Artio (Dea Artio in the Gallo-Roman religion) is a Celtic bear goddess. Evidence of her worship has notably been found at Bern in Switzerland. Her name is derived from the Gaulish word for 'bear', artos.

Name

thumb|The goddess Artio as depicted in the [[Muri statuette group.|248x248px]]

The Gaulish theonym Artiō derives from the Celtic word for the 'bear', (cf. Old Irish , Middle Welsh , Old Breton ), itself from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ŕ̥tḱos ('bear'). A Celtic form reconstructed as *Arto-rix ('Bear-King') could be the source for the name Arthur, via a Latinized form *Artori(u)s. The Basque ('bear') is also presumed to be a Celtic loanword.

Attestations

A bronze sculpture from the Muri statuette group, found near Bern 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. The sculpture has a large rectangular bronze base, which bears the inscription "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 perhaps correspond to a Gaulish n-stem nominative *Artiu.

Other inscriptions to the goddess have been discovered in Daun (CIL 13, 4203), Weilerbach (CIL 13, 4113), Heddernheim (CIL 13, 7375 [4, p 125]), and Stockstadt (CIL 13, 11789).

Artio is a playable character in the video game Smite.

See also

  • Bear worship
  • Artemis
  • Callisto
  • Cult of Artemis at Brauron

References

;Bibliography

  • Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (CIL) vol XIII, Inscriptiones trium Galliarum et Germaniarum
  • Deyts, Simone (1992) Images des Dieux de la Gaule. Paris: Editions Errance. .
  • Green, Miranda (1992) Animals in Celtic Life and Myth. London: Routledge.
  • Wightman, E. M. (1970) Roman Trier and the Treveri London: Hart-Davis.