Ritona
{{Short description|Celtic goddess}}
File:PachtenContiomagusStein.jpg stone from Pachten.
O.D. T.PRIITONAE. DI VINAE SIVE CA... IONI PRO SALVTE VICANORVM CONTI OMAGUS ENSIVMTER TINIUS MODESTVS F.C.V.S.]]
Ritona (also known as Pritona) is a Celtic goddess chiefly venerated in the land of the Treveri in what is now Germany. Her cult is attested at Pachten and at Trier, where she "had a carefully built little temple" in the Altbachtal complex.Edith Mary Wightman (1970). Roman Trier and the Treveri. Rupert Hart-Davis, London. p. 217. Ritona's temple was one of several in the Altbachtal to include exedrae and courtyards that may have been used to prepare ritual banquets and/or to place offerings.{{cite journal|author=John Scheid |title=Les temples de l'Altbachtal à Trèves : un "sanctuaire national"? |journal= Cahiers du Centre Gustave Glotz |volume=6 |date=1995 |pages= 236 |publisher=Editions de Boccard}} At Pachten her temple also had a theatre, presumably used for performances of a religious nature.
Name
The theonym Ritona is generally interpreted as meaning 'that of the ford', stemming from the Gaulish root ritu- ('ford'; cf. Old Irish Humar-rith, Welsh rhyd 'ford').{{Sfn|Delamarre|2003|pp=259–260}}The Celtic root *ritu- is thought to derive from the same Indo-European root *pr̻tu- that gives Latin portus 'port' and English 'ford'. {{cite journal|author1=Lenka Dočkalová |author2=Václav Blažek |date=2011|title=On Indo-European Roads|journal=The Journal of Indo-European Studies|volume=39|page=312|number=3 & 4}} This suggests that she was a goddess of fords;Miranda Green (1997). Dictionary of Celtic Myth and Legend. Thames and Hudson Ltd. London. Jean-Marie Pailler remarks that, "Water crossings required religious precautions that were written into the landscape, toponymy, and ritual: Ritona is thus well at home among the 'crossers' who were the Treveri".{{cite journal|author=Jean-Marie Pailler|date=2013|title=Mères, Fils et confréries à l'écoute de la Source : témoignages antiques et approche par la toponymie, l'archéologie et l'épigraphie gauloises|journal=AFEAF|page=321}} Original quote: Les passages de cours d’eau nécessitaient des précautions religieuses inscrites dans le paysage, la toponymie, le rituel : Ritona est ainsi bien à sa place chez les “passeurs” que sont les Trévires. The translation 'that of the course [of the river]' is also possible, by deriving Ritona from the homonym root ritu-, rito- ('course'; cf. Old Irish riuth, Welsh rhed 'course'), although the name Trēveri is also generally seen as meaning 'those crossing the river', that is to say the 'ferrymen'.{{Sfn|Delamarre|2003|pp=259–260}}
The variant Pritona is directly attested twice: on the goddess's only inscription at Pachten (PRITONAE DIVINAE SIVE CA[...]IONI),{{AE|1959|00076}}, retrieved from the [http://compute-in.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/pls/epigr/epigraphik_fr Epigraphik-Datenbank Clauss / Slaby] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080409235812/http://compute-in.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/pls/epigr/epigraphik_fr |date=2008-04-09 }} on 29 March 2008. and in conjunction with ‘Ritona’ on an inscription from Trier (DEA RITONA PRITONA).{{AE|1928|00185}}, retrieved from the [http://compute-in.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/pls/epigr/epigraphik_fr Epigraphik-Datenbank Clauss / Slaby] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080409235812/http://compute-in.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/pls/epigr/epigraphik_fr |date=2008-04-09 }} on 29 March 2008. Pritona is also restored in a further, more fragmentary inscription from Trier (RITO/[NAE] SIVE EX IV[SSV PR]/ITONI[AE?]).{{AE|1989|00547}}, retrieved from the [http://compute-in.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/pls/epigr/epigraphik_fr Epigraphik-Datenbank Clauss / Slaby] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080409235812/http://compute-in.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/pls/epigr/epigraphik_fr |date=2008-04-09 }} on 29 March 2008. A single inscription also honours her at Uzès in southern France.{{CIL|12|02927}}, retrieved from the [http://compute-in.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/pls/epigr/epigraphik_fr Epigraphik-Datenbank Clauss / Slaby] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080409235812/http://compute-in.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/pls/epigr/epigraphik_fr|date=2008-04-09}} on 29 March 2008.
Role
Lothar Schwinden characterizes Ritona as a mother goddess on the basis of the statue of a seated goddess found at Pachten, which he connects with the well-known local type of seated mother goddesses with dogs or babies on their laps (cf. Aveta).Lothar Schwinden. "Muttergöttin der Treverer: Ritona". In Sabine Faust et al. (1996) Religio Romana: Wege zu den Göttern im antiken Trier. Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier.
File:Abbaye Saint-Germain d'Auxerre-Stèle funéraire-Crain.jpg]]
The Pachten inscription specifies that the goddess was invoked by an individual "for the well-being of the townsfolk of Contiomagium" (PRO SALVTE / [V]IKANORVM CONTI/OMAGIENSIVM). A votive sculpture from Crain, depicting a male figure holding an offering-dish and pouring out liquid from a vessel, is dedicated to Minerva and Ritona.{{CIL|13|02892}}, retrieved 3 May 2016. On two of the inscriptions from Trier, Ritona is invoked in conjunction either with the numina of the Augusti (see imperial cult){{AE|1989|00547}}, retrieved from the [http://compute-in.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/pls/epigr/epigraphik_fr Epigraphik-Datenbank Clauss / Slaby] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080409235812/http://compute-in.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/pls/epigr/epigraphik_fr |date=2008-04-09 }} on 29 March 2008. or in honour of the divine house (the imperial family).Finke 00030, retrieved from the [http://compute-in.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/pls/epigr/epigraphik_fr Epigraphik-Datenbank Clauss / Slaby] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080409235812/http://compute-in.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/pls/epigr/epigraphik_fr |date=2008-04-09 }} on 29 March 2008.
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
;Bibliography
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- {{Cite book|last=Delamarre|first=Xavier|title=Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise: Une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental|year=2003|publisher=Errance|isbn=9782877723695|author-link=Xavier Delamarre}}
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{{Celtic mythology (ancient)}}