Celtic Gods: The Brythonic God, Rigonemetis ([god] King of the Sacred Grove)

Rigonemetis
A Brythonic God: [god] King of the Sacred Grove

Rigonemetis is a Brythonic God known from a single inscribed altarstone from Nettleham, England where he is equated with Roman Mars. He was the protective deity of a local sacred grove once sited near Nettlesham.



Synonyms:
Bryth: [god] King of the Sacred Grove

Rionemetis is known from a single inscription discovered on an altarstone from Nettleham, Linconshire [RIB 245.b] which reads: DEO MARTI RIGO NEMETI ET NVMINIBVS AVGVSTORVM Q NERAT PROXSIMVS ARCVM DE SVO DONAVIT (For the god Mars Rigonemeti sand the divine spirits of the Augusti,Quintus Neratius Proximus [dedicated this altar] as a gift out of his own coffers).

The name Rigonemetis is derived from the reconstructed proto-Celtic roots: *rīg- (king) and the deific particle *-on- as well as the root *nemeto- (sacred grove) as well as the final posessive particle -is. Thus Rrigonemetis can be interpreted as '[god] King of the Sacred Grove'. It seems probably that Rigonemetis was a purely native deity syncretized with Mars in his defensive aspect. A guardian of the sacred grove, this would indicate that there was once a Nemeton (sacred grove) near Nettleham. Thus Mars Rigonemetis falls into the same class of deities as Nemetona as protectors of sacred groves.



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