Artio

No mythic origin narrative for Artio survives in the provided material. Attestation consists of two short epigraphic dedications—Muri (base of the bronze group) reading 'Deae Artioni Licinia Sabinilla' and a rock-face inscription near Ernzen reading 'Artioni Biber'—and the Muri statuette group itself. From these vestiges scholars reconstruct Artio as a local or regional animal-associated goddess active in rural cult practice among Celtic-speaking communities under Roman influence (Helvetii and Treveri), but the sources supply no life-story, cosmogony, or narrative origin.

The primary iconographic evidence is the Muri bronze statuette group: a seated female figure approximately 20 centimetres high beside a large bear, with a tree behind the animal. The female figure holds a patera containing fruit; the bear faces her and leans forward as if to take the fruit or to threaten her. The base of this group bears the Latin dedication to the goddess. No further detailed description of clothing, colour, or facial features is preserved in the supplied sources.

No miraculous narratives or explicit supernatural powers are recorded in the provided material. Scholarly interpretation based on the inscriptions and iconography reads Artio as a goddess who embodies or represents the bear-word (Gaulish *arto-), acting as guardian or protector of bears and as a mediator between humans and wild animals. Miranda Aldhouse-Green characterises her role as ambivalent—guarding bears while also protecting hunters and travellers who risk encounters—while other scholars emphasise her identification with the animal itself. The sources do not attest transformation, possession, or other specific magical feats.