Biel (deity)

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Biel is the name of an alleged god of the Saxons and Thuringians . The oldest verifiable source for the existence of such a god is a legend of saints by St. Boniface from the 17th century; Therefore, today it is mostly assumed that it was invented (possibly as well as other Germanic gods with difficult sources such as Stuffo , Reto , Lahra or Jecha ) only to explain a place name. Biel is also mentioned by Heinrich Heine in his travel pictures .

Sources

An idol “Biel” is mentioned in folk tales from the Thuringia area and can be found in some folklore collections such as the Eichsfeld saga treasure , but the age of the tradition cannot be determined. The most reliable and oldest source is a biography of Boniface from the 17th century.

Etymological speculations

The name and the place names associated with it gave rise to numerous uncertain etymological speculations. So Biel has been with the biblical Baal (demon) and Balaam , the Slavic god Bilovog , the Celtic god Belenus and henbane , the Norse god Balder and the grain spirit Bilwis associated. The possibilities of deriving the name that have already been considered include the Slavic “biely” = white like the old German “buhil” or “bul” = hill or the words “Bühl”, “Bild” or “Beil”.

The "Götze Biel" in the legend

Biel is said to have been both a sun god and a protector of forests and a promoter of growth. Axes are said to have been consecrated by him through his priests, as are the weapons of shooters and hunters. He was worshiped in caves on mountains, where altars and images were erected in his honor and horses and human sacrifices were brought, the blood of which is said to have been painted over his image. The main place of cult of Biel is said to have been the Bielstein near Ilfeld or, according to another variant, the Bielshöhe near Katlenburg . There St. Boniface and his companions are said to have thrown the statue of the god down the mountain slope and then preached the gospel and converted the Saxons and Thuringians to Christianity . According to some versions of the legend, however, the Thuringians are said to have erected the picture again after Boniface's departure. Pagan priests would also have picked up the debris of the picture in the night and brought it to today's Bilshausen . There they allegedly set it up again on the Höherberg , where they continued to offer human and animal sacrifices to Biel. Another image of the god is said to have been found in the Bielshöhle near Ilfeld.

Place names explained by Biel or associated with it

Numerous Bilsteine or Bielsteine and other places, above all in the Harz and northern Hesse, but also in the Teutoburg Forest , were associated with the idol Biel and its legend . Most famous are

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e From Vollmer's Mythologie aller Völker, Stuttgart 1874
  2. ↑ a b Meyer's Großes Konversations-Lexikon, Volume 2. Leipzig 1905, p. 832.
  3. ^ A b Heinrich Heine, Ernst Elster, Travel Pictures , Adamant Media Corporation, 1890, ISBN 0-543-89766-4 , ISBN 978-0-543-89766-4 , p. 522
  4. ↑ a b c d Albert Schiffner : Handbook of geography, statistics and topography of the Kingdom of Saxony 1839 IS 2

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