Vagdavercustis is a Germanic goddess known from a dedicatory

inscription Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...

on an altar found at

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

(Köln),

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

. The stone dates from around the 2nd century CE and is now in a museum in Cologne.

Name

The meaning of the name remains unclear. The element ''Ver-custis'' may be interpreted as the root ''wer-'' ('man') attached to the verbal noun ''*kusti-'' ('choice'; cf.

Old Icelandic Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlement ...

''mann-kostr'' 'male virtue'), but the meaning of the suffix or

epithet An epithet (, ), also byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) known for accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, di ...

''Vagda'' is uncertain.

Cult

The inscription appears on the front of the altar above a carved relief of five male figures carrying out a ritual. The officiant in the center is wearing a

toga The toga (, ), a distinctive garment of ancient Rome, was a roughly semicircular cloth, between in length, draped over the shoulders and around the body. It was usually woven from white wool, and was worn over a tunic. In Roman historical tr ...

and has his head covered ''(

capite velato The vocabulary of ancient Roman religion was highly specialized. Its study affords important information about the religion, traditions and beliefs of the ancient Romans. This legacy is conspicuous in European cultural history in its influence on ...

)''. He extends his hand toward an altar in order to burn incense, a box of which is held by a boy to the left. Behind them is an

aulos An ''aulos'' ( grc, αὐλός, plural , ''auloi'') or ''tibia'' (Latin) was an ancient Greek wind instrument, depicted often in art and also attested by archaeology. Though ''aulos'' is often translated as "flute" or " double flute", it was ...

-player, whose music would be intended to "drown out inauspicious noises." The figure between the aulist and the officiant is worn and reveals little. The fifth, to the far right, is bearded and wearing a garment that is not a toga; he carries something slung over his right shoulder. The inscription reads as follows: ::Deae ::Vagdavercusti ::Titus Flavius ::Constans Praef ::Praet EMV Roughly translated into English, the inscription can be read as: ::To the Goddess ::Vagdavercustis, ::Titus Flavius ::Constans, Prefect ::of the Praetorians, edicated thisin his distinguished memory." The altar was dedicated by a

Roman citizen Citizenship in ancient Rome (Latin: ''civitas'') was a privileged political and legal status afforded to free individuals with respect to laws, property, and governance. Citizenship in Ancient Rome was complex and based upon many different laws, t ...

, and the iconography is that of a traditional Roman sacrifice, but Vagdavercustis was most likely a native Germanic or Celtic goddess.Ansuharijaz (2003) ''Forgotten Gods'', on the Reginheim website.
/ref> It was not unusual, and perhaps even customary, for Roman officials in the

provinces A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...

to honor local gods as a way to maintain local goodwill. There is some evidence that Vagdavercustis was worshipped by the

Batavians The Batavi were an ancient Germanic tribe that lived around the modern Dutch Rhine delta in the area that the Romans called Batavia, from the second half of the first century BC to the third century AD. The name is also applied to several mili ...

(a Germanic tribe reported by

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. The surviving portions of his two major works—the ...

to have lived around the Rhine delta, in the area that is currently the Netherlands) in the region between the present-day

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and Cologne (Köln). The paucity of evidence pertaining to Vagdavercustis has led to abundant interpretations of her significance. Trees are depicted on the side panels of the altar, suggesting a vegetative function. She may be related to

Virtus ''Virtus'' () was a specific virtue in Ancient Rome. It carries connotations of valor, manliness, excellence, courage, character, and worth, perceived as masculine strengths (from Latin ''vir'', "man"). It was thus a frequently stated virtue o ...

, the Roman god of military virtue. Since she occurs only at Cologne, she may be a localized deity of place. The name has been taken to mean "protectress of war dancers," with Vagdavercustis characterized as a

war goddess A war god in mythology associated with war, combat, or bloodshed. They occur commonly in both monotheistic and polytheistic religions. Unlike most gods and goddesses in polytheistic religions, monotheistic deities have traditionally been por ...

.Michael Speidel, ''Ancient Germanic Warriors: Warrior Styles from Trajan's Column to Icelandic Sagas'' (Routledge, 2004), p. 102, citing Jan de Vries, ''Religionsgeschichte'' II, 1957, 325.

References

Bibliography

* {{Citation, last=Neumann, first=Günter, title=Germanenprobleme in heutiger Sicht, year=1999, editor-last=Beck, editor-first=H., chapter=Germani cisrhenani — die Aussage der Namen, chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=te3fDzkb3uAC&pg=PA107, publisher=Walter de Gruyter, isbn=978-3110164381, editor2-last=Geuenich, editor2-first=D., editor3-last=Steuer, editor3-first=H.

External links

photo of altar
Germanic goddesses Roman altars Latin inscriptions Ancient Roman religion Germanic deities