Latin name given to a triad of mother-goddesses known in many parts of the Roman-occupied Celtic world as well as in Rome itself. Iconographic and epigraphical evidence suggests that the goddesses were linked to cults of healing, regeneration, fertility, and maternity. They were worshipped at three sites in Britain: Colchester, Cirencester, and Bath. This latter site suggests a connection with Minerva, one of whose epithets is Sulevia, pl. Suleviae. See also MATRES.
Suleviae
| Celtic Mythology: Suleviae |
| Wikipedia: Suleviae |
In ancient Celtic religion, Sulevia was a goddess worshipped in Gaul and Britain, very often in the plural forms Suleviae or (dative) Sule(v)is. Dedications to Sulevia(e) are attested in about forty inscriptions, distributed quite widely in the Celtic world, but with particular concentrations in Noricum, among the Helvetii, along the Rhine, and also in Rome. Jufer and Luginbühl distinguish the Suleviae from another group of plural Celtic goddesses, the Matres, and interpret the name Suleviae as meaning "those who govern well".[1] The Suleviae are identified with the Matres on an inscription from Colchester, as well as on most of the inscriptions from Rome; they are also identified once with the Junones. Van Andringa interprets the Suleviae as "native domestic divinities honoured at all social levels".[2]
For the theory that the Suleviae were a triune version of Sulis Minerva, see Sulis. This theory is disputed by some researchers who find no direct links with Sulis, and suggest instead that the similarity in names is coincidental.[1] Another theory connects the Suleviae with the Xulsigiae, known from a site at Trier;[3] but this suggestion has also been contested.
See also
References
- ^ a b Nicole Jufer & Thierry Luginbühl (2001). Les dieux gaulois : répertoire des noms de divinités celtiques connus par l'épigraphie, les textes antiques et la toponymie. Editions Errance, Paris. pp.15,64. In the original: "Celles qui gouvernent bien".
- ^ William van Andringa (2002). La religion en Gaule romaine : Piété et politique (Ier-IIIe siècle apr. J.-C. Editions Errance, Paris. p.275. In the original: "divinités domestiques indigènes honorés dans tous les milieux sociaux".
- ^ Edith Mary Wightman (1970). Roman Trier and the Treveri. Rupert Hart-Davis, London.
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