Belisama

Dedicatory inscription of Segomaros

Belisama is a Celtic handicraft goddess . In the Interpretatio Romana it is equated with the Roman Minerva .

Etymology and Mythology

The name Belisama means "the most luminous", "the most radiant". Belisama was worshiped in Gaul and Britain and was associated with lakes and rivers, crafts and arts, fire and light. She may have been the companion of Belenos , the two names have the same roots.

A Latin inscription from Pont de Saint-Liziers in the Ariège department , the ancient Consoranni , reads:

Minervae / Belisamae / sacrum / Q (uintus) Valerius / Montan [us] / [e] xv [oto?]

Another inscription in Gallic, found near Vaison-la-Romaine ( Département Vaucluse ), indicates that a sanctuary ( Nemeton ) was dedicated to her :

СΕΓΟΜΑΡΟС / ΟΥΙΛΛΟΝΕΟС / ΤΟΟΥΤΙΟΥС / ΝΑΜΑΥСΑΤΙС / ΕΙѠΡΟΥ ΒΗΛΗ / СΑΜΙ СΟСΙΝ / ΝΕΜΗΤΟΝ

Segomaros Ouilloneos tooutious Namausatis eiōrou Bēlēsami sosin nemēton

"Segomaros Villoneos, citizen of Nîmes , consecrated this sanctuary to the Belisama"

On Ptolemy's map of Britain appears an estuary named Belisama (Βελίσαμα) which means either the mouth of the Ribble or the Mersey .

Belisama can still be found today in the French place names Belesmes, Blesmes and Blismes.

See also

• List of Celtic gods and legendary figures
• Celtic religion
• Celtic mythology
• List of deities in the Asterix comics

literature

• Helmut Birkhan : Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. 2nd, corrected and enlarged edition. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-7001-2609-3 .
• Bernhard Maier : Lexicon of Celtic Religion and Culture (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 466). Kröner, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-520-46601-5 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 613.
2. ↑ CIL 13, 00008
3. ↑ Michel Lejeune . Recueil des Inscriptions Gauloises (RIG) 1: Inscriptions Gallo-Grèques. G-153.
4. ^ Xavier Delamarre (2003). Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise. Éditions Errance, p. 299.
5. ^ Claudius Ptolemy Geographika 2.3.2
6. ^ Bernhard Maier: Lexicon of the Celtic religion and culture . P. 41 f.