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]
From the same region - the village of Lourde - comes another inscription bearing the name:
It is also recorded in an inscription from Malvezie:
According to Spanish linguist and Vascologist Joaquín GorrochateguiCeltic, 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]
, her name has been variously interpreted as eitherAE: L'Année Épigraphique, 1888
CIL: Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, Berlin, 1863-
ILTG: Wuilleumier, P., Inscriptions latines des Trois Gaules (France), (XVIIe Supplement à Gallia) Paris, 1963