Brigantia (goddess) Totally Explained

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ť For other uses, see Brigantia.

In Gallo-Roman and Romano-British religion, Brigantia was a goddess who is attested several places in Britain and Europe. She was the tutelary goddess of the Brigantes in northern Britain (modern Yorkshire) and of the Brigantes on Lake Constance in Austria (modern Bregenz).

Evidence for Brigantia

Inscriptions

Seven inscriptions to Brigantia are known, all from Britain (Epigraphik-Datenbank Clauss/Slaby). At Birrens, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland - in antiquity, Blatobulgium - is an inscription: ť Brigantiae s(acrum) Amandus / arc(h)itectus ex imperio imp(eratum) (fecit) (RIB 02091).

Brigantia is assimilated to Victoria in two inscriptions, one from Castleford in Yorkshire (AE 1892, 00098; RIB 00628) and one from Greetland near Halifax, also in Yorkshire (RIB 00627). The later may be dated to 208 AD by mention of the consuls: ť D(eae) Vict(oriae) Brig(antiae) / et num(inibus) Aauugg(ustorum) / T(itus) Aur(elius) Aurelian/us d(onum) d(edit) pro se / et suis s(e) mag(istro) s(acrorum) // Antonin[o] / III et Geta [II] / co(n)ss(ulibus)

At Corbridge on Hadrians Wall - in antiquity, Coria - Brigantia is termed celestial and paired with Jupiter Dolichenus (AE 1947, 00122; RIB 01131): ť Iovi aeterno / Dolicheno / et caelesti / Brigantiae / et Saluti / C(aius) Iulius Ap/ol(l)inaris / |(centurio) leg(ionis) VI iuss(u) dei

There is an inscription at Irthington, Yorkshire DEAE NYMPHAE BRIGANTIAE—"divine nymph Brigantia" (Nicholson).
Garret Olmstead (1994) noted numisimatic legends in Iberian script, BRIGANT_N (or PRIKANT_N, as Iberic script doesn't distinguish voiced and unvoiced consonants) inscribed on a Celtiberian coin, suggesting a cognate Celtiberian goddess.

Toponomy

Lisa Bitel (2001) noted a wide spread through toponymy: ť "The town of Bregenz, at the eastern end of Lake Constance in Austria, retains the older name of Brigantion, a tribal capital of a people called the Brigantii, possibly after a goddess Brigant. The rivers Brent in England, Braint in Wales, and Brigid in Ireland are all related linguistically and maybe religiously to the root Brig/Brigant.... Ptolemy, a second-century geographer, did mention a tribe calling itself the Brigantes in Leinster. But nothing remains of the Irish Brigantes except this single tribal name on a Greek's map, the river Brigid, and much later literary references to saints and supernatural figures named Brigit."

Other towns which may also preserve this theonym include Brigetio in Hungary (Green 1986 p.161), also Brianconnet and Briançon, both in Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur, France. In antiquity, Briançon was called Brigantio and was the first town on the Via Domitia. It is attested by an inscriptions mentioning munic(ipii) Brigantien(sium) (the town of Brigantio)(CIL 12, 00095) and Bri/gantione geniti (the Briganti people)(CIL 12, 00118). At Brianconnet, an inscription mentions ord(o) Brig(antorum) (AE 1913, 00014). There, oak trees were particularly venerated.
The ancient name of Bragança in Trás-os-Montes, Portugal, was Brigantia. The inhabitants today are still called brigantinos.

Iconography

At Birrens, archaeologists have found a Roman-era stone bas-relief of a female figure; she's crowned like a tutelary deity, has a Gorgon's head on her breast, and holds a spear and a globe of victory like the Roman goddesses Victoria and Minerva (Green 1996, p. 197). The inscription mentioned above assures the identification of the statue as Brigantia rather than Minerva.

References in popular Culture

Brigantia appears to the lyrical I in "English Fire," a song of Cradle of Filth's album "Nymphetamine."

Further Information

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