Friagabis

Friagabis (also Frigabis) is one of the Alaisiagae, named with Boudihillia on the Housesteads altar RIB 1576, dedicated by the numerus of Hnaudifridus. With Boudihillia she forms the second attested pair of these goddesses, complementing Beda and Fimmilena on RIB 1593. Her name is usually taken as Germanic, built on an element meaning 'gift' (*gebō), and read as something like 'giver of freedom' or 'generous giver', which suits a goddess invoked by soldiers for victory and reward. Like the rest of the group she is known only from Latin inscriptions on Hadrian's Wall, evidence for a Continental West Germanic cult exported to the Roman frontier.

Domains

• victory and war
• giving and bounty

Powers

• to grant victory to those who go to war

Epithets

• AlaisiagaR. G. Collingwood and R. P. Wright, The Roman Inscriptions of Britain, vol. I: Inscriptions on Stone (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1965), no. 1576. (primary)

Relations

• companion: BoudihilliaFriagabis and Boudihillia are named together as the two Alaisiagae on the altar RIB 1576, forming a fixed divine pair parallel to Beda and Fimmilena.R. G. Collingwood and R. P. Wright, The Roman Inscriptions of Britain, vol. I: Inscriptions on Stone (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1965), no. 1576. (primary)

Sources

• Friagabis (Frigabis) is one of the Alaisiagae, a Continental Germanic victory-goddess named with Boudihillia on a Housesteads altar set up by the numerus of Hnaudifridus, her name analysed as 'giver of freedom/gift'.: R. G. Collingwood and R. P. Wright, The Roman Inscriptions of Britain, vol. I: Inscriptions on Stone (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1965), no. 1576. (primary); Rudolf Simek, Dictionary of Northern Mythology, trans. Angela Hall (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1993), s.v. 'Alaisiagae', p. 7. (secondary); Philip A. Shaw, Pagan Goddesses in the Early Germanic World: Eostre, Hreda and the Cult of Matrons (London: Bristol Classical Press, 2011), pp. 70–96. (secondary)