Editing Nemetona

{{Short description|Celtic goddess}}
[[File:Altrip Rhein Sueden.jpg|right|300px|thumb|The Rhine at [[Altrip]] in the former territory of the [[Nemetes]], where an inscription to Nemetona was found.<ref name="altrip"/>]]
'''Nemetona''', or 'she of the sacred grove', is a [[Celtic polytheism|Celtic]] goddess with roots in northeastern [[Gaul]]. She is thought to have been the eponymous deity of the [[Germanic peoples|Germano]]-[[Celts|Celtic]] people known as the [[Nemetes]];<ref name="Koch1351"/><ref name="beck">Beck, pp. 237-238.</ref> evidence of her veneration is found in their former territory along the Middle Rhine<ref name="altrip">''[[Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum|CIL]]'' 13, 6131.</ref><ref name="ae2007"/> as well in the Altbachtal sanctuary in present-day [[Trier]], [[Germany]].<ref name="beck"/><ref name=Koch1351>Powers Coe, p. 1351.</ref><ref name="finke">Finke 324.</ref> She is also attested in [[Bath, England]], where an altar to her was dedicated by a man of the [[Gauls|Gallic]] [[Treveri]] people.<ref name=Koch1351/><ref name="rib140">''[[Roman Inscriptions of Britain|RIB]]'' 140.</ref>

== Etymology ==
Nemetona's name is derived from the Celtic root ''[[nemeton|nemeto-]]'', referring to consecrated religious spaces, particularly sacred groves.<ref name="beck"/><ref name=Koch1351/> She has been considered a guardian goddess of open-air places of worship.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.britannia.com/celtic/gods/nemetona.html |title=Britannia Celtic Gods: Nemetona, Goddess of the Sacred Grove |access-date=2015-04-23 |date=1999 |website=Britannia: America's Gateway to the British Isles since 1996}}</ref> The same root is found in the names of the Romano-British goddess [[Arnemetia]]<ref name="Koch1351"/> and the [[Matres and Matronae|Matres Nemetiales]] (known from an inscription in Grenoble).<ref name="beck"/>

== Inscriptions ==
Surviving inscriptions often associate Nemetona with [[Mars (mythology)|Mars]] (sometimes given the Celtic name [[Loucetius]]). She is paired with "[[Loucetios|Loucetius Mars]]" in the inscription at Bath, and with "Mars" at [[Trier]] and [[Altrip]].<ref name=Koch1351/><ref name="finke"/><ref name="altrip"/> Separate inscriptions to Nemetona and to Loucetius have been recovered from the same site in [[Klein-Winternheim]] near [[Mainz]].<ref>Jufer & Luginbühl, pp. 14, 39.</ref><ref name="kleinw">''CIL'' 13, 7253 (the inscription to Nemetona on bronze).</ref> The Altrip site was further notable for yielding a [[terra cotta]] depiction of the goddess.<ref name=Koch1351/>

One inscription from [[Eisenberg, Rhineland-Palatinate|Eisenberg]] appears to identify Nemetona with [[Victoria (goddess)|Victoria]]:<ref name="ae2007">''[[Année Épigraphique|AE]]'' 2007, 1044.</ref>
:''[In h(onorem) d(omus)] d(ivinae) Marti Lou/[cetio et] Victoriae Neme/[tonae] M(arcus) A(urelius) Senillus Seve/[rus b(ene)f(iciarius) l]egati urnam cum / [sortib]us et phiala(m) ex / [vo]to posuit l(ibens) l(aetus) m(erito) / [Grat]o et Seleuco co(n)s(ulibus) / X Kal(endas) Maias''
:"In honour of the [[Severan dynasty|divine house]], to Mars Loucetius and Victoria Nemetona, Marcus Aurelius Senillus Severus, a protégé of the [[Legatus|general]], set up an urn with its [[Sortes (ancient Rome)|lots]] and serving-dish in free, cheerful, and well-deserved fulfilment of his vow on the tenth day before the Kalends of May in the consulship of [[Gaius Vettius Gratus Sabinianus|Gratus]] and [[Seleucus (Roman usurper)|Seleucus]] (22 April 221)."

Noémie Beck considers the identification of Nemetona with [[Nemain]] to be "inaccurate and irrelevant".<ref>Beck, p. 251, fn. 1321.</ref>

==Notes==
{{reflist|2}}

==References==
* {{cite thesis |last=Beck |first=Noémie |date=2009-12-04 |title=Goddesses in Celtic Religion, Cult and Mythology: A Comparative Study of Ancient Ireland, Britain and Gaul |publisher=Université Lumière Lyon 2, University College of Dublin |type=Ph.D.}}
* H. Finke (1927), "Neue Inschriften", ''Berichte der Römisch-Germanischen Kommission'' '''17''', 1-107 and 198–231.
* {{cite book |last1= Jufer |first1=Nicole |last2=Luginbühl |first2=Thierry |title=Les dieux gaulois : répertoire des noms de divinités celtiques connus par l'épigraphie, les textes antiques et la toponymie| publisher= Editions Errance|year= 2001}}
* Paula Powers Coe, "Nemetona", p.&nbsp;1351 ''in'' {{cite book |last= Koch|first= John T.|title= Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia| publisher= ABC-CLIO|year= 2006}}

==External links==
* {{cite web|url=http://www.druidry.org/library/gods-goddesses/nemetona |author=Joanna Van Der Hoeven |title=Nemetona |access-date=2016-10-19 |website=[[Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids|OBOD]] website }}

{{Celtic mythology (ancient)}}

[[Category:Gaulish goddesses]]
[[Category:Nature goddesses]]
[[Category:Martian deities]]