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Helvetia (/hɛlˈviːʃə/)[1] is anational personification ofSwitzerland, officiallyConfoederatio Helvetica, theSwiss Confederation.
The allegory is typically pictured in a flowing clothing, with a spear and a shield emblazoned with theSwiss flag, and commonly withbraided hair and awreath as a symbol ofconfederation. The name is a derivation of theethnonymHelvetii, the name of theGaulish tribe inhabiting theSwiss Plateau before theRoman conquest.
The fashion of depicting the Swiss Confederacy in terms of female allegories arose in the 17th century. This replaced an earlier convention, popular in the 1580s, of representing Switzerland as a bull (German:Schweizer Stier).
In the first half of the 17th century, no single allegory was identified asHelvetia. Rather, several allegories represented both virtues and vices of the confederacy. On the title page of his 1642Topographia,Matthäus Merian depicted two allegorical figures seated below the title panel: one is the figure of an armedEidgenosse, representing Swiss military prowess and sovereignty, the other is a femaleAbundantia allegory crowned with a city's ramparts.[2]
Female allegories of individual cantons predate the singleHelvetia figure. There are depictions of aRespublica Tigurina Virgo (1607), aLucerna shown in 1658 with the victor ofVillmergen,Christoph Pfyffer, and aBerna of 1682.
Over the next half-century, Merian'sAbundantia would develop into the figure ofHelvetia proper. An oil painting of 1677/78 from Solothurn, known asLibertas Helvetiae, shows a femaleLibertas allegory standing on a pillar.In 1672, an oil painting by Albrecht Kauw showed several figures labelledHelvetia moderna. These represent vices such asVoluptas andAvaritia, contrasting with the virtues ofHelvetia antiqua (not shown in the painting).
On 14 September 1672, a monumental baroque play by Johann Caspar Weissenbach was performed inZug, entitledEydtgnossisch Contrafeth Auff- und Abnemmender Jungfrawen Helvetiae. The play is full of allegories illustrating the rise ofHelvetia and her decadence after the Reformation. In the 4th act, theAbnemmende Helvetiae or "Waning Helvetia" is faced withAtheysmus andPoliticus while the old virtues leave her. In the final scene, Christ appears to punish the wayward damsel, but the Mother of God andBruder Klaus intercede, and the contrite sinner is pardoned.
Identification of the Swiss as "Helvetians" (Hélvetiens) becomes common in the 18th century, particularly in theFrench language, as in François-Joseph-Nicolas d'Alt de Tieffenthal's very patrioticHistoire des Hélvetiens (1749–1753) followed by Alexander Ludwig von Wattenwyl'sHistoire de la Confédération hélvetique (1754). Helvetia appears in patriotic and political artwork in the context of the construction of a national history and identity in the early 19th century, after the disintegration of the NapoleonicHelvetic Republic, and she appears on official federal coins and stamps from the foundation ofSwitzerland as a federal state in 1848.
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TheSwiss Confederation continues to use the name in its Latin form when using any or all of its four official languages is inappropriate or inconvenient. Thus, the name appears on postage stamps, coins, and other uses; the full name,Confœderatio Helvetica, is abbreviated for uses such as theISO 3166-1 alpha-2 andvehicle registration code CH, and theccTLD,.ch.
Notably, translations of the term Helvetia still serve as the name for Switzerland in languages such asIrish, in which the country is known asAn Eilvéis,Greek, in which it is known asΕλβετία (Elvetia) andRomanian, in which it is known asElveția. InItalian,Elvezia is seen as archaic, but thedemonym noun/adjectiveelvetico is used commonly as a synonym ofsvizzero. InFrench, Swiss people may be calledHelvètes. The German wordHelvetien is used as well as a synonym ofSchweiz and has a higher poetic value.Helvetien is also more common in Germany; the German-speaking Swiss useHelvetia orHelvetica as poetic synonyms for their country.
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