Sulis

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Gilt bronze head , Bath, England, probably Sulis Minerva

Sulis is a sun and salvation deity of the British Celts . According to the Interpretatio Romana , she was equated with the goddess Minerva .

Etymology and Mythology

The name Sulis is derived from the old Celtic word * sūlis ("sun"); Sulis was sometimes, probably by mistake, adopted as the genitive or dative of Sul (e). In Old Irish , súil (fem.) Took over the meaning of "eye". In Scottish Gaelic , the name of the sun is poetically described as Sùil Dhè mhòir ("The Eye of the Great God") ( Carmina Gaedelica , III, 306). Sunday has the New Cymrian name dydd Sul from the Latin dies Solis .

Her sanctuary was a spring in the Aquae Sulis , named after her, now Bath in Somerset , England . So it was almost certain that she was also a goddess of healing and Aquae Sulis, where an extensive temple area was dedicated to her, subsequently developed into a health resort . So people hoped that a bath in their holy spring would cure their illnesses. Already in Solinus (XXII, 10) one can read:

... quibus fontibus praesul *) est Minerva numen, in cuius aede perpetui ignes numquam canescunt in favillas, sed ... [ignis] vertit in globus saexos ...
(The ruler of these sources is the numen of Minerva, in whose sanctuary perpetual Fire does not turn pale in ashes, but [the fire turns the ashes] into stony bulbs) *) Praesul is emended in prae est Sul .

Several inscriptions have been preserved in Bath, for example on altars, on the gravestone of a priest and on some escape signs . Another inscription was found on a consecration stone in Alzey (the name Deae Sul is handed down here).

On the mainland, other goddesses such as Suleviae were related to her, but she was also worshiped in Bath. Since in the island Celtic area Suil still means both eye and sun (see above), Sulis or Suleviae is also believed to be the original Celtic sun goddess. In this case there is a relationship to the Germanic Sol , which is etymologically related to Sulis.

See also

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 579 ff.
  2. ^ The Roman Inscriptions of Britain (RIB) [1] 143-150.
  3. ^ CIL VII, 39 Bath ( Aquae Sulis , Roman province: Britannia superior ): G (aius!) Protaciu [s 3] / deae Sulis M [inervae
  4. ↑ L'Année epigraphique AE , 1982, 658a, 660, 661, 666; 1983, 636.
  5. ↑ CIL XIII, 6266 Alzey ( Altiaia , Roman province Germania superior : Dea (e) Sul (i) / Attonius / Lucanu [s]