Nemetona, or 'she of the sacred grove', is a Celtic goddess with roots in northeastern Gaul. She is thought to have been the eponymous deity of the Germanic peoples-Celts people known as the Nemetes;[Beck, pp. 237-238.] evidence of her veneration is found in their former territory along the Middle Rhine[ CIL 13, 6131.][Powers Coe, p. 1351.][Finke 324.] She is also attested in Bath, England, where an altar to her was dedicated by a man of the Gauls Treveri people.[ RIB 140.]
Etymology
Nemetona's name is derived from the Celtic root nemeton, referring to consecrated religious spaces, particularly sacred groves.[ She has been considered a guardian goddess of open-air places of worship.]
Inscriptions
Surviving inscriptions often associate Nemetona with Mars (sometimes given the Celtic name Loucetius). She is paired with "Loucetios" in the inscription at Bath, and with "Mars" at Trier and Altrip.[Jufer & Luginbühl, pp. 14, 39.][ CIL 13, 7253 (the inscription to Nemetona on bronze).] The Altrip site was further notable for yielding a terra cotta depiction of the goddess.[
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One inscription from Eisenberg appears to identify Nemetona with Victoria:[ AE 2007, 1044.]
- In d(ivinae) Marti Lou/cetio Victoriae Neme/tonae M(arcus) A(urelius) Senillus Seve/rusegati urnam cum / sortibus et phiala(m) ex / voto posuit l(ibens) l(aetus) m(erito) / Grato et Seleuco co(n)s(ulibus) / X Kal(endas) Maias
- "In honour of the Severan dynasty, to Mars Loucetius and Victoria Nemetona, Marcus Aurelius Senillus Severus, a protégé of the Legatus, set up an urn with its lots and serving-dish in free, cheerful, and well-deserved fulfilment of his vow on the tenth day before the Kalends of May in the consulship of Gratus and Seleucus (22 April 221)."
Noémie Beck considers the identification of Nemetona with Nemain to be "inaccurate and irrelevant".[Beck, p. 251, fn. 1321.]
Notes
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H. Finke (1927), "Neue Inschriften", Berichte der Römisch-Germanischen Kommission 17, 1-107 and 198–231.
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Paula Powers Coe, "Nemetona", p. 1351 in
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