Tongoenabiagus the Oath-Spring God
Lusitanian · deity · Roman period (1st c. AD shrine) · Recorded classification
Name leads with the English phrase 'the Oath-Spring God'; attested votive form Tongoe Nabiagoi (the name is bound to that of Nabia in the inscription). The oath-function is an etymological inference. Known from the single Braga shrine.
Domains
- springs sacred waters
- oaths sworn bonds
Powers
- witness and bind oaths sworn at the spring
Relations
- companion: Nabia the River LadyHis theonym is bound to Nabia's in the Fonte do Ídolo dedication at Braga (Tongoe Nabiagoi); the oath-spring god and the river goddess share the rock-cut sanctuary.J. Leite de Vasconcelos, Religiões da Lusitânia, vol. II (1905) (secondary)
Sources
- Tongoenabiagus was the god of the Fonte do Ídolo, a 1st-century spring-shrine at Braga (Bracara Augusta) whose inscription (TONGOE NABIAGOI) honours him alongside the water-goddess Nabia; the dedication was made by Celicus Fronto, a native of Arcobriga.: Fonte do Ídolo inscription, Bracara Augusta (Braga) (inscription); A. Rodríguez Colmenero, study of the Fonte do Ídolo establishing two deities (secondary)
- His name may derive from Celtic *tenge(o)- ('to swear'; cf. Old Irish tongu 'I swear'), associating him with oath-taking at the spring.: Olivares Pedreño, e-Keltoi 6 (2005); Rodríguez Colmenero (Fonte do Ídolo study) (secondary)