Ataegina (; ) was a

goddess A goddess is a female deity. In some faiths, a sacred female figure holds a central place in religious prayer and worship. For example, Shaktism (one of the three major Hinduism, Hindu sects), holds that the ultimate deity, the source of all re ...

worshipped by the ancient

Iberians The Iberians (, from , ''Iberes'') were an ancient people settled in the eastern and southern coasts of the Iberian Peninsula, at least from the 6th century BC. They are described in Greek and Roman sources (among others, by Hecataeus of Mil ...

Lusitanians The Lusitanians were an Indo-European languages, Indo-European-speaking people living in the far west of the Iberian Peninsula, in present-day central Portugal and Extremadura and Castilla y Leon of Spain. It is uncertain whether the Lusitanians ...

, and Celtiberians of the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprisin ...

. She is believed to have ruled the

underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld. ...

Names

The deity's name is variously attested as ''Ataegina'', ''Ataecina'', ''Adaecina'' and ''Adaegina'', among other spellings. Her name appears in conjunction to a place named ''Turibriga'' or ''Turobriga'' (see below).

Etymology

Celtic hypothesis

The name ''Ataegina'' is most commonly derived from a

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

source: according to Cristina Maria Grilo Lopes and Juan Olivares Pedreño, French scholar D'Arbois de Jubainville and Portuguese scholar José Leite de Vasconcelos interpreted her name as a compound from ''*ate-'' 'repetition, re-' ''*-genos'' '(to be) born'. Thus, her name would mean 'The Reborn One' ("renascida", in the original).Lopes, Cristina Maria Grilo.
Ataegina uma divindade Paleohispânica
. In: ''Revista Santuários''. Lisboa, 2014. Vol. 1, n.1 (Jan./Jun. 2014), p. 98.Olivares Pedreño, Juan Carlos.
Los dioses de la hispania céltica
'. Universitat d´Alacant / Universidad de Alicante, Servicio de Publicaciones: Real Academia de la Historia. 2002. p. 247. . Others propose a connection to the domain of nocturnal or underworld deities: tentatively saw a connection with Irish ''adaig'' 'night', which may indicate a relation to the underworld. Similarly, in a 1998 article, Eugenio Luján, based on the epigraphic evidence available until then, supposed that ''Adaecina'' is the original spelling of her name, and related it to Irish ''adaig'', and both deriving from a

Proto-Celtic Proto-Celtic, or Common Celtic, is the hypothetical ancestral proto-language of all known Celtic languages, and a descendant of Proto-Indo-European. It is not attested in writing but has been partly Linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed throu ...

''*adakī''. This form would account for both words, but Luján refrained from offering a definitive etymology. Wolfgang Meid raises the possibility that Old Irish ''adaig'' may be a borrowing of Welsh ''adeg'' "time, occasion, period, season", whose native Irish cognate is ''athach'' "interval, space (of time)", derived from Proto-Celtic ''*atikā'', from Proto-Indo-European ''*h₂et-i-keh₂'', from ''*h₂et-'' (“to go”), making a connection between these words and ''Ataegina'' unlikely. Italian linguist Patrizia de Bernardo Stempel argues for a Celtic etymology, from ''*atakī'' ('night'), from an earlier ''*at-ak-ī'' ('interval'). Thus, de Bernardo proposes, her name means "the one of the night". In a later article, she describes Ataecina as "the goddess of the nighttime", and derives her name from *''Atakī-nā'' 'the divine (night)time'.

Other hypotheses

That said, her presence in decidedly non-Indo-European Iberian regions suggest that she may have an older, indigenous origin, in which case her name's etymology is more likely Iberian, Aquitanian or Tartessian. In his late 19th-century study, José Leite de Vasconcelos, while proposing a Celtic reading of her name, also supposed her origins as a Celticized indigenous deity. Spanish historian supported the idea of Ataegina's indigenous character, while remarking that a Celtic interpretation of her name as 'reborn' is "inviable", and that her connection to Irish 'night' is "difficult".

Centers of worship

Ataegina was worshipped in

Lusitania Lusitania (; ) was an ancient Iberian Roman province encompassing most of modern-day Portugal (south of the Douro River) and a large portion of western Spain (the present Extremadura and Province of Salamanca). Romans named the region after th ...

and Betica; there were also sanctuaries dedicated to Ataegina in Elvas (

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

), and Mérida and Cáceres in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, along with other places, especially near the Guadiana river. She was one of the goddesses worshipped in ''Myrtilis'' (today's Mértola,

), '' Pax Julia'' ( Beja, Portugal). A bronze plaque from Malpartida de Cáceres suggests associations with the

goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a species of Caprinae, goat-antelope that is mostly kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the ...

as a sacred animal.

Turibriga or Turobriga

Her name appears with adjective ''Turobrigensis'', which seems to indicate a place called ''Turibriga'' or ''Turobriga''.Frías, Manuel Salinas de; Cortés, Juana Rodríguez. "Ciudad y Cultos en Lusitania durante la época Antonina". In: ''Actas del II Congreso Internacional de Historia Antigua: la Hispania de los Antoninos (98-180)''. Valladolid, Spain: Universidad de Valladolid, Secretariado de Publicaciones e Intercambio Editorial, 2005. p. 356. Similar epigraphic attestations read ''Turibrige'', '' rubricae'' and ''Turibri'', which led professor Amílcar Guerra to indicate a form ''*Turibris''. This place is interpreted by scholarship to mean the main center of her cult, but its precise location is unknown. Classical author Pliny indicated it belonged to Celtic Beturia.

Functions

Epigraphs from the

Badajoz Badajoz is the capital of the Province of Badajoz in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Extremadura, Spain. It is situated close to the Portugal, Portuguese Portugal–Spain border, border, on the left bank of the river ...

region associate the goddess with the Roman

Proserpina Proserpina ( ; ) or Proserpine ( ) is an ancient Roman goddess whose iconography, functions and myths are virtually identical to those of Greek Persephone. Proserpina replaced or was combined with the ancient Roman fertility goddess Libera, whos ...

(analogous to Greek

Persephone In ancient Greek mythology and Ancient Greek religion, religion, Persephone ( ; , classical pronunciation: ), also called Kore ( ; ) or Cora, is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. She became the queen of the Greek underworld, underworld afte ...

), which would make her a goddess presiding over spring and seasonality, echoing the "reborn" derivation of the name,Juan Manuel Abascal, ''Las inscripciones latinas de Santa Lucía del Trampal (Alcuéscar, Cáceres) y el culto de Ataecina en Hispania,'' Archivo Español de Arqueología 68: 31-105 (1995) or connect her to the Underworld. In that regard, a dedication etched in marble was found in Augusta Emérita: the propitiator prays to ''Dea Ataecina Turibrig(ensis) Proserpina'' for her to avenge the theft of some pieces of clothing.Tomlin, Roger. "Cursing A Thief In Iberia And Britain". In: ''Magical Practice in the Latin West''. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2013. pp. 247-249. doi: https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004179042.i-676.55

Footnotes

References

Bibliography

* Frías, Manuel Salinas de; Cortés, Juana Rodríguez. "Corrientes religiosas y vías de comunicación en Lusitania durante el Imperio Romano". In: ''V Mesa Redonda Internacional sobre Lusitania Romana: las comunicaciones. Cáceres, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, 7, 8 y 9 de noviembre de 2002''. Madrid: Ministerio de Cultura, Secretaría General Técnica, Subdirección General de Información y Publicaciones, 2004. pp. 286–292. * . * . * . * Olivares Pedreño, Juan Carlos.
Los dioses de la hispania céltica
'. Universitat d´Alacant / Universidad de Alicante, Servicio de Publicaciones: Real Academia de la Historia. 2002. pp. 247–249. . * Vasconcellos, José Leite de.
Religiões da Lusitania na parte que principalmente se refere a Portugal
'. Lisboa: Imprensa nacional, 1897. pp. 146–173.