Coventina

2025-10-12T12:00:26Z

2601:8C1:8202:C090:BD4F:E55:4E20:C2D8: /* Statues */

{{Short description|Romano-British goddess}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
[[Image:Hope-coventina02.jpg|180px|right|thumb|Inscribed bas-relief of Coventina]]'''Coventina''' was a [[Romano-British]] goddess of wells and springs. She is known from multiple inscriptions at one site in [[Northumberland]], [[England]], an area surrounding a wellspring near [[Carrawburgh]] on [[Hadrian's Wall]]. It is possible that other inscriptions, two from [[Hispania]] and one from [[Narbonensis]], refer to Coventina, but this is disputed.<ref name="Coventina">L. Allason-Jones and B. McKay, ''Coventina's Well'', Oxbow Books/The Trustees of the Clayton Collection, Chester Museum. Oxford, UK, 1985</ref>

==The well==
[[File:Standing stone at Coventina's Well - geograph.org.uk - 1132064.jpg|thumb|left|Standing stone marking the site of Coventina's Well]]
Dedications to Coventina and [[votive]] deposits were found in a walled area which had been built to contain the outflow from a spring now called "Coventina's Well". The well and the walled area surrounding it are near the Roman fort and settlement on [[Hadrian's Wall]], now known as [[Carrawburgh]], which was called "Brocoliti" in the [[Ravenna Cosmography]]),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.roman-britain.co.uk/classical-references/the-ravenna-cosmography/ |title=The British section of the Ravenna Cosmology |publisher=RomanBritain.co.uk}}</ref> from the 7th century but based on earlier sources, and "Procolitia" in the 5th century document [[Notitia Dignitatum]]. The remains of a Roman [[Mithraeum]] and [[Nymphaeum]] are also found near the site.

The well itself was a spring in a rectangular basin 2.6m x 2.4m in the centre of a walled enclosure 11.6m x 12.2m within a wall 0.9m thick.<ref name="PastScape" /> The contents of the well included 13,487 coins from [[Mark Antony|Mark Anthony]] to [[Gratian]], a relief of three water [[nymphs]], the head of a male statue, two dedication slabs to the goddess Coventina, ten altars to Coventina and [[Minerva]], two clay incense burners, and a wide range of votive objects.<ref name="PastScape" />

The site near Coventina's Well was excavated by British [[archaeologist]] [[John Clayton (town clerk)|John Clayton]] in 1876.<ref name="PastScape">{{cite web |url=http://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=1013364&sort=4&search=all&criteria=coventina&rational=q&recordsperpage=10 |title=PastScape entry for Coventina's Well |publisher=English Heritage |year=2007 |access-date=2017-04-16}}</ref><ref>Many of the artifacts recovered by John Clayton are preserved in the "Clayton Collection" currently curated by English Heritage at Chesters Museum</ref> The date of the wall at Coventina's Well is uncertain, but some have theorized that it was built sometime after the completion of the Roman fort (dated between the years 128 and 133).{{Citation needed|reason=Source needed to define date range|date=April 2014}} Since Hadrian's Wall does not deviate to avoid the well, this may suggest that the boundary wall around the well was built some time after in order to control the flow of water in a marshy area.<ref name="Coventina" />

Evidence from coin hoards and stones which covered them and those also blocking the well suggest a fairly abrupt end around 388, perhaps due to events linked to anti-pagan edicts of [[Theodosius I]].

==Statues==
[[Image:Hope-coventina01.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Bas-relief of triple Coventina]]
Excavation of the site revealed several inscribed [[altars]], some with depictions of Coventina in typical Roman nymph form: reclining, partially clothed and associated with water. On one, Coventina is either depicted in [[Triple deity|triple form]] or with two attendants.

==Inscriptions==
At least ten inscriptions to Coventina are recorded from Carrawburgh. Several stone altars contained dedications to Coventina as did two pottery incense burners.

An example of an inscription<ref>Collingwood, R. G. and Wright, R. P. 1965. ''The Roman Inscriptions of Britain (RIB)''. Oxford, Clarendon Press. [http://www.roman-britain.org/epigraphy/rib_index.htm Available online]</ref> from the site reads:

:''Deae Cov{v}entinae'' /
:''T D Cosconia'' /
:''nvs Pr Coh'' /
:''I Bat L M''

“To the Goddess Coventina, Titus D[unclear] Cosconianus, Prefectus of the First Cohort of [[Batavi (Germanic tribe)|Batavians]], freely and deservedly (dedicated this stone).”

==Literary references==
*In his book ''[[The Skystone]],'' [[Jack Whyte]] represents Coventina as the inspiration for [[The Lady of the Lake]].
*[[Seamus Heaney]]'s poem ''"Grotus and Conventina"'' from his 1987 collection ''"The Haw Lantern"''.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
*[http://tehomet.net/coventina tehomet.net] has historical, archaeological, folkloric, theological and literary resources for Coventina, plus photographs of the archaeological site and the artifacts found there. Also includes directions to the site and associated museum.
*[http://www.roman-britain.co.uk/places/brocolitia/ Brocolita] at Roman-Britain.co.uk

{{Celtic mythology (ancient)}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Goddesses of the ancient Britons]]
[[Category:Sacred springs]]
[[Category:Hadrian's Wall]]
[[Category:Water goddesses]]
[[Category:Gallaecian goddesses]]

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Coventina