Artio

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Artio (Dea Artio in the Gallo-Roman religion) was a Celtic bear goddess. Evidence of her worship has notably been found at Bern (Switzerland) whose name according to legend is derived from the word Bär, "bear". Artio may have been the feminine form of Artaios, a bear-god associated with Gaulish Mercury.^[1]

[edit] Representations and inscriptions

A bronze sculpture from Muri, near Berne in Switzerland shows a large bear facing a woman seated in a chair, with a small tree behind the bear. The woman seems to hold fruit in her lap, perhaps feeding the bear. (Deyts p.48, Green pp.217-218). The sculpture has a large rectangular bronze base, which bears an inscription. (CIL 13, 05160)

Deae Artioni / Licinia Sabinilla

To the Goddess Artio (or Artionis), from Licinia Sabinilla. If the name is Gaulish but the syntax is Latin, a dative Artioni would give an i-stem nominative *Artionis or an n-stem nominative *Artio. That would perhap correspond to a Gaulish n-stem nominative *Artiu.

Another inscription from Trier (Wightman p.217, CIL 13, 04113) also refers to Artio.

[edit] Etymology

Her name is derived from the Gaulish word artos, bear (Delamarre 2003 p. 55-56). Other Celtic languages have similar words, such as Old Irish art, Welsh arth - which may also be the source for the modern name Arthur.

[edit] See also

• Artio-Obscure Goddess Online Directory
• picture @ Stefan Rebsamen Bern Historical Museum

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[edit] Footnotes

[edit] References

• Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (CIL) vol XIII, Inscriptiones trium Galliarum et Germaniarum
• Delamarre, X. (2003). Dictionnaire de la Langue Gauloise (2nd ed.). Paris: Editions Errance. ISBN 2-87772-237-6
• Deyts, Simone (1992) Images des Dieux de la Gaule. Paris, Editions Errance. ISBN 2-87772-067-5.
• Green, Miranda (1992) Animals in Celtic Life and Myth. London, Routledge. ISBN 0-415-18588-2
• Wightman, E.M. (1970) Roman Trier and the Treveri London, Hart-Davis. ISBN 0-246-63980-6