Abnoba
Celtic: "river"

Contintental Celtic deity

Goddess of the Black Forest (and of a mountain in the Black Forest which is the source of the Danube), rivers, and childbirth. At the Roman baths at Badenweiler, there is an alter which refers to her as Dianae Abnobae, thus indicating that she likely was also goddess of the hunt.

The name is thought to be the ancestor of the modern Avon (Welsh afon: river). Abonae was also the name of a Roman town at the mouth of the Avon, northwest of Aquae Sulis. It does not mean worship of Abnoba the Huntress was widespread, as there are no inscriptions to a "dea Abnoba" in Abnobae; as her name means "river", then the name of the town is simply "River[town]".

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Mary Jones © 2009