Gallo-Roman religion Gallo-Roman religion is a fusion of the traditional religious practices of the Gauls, who were originally Celtic speakers, and the Roman and Hellenistic religions introduced to the region under Roman Imperial rule. It was the result of selecti ...

, Arduinna (also Arduina, Arduinnae or Arduinne) was the

eponymous An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

tutelary goddess A tutelary () (also tutelar) is a deity or a spirit who is a guardian, patron, or protector of a particular place, geographic feature, person, lineage, nation, culture, or occupation. The etymology of "tutelary" expresses the concept of safety a ...

of the

Ardennes The Ardennes (french: Ardenne ; nl, Ardennen ; german: Ardennen; wa, Årdene ; lb, Ardennen ), also known as the Ardennes Forest or Forest of Ardennes, is a region of extensive forests, rough terrain, rolling hills and ridges primarily in Be ...

Forest and region, thought to be represented as a huntress riding a

boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is ...

(primarily in the present-day regions of

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

and

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small land ...

). Her cult originated in the Ardennes region of present-day Belgium, Luxembourg, and France. She was identified with the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

goddess

Diana Diana most commonly refers to: * Diana (name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) * Diana (mythology), ancient Roman goddess of the hunt and wild animals; later associated with the Moon * Diana, Princess of Wales (1961–1997) ...

Depictions

In ''The Gods of the Celts'', Miranda Green states that some depictions of Arduinna show her riding a

. However, Simone Deyts notes that the bronze Gallo-Roman statue of a woman in a short belted tunic, riding a boar

sidesaddle Sidesaddle riding is a form of equestrianism that uses a type of saddle which allows female riders to sit aside rather than astride an equine. Sitting aside dates back to antiquity and developed in European countries in the Middle Ages as a way ...

and holding a knife, conserved in the

Musée des antiquités nationales The National Archaeological Museum (French: Musée d'Archéologie nationale) is a major French archaeology museum, covering pre-historic times to the Merovingian period (450–750 CE). It is housed in the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye in the ' ...

, St-Germain-en-Laye, bears no inscription, and was simply assumed to be Arduinna by the 19th century antiquarian who discovered it—perhaps because the modern symbol of the Ardennes region is also a boar. Another such bronze, from the collection of

Richard Payne Knight Richard Payne Knight (11 February 1751 – 23 April 1824) of Downton Castle in Herefordshire, and of 5 Soho Square,History of Parliament biography London, England, was a classical scholar, connoisseur, archaeologist and numismatist best k ...

, has been in the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docume ...

since 1824; it is traditionally identified as "Diana". Both bronze statuettes are now headless.

Inscriptions

Arduinna is directly attested from two inscriptions: *

Düren Düren (; ripuarian: Düre) is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, between Aachen and Cologne on the river Rur. History Roman era The area of Düren was part of Gallia Belgica, more specifically the territory of the Eburones, a pe ...

, Germany: ''deae Ardbinnae'' (; the object in question is an altar) * Rome, Italy: ''Arduinne'' (; this is an inscribed relief, on which the name ''Arduinne'' has also been read as ''Saturno'')

Etymology

The name Arduinna derives from the

Gaulish Gaulish was an ancient Celtic language spoken in parts of Continental Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire. In the narrow sense, Gaulish was the language of the Celts of Gaul (now France, Luxembourg, Belgium, most of Switzerl ...

''arduo-'' meaning height. It is also found in several placenames, such as the Ardennes Woods (''Arduenna silva'') and the

Forest of Arden Arden is an area located mainly in Warwickshire, England, with parts in Staffordshire and Worcestershire, and is traditionally regarded as extending from the River Avon to the River Tame. It was once heavily wooded, giving rise to the name ' ...

in England, in personal names ''Arduunus'' and ''Arda'' — the latter from coinage of the

Treveri The Trēverī (Gaulish: *''Trēueroi'') were a Celtic tribe of the Belgae group who inhabited the lower valley of the Moselle from around 150 BCE, if not earlier, until their displacement by the Franks. Their domain lay within the southern fringe ...

— and the Galatian ''Αρδή''. The name ''Arduenna silva'' for "wooded heights" was applied to several forested mountains, not just the modern Ardennes: it is found in the départements of

Haute-Loire Haute-Loire (; oc, Naut Léger or ''Naut Leir''; English: Upper Loire) is a landlocked department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of south-central France. Named after the Loire River, it is surrounded by the departments of Loire, Ardèche, ...

and

Puy-de-Dôme Puy-de-Dôme (; oc, label= Auvergnat, lo Puèi de Doma or ''lo Puèi Domat'') is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in the centre of France. In 2019, it had a population of 662,152.Alleuze Alleuze (; oc, Alueisa) is a commune in the Cantal department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative div ...

. It has also been suggested that the

gemination In phonetics and phonology, gemination (), or consonant lengthening (from Latin 'doubling', itself from '' gemini'' 'twins'), is an articulation of a consonant for a longer period of time than that of a singleton consonant. It is distinct from ...

''-nn-'' is typical to a language of the

Belgae The Belgae () were a large confederation of tribes living in northern Gaul, between the English Channel, the west bank of the Rhine, and the northern bank of the river Seine, from at least the third century BC. They were discussed in depth by J ...

, being different from Celtic and thus suggesting a ''

Nordwestblock The Nordwestblock (German, "Northwest Block") is a hypothetical Northwestern European cultural region that some scholars propose as a prehistoric culture in the present-day Netherlands, Belgium, northern France, and northwestern Germany, in an a ...

'' etymology, which, generally speaking, is also assumed to be closer to Germanic.

Historical references

In 585,

Walfroy Wulflaich was a Lombard Catholic deacon and holy man in 6th-century Francia. He is known only from the ''Ten Books of Histories'' of Gregory of Tours, who recounts how he chose to live as a stylite (that is, atop a pillar) in the diocese of Trie ...

(Wulfilaich) preached to the local population of

Villers-devant-Orval Florenville (; Gaumais: ''Floravile'') is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Luxembourg, Belgium. On 1 January 2016 the municipality had 5,639 inhabitants. The total area is 146.91 km², giving a populatio ...

in the Ardennes to persuade them to abandon the worship of Diana. On the hill near

Margut Margut () is a commune in the Ardennes department in northern France. Geography Access Margut is a small village of 860 inhabitants located in the canton of Carignan, in the eastern part of the department of Ardennes. Administratively attache ...

, there was, according to

Gregory of Tours Gregory of Tours (30 November 538 – 17 November 594 AD) was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours, which made him a leading prelate of the area that had been previously referred to as Gaul by the Romans. He was born Georgius Florent ...

, a large stone statue of Diana where people would worship. Worshippers would also sing chants in Diana's honour as they drank and feasted. After some difficulties, Walfroy and his followers succeeded in pulling down the statue, which they demolished with hammers.Gregory of Tours, ''

History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

VIII''.15.

Legacy

The

Main belt The asteroid belt is a torus-shaped region in the Solar System, located roughly between the orbits of the planets Jupiter and Mars. It contains a great many solid, irregularly shaped bodies, of many sizes, but much smaller than planets, called ...

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet of the Solar System#Inner solar system, inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic o ...

394 Arduina, discovered on 19 November 1894, is named for Arduinna. The French-Belgian television series Black Spot (TV series) features eco warriors named the Children of Arduinna.

References

* Colbert de Beaulieu, Jean-Baptiste & Fischer, Brigitte (1998) ''Recueil des Inscriptions gauloises'' (RIG) 4: ''les légendes monétaires''. Paris, Editions du CNRS * ''

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 thr ...

(CIL)'', volume 6, Italia * ''Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (CIL)'', volume 13, Tres Galliae * Green, Miranda (1986) ''The Gods of the Celts''. Stroud, Sutton Publishing. {{Celtic mythology (ancient) Gaulish goddesses Nature goddesses Tutelary goddesses Ardennes Diana (mythology) pt:Arduina