Bandua was a

theonym A theonym (from Greek (), 'god', attached to (), ) is a proper name of a deity. Theonymy, the study of divine proper names, is a branch of onomastics, the study of the etymology, history, and use of proper names. Theonymy helps develop an und ...

used to refer to a god or

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 in

Iberia 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, compri ...

Gallaeci The Gallaeci (also Callaeci or Callaici; ) were a Celtic tribal complex who inhabited Gallaecia, the north-western corner of Iberia, a region roughly corresponding to what is now the Norte Region in northern Portugal, and the Spanish regions ...

and

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 ...

. Whether the name referred to a discrete deity or was an epithet applied to different deities is arguable.

Epigraphy

The deity's name is found, in epigraphy, with a series of

epithet An epithet (, ), also a byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) commonly accompanying or occurring in place of the name of a real or fictitious person, place, or thing. It is usually literally descriptive, as in Alfred the Great, Suleima ...

s:Inventaire des divnités celtiques de l’Antiquité
''L’Arbre Celtique'' * ''Bandei Brialeacui'' ( Beira Baixa);. * ''Bandi Oilienaeco'' ( Beira Alta); * ''Bandi ?ngobricus'' ( Longroiva);. * ''Bandua(e) Lansbricae'' (Orense); * ''Bandi Roudaecus'' (Trujillo); * ''Bandua Roudeaco'' (Madroñera); * ''Deo Ban u' (Catoira, Pontevedra);. * ''Bandue Ae brigo'' (Sarreaus, Ourense); * ''Bandue Bolecco'' (Palas de Rei, Lugo); * ''Bandue Veigebreago'' (Xinzo de Limia, Ourense); * ''Bandue (Ve/Ni)rubrico'' (Laza, Ourense). In Rairiz de Veiga, Bandua is acknowledged as a god of the

Vexillum The ''vexillum'' (; : ''vexilla'') was a flag-like object used as a War flag, military standard by units in the Roman army. A common ''vexillum'' displayed imagery of the Aquila (Roman), Roman ''aquila'' on a reddish backdrop. Use in Roman arm ...

and partner of

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

: :: At Espinhosela, the name Bandua alone is found. At Codosedo, Alenquer and Xinzo de Limia however, the name Bandua is qualified by the

Aetobrico(m). At Cáceres, Bandua is qualified by Araugelensis, at Curbián by Bolleco(m), at Miguel o Anjo by Brico(m), at Mixo(m) by Calaigus, at La Mezquitilla by Itobrico(m), at Eiras by Lanobrica, at Rairiz de Veiga by Veigebreaeco(m), at Arcuelos by Verubrigo(m), at Seisco de Anciães by Vordeaeco(m) and at S. Martinho by Vorteaecio(m).

Extent of worship

The theonym Bandua has been found recorded in

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 Galicia. Along with Cosus, Nabia and Reo, Bandua is one of the best documented

deities A deity or god is a supernatural being considered to be sacred and worthy of worship due to having authority over some aspect of the universe and/or life. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines ''deity'' as a God (male deity), god or god ...

in large areas of western and north-western Iberia: six epigraphies from the

Province of Ourense Ourense (; ) is a province of Spain, in the southeastern part of the autonomous community of Galicia. It is bordered by the provinces of Pontevedra to the west, Lugo to the north, León and Zamora, (which both belong to Castile and León) to ...

. It has been proposed that the worship of Bandua spread from the north (

Gallaecia Gallaecia, also known as Hispania Gallaecia, was the name of a Roman province in the north-west of Hispania, approximately present-day Galicia, northern Portugal, Asturias and Leon and the later Kingdom of Gallaecia. The Roman cities inclu ...

and Asturia) into the south (

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 ...

), along with that of Cosus and Nabia, so contrasting with the worship of Reo that would have extended in the opposite direction. According to scholars Jürgen Untermann and Blanca María Prósper, the form ''Bandue'', and the form ''Bandua'' or ''Banduae'', predominate in the Galician territory north of the

Douro River The Douro (, , , ; ; ) is the largest river of the Iberian Peninsula by discharge. It rises near Duruelo de la Sierra in the Spanish province of Soria, meanders briefly south, then flows generally west through the northern part of the Meseta ...

, while the ''Bandi ~ Bande'' form is more common in the Lusitanian area to the south. Professor Olivares Pedreño argues that, in relation to the attestation of epithets ''Roudeaco''/''Roudaecus'', the name pertains to a place named ''uicus Rouda'', and their discovery in different locations suggests a migration or population displacement.

Interpretations

Possible water deity

Bandua has been associated with waterPrósper, Blanca M. (2000:272). ‘Ein Beitrag zur Vergöttlichung der Flüsse in der Antike: Arentia, Arantia. Beiträge zur Namenforschung.’ ''Neue Folge'' 35: 41-65. 2002. ''Lenguas y religiones prerromanas del Occidente de la Península Ibérica''. Salamanca: Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca. in order to explain the

hydronym A hydronym (from , , "water" and , , "name") is a type of toponym that designates a proper name of a body of water. Hydronyms include the proper names of rivers and streams, lakes and ponds, swamps and marshes, seas and oceans. As a subset of top ...

Banduje, in

, or the

toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''wikt:toponym, toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. ''Toponym'' is the general term for ...

Banhos de Bande (a thermal spot whose medieval name, ''Vanate'', is unrelated) and the proposed relationship of the name with fords. Polish linguist Krzysztof Tomasz Witczak also sees some possible cognate relationship between Lusitanian ''Bandua'' and Illyrian god '' Bindus'', a deity of water sources also equated to

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 Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

Neptune Neptune is the eighth and farthest known planet from the Sun. It is the List of Solar System objects by size, fourth-largest planet in the Solar System by diameter, the third-most-massive planet, and the densest giant planet. It is 17 t ...

Possible protective deity

Their epithets seem to allude more to dwelling places, at least those containing the element ''-briga'' or ''-bris'', "fortress": Lanobrigae, Aetobrigo, than to the worshipping communities themselves. In the same vein, Olivares Pedreño, while calling Bandua a male deity, noted that their name is attested with place names (e.g., ''Etobrico'', ''Brialeacui'', ''Isibraiegui'', ''Longobricu'', ''Veigebreaego'', ''Lansbricae''), which seems to indicate its relation to ancient ''vici'' and ''castelle'' - locations distant from romanized population centers. In a later article by Olivares Pedreño, this association seems to highlight their connection with local indigenous communities, as their protector.

Divine pair

The "location theory" has been criticized by de Bernardo Stempel, who interprets what have traditionally been considered singular thematic datives of male attributes as plural genitive forms referring to groups of people (''B'andue Aetobrico(m), Cadogo(m), Roudeaeco(m), Veigebreaego(m)''). She also states that they depend on a theonym, Bandua, which would be feminine as a consequence of the above, and which was probably created later than its masculine counterpart. Thus, we would have a pair of deities, Bandus (male) and Bandua (female), comparable to other Celtic pairs like Bormanos & Bormana, Belisama & Belisamaros,

Camulos Camulus or Camulos is a Celtic deity who was identified with Mars via ''interpretatio romana''. Camulus was an important god of Roman Britain and Gaul, especially among the Belgae and the Remi, Gaulish tribes that originate from the areas of ...

& Camuloriga and Arentius & Arentia.

Other interpretations

In a 2000 article, María Prósper offered another etymology: a reconstructed

stem Stem or STEM most commonly refers to: * Plant stem, a structural axis of a vascular plant * Stem group * Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics Stem or STEM can also refer to: Language and writing * Word stem, part of a word respon ...

''*bandu-'' would account for variations ''Bandue'', ''Bandi'' and ''Bandei'', ultimately deriving from

Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. No direct record of Proto-Indo-European exists; its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-Euro ...

''*gʷem-tu-''. Thus, she argued, they are a deity of passageways, akin to Roman

Ianus In ancient Roman religion and myth, Janus ( ; ) is the god of beginnings, gates, transitions, time, duality, doorways, passages, frames, and endings. He is usually depicted as having two faces. The month of January is named for Janus (''Ianu ...

Legacy

Researcher Ladislao Castro Pérez proposed that St. Torquatus, one of the

Seven Apostolic Men According to Christian tradition, the Seven Apostolic Men (''siete varones apostólicos'') were seven Christian clerics ordained in Rome by Saints Peter and Paul and sent to evangelize Spain. This group includes Torquatus, Caecilius, Ctesiph ...

responsible for the introduction of

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

Hispania Hispania was the Ancient Rome, Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula. Under the Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into two Roman province, provinces: Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior. During the Principate, Hispania Ulterior was divide ...

, whose

relic In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains or personal effects of a saint or other person preserved for the purpose of veneration as a tangible memorial. Reli ...

s are kept in Santa Comba de Bande (

Ourense Ourense (; ) is a city and the capital of the province of province of Ourense, Ourense, located in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, northwestern Spain. It is on the Camino Sanabrés path o ...

), may be a Christian version of Bandua.Castro Pérez, Ladislao (1992). ''Los torques de los dioses y de los hombres''. A Coruña: Ayuntamiento de La Coruña.

References

Bibliography

* . * . * .