Venetic · deity · venetic preroman iron age · deity
Altno- is the divine patron of Altinum, the Venetic harbour town on the northern Adriatic lagoon. His name, identical with that of the town, was recovered by Anna Marinetti from a series of Venetic votive inscriptions excavated at the sanctuary of Fornace di Altino, a cult place frequented from the Iron Age by Veneti as well as Etruscan and Greek traders. He is one of the very few male deities securely attested in the small Venetic epigraphic corpus, alongside Trumusiatis of Lagole. Under Rome the same sanctuary was rededicated to Jupiter, a continuity of titularity studied in the volume Altnoi (2009), whose title plays on the god's name.
Domains
tutelary protection
trade and exchange
Powers
to protect the harbour town of Altinum and the traders frequenting its sanctuary
to answer the vows recorded in the votive inscriptions addressed to him
Sources
Marinetti, A. (2009). 'Da Altno- a Giove: la titolarità del santuario. I. La fase preromana', in G. Cresci Marrone & M. Tirelli (eds.), Altnoi. Il santuario altinate: strutture del sacro a confronto e i luoghi di culto lungo la via Annia. Rome: Quasar, 81-127.
Marinetti, A. & Prosdocimi, A. L. (2006). 'Novità e rivisitazioni nella teonimia dei Veneti antichi: il dio Altino e l'epiteto śainati-'. Padua.
Cresci Marrone, G. (2009). 'Da Altno- a Giove: la titolarità del santuario. II. La fase romana', in Altnoi. Il santuario altinate. Rome: Quasar, 129-137.