Abnoba
Encyclopedia
Celtic polytheism
Celtic polytheism, commonly known as Celtic paganism, refers to the religious beliefs and practices adhered to by the Iron Age peoples of Western Europe now known as the Celts, roughly between 500 BCE and 500 CE, spanning the La Tène period and the Roman era, and in the case of the Insular Celts...
who was worshipped in the Black Forest
Black Forest
The Black Forest is a wooded mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, southwestern Germany. It is bordered by the Rhine valley to the west and south. The highest peak is the Feldberg with an elevation of 1,493 metres ....
and surrounding areas. She has been interpreted to be a forest
Forest
A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...
and river
River
A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...
goddess, and is known from about nine epigraphic inscriptions. One altar at the Roman baths
Roman Baths
The Roman Baths complex is a site of historical interest in the English city of Bath. The house is a well-preserved Roman site for public bathing....
at Badenweiler
Badenweiler
Badenweiler, a health resort and spa of the Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald district of Baden-Württemberg, Germany, historically in the Markgräflerland. It is 28 kilometers by road and rail from Basel, 10 kilometers from the French border, and 20 kilometers away from Mulhouse...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, and another at Mühlenbach identify her with Diana, the Roman
Roman mythology
Roman mythology is the body of traditional stories pertaining to ancient Rome's legendary origins and religious system, as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans...
goddess of the hunt.
According to Tacitus
Tacitus
Publius Cornelius Tacitus was a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories—examine the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors...
's Germania
Germania (book)
The Germania , written by Gaius Cornelius Tacitus around 98, is an ethnographic work on the Germanic tribes outside the Roman Empire.-Contents:...
, Abnoba also was the name of a mountain, from a grassy slope of which flows the source of the River Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
. Ptolemy
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...
's Geography (2.10) also mentions the mountain as the source of the Danube. The surrounding range, in Ptolemy, is the Abnobaia ora (the nominative case, given here, is not in Ptolemy), Latinized to Abnobaei montes.
Pliny the Elder
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
also gives us some statements about Abnoba (Natural History, 4.79). He says that it arises opposite the town of Rauricum in Gaul and flows from there beyond the Alps, implying that the river begins in the Alps, which it does not. If Rauricum is to be identified with the Roman settlement, Augusta Raurica, modern Augst
Augst
Augst is a municipality in the district of Liestal in the canton of Basel-Country in Switzerland.It was known as Augusta Raurica in roman times-History:...
in Basel-Landschaft canton of Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, Pliny must be confusing the Rhine and its tributaries with the Danube.
The Danube begins with two small rivers draining the Black Forest
Black Forest
The Black Forest is a wooded mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, southwestern Germany. It is bordered by the Rhine valley to the west and south. The highest peak is the Feldberg with an elevation of 1,493 metres ....
: the Breg
Breg River
The Breg is a river in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is the right-side and longer of the two streams that form the river Danube. It begins at 1078 m above sea level in the Black Forest, near Furtwangen im Schwarzwald, 100 m from the European Watershed. It flows through Furtwangen and Vöhrenbach...
and the Brigach
Brigach
The Brigach is the shorter of two streams that jointly form the river Danube in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The Brigach has its source at 925 metres above sea level within St. Georgen in the Black Forest. The Brigach crosses the city Villingen-Schwenningen. After 43 km from the source, Brigach...
, both Celtic names. The longest is the most favorable candidate: the Breg. The Abnobaei montes would therefore be the Baar
Baar (region)
The Baar is a plateau that lies 600 to 900 metres above sea level in southwest Germany. It is bordered by the southeastern edge of the Black Forest to the west, the southwestern part of the Swabian Alb known as the Heuberg to the east, and the Randen mountain to the south.The Baar contains the...
foothills of the Swabian Alb
Swabian Alb
The Swabian Alps or Swabian Jura is a low mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, extending 220 km from southwest to northeast and 40 to 70 km in width. It is named after the region of Swabia....
near Furtwangen im Schwarzwald
Furtwangen im Schwarzwald
Furtwangen im Schwarzwald is a small city located in the Black Forest region of south western Germany. It belongs to the district of Schwarzwald-Baar along with the two more important cities of Villingen and Schwenningen....
.
The etymology of the theonym is uncertain. It has been associated with the etymon *abo-s "water, river", found in e.g. Avon
Avon
-Rivers:*River Avon or Avon River , various rivers*Avon Water, a river in Scotland*Afon, the Welsh word for river, often anglicised to 'avon'-Canada:*Avon, New Brunswick, in the province of New Brunswick...
(*abonā). The second element has been connected to either a PIE
Pie
A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that covers or completely contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients....
*nogʷo-, either "naked, nude" or "tree", or with the verbal root *nebh- "burst out, be damp".
