Nantosuelta

Nantosvelta and Sucellus on the Sarrebourg altar

Nantosuelta , also Nantosvelta ( "curved valley", "glittering brook" or "sunny valley" ) was a Celtic goddess who was worshiped together with Sucellus .

Interpretation and Etymology

An altar from Sarrebourg in Lorraine (Roman province Gallia Belgica ) with the typical depiction of the pair of gods bears the inscription: DEO SVCELLO NANTOSVELT (A) E.

In pictorial representations, Nantosvelta appears, especially in the Mediomatric area, on about twelve steles together with Sucellus. She wears a long skirt and in her left hand holds a long staff with a little house on top, which can be both a burial house and a small villa rustica . She often holds a cornucopia in her right hand , or this hand rests on a sacrificial altar. Sometimes she is accompanied by a raven. The thought that these attributes point to her function as the patron goddess of the household and to a functional relationship with the Matres can be assumed. The goddess must have been specifically responsible for prosperity and domestic fertility, a chthonic (earth-bound) interpretation in connection with Succellus (who is equated with Pluton ) is possible.

The first part of the name is the Gallic word nanto ("valley"); Botheroyd calls it nant ("Bach") or supelta ("the good Bach initiator"?). The second part is unclear (see introduction). Like Meid , Olmsted suspects a meaning like "that makes the valley bloom".

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. 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 , p. 246.
• Sylvia & Paul F. Botheroyd: Lexicon of Celtic Mythology , Diedrichs 1992, ISBN 3-424-01077-4 .

Web links

• Relief depicting the Nantosvelta from the Roman Museum Schwarzenacker on the DigiCult website - Museums in Saarland

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 610 f.
2. ↑ CIL XIII, 4542 Deo Sucello / Nantosuelt (a) e / Bellausus Mas / s (a) e filius v (otum) s (olvit) l (ibens) m (erito)
3. ^ Sylvia & Paul F. Botheroyd: Lexicon of Celtic Mythology. P. 247 f.
4. ^ Garrett S. Olmsted: The Gods of the Celts and the Indo-Europeans. Archaeolingua Alapítvány, Budapest 1994, ISBN 3-85124-173-8 , p. 42.