Alaisiagae
Encyclopedia
In Romano-British
Celt
ic/Germanic
polytheism
, the Alaisiagae, possibly the "Dispatching Terrors," or "All victorious" were a pair of Celtic or Germanic goddesses, Beda and Fimmilena, respectively deifying victory.
, altar-stones raised to them having been recovered in the United Kingdom
at Housesteads Fort, Hadrian's Wall
in England.
Another centre of worship was perhaps the town of Bitburg, near the German-Belgian border, which was called “Beda Vicus,” which although Latin derives from either Celtic or Germanic the 'Village of Beda.' In Roman times, this was situated in variously Celtic and Germanic territory, being West of the Rhine and subject under to various tribal groups often with mixed ethnic definitions.
Mars Thicsus is thought to be the Germanic war-god Tiw (better known as the Norse Tyr)who was also connected to oath-taking and the Thing
, a kind of judicial gathering. The name of the Germanic soldiers "Tuihantis" also attests to this connection with the one-handed sword god Tiw.
The second inscription reads:
DEABVS ALAISIAGIS BAVDIHILLIE ET FRIAGABI ET N(umini) AVG(usti) N(umerus) HNAVDIFRIDI V(otum) S(olvit) L(ibens) M(erito)
The third word is often mis-reported as beginning with BO not BA in order to make it appear more Celtic and less Germanic.
. Beda may have been an abbreviation for Ricagumbeda
since the two names share similar semantics
. Boudihillia and Beda are more likely Celtic names however.
in England. This roughly circular temple was found on top of Chapel Hill a little to the south of the fort, its walls of undressed stone facing with an earth and rubble infill enclosed an area measuring about 17¼ ft. across; the insubstantial foundations indicate that the superstructure was at least half-timbered. The temple was built in the early-3rd century upon the ruins of a rectangular workshop in the vicus which had been destroyed during the barbarian incursions of AD196. It contained altars dedicated by the commanders and men of all three units known to be stationed at Housesteads to the god Mars Thincsus, the Romanized aspect of a Teutonic
god, a common occurrence among the Roman auxiliary units. Various altars have been found at this site dedicated to Mars and/or to the Celto-Germanic goddesses Alaisiagae; named on one altar as Beda and Fimmilena, on another as Boudihillia and Friagabis.
Beda is derived from the Proto-Celtic *Bed-ā meaning 'burial.'
Alaisiagae is derived from the Proto-Celtic *Ad-lājsījā-agai meaning (in the illative) 'sending fears,' plausibly a byword for a notion of “dispatching terrors” (q.v. http://www.wales.ac.uk/documents/external/cawcs/PCl-MoE.pdf http://www.wales.ac.uk/documents/external/cawcs/MoE-PCl.pdf http://www.indo-european.nl/cgi-bin/query.cgi?root=leiden&basename=%5Cdata%5Cie%5Cceltic).
Romano-British
Romano-British culture describes the culture that arose in Britain under the Roman Empire following the Roman conquest of AD 43 and the creation of the province of Britannia. It arose as a fusion of the imported Roman culture with that of the indigenous Britons, a people of Celtic language and...
Celt
Celt
The Celts were a diverse group of tribal societies in Iron Age and Roman-era Europe who spoke Celtic languages.The earliest archaeological culture commonly accepted as Celtic, or rather Proto-Celtic, was the central European Hallstatt culture , named for the rich grave finds in Hallstatt, Austria....
ic/Germanic
Germanic peoples
The Germanic peoples are an Indo-European ethno-linguistic group of Northern European origin, identified by their use of the Indo-European Germanic languages which diversified out of Proto-Germanic during the Pre-Roman Iron Age.Originating about 1800 BCE from the Corded Ware Culture on the North...
polytheism
Polytheism
Polytheism is the belief of multiple deities also usually assembled into a pantheon of gods and goddesses, along with their own mythologies and rituals....
, the Alaisiagae, possibly the "Dispatching Terrors," or "All victorious" were a pair of Celtic or Germanic goddesses, Beda and Fimmilena, respectively deifying victory.
Centres of worship
The Alaisiagae were Germanic deities who were worshipped in Roman BritainRoman Britain
Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...
, altar-stones raised to them having been recovered in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
at Housesteads Fort, Hadrian's Wall
Hadrian's Wall
Hadrian's Wall was a defensive fortification in Roman Britain. Begun in AD 122, during the rule of emperor Hadrian, it was the first of two fortifications built across Great Britain, the second being the Antonine Wall, lesser known of the two because its physical remains are less evident today.The...
in England.
Another centre of worship was perhaps the town of Bitburg, near the German-Belgian border, which was called “Beda Vicus,” which although Latin derives from either Celtic or Germanic the 'Village of Beda.' In Roman times, this was situated in variously Celtic and Germanic territory, being West of the Rhine and subject under to various tribal groups often with mixed ethnic definitions.
Votive inscriptions
One of the votive inscriptions to these goddesses reads:- DEO MARTI THINCSO ET DVABVS ALAISAGIS BEDE ET FIMMILENE ET N AVG GERM CIVES TVIHANTI VSLM
- "To the god Mars Thincsus and the two Alaisagae, Beda and Fimmilena, and the divine spirit of the emperor, the German tribesmen from Tuihantis willingly and deservedly fulfill their vow."
Mars Thicsus is thought to be the Germanic war-god Tiw (better known as the Norse Tyr)who was also connected to oath-taking and the Thing
Thing (assembly)
A thing was the governing assembly in Germanic and introduced into some Celtic societies, made up of the free people of the community and presided by lawspeakers, meeting in a place called a thingstead...
, a kind of judicial gathering. The name of the Germanic soldiers "Tuihantis" also attests to this connection with the one-handed sword god Tiw.
The second inscription reads:
DEABVS ALAISIAGIS BAVDIHILLIE ET FRIAGABI ET N(umini) AVG(usti) N(umerus) HNAVDIFRIDI V(otum) S(olvit) L(ibens) M(erito)
The third word is often mis-reported as beginning with BO not BA in order to make it appear more Celtic and less Germanic.
- These goddesses are possibly recorded on two inscriptions in Greek recorded in L' Année Épigraphique for 1973.
Syncretism
The goddesses called the Alaisiagae are named on altar-stones from the same fort on Hadrian's Wall as being parallel with two Germanic goddesses: Celtic ‘Boudihillia’ is equated with Germanic ‘Fimmilena,’ and Celtic ‘Beda’ is equated with Germanic ‘Friagabis.’ These parallel goddesses are taken to be Germanic not only because of clues in the inscriptions and the Germanic mercenaries at the wall at the time, but also because they both have an initial ‘f-,’ a sound not known to have developed in Celtic at this time. Equally, the two goddesses are not known to be RomanRoman 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...
. Beda may have been an abbreviation for Ricagumbeda
Ricagumbeda
Ricagambeda was a Celtic goddess worshipped in Roman Britain. She is attested in a single inscription, RIB 2107, on an altar stone found at Birrens in what is now Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. According to the inscription, the altar was raised by men from Vella serving with the Second Cohort of...
since the two names share similar semantics
Semantics
Semantics is the study of meaning. It focuses on the relation between signifiers, such as words, phrases, signs and symbols, and what they stand for, their denotata....
. Boudihillia and Beda are more likely Celtic names however.
Archeological setting
The altar-stones of the Alaisiagae were recovered in the Temple of Mars at Housesteads fort, Hadrian's WallHadrian's Wall
Hadrian's Wall was a defensive fortification in Roman Britain. Begun in AD 122, during the rule of emperor Hadrian, it was the first of two fortifications built across Great Britain, the second being the Antonine Wall, lesser known of the two because its physical remains are less evident today.The...
in England. This roughly circular temple was found on top of Chapel Hill a little to the south of the fort, its walls of undressed stone facing with an earth and rubble infill enclosed an area measuring about 17¼ ft. across; the insubstantial foundations indicate that the superstructure was at least half-timbered. The temple was built in the early-3rd century upon the ruins of a rectangular workshop in the vicus which had been destroyed during the barbarian incursions of AD196. It contained altars dedicated by the commanders and men of all three units known to be stationed at Housesteads to the god Mars Thincsus, the Romanized aspect of a Teutonic
Teutons
The Teutons or Teutones were mentioned as a Germanic tribe by Greek and Roman authors, notably Strabo and Marcus Velleius Paterculus and normally in close connection with the Cimbri, whose ethnicity is contested between Gauls and Germani...
god, a common occurrence among the Roman auxiliary units. Various altars have been found at this site dedicated to Mars and/or to the Celto-Germanic goddesses Alaisiagae; named on one altar as Beda and Fimmilena, on another as Boudihillia and Friagabis.
Etymology
Boudihillia can be derived from the Proto-Celtic *Bōud-ī-hīlījā meaning 'victory’s fullness.'Beda is derived from the Proto-Celtic *Bed-ā meaning 'burial.'
Alaisiagae is derived from the Proto-Celtic *Ad-lājsījā-agai meaning (in the illative) 'sending fears,' plausibly a byword for a notion of “dispatching terrors” (q.v. http://www.wales.ac.uk/documents/external/cawcs/PCl-MoE.pdf http://www.wales.ac.uk/documents/external/cawcs/MoE-PCl.pdf http://www.indo-european.nl/cgi-bin/query.cgi?root=leiden&basename=%5Cdata%5Cie%5Cceltic).
Sources
- British MuseumBritish MuseumThe British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
, LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England. - Carlisle Museum, CumbriaCumbriaCumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...
, England. - Lancaster museum, Lancaster, England.
- Newcastle Museum of Antiquities, Newcastle upon TyneNewcastle upon TyneNewcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
, England. - Penrith Museum, PenrithPenrith, CumbriaPenrith was an urban district between 1894 and 1974, when it was merged into Eden District.The authority's area was coterminous with the civil parish of Penrith although when the council was abolished Penrith became an unparished area....
, England. - Vercovicium Roman Museum, HousesteadsHousesteadsVercovicium, now known as Housesteads Roman Fort, was an auxiliary fort on Hadrian's Wall, in the Roman province of Britannia. Its ruins are located at Housesteads in the civil parish of Bardon Mill in Northumberland, England, somewhat to the south of Broomlee Lough.-History:In the 2nd century AD,...
, NorthumberlandNorthumberlandNorthumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...
, England. - York Castle Museum, YorkYorkYork is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
, England.