|
Nehalennia (spelled variously) is a goddess of unclear origin, perhaps Germanic or Celtic, Nehalennia is attested on and depicted upon numerous votive altars discovered around what is now the province of Zeeland, the Netherlands, where the Rhine River flowed into the North Sea. Worship of Nehalennia dates back at least to the 2nd century BC, and veneration of the goddess flourished in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD. ==Inscriptions and depictions== Nehalennia is attested on 28 inscriptions discovered in the Dutch town of Domburg on the Zeeland coast, when a storm eroded dunes in 1645, disclosing remains of a temple devoted to the previously unattested goddess Nehalennia.〔Cornelis Dekke, ''The Origins of Old Germanic Studies in the Low Countries'', :209.〕 A similar number were discovered in 1971-72 in the town of Colijnsplaat, and two others have been found in the Cologne-Deutz area of what is now Cologne, Germany.〔Simek (2007:228-229).〕 Nehalennia is almost always depicted with marine symbols and a large, benign-looking dog at her feet.〔〔Green (1992:5).〕 She must have been a Celtic or Germanic deity, who was attributed power over trading, shipping and possible horticulture and fertility. She is depicted as a (mostly seated) young woman. She wears a typical short cloak over her shoulders and chest. This garment is unique to her and therefore might have belonged to the thenn-costumes in this region. Often she is accompanied by a dog and she has as attributes a basket of apples or loaves and ship parts.〔http://www.nehalennia-tempel.nl/index.php?topic=Romeinseperiode〕 Hilda Ellis Davidson describes the votive objects:
Davidson further links the motif of the ship associated with Nehalennia with the Germanic Vanir pair of Freyr and Freyja, as well as the Germanic goddess Nerthus and notes that Nehalennia features some of the same attributes as the Matres.〔Davidson (1998:112 and 134).〕 The loaves that Nehalennia is depicted with on her altars have been identified as ''duivekater'', "oblong sacrificial loaves in the shape of a shin bone". Davidson says that loaves of this type may take the place of an animal sacrifice or animal victim, such as the boar-shaped loaf baked at Yule in Sweden, and that in Värmland, Sweden "within living memory" grain from the last sheaf was customarily used to bake a loaf into the shape of a little girl that is subsequently shared by the whole household. Davidson provides further examples of elaborate loaves—Harvest Loaves—at times in the shape of sheaves and displayed in churches, bread employed for the fertility of fields in Anglo-Saxon England with parallels in Scandinavia, and examples from Ireland.〔Davidson (1998:134).〕 The Domburg inscriptions to ''Nehalennia'' inspired Marcus Zuerius van Boxhorn to produce a hasty etymology linking the name ''Nehalennia'' to an ancient Scythian,〔Boxhorn, ''Bediedinge van... Nehalennia'', Leiden 1647, and further texts, noted by Cornelis Dekker, ''The Origins of Old Germanic Studies in the Low Countries'' 2007:209.〕 with which he attempted, with the linguistic tools then available, to bridge the already-known connections between the European languages and modern Persian.〔Boxhorn, '' Des mots perses enregistrées par Quinte Curce et de leur parenté avec des termes germaniques'', noted in (Daniel Droixhe, ''Souvenirs de Babel. La reconstruction de l'histoire des langues de la Renaissance aux Lumières'' Brussels 2007:59 ).〕 Other indigenous deities which were worshiped locally at that time are: Burorina, Hludana, Hurstrga, Sandraudiga, Seneucaega, Vagdavercustis and Viradecdis. In 2004/2005 a replica of the temple was built in Colijnsplaat. The design of temple and its sculpture is based on the archaeological study of this type of sanctuaries in the Roman provinces of Gaul and Germania. At the reconstruction, authentic materials and techniques were used as much as possible.〔http://www.nehalenniatempel.nl/article.php?story=20050404194251960〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Nehalennia」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|