Sequana (goddess)

Statue of Sequana at the source of the Seine

Sequana is a Gallo-Roman goddess of the Seine sources in Source-Seine near Dijon ( Département Côte-d'Or ). After the gifts in the temple, she was evidently invoked as the goddess of healing.

The sanctuary

In the marshland at the sources of the Seine ( Fontes Sequanae ) there was a large temple area with ritual bathing facilities, a hostel for the pilgrims, accommodations for doctors and devotional shops . The excavations brought to light a large number of votive offerings , including a vase with 836 coins and numerous oak artefacts well preserved due to the special conditions. A total of around 190 wooden sculptures were found in the excavation period 1936/37. Diseased (and healed?) Organs of the body were depicted in a more or less naturalistic way, as well as animals and people (mainly men). Two particularly well-preserved objects are an ornate man's head and a statue of a pilgrim in a Gallic hooded cloak , carved from a log.

The goddess herself is represented in a small bronze statuette, standing in a boat, the stern of which is adorned with a duck's head with a small ball (pearl?) In its beak.

literature

Max Him : Sequana . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 4, Leipzig 1915, column 711 ( digitized version ).
Johann Baptist Keune : Sequana. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume II A, 2, Stuttgart 1923, Col. 137-140.
Françoise Gury: Sequana . In: Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC). Volume 000007VII, Zurich / Munich 1994, pp. 748-749.
Bernhard Maier : Lexicon of Celtic Religion and Culture (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 466). Kröner, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-520-46601-5 .
Helmut Birkhan : Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-7001-2609-3 .

Individual evidence

^ Bernhard Maier: Lexicon of the Celtic religion and culture . P. 289
^ Simone Deyts: Les bois sculptés des sources de la Seine. Édition du Center Nationale de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris 1983, ISBN 2-222-03077-3 .
↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 624.
↑ Myles Dillon, Nora Kershaw Chadwick : The Celts. From the prehistory to the Norman invasion . Parkland-Verlag, Cologne 2004 (first 1966), ISBN 3-89340-058-3 (Kindlers Kulturgeschichte), p. 244, picture panels.
↑ Today Dijon, Musée archéologique Inv. 4690. Émile Espérandieu , Recueil XI No. 7676; Illustration .

[BMa-1] Bernhard Maier: Lexicon of the Celtic religion and culture . P. 289

[2] Simone Deyts: Les bois sculptés des sources de la Seine. Édition du Center Nationale de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris 1983, ISBN 2-222-03077-3 .

[3] Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 624.

[4] Myles Dillon, Nora Kershaw Chadwick : The Celts. From the prehistory to the Norman invasion . Parkland-Verlag, Cologne 2004 (first 1966), ISBN 3-89340-058-3 (Kindlers Kulturgeschichte), p. 244, picture panels.

[5] Today Dijon, Musée archéologique Inv. 4690. Émile Espérandieu , Recueil XI No. 7676; Illustration .