Alaisiagae

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Alaisiagae ("the all-honored") is the name or surname of the four Germanic goddesses Baudihillia , Friagabis , Beda and Fimmilena , which have been handed down in three inscriptions from the northern English Housesteads on Hadrian's Wall ( Northumberland ). The inscriptions date from the 3rd century on votive stones of the temple area of ​​the Roman fort Vercovicium and were erected by two Roman auxiliary units , the Cuneus Frisiorum Vercovicianorum and the Numerus Hnaudifridi .

The Alaisiagae appearing as a couple are closely related to the god Mars Thincsus, who is worshiped in an inscription by Germanic donors from the Civitas Tuihanti (the Dutch region of Twente ) . Especially the Beda and Fimmilene as companions of Mars Thincsus are supposed to indicate their function as thing deities in the Germanic people and judicial assembly for both the Alaisiagae and the Mars Thincsus . According to research approaches of the 19th century, which were mainly represented by Georges Dumézil in the 20th century , their names refer to the legal institute of the thing (hence Mars Thincsus ) and especially to the medieval Bodthing (to Beda ) and the Fimelthing (to Fimmilena ), which are mentioned in the West Frisian Schulzenrecht of the 12th century. Bodthing appears here as a "required thing", fimelthing as an additional afterding or disobedient thing . The time lag between the Roman era and the late medieval sources is considerable. The Norwegian historian Frode Iversen therefore warns against jumping to conclusions, but believes the names of gods mentioned could actually indicate the existence of a Germanic system of fixed legal assemblies ( Thincsus ), with special sessions ( Beda ) and informal sessions ( Fimmilena ).

Other interpretations try to see in the Alaisiagae , also after aspects of Mars Thincsus , as Germanic Mars a god of war ( see Tiwas / Tyr ), valkyrie-like mythical beings or also with the Friagabis (etymologically conditioned) blessing deities . Siegfried Gutenbrunner also identified Baudihillia or Beda as a "battle demon with a battle ax", while Friagibis or Fimmilena were said to be a "demon of the cult of regeneration with a knife". In his view, it was actually about Valkyries that had a function in the legal system. Since in today's German research there is to a certain extent a non-liquet for the latter approaches , the legal reference is often given priority. In contrast, Anglo-Saxon research (for example Helga Ellis Davidson ) continued to represent the Valkyrie thesis. More recent approaches try to interpret the Alaisigae and related goddesses primarily as matrons or primeval mothers in an ancestral cult.

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ Roman Inscriptions of Britain No. 1576 , 1593 , 1594 .
  2. ↑ Botding . In: Prussian Academy of Sciences (Hrsg.): German legal dictionary . tape 2 , issue 3 (edited by Eberhard von Künßberg ). Hermann Böhlaus successor, Weimar, Sp. 425 ( adw.uni-heidelberg.de - publication date 1932 or 1933).
  3. ↑ Fimmelding . In: Prussian Academy of Sciences (Hrsg.): German legal dictionary . tape 3 , issue 4 (edited by Eberhard von Künßberg ). Hermann Böhlaus successor, Weimar, Sp. 537 ( adw.uni-heidelberg.de - publication date between 1935 and 1938).
  4. ↑ See also Gerhard Köbler, Old Frisian Dictionary. 4th edition 2014, online under the letters B and F , where the name Fimelthing is associated with the Middle Latin fēmella "Frauenzimmerchen", following the old Frisian lexicons .
  5. ↑ Siegfried Gutenbrunner: Edda Studies II: Skuld helt skildi, onnor en Skggul. In: Arkiv för Nordisk Filologi. 71, 1956, pp. 14-24, here p. 21.
  6. ^ Helga R. Ellis Davidson: Gods and Myths of Northern Europe. 1964; Ders .: Lost Beliefs of Northern Europe. Routledge, London / New York 1993, p. 48. Recently: Philip A. Purser: Her Syndan Wælcyrian: Illuminating the Form and Function of the Valkyrie-Figure in the Literature, Mythology, and Social Consciousness of Anglo-Saxon England. Dissertation Georgia State University, 2013. ( scholarworks.gsu.edu ).
  7. ↑ Ton Derks, Gods, Temples and Ritual Practices: The Transformation of Religious Ideas and Values ​​in Roman Gaul , 1998, pp. 119–130. Daniël Augustinus Gerrets: Op de grens van land en water: dynamiek van landschap en samenleving in Frisia gedurende de Romeinse tijd en de Volksverhuizingstijd Groningen 2010, p. 132 ( books.google.nl ).