In what is now Portugal south of river Douro, and a portion of Spain, there existed several now extinct nations, under the Lusitanian designation when the Roman province was established as the Romans conquered the area. Due to no writtingnote and most historical sources being written by their enemies comparatively little is known about them; it is broadly accepted that they were Indo-European speakers (though you won't catch two archaeologists that agree whereas they were Celtic speakers, more closely related to Romans or an entirely separate branch altogether) that lived in castros
up the mountains and lead a pastoral lifestyle. A lot of the gods might have Celtic influences, but there is a significant substrate of older beliefs similar to those of the Iberians and the Aquitanians, the ancestors of the Basque.
Fairly digestible sources include Hermeniusmons, this article and Omoledro, which cite the latest papers on the matter.
Tropes:
- Ambiguous Gender Identity: Bandua is simultaneously referred to as a male god and as a goddess in surviving (post Roman occupation) inscriptions. Theories range from this name being an epithet of sorts rather than a specific god's name to being a genuinely intersex deity.
- Animal Motifs: Boars for Endovelicus, horses for Carioceus (and likely Neto and Asidia), dogs for Quangueio, bulls for Reo, goats for Ataegina and sheep for Trebaruna.
- Everybody Hates Hades: Endovelicus, the god of the Underworld, appears to have been relatively unpopular prior to the arrival of the Romans. The latter, however, positively adored him and made him one of the most popular deities within their Empire.
- Dark Is Not Evil:
- Ataegina, believed to preside over Spring, night, and seasonality. Her name may be derived from an etymological root for "night" (Irish 'adaig'), and her name was also found attached to Roman Proserpina (Greek Persephone).
- Endovelicus was the god of the Underworld and his name may be derived from a proto-Basque root for "black". That said, he wasn't really favoured until Roman times.
- God Couple: Duberdicus/Nabia, Sucellus/Nantosuelta (the second pair also occurring in Celtic Mythology) and possibly Bandua/Bandus, if they aren't two different names for the same god.
- God of the Dead: Endovelicus and Ataegina ruled the underworld. Possibly also Runesocesius, a mysterious theonym associated with them, forming some sort of chthonic god trinity.
- God of Fire: Trebaruna might have been a hearth goddess.
- God of Light:
- Neto was the god of war and the sun among the eastern borders of this territory.
- A sun goddess of some sort appears to have been venerated, possibly inspiring local Iberian versions of Virgin Mary. A theonym, Asidia, has been recovered alongside a solar triskele symbol, implying it to be her name.
- Although Endovelicus was the god of the Underworld and "the most black", he appears to have also been associated with light to some extent, since streams sacred to him have have light-related names.
- If not associated with water then Trebaruna and Nabia are celestial goddesses of some sort. Their worship inspired several Spanish saints.
- God of the Moon: Its been suggested Nabia is a lunar goddess. If so, this would be a rare case where both the sun and moon are feminine, given Asidia.
- Heaven Above: As typical for Indo-European mythologies most of the gods seem to be chilling in the heavens or in sacred mountains. The exceptions are Endovelicus, Ataegina and Runesocesius.
- Hellhound: Quangeio, the hound god, though unlike most examples he has a celestial nature, being equated with Jupiter after Romanisation.
- Lord of the Ocean: Well, more like Lord of the River, but the god of the Douro River, Durius, was the most prominent (unambiguous) water god and even had a weapon assigned to him, the net.
- Making a Splash:
- Durius, the god of the Douro river.
- Erbina was the goddess of the river Erges, likely the entrance to the underworld in Lusitanian cosmology.
- Historically a massive amount of gods have been interpreted as water/river gods, to the point this is something of a meme among archaeologists.note Currently, only the above two can be associated with water with certainty.
- Our Dragons Are Different: Possibly Dervetius, a mountain god who shares his name's etymology with several other words for "dragon" or serpent".
- Spell My Name With An S: As in many Latinized names, there are several variations to the names: Endovelicus was Aendovelicus and, in Portuguese, Endovélico; deity Ataegina is spelled with a "t" or a "d", a "g" or a "c". There is a possible subversion in Bandua's case as the name Bandus might have referred to the god they were the consort to.
- Top God: Possibly Reo (also spelled Reue), which has a name etymologically related to "Zeus" and was similarly worshipped as a sky god.
- War God: Besides Neto, there was also Cariocecus and Trebaruna (though the latter was the goddess of battles and alliances, to be more specific).
