Vesunna

Vesunna is a Celtic goddess worshipped in Roman Gaul. She was likely considered a giver of prosperity, abundance and good fortune, as evidenced by the cornucopia she is depicted carrying in her images.

Vesunna was also once the name of a town just south of the modern French city of Périgueux, where the goddess had a temple in ancient times; she was certainly the patron goddess of this city and its people and thus a protector.

In inscriptions found in Périgueux, Vesunna is identified with the Roman guardian goddess Tutela. Vesunna received votive and dedicatory offerings from her worshippers; otherwise little is known of the specifics of her cult. She had a temple in the city that bore her name. Vesunna was worshipped especially by the Gaulish Celtic tribe known as the Petrocorii, whose name survives in that of the modern French city of Périgueux, located just north of her great temple.

Etymology
Vesunna’s name is likely to derive from the Proto-Celtic *wesu or ‘good’. The theonym is the direct heir to another goddess of the same city of Sianna, and derives from vesannus, -a, -um - ‘cruel, furious, excited, unstoppable’ for Sianna as a definition relative to the mistress of wildlife and as a goddess of the hunt. Vesunna is also called Tutela, indicating her role as a patron and defender of the city.