Satiada – Goddess of the Throng

Satiada (Saitada, Sattada, Saiiada) is a Brythonic goddess known from a single inscribed altarstone found at Beltingham Chapel, England. She seemed to be a protective goddess of the Textoverdi tribe.

Satiada is a goddess known from a single inscribed altarstone found at Beltingham Chapel, Chesterholm, Northumberland. This is assumed to have originated at the Vindolanda fort and settlement, Chesterholm, Northumberland. The inscription on the plain altarstone reads: DEAE SAIIADAE CVRIA TEX TOVERDORVM V · S · L · M (To the goddess Satiada, the council of the Textoverdi willingly and deservedly fulfilled their vow). The name of the goddess herself is problematic as SAIIADAE could be interpreted as Satiada, Saitada, Sattada or even Saiitada. Whichever of these epithets is correct the name of this goddess is unknown elsewhere in Europe and it would seem that she was an entirely local deity. Even the name of the tribe who dedicated the altarsone to her, the Textoverdi is unknown in any contemporary literature. It is possible that they were a minor tribe under the sway or protection of the more powerful Brigantes.

Though the interpretation may be somewhat tautological, if we assuming the correct form to be Satiada, the name can be interpreted from the reconstructed proto-Celtic element *sati- or *satyo- (swarm, throng) giving us an interpretation of ‘Goddess of the Throng’. As such she may have been a tutelary deity of the tribe or possibly a protective goddess of the tribal council who invoked her.