The Celtic Gods of the Iberian Peninsula: Part 2 - Reue/Reo
Matamoro
Reue - Reve - Reo:
Premises
There are several hypotheses as to the origin of this name, the first of which was put forward by the specialist K. T. Witczak, who considers it to be derived from the proto-Indo-European *diewo or *dyeus, suggesting that the Lusitanian language changed the proto-Indo-European *d into r, with a similar evolution occurring in the Umbrian language. This would make of Reo a celestial deity similar to the Greek Zeus and the Latin Jupiter.
Following this logic, the analysis shows that Reve is the singular dative of Revs or Reus, making Reo/Reus/Revs the real name of God. Here, it is easy to compare the name Reus with the name Zeus.
The second theory suggests that Reue would be a deity related to rivers and that the name would derive from a root meaning stream or current.
The truth is that these two propositions complement each other in a remarkable way.
Location
His denominations are found throughout large areas and his cult is superimposed with that of Bandua. Other elements allow us to see his similarities with Jupiter or the Gallic god Taranis, for example the association with certain mountainous areas, such as the Larouco mountain, which culminates the region.
Lourenço Fontes tells us:
Thus inscriptions dedicated to Reue Laraucus and Laraucus Deus Maximus were found near the mountain. The latter inscriptions also carries a reference to Jupiter. The two groups of inscriptions share a number of formal characteristics and a proximity to the peaks, sometimes very far from populated areas. There are still others with epithets linked to mountains, such as Reue Marandicui. Indeed, in some consecrations to Jupiter, names also refer to mountains or high areas such as Iuppiter Candamius (Candanedo). This allows us to understand his powers and functions, linked to the mountain, whose name would be derived from *kand - to shine, to burn, to illuminate. The same association can be made with the consecration Iuppiter Candiedo, Iuppiter deus Candamus (Monte Cilda).
Another inscription found in Arronches, Portalegre, also in Portugal, mentions 10 bulls sacrificed to Reo. In addition to the topographical association between these two deities, it is also known that the bulls, an animal symbol of Zeus as well, were frequently offered to Jupiter. As a further symbol, we could also mention the oak tree, which is scattered throughout the Iberian Peninsula, commonly associated with the gods of thunder.
In addition to the link between Reue and the mountainous areas, an association with rivers is also established. The root *Sal- is in fact related to mountains and can also be interpreted as "stream of water". This root is strongly represented in European hydronyms, where some of them appear with the suffix -am, like the French river Salembre, called Salambra in the 12th century. The same is true of Salamanquilla in the Toledo region or the Salamantia, probably the old name of the river Tormes. The toponym Salmantica in the Salamanca region also comes to mind.
Salamati is a denomination directly related to the Jalama mountain range, called Salama in ancient times. One theory supposes that Salama and Reue are complementary deities because no superposition between them has been found, despite similar attributes such as the mountainous association and the fact that they are accompanied by inscriptions relating to Jupiter. Moreover, each of the gods coexisted with the same group of deities in their respective zones. In conclusion, Salama could simply be a denomination of Reue.
The association with rivers is clearly confirmed by the theonym Reue, which was probably considered a deity representing the deification of the "rivus", or current, and probably had the same meaning as the French feminine word "rivière" or the Catalan "riera" meaning ravine. Reue would derive from the root *reu- stream, current, river, flow. Thus, the majority of the appellations of Reue not only express his masculine nature but also a link with certain rivers, such as the epithet Langanidaeigui deriving from the hydronym Langanida, which can be translated as :
There is also the consecration Reue Anabaraecus, which contains the elements ana, connotation to rivers, and bara, which sometimes means bank, shore or sometimes expresses a hydronym. This would give :
Or else Reue Reumiraegus, at that time the term *reu- river, was still used, probably meaning :
Finally Veisutus is probably formed from the roots *ueis-/*uis-, which are popular hydronyms found throughout prehistoric Europe.
By studying the theonym and epithets of Reue, we can conclude that Reue was a general name for "river", but that gradually this name was dissociated from the physical reality of the river to name the personal entity with divine character inhabiting the river as its protector and distributor.
Reue, Jupiter and the Indo-European archetype:
To sum up, besides the association of Reue with mountainous areas, a link between Reue and rivers can also be perceived through the etymological study of his theonyms and epithets. The association with rivers is of a similar nature to that of mountains, implying that the valleys were and are the places where the power of the divinity is most evident, where the strongest and most intense spiritual contact can be felt with it.
Many authors have already noted that a significant number of columns dedicated to Jupiter were found near water sources or rivers in the Gallic as well as Germanic provinces.
The link between these columns dedicated to Jupiter and the watery zones is perfectly conceivable without minimizing his position in the divine hierarchy or implying that the god had characteristics belonging to the "healing" deities. In fact, scenes carved in the upper parts of the columns contained a horseman who, in the guise of Iuppiter, charges a serpentine-shaped monster, showing clear affinities with the Vedic myth of the confrontation between the god Indra and the demon Vritra. Moreover, Indra appears in this myth as the "conqueror of the waters", although the deity who regulated and sent the waters to men was the supreme Indo-Iranian god Varuna.
Myths representing a struggle between the Thunderer, the God of Tempest, and a dragon, or an amphibious snake with anthropomorphic features, are not only characteristic of the Celtic or Indo-Iranian zones, but are actually found in all the religious branches of the Indo-European trunk. Christianity set about vampirizing it with, for example, the images of Saint George or Saint Michael slaying the dragon. Based on all of the above arguments, we can conclude that the supreme god of the Gallo-Romans, Jupiter, had a definite association with watercourses, and that this relationship was much more extraordinary in specific places, such as confluences or upstream.
The nature of this relationship derives from the fact that, in these privileged places, one of the principal functions of the divinity was affirmed, on the one hand, by being the benefactor and guarantor of the rains and the survival of the community, and, on the other hand, the creator of storms and catastrophic floods. In those places where the perception of his powers was most clearly felt, the cult was expressed through the erection of votive altars, monumental columns or the construction of sanctuaries. Indeed, these places were of vital importance for the local people, as can be seen through Augustodunum, Autun, the capital of the Aedui during the Roman era. Or again through the column, now disappeared, located at the confluence of the Sene and the Marne, and finally through the column of Nautae Parisiaci.
With these notions in hand, it can be stated etymologically that the theonym Taranis, associated with Iuppiter in Gaul, is linked to rivers. It could originally have been the name of the Tarn, a tributary of the Garonne, which Pliny called Tarnis, or the river Tarano, a tributary of the Po, which also appears in Pliny's works and in Antoninus' Itineraries under the name Tanarus. These hydronyms surely owe their names to the cults of the Gods that must have been located at the source or along the course of these river currents. Other examples exist such as the Ternin, a tributary of the Arroux, which in its upper court is called the Tarène, the Terneau, a tributary of the Marne, and the Ternoise.
Therefore, if we were previously able to establish a relation between Bandua and Mars, we can also confirm that Reue, as a deity that belonged to the same pantheon as Bandua, was associated with mountainous areas, rivers, and related Celtic deities, thus identifying him with Iuppiter as well as with Taranis.
He embodies the archetype of the god of heaven and lightning, supreme, stellar, sovereign, exercising justice and sometimes associated with death.
"Theory : As a curiosity, the Portuguese, Galician, Asturian and Castilian word for oak (carvalho/carballo/carba/carvallo, respectively) is of unknown origin, most likely coming from a Pre-Roman language of Iberia. We also have the words raio in Galician/Portuguese and rayo in Castilian, which mean thunderbolt. These words come from Latin radius, and it was in fact used by Vergil in the Aeneid with the meaning of thunderbolt[15], but the common Latin word for thunderbolt is fulgur. Now, could it be that in Iberia the word for thunderbolt adopted from Latin after the Roman conquest was radius instead of fulgur because of Reus? We do have the word fulgor in Portuguese and Castilian for instance, but it lost the thunderbolt/lightning meaning. Today it simply means “shine” or “glow”. This is just a theory of mine with nothing to really back it up, but I suppose it’s food for thought. Furthermore, Taranis has the wheel as its symbol, and in Galicia some wheel carvings were found as well. I wonder if they were related to the thunder god." Herminius Mons
You will find the presentation of the other Celtiberian deities in the next parts.
Sources :
Juan Carlos Olivares Pedreño, University of Alicante
Alberto J. Lorrio, Universidad de Alicante Gonzalo Ruiz Zapatero, Universidad Complutense de Madrid