Arentius (Portuguese: Arâncio) and Arentia (Portuguese: Arância) are considered to be a pair of indigenous deities that belong to the Lusitanian pantheon,[1][2] and attested mainly in epigraphy.
Epigraphy
Scholars report at least 13 epigraphies (14 inscriptions, as of 2022)[3] attesting either Arentius or Arentia, mostly located in central-eastern Lusitania,[4] and, according to scholar Juan Olivares Pedreño, "well represented" in Egitania.[5]
Both deities are attested either in isolation, or, rarely, as a pair.[6] Olivares Pedreño suggested that their attestation as a pair seems to hark back to similar votive altars of a male and female divine couple in Celtic areas.[7][8]
The pair is also alternatively attested as Arantius and Arantia, although this occurrence is rare.[9]
In two inscriptions from Beira Baixa, Arentius is attested as Arantio Tanginiciaeco and as Arentio Cronisensi.[10]
^Olivares Pedreño, Juan Carlos (2022). "Una paradoja de la teonimia y la antroponimia lusitano-galaica: ¿Migraciones hacia el sur del Sistema Central y el valle del Tajo?". Complutum. 33 (1): 234, 235 (distribution map). doi:10.5209/cmpl.80893. hdl:10045/123692. S2CID248955728..
^Pedreño, Juan Carlos Olivares (11 November 2005). "Celtic Gods of the Iberian Peninsula". E-Keltoi. 6. Guimarães, Portugal: E-Keltoi: Journal of Interdisciplinary Celtic Studies: 630–631, 635. ISSN1540-4889.
^Anderson, James M. (1985). "Preroman indo-european languages of the hispanic peninsula". Revue des Études Anciennes. 87 (3–4): 321. doi:10.3406/rea.1985.4212..
^"El mismo caracter acuático tendrían Arentius y Arentia en la Beira Baja ..." Blazquez, José Mª. "La religión celta en Hispania". In: Celtas y Vettones: Torreon de los Guzmanes, Iglesia de Santo Tome el Viejo. Avila, Septiembre-Diciembre 2001. Avila; Diputacion Provincial de Avila, 2001. p. 175. ISBN84-89518-76-9.
^Blázquez, José Mª. Arte Y Religión En El Mediterráneo Antiguo. Ediciones Cátedra, 2008. p. 129.
Martínez, José (2006). "Nuevos teónimos indígenas hispanos. Addenda y corrigenda. II. La religiosidad de la Prehistoria hispana según F. Jordá". Zephyrus: Revista de prehistoria y arqueología (in Spanish). 59: 293–303. ISSN0514-7336..
Olivares Pedreño, Juan Carlos (2022). "Una paradoja de la teonimia y la antroponimia lusitano-galaica: ¿Migraciones hacia el sur del Sistema Central y el valle del Tajo?". Complutum (in Spanish). 33 (1): 231–47. doi:10.5209/cmpl.80893. hdl:10045/123692. S2CID248955728..
Redentor, Armando (2008). “Panorama da Teonímia Pré-romana em Trás-os-montes Oriental”. In: Divindades indígenas em análise. Coord. José d’ Encarnação. Coimbra e Porto: Centro de Estudos Arqueológicos, Universidade de Coimbra, Universidade do Porto, pp. 105-124.