- Vagdavercustis
The goddess Vagdavercustis is known from a dedicatory inscription on an altar found at
Cologne (Köln), Germany. The stone dates from around the 2nd century CE and is now in a museum in Cologne (Köln).The inscription is found on the front of the alter above a carved relief scene of several toga'ed men performing a ritual sacrifice. The inscription reads as follows:
::Deae
::Vagdavercusti
::Titus Flavius
::Constans Praef
::Praet EMVRoughly translated into English, the inscription can be read as: ::The Goddess / ::Vagdavercustis / :: [dedicated by] Titus Flavius / ::Constans (or Constantius?), Prefect / ::of the Praetorians, to his distinguished memory." ["EMV" = "egregiae memoriae vir," see [http://www.chlt.org/sandbox/perseus/harper/page.3741.a.php Peck, Harry Thurston. "Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities". New York:Harper and Brothers, 1898] ]
Although the altar was dedicated by a Roman, Vagdavercustis was most likely a native Germanic or Celtic goddess, who may have had a link with trees or woods. [http://www.geocities.com/reginheim/forgottengods.html Ansuharijaz (2003) "Forgotten Gods", on the Reginheim website.] ] There is some evidence that Vagdavercustis was worshipped by the
Batavians (a Germanic tribe reported byTacitus to have lived around the Rhine delta, in the area that is currently the Netherlands) in the [http://www.livius.org/a/1/germania/germinf_map.gifregion] between present-dayNetherlands and Cologne (Köln). [http://www.spinfo.uni-koeln.de/lehre/HKIV-Arbeiten/Brandt-Ohrmann-Schmitt/einheimisch/Vagdavercustis.html Religiöse Kulte im römischen Köln: Vagdavercustis] ] She may be related to Virtus, the Roman god of military virtue.ee also
*
Dutch mythology References
External links
* [http://www.mysticwicks.com/photoalbum/displayimage.php?pos=-2449 photo of altar]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
