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.

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

According to Spanish linguist and Vascologist Joaquín Gorrochategui, 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

  1. ↑ fr:Saint-Pé-d'Ardet
  2. ↑ 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.
  3. ↑ Whatmough, Joshua, The Dialects of Ancient Gaul. Harvard, 1970. p. 240.
  4. ↑ Whatmough, Joshua, The Dialects of Ancient Gaul, Harvard, 1970, p. 253

AE: 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

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