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Nehalennia (alsoNehalenia,Nehalaenniae,Nehalaenia,Nehellenia) is atutelary goddess who was worshipped in 2nd- and 3rd-century[1]Gallia Belgica by travelers, especially sailors and traders, at the mouth of the Scheldt. Her origin is unclear, perhapsGermanic orCeltic. She is attested on and depicted upon numerousvotive altars discovered around what is now the province ofZeeland, theNetherlands, where theSchelde River flowed into theNorth Sea. Worship of Nehalennia dates back at least to the 2nd century BC and veneration of the goddess continued to flourish innorthwestern Europe in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD. Nehalennia has experienced a modern-day revival, particularly within Dutch paganism.[2]
While the meaning of the nameNehalennia remains disputed, linguists agree that its origin is notLatin. Given the locations where most references and artifacts have been found, her name is likely from either aGermanic orCeltic language. Gutenbrunner (1936) related it toProto-Germanic*nehwa "close", but could not explain the rest of the name.Gysseling (1960) believed that the name was neither Celtic nor Germanic, rather stemming from theProto-Indo-European root*neiH- "to lead". He could not trace the rest of the name.De Stempel (2004) links her name withWelshhalein "salt" andheli "sea", proposing a Celtic origin. She deconstructs the name as a combination of Celtic*halen– "sea" and*ne- "on, at". Finally,*-ja is asuffix forming a feminine noun. The meaning would be "she who is at the sea".[3]
Much about the worship of Nehalennia remains a mystery. Given her attributes (horn of plenty, apples), she was probably originally afertility goddess. Around the year 200 CE, the time from which her altars and statues date, Nehalennia was mainly worshipped as the protector of travellers and traders in theNorth Sea area.[4]
The worship of Nehalennia was concentrated in temples inGanventa (north of Colijnsplaat) andDomburg. The temple inGanventa was dedicated exclusively to the goddess, while other (Roman) gods were also worshipped in Domburg. Statues of the supreme godJupiter,Neptune and the goddessVictoria have been found there (Domburg).
Other indigenous deities that were locally venerated at that time are:Burorina,Hludana,Hurstrga,Sandraudiga,Seneucaega,Vagdavercustis andViradecdis.
Nehalennia is attested on 28 inscriptions discovered in 1645 in theDutch town ofDomburg on theZeeland coast, when a storm eroded dunes. The remains of a temple were revealed that was devoted to the previously unattested goddess Nehalennia.[5] Beginning in 1970, numerous altars, remains of female sculptures and related artifacts were found near in the town ofColijnsplaat, including roof tiles and remains of the temple devoted to Nehalennia that was in a former town, now lost. Two other temple remains have been found in theCologne-Deutz area of what is nowCologne,Germany.[6]
Dutch archaeologist J.E. Bogaers and Belgian linguistMaurits Gysseling, in their joint publicationOver de naam van de godin Nehalennia ("On the name of the goddess Nehalennia"), listed several different forms of the name that appear in inscriptions. WhileNehalennia is by far the most common spelling,Nehalenia andNehalaennia both appear a few times. Gysseling characterizes these two forms asLatinisations of the more archaicNehalennia. Several sporadic spellings, which are attested once each, were considered by Bogaers as non-standard or rejected as misread, due to the poor state of some of the inscriptions. Gysseling holds that some spellings are a transliteration, an attempt to approximate the pronunciation of her name in Latin script, suggesting that the "h" may have been pronounced as some Germanch sound.[7] One of the numerous altars dredged up from theOosterschelde near Colijnsplaat in 1970 features the spellingNechalenia. It appears that spellings with 𐌝 are intentional and not due to damaged artifacts.[8][9][10]
The Domburg inscriptions toNehalennia inspiredMarcus Zuerius van Boxhorn to produce a hasty etymology linking the nameNehalennia to an ancientScythian.[11] With the linguistic tools then available, Van Boxhorn attempted to bridge the already-known connections between European languages and modernPersian.[12]
Her cult is almost certainly older than the period from which the altars originate.
A part of the enormous collection is on display in theNational Museum of Antiquities (Netherlands).
Nehalennia is almost always depicted with marine symbols and a large, benign-lookingdog at her feet.[13][14] She must have been a Celtic or Germanic deity who was attributed power overtrading,shipping, and possiblehorticulture andfertility. In sculptures and reliefs, she is depicted as a young woman, generally seated. Typically she wears a short cloak over her shoulders and chest. This garment is unique to her and therefore might have belonged to the costumes usual at that period in this region. Often she is accompanied by a dog; she has as attributes a basket of apples or breadloaves and ship parts.[15]Hilda Ellis Davidson describes the votive objects:
Nehalennia, a Germanic goddess worshipped at the point where travellers crossed the North Sea from the Netherlands, is shown on many carved stones holding loaves and apples like aMother Goddess, sometimes with a prow of a ship beside her, but also frequently with an attendant dog which sits looking up at her (Plate 5). This dog is on thirteen of the twenty-one altars recorded by Ada Hondius-Crone (1955:103), who describes it as a kind ofgreyhound.[16]
Davidson further links the motif of the ship associated with Nehalennia with the GermanicVanir pair ofFreyr andFreyja as well as the Germanic goddessNerthus. She notes that Nehalennia features some of the same attributes as theMatres.[17]
The loaves that Nehalennia is depicted with on her altars have been identified asduivekater, "oblong sacrificial loaves in the shape of a shin bone". Davidson says that loaves of this type may take the place of ananimal sacrifice or animal victim, such as theboar-shaped loaf baked atYule in Sweden. InVärmland, Sweden, "within living memory," there was a custom of grain from the lastsheaf of the harvest customarily being used to bake a loaf in the shape of a little girl; this is subsequently shared by the whole household. Davidson provides further examples of elaborate harvest loaves in the shape of sheaves, and displayed in churches for the fertility of fields inAnglo-Saxon England, with parallels in Scandinavia andIreland.[18]
A depiction of an enthroned goddess with children at her breast, with lap dogs, or with baskets of fruit[19] is characterized by Lothar Schwinden as amother goddess (like the Gallo-Roman version of the CelticAveta).[20]
In 2005, a replica of the temple was built inColijnsplaat. The design of temple and its sculpture is based on the finds from the nearby area, as well as archaeological study of the type of sanctuaries in theRoman provinces ofGaul andGermania. For the reconstruction, authentic materials and techniques were used as much as possible.[21]
Religious practices surrounding Nehalennia were at their peak in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, at which time there were at least two or three temples located in the area of what is now Zeeland. At the time, this region on the sea coast was an important link for the trade between theRhine area andBritain. It is known that theMorini, who lived on the North Sea coast, worshipped Nehalennia.[13] Visitors came to worship from as far away asBesançon, France andTrier, Germany.[13] Nehalennia had two sanctuaries or shrines, embellished with numerous altars: one atDomburg on the island ofWalcheren, and another atColijnsplaat on the shore of theOosterschelde.[13]
In August 2005, a replica of the Nehalennia temple near the lost town ofGanuenta was opened inColijnsplaat.[22]
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