Aericura

Inscriptions from Herecura

Aericura. Seated figure from Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt, Württembergisches Landesmuseum, Stuttgart

Aericura , also Aeracura , Aercura , Herecura , Hericura , Ericura or Erecura , is an ancient Celtic- Germanic (but according to some theories originally an Illyrian ) deity.

mythology

Aericura is mostly represented with attributes similar to Proserpina , sometimes accompanied by a wolf or dog, but very often with fertility attributes such as apple baskets. Aericura is interpreted by some as a fertility goddess, but often as the goddess of the dead and companion or helper (πάρεδρα, Paredra ) of Dis Pater , both functions may have overlapped in the Celtic world of belief. A well-known inscription with a pictorial representation comes from Sulzbach (Roman province Germania superior ) (today in the Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe ). Aericura is shown here with a fruit basket in hand, Dis Pater with a scroll.

Aericura is widespread mainly in the Danube region , southern Germany and Slovenia , but depictions of it also appear in Italy, Britain and France.

Written evidence of their veneration is missing, however, and an etymology of the name from the Celtic languages has also not yet been achieved. An interpretation from the Latin * aeri-cūra ("who cares about the aes [copper / bronze coin?]"; From aereos , copper ) is controversial. Eilenstein translates Aericura as "protector in battle".

An inscription in Corbridge, Northumberland mentions a male god Arecurius , who according to the Interpretatio Romana was equated with Apollon or Mercurius .

See also

• List of Celtic gods and legendary figures
• Celtic religion
• Celtic mythology

literature

• Helmut Birkhan : Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-7001-2609-3 .
• Sylvia & Paul F. Botheroyd: Lexicon of Celtic Mythology. Tosa Verlag, Vienna 2004.
• Bernhard Maier : Lexicon of Celtic Religion and Culture (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 466). Kröner, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-520-46601-5 .

Web links

• Harry Mountain: V2 The Celtic Encyclopedia. Universal Publishers, 1998, ISBN 978-1-581-12891-8 , pp. 286 f. (accessed on November 13, 2012)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Bernhard Maier: Lexicon of the Celtic religion and culture. P. 5.
2. ↑ CIL XIII, 6322 I (n) h (onorem) d (omus) d (ivinae) d (eae) s (anctae) Aericur (ae) et Diti Pat (ri) / Veter (ius) Paternus et Adi () Pater (n / A)
3. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 551.
4. ^ Sylvia & Paul F. Botheroyd: Lexicon of Celtic Mythology. P. 11.
5. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 551, note 1.
6. ↑ Harry Eilenstein: Cernunnos: From Shaman to Druid Merlin. Cape. 11.A "The Celtic Goddesses" , BoD - Books on Demand, 2012, ISBN 978-3-844-81819-2 , p. 123. (accessed on November 13, 2012)