Artahe Knowpia

Artaha (also spelled Artehe) is the name of an ancient goddess that was worshiped in Southern Gaul, in the region of Aquitania. She is a protector goddess that is thought to be associated with bears.^{[citation needed]}

The theonym is recorded in several inscriptions from Saint-Pé-d'Ardet, where there seems to have been a Gallo-Roman-era cult center for the god:^[1]

CIL 13, 64

Lexeia Odanni f(ilia) Artehe v(otum) s(olvit) l(ibens) m(erito)

CIL 13, 70; AE 1888, 141

Deo Artahe L(uci) P(ompei) Pauliniani [nep(os) 3]

ILTG 37

Artahe deo Rufo IIFIS v(otum) s(olvit) l(ibens) m(erito)

ILTG 38

[...] Artahe [...]

From the same region - the village of Lourde - comes another inscription bearing the name:

CIL 13, 71

Artehe deo Bonnexi Amandi v(otum) s(olvit) l(ibens) m(erito)

It is also recorded in an inscription from Malvezie:

CIL 13, 73 (4, p 2)

Ar[t]a[he deo] L(ucius) Antist(ius) Syntr[o]p(h)us v(otum) s(olvit) l(ibens) m(erito)

Etymology edit

According to Spanish linguist and Vascologist Joaquín Gorrochategui [eu], her name has been variously interpreted as either Celtic, related to Artaios, or Aquitanian.^[2] Following the second line of reading, the name appears to be of ancient Aquitanian origin and may be cognate with modern Basque arte "oak".^[3] The place name Ardet may be derived from the theonym, or vice versa.^[4]

References edit

^ fr:Saint-Pé-d'Ardet
^ Gorrochategui, Joaquín, et al. “Révisions Épigraphiques Du Corpus Des Dédicaces Votives de La Province d’Aquitania”. In: Théonymie Celtique, Cultes, Interpretatio - Keltische Theonymie, Kulte, Interpretatio. Edited by Andreas Hofeneder and Patrizia de Bernardo Stempel, 1st ed., Austrian Academy of Sciences Press, 2013. p. 26. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv8mdn28.5. Accessed 17 Oct. 2022.
^ Whatmough, Joshua, The Dialects of Ancient Gaul. Harvard, 1970. p. 240.
^ Whatmough, Joshua, The Dialects of Ancient Gaul, Harvard, 1970, p. 253