Endovelicus
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Endovelicus (Endovélico in Portuguese) was an Iron Age god of public health and safety, worshipped in pre-Roman Lusitania. After the Roman invasion, his cult spread to most of the Roman Empire, but was always most popular in Portugal and Spain. That is to say, in the Roman provinces of Lusitania and Betica.
Endovelicus has a temple in São Miguel da Mota in Alentejo, Portugal, and there are numerous inscriptions and ex-votos dedicated to him in the Museu Etnológico de Lisboa (the ethnical museum of Lisbon). The cult of Endovelicus prevailed until the 5th century, just when christianity was spreeding in the region.
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Endovelicus was a supreme god, and was a healing god. Some suspect he was also a god who wore several faces, one of which may have been an "infernal" one, since all solar gods went down to the infernos and returned to the sun, so with a healing power. The epithets given to Endovelicus are deus, sanctus, prarsentissimus and preaestantissimus. These suggest that the god was effective, and always present and living on the sanctuary. Votative altars suggest that the god inspired the early Lusitanian resistance to the Romans.
The name
In the 19th century, António da Visitação Freire classified the name of "Endovelicus" has a mixed Celtic and Phoenician name, adapted to the Roman language. The End- radial would be from Celtic languages, Bel (of Vel-) would be Phoenician for Lord and - Cus an usual Latin word terminaton. Leite de Vasconcelos considered the word Endovellicus has originally the Celtic Andevellicos, meaning very good.
Temples and cult
As a powerful Lusitanian God, the Romans also adopted it and his cult spread to other regions of the Empire.
In the municipality of Alandroal, there is the Santuário da Rocha da Mina (Mine's Rock Sanctuary); some authors classify it as a temple of Endovelicus. It is the only known place of this kind in Southern Portugal. Near the temple, we can find the Lucefecit rivulet that since the Middle ages has been associated with Lucifer, name used by the Romans for the Morning star and goddess Venus. Some authors relate the name of the rivulet with the meaning of the place as being the "Glance of Light". A kilometre away, there is a sacred fountain that is said to be more ancient than the temple; its waters are still considered medicinal.
The temple is rocky and squashed in a rocky formation that protect the site and the chiseled flooring is often related with Roman "sacrifice altars". A sort of monunent that is usual in the North of Portugal and in the Spanish Meseta.
Leite de Vasconcelos refers that the site was used by Roman people of all social status. Several inscriptions suggest that the temple of Endovelicus was used as an oracle, in one of the inscriptions states: EX IMPERATO AVERNO. Leite de Vasconcelos translated has "segundo a determinação que emanou de baixo" (by the determination that emanated from bellow) suggesting that like in the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, a steam emanated from within the earth with foreseeking powers. Vasconcelos also suggests that the believers practiced the incubatio, sleeping on the site to later interpret their dreams.
In Castro de Ulaca in Avila, a city in the border of the ancient province of Lusitania,a sanctuary dedicated to Vaelicus has been discovered, name that could be related to Endovelicus.
The most notable sanctuary hypotetically dedicated to Endovelicus, is the Sanctuary of Panóias, with a complex system of "sinks" with Roman inscriptions. Nearby, in Cabeço de São Miguel da Mota, another temple dedicated to Endovelicus was built and in its ruins the Alans built, or readapted the previous temple, a sanctuary dedicated to Saint Michael (São Miguel in Portuguese). The muslims transformed the temple into a mosque, and with the Reconquista the temple was transformed again into a Christian temple. In 1559 the temple was still somewhat well preserved when the Cardenal Henrique ordered 96 marble columns to be removed from the place to build the Colégio do Espírito Santo in Evora. From the building only the staging prevailed. But archeological findings withdraw pottery, amphorae, votative altars dedicated to Endovelicus, and lead to the discovery of several architectonic elements among them the "sinks" made in the rocks. The sinks suggests the existence of rituals, animal sacrifices and, possibly, banquets.
References
- Loução, Paulo Alexandre: Portugal, Terra de Mistérios Ésquilo, 2000 (third edition; ISBN 9728605048).