thomas G. “Men, Women, Children, Animals: The Votive Statuary from the Sanctuary of Endovellicus at São Miguel Da Mota/Alandroal (Portugal)”. In: The Archaeology of Roman Portugal in Its Western Mediterranean Context. Edited by Tesse D. Stek and André Carneiro, Oxbow Books, 2022. pp. 257–73. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv2v6pcq1.18. Accessed 21 Oct. 2022.