Lewannick ogham stones

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ogham Stone 1 Ogham Stone 2
Ogham Stone 1
Ogham Stone 2

Little is known about the origin of the ogham stones from Lewannick in Cornwall , England . It is believed that the stones marked Christian burials and date from around AD 500. The Lewannick stones also have Latin inscriptions, which may represent a translation of the Ogham text.

Ogham Stone 1

Oghamstein 1, discovered in 1892, is in the cemetery of St Martin church. It is a stone block measuring 1.22 × 0.4 m × 0.23 m made of reddish granite with a horizontal Latin inscription in four lines and an Oghamin script on the left edge. Although the stone is made of granite, the inscriptions are difficult to decipher.

The Latin inscription reads:

  • INCEN
  • VI
  • MEM
  • 0 RIA

Ogham Stone 2

Elvan or Greenstone is only found in the small "blue" areas

The Ogham Stone 2 was found in the church in 1894. It was built into the north wall in two parts, one piece being missing. It is made from the rarer gray Elvan stone (quartz porphyry) and is much better preserved than the first stone. It is a stone cuboid measuring 1.50 m × 0.34 m × 0.28 m with a vertical Latin inscription and Ogham inscriptions on the left and right edges.

There are two specifics. First, the Latin inscription and the Ogham carvings have the same orientation. Second, the Oghamin script is carved once as ULCAGNI (matching the VLCAGNI of the Latin inscription) and once as UDSGQI (with letters on the wrong side of the stone edge). Since the stone was not found standing in situ , it is unclear how it originally stood.

context

Although the vast majority of ogham stones are found in Ireland, some inscriptions are known from Cornwall and Devon . When these Oghamin scripts were made, the peninsula was part of the British Celtic Kingdom of Cerniw or Dumnonia , which had trade and religious ties with Ireland , which explain the presence of a small number of monumental stones with Ogham scripts (seven certain and five doubtful or unconfirmed inscriptions) could. It is probably the remainder of a large number of inscriptions. The Ogham letters along the edges are often weathered. Some stones that do not show any traces of an Oghamin script may originally have had one.

literature

  • Damian McManus: A guide to Ogham . (Maynooth Monograph; 4) Maynooth: To Sagart. 1991, ISBN 1-870684-17-6 .

Web links

Coordinates: 50 ° 36 '1.7 "  N , 4 ° 26" 15.1 "  W.