Vagdavercustis and who was the most famous adopted god from the west?

[Viggen]

Recently i stumpled upon a newspaper article about a cologne museum and there was a roman altar dedicated by a roman to a goddess named Vagdavercustis which intrigued me (aparently a germanic/celtic goddess of trees and wood), as the romans did adopt plenty of eastern gods but very few western, right? Wonder why...

[Nephele]

Recently i stumpled upon a newspaper article about a cologne museum and there was a roman altar dedicated by a roman to a goddess named Vagdavercustis which intrigued me (aparently a germanic/celtic goddess of trees and wood), as the romans did adopt plenty of eastern gods but very few western, right? Wonder why...

 

That's a new one on me! I think you're right about the Romans having adopted very few western deities. I believe that Epona (the goddess-protectress of horses) is the only Celtic goddess to have been adopted by the Romans. If Lost_Warrior is around, she may be able to correct me on this, or verify it.

 

-- Nephele

[M. Porcius Cato]

What about Dis, the god of the underworld who gave birth to the Celtic nation? Wasn't Dis revered in Rome as well? And, by the by, what kind of savages would worship a deity such as Dis? Hairy, trouser-wearing barbarians... <blech!>

[Lost_Warrior]

That's a new one on me! I think you're right about the Romans having adopted very few western deities. I believe that Epona (the goddess-protectress of horses) is the only Celtic goddess to have been adopted by the Romans. If Lost_Warrior is around, she may be able to correct me on this, or verify it.

 

I do believe that Epona was worshiped in Rome, however I have no idea if she is the *only* Celtic goddess to have been adopted by the Romans. I do know that in the provinces Celtic and Roman practices were often blended, however that was in areas where the Celtic deities were already being worshiped.

 

What about Dis, the god of the underworld who gave birth to the Celtic nation? Wasn't Dis revered in Rome as well? And, by the by, what kind of savages would worship a deity such as Dis? Hairy, trouser-wearing barbarians...

 

Dis Pater is the Roman equivalent to Hades. I believe Dis started out in Rome, and then may have been adopted by the Celts. The only information I have found linking Dis Pater to the Celts has been what I consider "severely unreliable" (could also be described as an information train wreck) and did not link Dis Pater to the underworld at all, but heralded him as a Father God.

[Ursus]

I think you have to make a distinction here.

 

Roman soldiers serving in foreign lands would often honor the local gods as a sign of respect, and to entreat their good graces (because soldiers need all the help they can get). Germany, Britain, Egypt, Syria - wherever Roman soldiers went there is evidence of them honoring two-bit local gods that people in other parts of the empire had never heard of.

 

However, only a few of these were formally adopted into the Roman pantheon - i.e., formally recognized by the State with its own funded cult.

 

So it's entirely possible a Roman legion serving along the Rhine frontiers would honor some local Celto-German deity without it being formally acknowledged by the Senate.

[Nephele]

I think you have to make a distinction here.

 

Roman soldiers serving in foreign lands would often honor the local gods as a sign of respect, and to entreat their good graces (because soldiers need all the help they can get). Germany, Britain, Egypt, Syria - wherever Roman soldiers went there is evidence of them honoring two-bit local gods that people in other parts of the empire had never heard of.

 

However, only a few of these were formally adopted into the Roman pantheon - i.e., formally recognized by the State with its own funded cult.

 

So it's entirely possible a Roman legion serving along the Rhine frontiers would honor some local Celto-German deity without it being formally acknowledged by the Senate.

 

Thanks for that distinction, Ursus. Would you happen to have a list of those foreign deities that were officially adopted by Rome? I think Epona was one. Was Isis another? Or did she just have a temple in Rome that was tolerated for a time?

 

-- Nephele

[Ursus]

To get a comprehensive list of deities recognized by the Roman state you would have to look at the surviving list of calendar festivals (I don't have a link offhand). But, yes, Epona and Isis were among those adopted into the liturgical calendar.

[Pantagathus]

Don't forget about the obvious ones! Hercules & Apollo...