Editing Verbeia

{{Short description|Celtic deity}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
In ancient [[Celtic polytheism]], '''Verbeia''' was a goddess worshipped in [[Roman Britain]]. She is known from a single altar-stone dedicated to her at [[Ilkley]] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20080925115608/http://www.roman-britain.org/places/verbeia.htm#rib635 RIB 635]). She is considered to have been a deification of the [[River Wharfe]].<ref>Dictionary of Celtic Myth and Legend, Miranda J. Green, Thames and Hudson Ltd, 1997</ref>

An image of a woman (also from Ilkley) may represent the goddess: she is depicted with an overlarge head and schematic features; she wears a long, pleated robe and she has two large snakes, represented as geometric zig-zags, which she grasps, one in each hand.

==Origins==
The stone bearing the image thought to represent Verbeia now stands inside [[All Saints' Parish Church, Ilkley|All Saints' Parish Church]] and an altar stone dedicated to the goddess is on display in [[Ilkley Manor House]]. Both buildings are situated on the site of a [[Ilkley Roman Fort|Roman fort]]. The fort has been claimed to be named 'Verbeia' (not Olicana, as is generally thought).<ref>[http://www.roman-britain.org/places/verbeia.htm Verbeia] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080925115608/http://www.roman-britain.org/places/verbeia.htm |date=2008-09-25 }}, www.roman-britain.org</ref> It was the Second Cohort of [[Lingones]] troops<ref>[http://www.roman-britain.org/military/coh2lin.htm ''Cohors Secundae Lingonum''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080606183330/http://www.roman-britain.org/military/coh2lin.htm |date=2008-06-06 }}, www.roman-britain.org</ref> stationed here during the second century AD who inscribed the above-mentioned altar-stone.<ref name="rombritrib635">[http://www.roman-britain.org/places/verbeia.htm#rib635 RIB 635] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080925115608/http://www.roman-britain.org/places/verbeia.htm |date=2008-09-25 }}, www.roman-britain.org</ref>

Anne Ross<ref>''Pagan Celtic Britain'', Anne Ross, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1967, p. 279</ref> compares this image with one of a goddess found in [[Mavilly-Mandelot]], France, portrayed with a similar pleated garment, holding two snakes in one hand, on an altar associated with aquatic cults. Ross fails to mention that this region of France is where the Lingones, a Gaulish tribe from which the Roman troops were recruited, originated. It seems possible that the Mavilly altar is a precursor of the Verbeia altar.

Some sources state,<ref name="rombritrib635"/> however, that the Ilkley troops were recruited from the Lingones in northeast Italy; some of the tribe migrated across the Alps in around 400 BC [[Lingones]].

==The Swastika Stone==
The [[Swastika Stone]] is a petroglyph on the northern edge of [[Ilkley Moor]], overlooking the Wharfe valley, which is unique in British rock art. It uses cup-marks, but is otherwise distinct from the [[Cup and ring mark|cup-and-ring art]] found across the moor. It is identical in form to certain of the [[Camunian rose]] motifs found in [[Val Camonica]], northern Italy. It seems possible that the Lingones troops who worshipped Verbeia may have encountered the Camunian rose on migrating across the Alps, and adopted the symbol, carving it on Ilkley Moor while stationed there.

Ross<ref>''Pagan Celtic Britain'', Anne Ross, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1967</ref> repeatedly associates Verbeia with the goddesses [[Brigid]] and [[Brigantia (goddess)|Brigantia]]. Given that [[Brigid's cross]] is a prevalent swastika-like image in Ireland, there may be further links here between Verbeia, imported Gaulish cults, and the swastika image.

==Etymology==
[[Proto-Celtic language|Proto-Celtic]] is reconstructed as having ''*werbā-'' 'blister' in its lexicon [http://www.wales.ac.uk/documents/external/cawcs/PCl-MoE.pdf] and the name may be a suffixed form of this [[lexeme]] meaning “blistered one.” On the other hand, the root of the name may represent a Celtic reflex of the [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] root ''*wer-bhe-'' ‘bend, turn,’ [[cognate]] with [[Modern English]] ''warp,'' [https://web.archive.org/web/20110515141720/http://www.ieed.nl/cgi-bin/response.cgi?flags=eygtnrl&single=1&basename=%2Fdata%2Fie%2Fpokorny&text_recno=2152&root=leiden] followed by the [[durative]] [[suffix]] *''-j-'' and the [[Grammatical gender|feminine]] [[suffix]] *''-ā-'' and so might have meant “she who is constantly bending and turning.” Another possibility is that the name is a compound of [[Romano-British]] reflexes of the [[Proto-Celtic]] elements *''*Uφer-bej-ā-'' (upper-strike-[[Grammatical gender|F]]) “the upper striker.”

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
*[[Ilkley Manor House]], [[Ilkley]], [[Yorkshire]], England.
*''Dictionary of Celtic Myth and Legend'', Miranda J. Green, Thames and Hudson Ltd, 1997

==External links==
*[http://dreamflesh.com/projects/verbeia/research/ Research on Verbeia]

{{Celtic mythology (ancient)}}

[[Category:Goddesses of the ancient Britons]]
[[Category:Sea and river goddesses]]
[[Category:Ilkley]]