Bandue (previously recorded as Bandua) was a theonym used to refer to a god or goddess worshipped in Iberia by Gallaeci and Lusitanians. Whether the name referred to a discrete deity or was an epithet applied to different deities is arguable.
Name
This deity is variously attested as
Bandi,
Bandei,
Bandu,
Bandue,
Banduae,
Bandiae.
The name is generally attested in the indigenous Galaico-Lusitanian inflection. Old scholarship usually recorded this theonym as
Bandua due to misunderstanding by mistakenly considering that the theonym was recorded in
Latin Language inflection.
Epigraphy
The deity's name is found, in epigraphy, with a series of
,
[ Inventaire des divnités celtiques de l’Antiquité, L’Arbre Celtique] totalling, as of 2025, 47 attestations (including its alternative spellings).
Some of the epithets include:
-
Bandei Brialeacui (Beira Baixa);
[.]
-
Bandi Oilienaeco (Beira Alta);
-
Bandi L?ongobricus (Longroiva);
[.]
-
Bandua(e) Lansbricae (Orense);
-
Bandi Roudaecus (Trujillo);
-
Bandua Roudeaco (Madroñera);
-
Deo Bandu (Catoira, Pontevedra);
[.]
-
Bandue Aetobrigo (Sarreaus, Ourense);
-
Bandue Bolecco (Palas de Rei, Lugo);
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Bandue Veigebreago (Xinzo de Limia, Ourense);
-
Bandue (Ve/Ni)rubrico (Laza, Ourense);
-
Bandue Vorteaeco and variations, totalling 10 inscriptions.
In Rairiz de Veiga, Bandua is acknowledged as a god of the Vexillum and partner of Mars:
- :
[ CIL II, *00215.]
At Espinhosela, the name Bandua alone is found. At Codosedo, Alenquer and Xinzo de Limia however, the name Bandua is qualified by the epithet Aetobrico(m). At Cáceres, Bandua is qualified by Araugelensis, at Curbián by Bolleco(m), at Miguel o Anjo by Brico(m), at Mixo(m) by Calaigus, at La Mezquitilla by Itobrico(m), at Eiras by Lanobrica, at Rairiz de Veiga by Veigebreaeco(m), at Arcuelos by Verubrigo(m), at Seisco de Anciães by Vordeaeco(m) and at S. Martinho by Vorteaecio(m).
Extent of worship
The theonym Bandua has been found recorded in
Portugal and Galicia. Along with Cosus,
Nabia and Reo, Bandua is one of the best documented
deity in large areas of western and north-western Iberia.
[.] Bandua is attested mostly in Ourense (six epigraphies from the Province of Ourense)
and in Cáceres, indicating it was worshipped beyond
Lusitania and in the western portion of
Hispania.
It has been proposed that the worship of Bandua spread from the north (Gallaecia and Asturia) into the south (Lusitania), along with that of Cosus and Nabia,[Prósper, Blanca M. (2000:440-441). ‘Ein Beitrag zur Vergöttlichung der Flüsse in der Antike: Arentia, Arantia. Beiträge zur Namenforschung.’ Neue Folge 35: 41-65. 2002 Lenguas y religiones prerromanas del Occidente de la Península Ibérica. Salamanca: Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca.] so contrasting with the worship of Reo that would have extended in the opposite direction.
According to scholars Jürgen Untermann and Blanca María Prósper, the form Bandue, and the form Bandua or Banduae, predominate in the Galician territory north of the Douro River, while the Bandi ~ Bande form is more common in the Lusitanian area to the south.[Untermann, Jürgen, n.d. ‘Los teónimos del noroeste peninsular y la gramática de las lenguas indígenas de esta región.’ In II Colóquio Internacional de Epigrafia: Divinidades indigenas e interpretatio romana, Sintra, 16-18 março de 1995.][.]
Professor Olivares Pedreño argues that, in relation to the attestation of epithets Roudeaco/ Roudaecus, the name pertains to a place named uicus Rouda, and their discovery in different locations suggests a migration or population displacement.[.]
Interpretations
Possible water deity
Bandua has been associated with water
[Prósper, Blanca M. (2000:272). ‘Ein Beitrag zur Vergöttlichung der Flüsse in der Antike: Arentia, Arantia. Beiträge zur Namenforschung.’ Neue Folge 35: 41-65. 2002. Lenguas y religiones prerromanas del Occidente de la Península Ibérica. Salamanca: Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca.] in order to explain the
hydronym Banduje, in
Portugal, or the
toponym Banhos de Bande (a
hot spring whose medieval name,
Vanate, is unrelated)
and the proposed
relationship of the name with fords.
Polish linguist Krzysztof Tomasz Witczak also sees some possible cognate relationship between Lusitanian Bandua and Illyrian god Bindus, a deity of water sources also equated to Roman mythology Neptune.[Witczak, K. T. (2006). " Two Phonological Curiosities of the Thracian Language". In: Linguistique Balkanique 45(3), p. 491.]
Possible protective deity
Their epithets seem to allude more to dwelling places, at least those containing the element
-briga or
-bris, "fortress": Lanobrigae, Aetobrigo, than to the worshipping communities themselves.
[Pedrero Sancho, Rosa (1999). ‘Aproximación lingüística al teónimo lusitano-gallego Bandue/Bandi.’ In: Francisco Villar and F. Beltrán (eds), Pueblos, lenguas y escrituras de la Hispania prerromana, pp. 535-543. Salamanca: Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca.][Pedrero Sancho, Rosa (2001). ‘Los epítetos del teónimo lusitano-gallego Bandue/Bandi.’ In Francisco Villar and M.P. Fernández Álvarez (eds), Actas del VII Coloquio sobre lenguas y culturas paleohispánicas, pp. 541-560. Zaragoza-Salamanca: Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca.][de Hoz Bravo, Javier, and F. Fernández Palacios (2002). ‘Band-’ In Luis Raposo (ed.), Religiôes da Lusitânia. Loquuntur saxa, pp. 45-52. Lisboa: Museu Nacional de Arqueología.] In the same vein, Olivares Pedreño, while calling Bandua a male deity, noted that their name is attested with place names (e.g.,
Etobrico,
Brialeacui,
Isibraiegui,
Longobricu,
Veigebreaego,
Lansbricae), which seems to indicate its relation to ancient
vici and
castelle - locations distant from romanized population centers.
[.] In a later article by Olivares Pedreño, this association seems to highlight their connection with local indigenous communities, as their protector.
Divine pair
The "location theory" has been criticized by de Bernardo Stempel,
[Bernardo Stempel, Patricia de (2003). ‘Los formularios teonímicos, Bandus con su pareja Bandua y unas isoglosas célticas.’ Conimbriga 42: 197-212.] who interprets what have traditionally been considered singular thematic datives of male attributes as plural genitive forms referring to groups of people (
B'andue Aetobrico(m), Cadogo(m), Roudeaeco(m), Veigebreaego(m)). She also states that they depend on a theonym, Bandua, which would be feminine as a consequence of the above, and which was probably created later than its masculine counterpart. Thus, we would have a pair of deities, Bandus (male) and Bandua (female), comparable to other Celtic pairs like
Borvo &
Bormana,
Belisama & Belisamaros,
Camulos & Camuloriga and Arentius & Arentia.
Other interpretations
In a 2000 article, María Prósper offered another etymology: a reconstructed
word stem *bandu- would account for variations
Bandue,
Bandi and
Bandei, ultimately deriving from Proto-Indo-European
*gʷem-tu-. Thus, she argued, they are a deity of passageways, akin to Roman
Ianus.
[.]
Legacy
Researcher Ladislao Castro Pérez proposed that St. Torquatus, one of the Seven Apostolic Men responsible for the introduction of
Christianity to
Hispania, whose
are kept in Santa Comba de Bande (
Ourense), may be a Christian version of Bandua.
[Castro Pérez, Ladislao (1992). Los torques de los dioses y de los hombres. A Coruña: Ayuntamiento de La Coruña.]
See also
Bibliography
Further reading
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.
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Mezo, Francisco Javier Burgaleta. " Bandua, diosa o dios, y los ritos del toro de San Marcos". In: Espacio, tiempo y forma. Serie II, Historia antigua, Nº 19-20, 2006-2007, pp. 381-397. .
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Sancho, Rosa María Pedrero. "Aproximación lingüística al teónimo lusitano-gallego Bandue/Bandi". In: Pueblos, lenguas y escrituras en la Hispania prerromana: actas del VII Coloquio sobre Lenguas y Culturas Paleohispánicas. (Zaragoza, 12 a 15 de marzo de 1997). Francisco Villar Liébana (ed. lit.), Francisco Beltrán Lloris (ed. lit.). 1997. pp. 535-544. .
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Sancho, Rosa María Pedrero. "Sobre la etimología de los términos: el caso del dios galaicolusitano Bandi/Bandue". In: Tes philies tade dora: miscelánea léxica en memoria de Conchita Serrano. Concepción Serrano Aybar (hom.). 1999. pp. 417-426. .
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Sancho, Rosa María Pedrero. "Los epítetos del teónimo occidental Bandue/i". In: Religión, lengua y cultura prerromanas de Hispania. Coord. por Francisco Villar Liébana, María Pilar Fernández Alvárez. 2001. pp. 541-560. .
