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InRomano-British culture andGermanicpolytheism, theAlaisiagae/ˌæliəˈsaɪəˌdʒiː/ (possibly "dispatching terrors" or "all-victorious") were a quartet of Celtic and Germanic goddesses deifying victory.
The Alaisiagae wereCeltic deities andGermanic deities who were worshipped inRoman Britain, altar-stones raised to them having been recovered in theUnited Kingdom at Vercovicium (Housesteads Roman Fort) atHadrian's Wall inEngland.
Another centre of worship was perhaps the town ofBitburg, near the German-Belgian border, which was called “Beda Vicus,” which although Latin derives from the Celtic "Village of Beda."[citation needed].
One of the votive inscriptions to these goddesses reads:
Mars Thincsus is correlated with the Germanic war-godTýr. The latter was associated with oath-taking and theThing, a local assembly of free men. Political issues were discussed, judicial decisions were made, and religious rites were held there.[1] Scherer suggests that they came from the district of Twenthe (hence, the mention to "cives Tvihantis") in the province of Overijssel, Netherlands.[2]
The second inscription reads:
The goddesses called the Alaisiagae are named on altar-stones found in shrines along Hadrian's Wall: Beda, Baudihille, Fimmilena, and Friagabis. These Celtic goddesses had parallels with similarly named Frisian goddesses who may have arrived on Germanic soil via Gaulic France. These goddesses are not known to beRoman. Beda may have been an abbreviation forRicagambeda since the two names share similarsemantics. The Romanized Celtic soldiers who served along Hadrian’s Wall more than likely introduced the Alaisiagae to their Roman counterparts, thus spreading worship of these goddesses of victory.
The altar stones of the Alaisiagae were recovered in the Temple of Mars at Vercovicium. This roughly circular temple was found on top of Chapel Hill a little to the south of the fort, its walls of undressed stone facing with an earth and rubble infill enclosed an area measuring about 17¼ ft. across. The insubstantial foundations indicate that the superstructure was at least half-timbered.[citation needed]
The temple was built in the early-3rd century upon the ruins of a rectangular workshop in thevicus which had been destroyed during the barbarian incursions of AD196. It contained altars dedicated by the commanders and men of all three units known to be stationed at Vercovicium to the god Mars Thincsus, the Romanized aspect of aTeutonic god, a common occurrence among the Roman auxiliary units. Various altars have been found at this site dedicated to Mars and/or to the Celto-Germanic goddesses Alaisiagae; named on one altar as Beda and Fimmilena, on another as Baudihille (Boudihillia) and Friagabis.
Boudihillia can be derived from theProto-Celtic*Bōud-ī-hīlījā meaning 'victory's fullness.'Beda is derived from the Proto-Celtic*Bed-ā meaning 'burial.' Alaisiagae is derived from the Proto-Celtic*Ad-lājsījā-agai meaning (in theillative) 'sending fears,' plausibly a byword for a notion of “dispatching terrors” (q.v.[1]Archived 2006-01-14 at theWayback Machine[2]Archived 2011-05-14 at theWayback Machine[3]).
