Artahe

Artaha (also spelled Artehe) is the name of an ancient goddess that was worshiped in Southern Gaul, in the region of Aquitania. She is a protector goddess that is thought to be associated with bears.

The theonym is recorded in several inscriptions from Saint-Pé-d'Ardet, where there seems to have been a Gallo-Roman-era cult center for the god:[1]

CIL 13, 64
Lexeia Odanni f(ilia) Artehe v(otum) s(olvit) l(ibens) m(erito)
CIL 13, 70; AE 1888, 141
Deo Artahe L(uci) P(ompei) Pauliniani [nep(os) 3]
ILTG 37
Artahe deo Rufo IIFIS v(otum) s(olvit) l(ibens) m(erito)
ILTG 38
[...] Artahe [...]

From the same region - the village of Lourde - comes another inscription bearing the name:

CIL 13, 71
Artehe deo Bonnexi Amandi v(otum) s(olvit) l(ibens) m(erito)

It is also recorded in an inscription from Malvezie:

CIL 13, 73 (4, p 2)
Ar[t]a[he deo] L(ucius) Antist(ius) Syntr[o]p(h)us v(otum) s(olvit) l(ibens) m(erito)

Etymology

The name appears to be of ancient Aquitanian origin and may be cognate with modern Basque arte "oak".[2] The place name Ardet may be derived from the theonym, or vice versa.[3]

References
  1. fr:Saint-Pé-d'Ardet
  2. Whatmough, Joshua, The Dialects of Ancient Gaul, Harvard, 1970, p. 240
  3. Whatmough, Joshua, The Dialects of Ancient Gaul, Harvard, 1970, p. 253

AE: L'Année Épigraphique, 1888

CIL: Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, Berlin, 1863-

ILTG: Wuilleumier, P., Inscriptions latines des Trois Gaules (France), (XVIIe Supplement à Gallia) Paris, 1963

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