Ataegina (Spanish:Ataecina;Portuguese:Atégina)^[1] was agoddess worshipped by the ancientIberians,Lusitanians, andCeltiberians of theIberian Peninsula. She is believed to have ruled theunderworld.

The deity's name is variously attested asAtaegina,Ataecina,Adaecina andAdaegina,^[2] among other spellings.^[3][4] Her name appears in conjunction to a place namedTuribriga orTurobriga (see below).^[5]

The nameAtaegina is most commonly derived from aCeltic source: according to Cristina Maria Grilo Lopes and Juan Olivares Pedreño, French scholar D'Arbois de Jubainville and Portuguese scholarJosé Leite de Vasconcelos interpreted her name as a compound from*ate- 'repetition, re-'*-genos '(to be) born'. Thus, her name would mean 'The Reborn One' ("renascida", in the original).^[6][7][8]

Others propose a connection to the domain of nocturnal or underworld deities:Gabriel Sopeña [es] tentatively saw a connection withIrishadaig 'night', which may indicate a relation to the underworld.^[9] Similarly, in a 1998 article, Eugenio Luján, based on the epigraphic evidence available until then, supposed thatAdaecina is the original spelling of her name, and related it to Irishadaig,^[a] and both deriving from aProto-Celtic*adakī. This form would account for both words, but Luján refrained from offering a definitive etymology.^[12]Wolfgang Meid raises the possibility that Old Irishadaig may be a borrowing of Welshadeg "time, occasion, period, season", whose native Irish cognate isathach "interval, space (of time)", derived from Proto-Celtic*atikā, from Proto-Indo-European*h₂et-i-keh₂, from*h₂et- (“to go”), making a connection between these words andAtaegina unlikely.^[13][14][15]

Italian linguistPatrizia de Bernardo Stempel argues for a Celtic etymology, from*atakī ('night'), from an earlier*at-ak-ī ('interval'). Thus, de Bernardo proposes, her name means "the one of the night".^[16] In a later article, she describes Ataecina as "the goddess of the nighttime", and derives her name from *Atakī-nā 'the divine (night)time'.^[17]

That said, her presence in decidedly non-Indo-EuropeanIberian regions suggest that she may have an older, indigenous origin, in which case her name's etymology is more likelyIberian,Aquitanian orTartessian.^[18]

In his late 19th-century study, José Leite de Vasconcelos, while proposing a Celtic reading of her name, also supposed her origins as a Celticized indigenous deity.^[19] Spanish historianJosé María Blázquez Martínez [es] supported the idea of Ataegina's indigenous character, while remarking that a Celtic interpretation of her name as 'reborn' is "inviable", and that her connection to Irish 'night' is "difficult".^[20]

Ataegina was worshipped inLusitania andBetica; there were also sanctuaries dedicated to Ataegina inElvas (Portugal), andMérida andCáceres inSpain, along with other places, especially near theGuadiana river. She was one of the goddesses worshipped inMyrtilis (today'sMértola,Portugal),Pax Julia (Beja, Portugal). A bronze plaque fromMalpartida de Cáceres suggests associations with thegoat as a sacred animal.^[21][8][22]

Her name appears with adjectiveTurobrigensis, which seems to indicate a place calledTuribriga orTurobriga.^[23][24] Similar epigraphic attestations readTuribrige,[T]urubricae andTuribri, which led professor Amílcar Guerra to indicate a form*Turibris.^[25][26]

This place is interpreted by scholarship to mean the main center of her cult,^[27][28][29] but its precise location is unknown. Classical authorPliny indicated it belonged to CelticBeturia.^[24]

Epigraphs from theBadajoz region associate the goddess with the RomanProserpina (analogous to GreekPersephone),^[7][30] which would make her a goddess presiding overspring and seasonality, echoing the "reborn" derivation of the name,^[21][8] or connect her to the Underworld.^[31] In that regard, a dedication etched in marble was found in Augusta Emérita: the propitiator prays toDea Ataecina Turibrig(ensis) Proserpina for her to avenge the theft of some pieces of clothing.^[32]

• Ataecina (dwarf planet)

• Life-death-rebirth goddesses
• Spring (season)
• Lusitanian goddesses
• Basque goddesses
• Haumea (dwarf planet)
• Celtic goddesses

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