- Miarritze Inscription
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The Miarritze Inscription is a fragmentary Basque epigraph discovered near La Rioja in 1927. Believed to date from the late 13th century, the inscription has been associated with Iberian religion. Several names are unique to this inscription, but have been interpreted as simplified versions of better-known Iberian deities or mythological figures, such as the substitution of "Candus" for "Candamius".
Survival of pre-Christian beliefs past the 12th century, with a concomitant shift in the spelling of proper names, has been proposed as one explanation for the inscription. Under this theory, the Miarritze Inscription is evidence that local religious traditions survived in some form for over a hundred years beyond the general Christianization of the region. Alternatively, the inscription's names may refer to non-mythological people, and simply be derived from deities of the old religion as honorifics. As with many topics in Iberian religion, the lack of significant supporting evidence for any theory leaves the Miarritze Inscription a topic of open debate.
References
- Jordan, Michael. Encyclopedia of Gods. Kyle Cathie Limited, 2002.
- La Paglia, Antonio. Beyond Greece and Rome: Faith and Worship in Ancient Europe. Black Mountain Press, 2004.
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