Yesterday I posted something on the Alemanni/Suebi, and forgot a passage in the section about their religion - namely the explanation for why Tacitus claimed that the Suebi (Alemanni) worshipped the Egyptian goddess Isis (Aset). Here is what was missing: "...Apart from this description of the Semnones belief in an ancestral divine grove, he also mentions (chapter 9) that “Some of the Suevi also perform sacred rites to Isis. The ancient, Egyptian goddess Isis had become a goddess of Initiation Mysteries and Resurrection/Salvation in death in the Hellenic and Roman Empires. Her Mystery cult may have spread into German territories, but there is no evidence for this in the archaeological record. The explanation may be that or Tacitus was really describing the cult of a native goddess that was similar to that of Isis – in the same manner that he gives Roman names to German gods – Mars for Tiwaz/Týr, Hercules for Thor, Mercury for Wodan/Odin, Ceres for Frigg, Neptun for Njordr, or else Romanized/Latinized names such as “Nerthus” for a goddess who may have been called Njerdr, Njorunn or Nehalennia. He mentions, for example, that the German “Isis” is symbolized with a ship prow, just like the Roman version of this old African goddess, and this is why he believes that Isis was worshipped. However, in the archaeological record, this symbol is associated with the Germanic goddess Nehalennia. A temple to Nehalennia with 28 votive altars and inscriptions to this goddess, sometimes together with Roman names for male gods such as Neptune, Mercury and Hercules (Njordr, Odin and Thor), the male gods then standing at the sides of her altar, and some 12 more votive altars dedicated solely to other gods and goddesses, was excavated at Domburg on the island of Walcheren in 1647. The goddess Nehalennia often stands at a prow or has ship symbols. In the Isis cult, the ship was a symbol of the soul´s journey, especially after death. Like Isis, the goddess Nehallennia was associated with symbols for death and resurrection – in the German symbolic world that would be the dog and the basket of fruits that the goddess Nehalennia keeps on either side of herself. The island temple was covered by the rising ocean after the fourth century AD and did not resurface until the 17th century, when water levels lowered again. . Nehalennia is possibly identical with Tacitus “Nerthus” as well as being similar to Isis (perhaps the object of a Norse-German version of a Mystery cult, as I have explored in my books). In chapter 40 of “Germania”, Tacitus explains that the many tribes of the Suevi worship Nerthus on an island in the ocean: . “…Nothing remarkable occurs in any of these; except that they unite in the worship of Nerthus or Magna Mater (Great Mother); and suppose her to interfere in the affairs of men, and to visit the different nations. In an island of the ocean stands a sacred and unviolated grove, in which is a consecrated chariot, covered with a veil, which the priest alone is permitted to touch. He becomes conscious of the entrance of the goddess into this secret recess; and with profound veneration attends the vehicle, which is drawn by yoked cows. At this season, all is joy; and every place which the goddess deigns to visit is a scene of festivity. No wars are undertaken; arms are untouched; and every hostile weapon is shut up. Peace abroad and at home are then only known; then only loved; till at length the same priest reconducts the goddess, satiated with mortal intercourse, to her temple.The chariot, with its curtain, and, if we may believe it, the goddess herself, then undergo ablution in a secret lake. This office is performed by slaves, whom the same lake instantly swallows up. Hence proceeds a mysterious horror; and a holy ignorance of what that can be, which is beheld only by those who are about to perish. This part of the Suevian nation extends to the most remote recesses of Germany.” . The goddess likely had among her many functions to tie People together, uniting the differences.
Posted on: Sun, 25 Aug 2013 09:35:31 +0000
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