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Vihansa is the name of a Germanic goddess written on a bronze tablet found in Sint-Huibrechts-Hern, near Tongeren in modern Belgium.

Name

There is general agreement among scholars that the theonym is Germanic; it probably belongs to the Tungrian dialect or language. Vihansa is most likely a Latinized form of the compound *wiha-ansu-, meaning 'holy deity'. Another reasonable translation will be "female deity of the sanctuary", because in the Proto-Germanic language the noun *wīhą means sacred area or sanctuary. Given scarce presence of any worship in temples among ancient Germans who preferred grooves and forests for conducting religious rites in the open, one may speculate that sanctuaries were dedicated to fire due to the fact that shrines' roofs effectively protect flames from bad weather the whole year around.

Dedication

The inscription was engraved by Q. Catius Libo Nepos, centurion with Legio III Cyrenaica, who dedicated his shield and spear to the goddess Vihansa, probably after returning to his homeland from a military service:

Vihansae / Q(uintus) Catius Libo Nepos / centurio leg(ionis) III / Cyrenaicae scu/tum et lanceam d(onum) d(edit)

— Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum CIL XIII, 3592.

Marie-Thérèse Raepsaet-Charlier supposes she must have been a warrior deity due to the martial offering mentioned in the inscription.

References

1. Neumann 1999, p. 126.
2. Raepsaet-Charlier, Marie-Thérèse (1995). "Municipium Tungrorum". Latomus. 54 (2): 361–369. ISSN 0023-8856. JSTOR 41537302.
3. Raepsaet-Charlier, Marie-Thérèse (2017). "Multiculturalisme et multilinguisme dans la cité des Tongres à l'époque romaine". Meertaligheit dan ooit, Tijdschrift van de Alumni Letteren Leuven. Vol. 7. pp. 119–125.
4. Raepsaet-Charlier, Marie-Thérèse. "Cultes et territoire, Mères et Matrones, dieux «celtiques»: quelques aspects de la religion dans les provinces romaines de Gaule et de Germanie à la lumière de travaux récents". In: L'antiquité classique, Tome 84, 2015. pp. 212-213. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3406/antiq.2015.3872; www.persee.fr/doc/antiq_0770-2817_2015_num_84_1_3872

Bibliography

• Neumann, Günter (1999), "Germani cisrhenani — die Aussage der Namen", in Beck, H.; Geuenich, D.; Steuer, H. (eds.), Germanenprobleme in heutiger Sicht, Walter de Gruyter, ISBN 978-3110164381

External links

• Photo of the dedication.

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