RELIGIOUS TRANSFORMATIONS AMONG THE ANCIENT VASCONES: THE ENCOUNTER BETWEEN VASCONIC TRADITIONS AND ROMAN OFFICIAL CULT
RELIGIOUS TRANSFORMATIONS AMONG THE ANCIENT VASCONES: THE ENCOUNTER BETWEEN VASCONIC TRADITIONS AND ROMAN OFFICIAL CULT

Summary/Abstract: Ancient Vascones inhabited the northeastern Iberian Peninsula and are sparsely documented until Roman authors such as Livy, Strabo, and Pliny. Their territory likely extended across modern Navarre, Gipuzkoa, parts of La Rioja, Zaragoza, and Huesca, though its exact limits remain debated. Linguistic and epigraphic evidence —mainly personal names, toponyms, and theonyms— suggests a Vasconic-speaking core, mixed with Indo-European and Iberian influences. Romanization progressed from the 2nd–1st centuries BC and intensified after the foundation of Caesar Augusta, shaping local religion and administration. Excavations at sites such as Los Bañales reveal early imperial cult structures, local deities adapted into Roman worship, and military influence on civic life. By Late Antiquity, the decline of urban centers saw a resurgence of vernacular pagan traditions, reflected in altars with bull imagery and hybrid deities, illustrating the complex fusion of Vasconic and Roman religious practices.

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