Artio 86040 208481969 2008-04-27T07:42:03Z Kauczuk 1670727 pl: In [[Gallo-Roman religion]], '''Artio''' was a [[goddess]] of the [[bear]], and was worshipped at [[Berne]], which actually means "bear". ==Representations and inscriptions== A bronze sculpture from Muri, near [[Berne]] in [[Switzerland]] shows a large bear facing a woman seated in a chair, with a small tree behind the bear. The woman seems to hold fruit in her lap, perhaps feeding the bear. (Deyts p.48, Green pp.217-218). The sculpture has a large rectangular bronze base, which bears an inscription. (CIL 13, 05160) :Deae Artioni / Licinia Sabinilla ''To the Goddess Artio'' (or ''Artionis''), ''from Licinia Sabinilla''. If the name is Gaulish but the syntax is Latin, a dative Artioni would give an i-stem nominative ''*Artionis'' or an n-stem nominative ''*Artio''. That would perhap correspond to a Gaulish n-stem nominative ''*Artiu''. Another inscription from [[Trier]] (Wightman p.217, CIL 13, 04113) also refers to Artio. ==Etymology== Her name is derived from the [[Gaulish language|Gaulish]] word ''artos'', bear (Delamarre 2003 p. 55-56). Other Celtic languages have similar words, such as [[Irish language|Old Irish]] ''art'', [[Welsh language|Welsh]] ''arth'' - which may also be the source for the modern name [[Arthur]]. == See also == *[http://www.thaliatook.com/OGOD/artio.html Artio-Obscure Goddess Online Directory] *[http://www.swissworld.org/xobix_media/images/sis/2003/sisimg20031015_4343317_0.jpg picture @ Stefan Rebsamen Bern Historical Museum] {{Celtic mythology (ancient)}} ==References== * [[Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum]] (CIL) vol XIII, Inscriptiones trium Galliarum et Germaniarum * Delamarre, X. (2003). ''Dictionnaire de la Langue Gauloise'' (2nd ed.). Paris: Editions Errance. ISBN 2-87772-237-6 * Deyts, Simone (1992) ''Images des Dieux de la Gaule''. Paris, Editions Errance. ISBN 2-87772-067-5. * Green, Miranda (1992) ''Animals in Celtic Life and Myth''. London, Routledge. ISBN 0-415-18588-2 * Wightman, E.M. (1970) ''Roman Trier and the Treveri'' London, Hart-Davis. ISBN 0-246-63980-6 [[Category:Ancient Gaulish and British goddesses]] [[Category:Animal goddesses]] [[als:Artio]] [[de:Artaios]] [[es:Artio]] [[fr:Artio]] [[it:Artio]] [[pl:Artio]] [[sr:Арцио]]