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Angitia was a goddess among the Marsi, the Paeligni and other Oscan-Umbrian peoples of central Italy. She was associated in antiquity with who claimed her as their ancestor.Emma Dench, From Barbarians to New Men: Greek, Roman, and Modern Perceptions of Peoples from the Central Apennines (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995), pp. 24, 159. Roman mythology probably obscure her Marsian significance.Dench, From Barbarians to New Men, p. 154.
Angitia's myths vary. According to Gnaeus Gellius (late 2nd century BC),As recorded by Solinus 2.28. Angitia was one of the three daughters of Aeëtes, along with Medea and Circe, two of the most famed sorceresses of Greek myth. Circe, as widely known from the Odyssey, practiced transforming spells; Medea ended up in Italy, where her son ruled over the Marsi. Angitia lived in the area around the Fucine lake and specialized in curing .Dench, From Barbarians to New Men, p. 99.
Angitia is attested by in the territory of the Marsi and elsewhere in the Central Apennines. She is named in three inscriptions from Luco dei Marsi, in antiquity known as Lucus Angitiae, "Sacred Grove of Angitia." The earliest is a dedication to the goddess "on behalf of the Marsic Roman legion," CIL I2.5 = ILLRP 7 = Ve. 228a (Marsic Latin). dating to the late 4th century BC.Dench, From Barbarians to New Men, p. 159. The name also appears on a dedicatory cippus from Civita d'Antino, in the Umbrian language Iguvine Tablets, and in inscriptions in the territories of the Paeligni, Vestini, and Sabines.Dench, From Barbarians to New Men, pp. 159–160. She is mentioned along with Angerona in one inscription,Orelli, p. 87, no. 116; p. 335, no. 1846 and in another her name appears in the plural.Dench, From Barbarians to New Men, p. 164. Another indicates that she had a temple and a treasury.Orelli, p.87, no. 115 The Romans derived her name from anguis, "serpent," hence the form Anguitia.Dench, From Barbarians to New Men, p.159.
As snakes were often associated with the healing arts in antiquity (see, for instance, rod of Asclepius), Angitia is believed to have been mainly a goddess of thaumaturgy. She had powers of witchcraft, magic and medicine being regarded as complementary in the ancient world, and was a master in the art of miraculous and herbal healing, especially when it came to snakebites. She was also attributed with a wide range of powers over snakes, including the power to kill snakes with a touch.
According to the account given by Servius, Angitia was of Greek origin, for Arigitia was the name given by the Marrubians to Medea, who after having left Colchis came to Italy with Jason and taught the people the above-mentioned remedies. Silius Italicus identifies her as Medea.
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