Sucellus

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Sucellus statue from the Bouches-du-Rhône department , France

Sucellus , also Sucelus or Sucaelus , was a Celtic god of the forest or fertility, who was worshiped especially in Gaul . In different interpretations he is equated with Iuppiter , Dispater or Silvanus . A connection with the god of the dead Pluton is also assumed because of an inscription from Bonn .

overview

The worship of Sucellus was particularly widespread in southern and eastern Gaul. In today's Switzerland there are inscriptions in Yverdon and Augst as deo Sucello . In Geneva , Lausanne , Visp and in Kinheim - Kindel in the Mosel valley of Sucellus have been found statues.

The assignment of the sucellus varies from region to region. In southern Gaul he was worshiped as a forest god or was at least equated with the Roman forest god Silvanus. In the Alpine region he may also have been worshiped as the god of fertility or the god of abundance. Many attributes that have been found in Sucellus statues in Switzerland attest to this. He is always represented here as a bearded man in Gallic robe, in one hand he holds a long-handled mallet or double hammer, in the other a pot or mug. The attributes also seem quite coincidental, the Sucellus statue from Visp in Valais, for example. B. holds a drinking cup in his right hand, there is also an object in his belt that looks like a hook, in his left hand he probably had a long-handled hammer (no longer available). He is also shown with a knife, sword, purse or a (three-headed) dog as a companion.

A frequent companion of Sucellus is the goddess Nantosvelta , for example on an altar near Sarrebourg ( Pons Saravi ), where he holds a ruler's staff with a hammer head and a pot as an attribute. The bearded god is dressed in a belted skirt, the goddess also wears a ruler's staff (today in the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire de Metz ).

etymology

In the Gallic language -cellos means the appropriate one . This comes from the Indo-European * -kel-do-s and can also be found in Latin names. The prefix su- means good. So you can translate the name as the one who strikes well, the good bat .

Inscriptions

See also

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 .
  • Sylvia and Paul F. Botheroyd: Lexicon of Celtic Mythology. Tosa Verlag, Vienna 2004.
  • Harry Eilenstein: Cernunnos. From shaman to druid Merlin. Books on Demand, Norderstedt 2012, ISBN 978-3-8448-1819-2 , p. 149.
  • Manfred Kotterba: Sucellus and Nantosuelta. Investigations into a Gallo-Roman pair of gods in the northern provinces of the Imperium Romanum. Dissertation University of Freiburg (Breisgau), 2000 ( online ; not evaluated).
  • Bernhard Maier : Lexicon of Celtic Religion and Culture (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 466). Kröner, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-520-46601-5 .
  • Karl Prümm: Religious history manual for the area of ​​the early Christian environment. Hellenistic-Roman intellectual currents and cults with consideration of the individual life of the provinces. Herder, Freiburg 1943; Reprint of the Pontifical Biblical Institute, Rome 1954, p. 714 ( excerpt from Google Books ).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Bernhard Maier: Lexicon of the Celtic religion and culture. P. 301 f.
  2. ↑ a b Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 610 f.
  3. ↑ A Roman god causes quarrels in the village. In: Hubertus Schulze-Neuhoff (Ed.): From stone to stone, from hill to hill: and vineyard to vineyard . BoD - Books on Demand, Norderstedt 2005, ISBN 3-8334-3127-X , p. 103 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  4. ^ A b Sylvia & Paul F. Botheroyd: Lexicon of Celtic Mythology. P. 313 f. (for the entire chapter)
  5. ^ Xavier Delamarre: Dictionnaire de la Langue Gauloise. Editions Errance, Paris 2003, 2nd edition, ISBN 2-87772-237-6 .
  6. ↑ not to be confused with Eburodunum / Embrun in Switzerland!