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Belenus

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For the asteroid, see 11284 Belenus.
"Belenos" redirects here. For the rugby club, see Belenos RC. For the star, see HD 8574.

Belenus (Gaulish: Belenos, Belinos) is an ancient Celtic healing god. The cult of Belenus stretched from the Italian Peninsula to the British Isles, with a main sanctuary located at Aquileia, on the Adriatic coast. Through interpretatio romana, Belenus was often identified with Apollo, although his cult seems to have preserved a certain degree of autonomy during the Roman period.[1][2]

Name

Attestations

The theonym Belenus or Belinus, which is a latinized form of the Gaulish Belenos or Belinos, appears in some 51 inscriptions. Although most of them are located in Aquileia (near modern Trieste, Italy), the main centre of his cult, the name has also been found in places where Celtic speakers lived in ancient times, including in Gaul, Noricum, Illyria, and the British Islands. According to philologist Helmut Birkhan, the widespread attestation of Belenus among ancient Celtic peoples may point to a Common Celtic origin of the cult.[3]

Linguist Blanca María Prósper argues that Belinos was probably the original form,[4] which also appears in the name Belyn [cy] (from an earlier Belinos), a Welsh leader who died in 627 AD.[3] Known variants include Bellinus and perhaps Belus.[5] The deity may also have been known in Ireland and Britain by the variants Bel, Beli, or Bile.[6] Furthermore, the river name Bienne (Biena in 1337 AD), present-day eastern France, and the place name Bienne (apud Belnam in 1142 AD), modern Switzerland, attest to a feminine form *Belenā.[7]

Etymology

Look up Belenus in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

The etymology of the name remains unclear. It has been traditionally translated as the 'bright one' or the 'shining one', by deriving the name from a Proto-Indo-European root *bʰelH-, interpreted as 'white, shining' (cf. Lith. báltas 'white', Grk φαλός phalós 'white', Arm. bal 'pallor', Goth. bala 'grey'). This theory was encouraged by the interpretatio romana of Belenos as the 'Gaulish Apollo', a divinity with sun attributes.[8][7]

However, this etymology has come under increasing criticism in recent scholarship. Xavier Delamarre notes that the proposed cognates stemming from *bʰelH- do not seem to connote 'shining', but rather '[pale] white' or 'grey', and suggests that Belenos may rather derive from the Gaulish stem belo- ('strong, powerful') attached to the suffix -nos ('lord, master'), which would lead to Belenos as the 'Master of Power'.[7] Alternatively, Peter Schrijver has proposed that Belenos might be an o-stem of the Indo-European root *bʰel-, designating the henbane (cf. Welsh bela, Germanic *bel(u)nōn, Slavic *bъlnъ), a psychoactive plant which was known as belenuntia in Gaulish and as apollinaris in Latin.[9] Bernhard Maier and Patrizia de Bernardo Stempel have also argued that the name may derive from a root *gwelH-, meaning 'source, spring'.[10][11] The 19th-century attempt to link the root bel- with the Phoenician deity Baal is now widely rejected by modern scholars.[5]

A village that is now part of the municipality of Aquileia is still named Beligna.[3] A tribal leader of pre-Roman Britain was named Cunobelinos (Old Welsh Conbelin), which possibly means 'hound of Belenos', or else 'strong as a dog' if the name is not theophoric.[12][5][13] The Old Welsh personal name Liuelin (modern Llywelyn) goes back to a similar compound *lugu-belinos (either a dvandva with the names of two deities, or else 'strong as Lugus').[13] The Brittonic variant of the name could be the source of the Billingsgate ward in London, although this may be a folk etymology, and possibly of the fountain of Belenton (now Bérenton) in the Brocéliande forest in Brittany.[6][5] The names of the Welsh and Irish ancestor-figures Beli Mawr and Bile may also be related.[5][14]

The Gaulish term belenuntia (Βελενούντιαν), designating the henbane, a hallucinogenic plant also known in Latin as apollinaris, may be a derivative form of Belenos.[15][16] The variant belenion, cited as a poisonous plant by Pseudo-Aristotle, appears to be the source of the Spanish beleño ('henbane').[16] The Gallo-Roman term belisa could have been borrowed into Old High German as bilisa (cf. modern German Bilsenkraut 'henbane').[3] Henbane was commonly used in antiquity for medicinal purposes, providing further evidence of Belanos' healing attributes.[17] A shallow stone dish found in Saint-Chamas (south of France) and dedicated to Beleino could thus have been used to hold hallucinogenic substances.[3]

According to Delamarre, the name of the goddess Belisama appears to be built on the stem bel(o)- ('strong, powerful') attached to the intensifying suffix -isama, and could thus been translated as 'Very Powerful'.[7] Schrijver rather links it to a stem for 'henbane', *beles-, attached to an unknown suffix -ma, and compares the name with the Gaulish theonym Belisa-maros.[18] The personal name Bellovesus can probably be translated as 'Worthy of Power', from bello- attached to uesus ('worthy, good, deserving').[7]

Epithets

In ancient Gaul and Britain, Apollo may have been equated with fifteen or more different names and epithets (notably Grannos, Borvo, Maponus, Moritasgus and others).[19]

An epithet of Belenus may have been Vindonnus. Apollo Vindonnus ("Le Lumineux"; "blanc, brillant")[20][21] had a temple at Essarois near Châtillon-sur-Seine in Burgundy. The sanctuary was based on a curative spring. Part of the temple pediment survives, bearing an inscription to the god and to the spirit of the springs and, above it, the head of a radiate sun-deity. Many votive objects were brought to the shrine, some of oak, and some of stone. Some offerings take the form of images of hands holding fruit or a cake; others represent the parts of the body requiring a cure. In many cases the pilgrims appear to have suffered from eye afflictions.[22]

Historical cult

Images of Belenus sometimes show him to be accompanied by a female, perhaps the Gaulish deity Belisama.[23] In Noricum, he may also have been accompanied by a female deity named Belestis (or Beléna, Beléstis Augústa, Beléstris, Belínca), worshipped as a "health-bringing goddess of light who watches over the birth and development of living beings". Two shrines dedicated to the goddess were found in Podljubelj in the Karawanks.[24]

Tertullian, writing in c. 200 AD, identifies Belenus as the national god of Noricum. Inscriptions dedicated to Belenus are concentrated in the Eastern Alps and Gallia Cisalpina, but there is evidence that the popularity of the god became more widespread in the Roman period. The third-century emperors Diocletian and Maximian each dedicated an inscription to Belenus in the region of Aquileia. A further 6 votive inscriptions of Belenus were discovered at Altinum, Concordia and Iulium Carnicum.[25] The soldiers of Maximinus Thrax, who laid siege to Aquileia in 238, reported seeing an appearance of the god defending the city from the air.[26]

He was associated with the horse (as shown by the clay horse figurine offerings at Belenos's Sainte-Sabine shrine in Burgundy) and also the wheel. Perhaps like Apollo, with whom he became identified in the Augustan History,[19] Belenos was thought to ride the Sun across the sky in a horse-drawn chariot.[27][better source needed]

Legacy

The Slovenian divinity Belin, attested in the 19th century by historian Simon Rutar, may provide evidence of the survival of Belenus' cult in the region and of its later integration into Slovenian beliefs, possibly blended with attributes of the Slavic god Belibog.[28][4] The local population regarded him as a great healer who could cure blindness with his 'key'.[29] Professor Monika Kropej also states that Belenus was possibly incorporated into the Slovenian lore as the beliči, a type of fairy-like beings.[24] An incised stone in southwestern Slovenia, called berlina by the local population, among other names, may also be related. It is connected to ancient rituals and features two primitively carved figures with heads ornamented with rays.[4]

  • Belenus is often sworn, 'By Belenos', by the Gauls on the Asterix franchise.

References

  1. ^ Schrijver 1999, p. 24: "Apart from the association with the Roman Apollo, little is known about the function and significance of Belenos (Pauly Wissowa s. v. Belenus). He is probably associated with medicine."
  2. ^ Birkhan 2006, p. 195: "Celtic deity whose name is often connected with the Graeco-Roman god Apollo (see interpretatio romana), although the cult of Belenos seems to have preserved a degree of independence ... Belenus was often identified with Apollo and seen as a typical Karnian oracle- and health-giving deity."
  3. ^ a b c d e Birkhan 2006, p. 195.
  4. ^ a b c Prósper 2017, p. 258.
  5. ^ a b c d e MacKillop 2004, s.v. Belenus.
  6. ^ a b Leeming 2005, p. 48.
  7. ^ a b c d e Delamarre 2003, p. 72.
  8. ^ Schrijver 1999, pp. 24–25.
  9. ^ Schrijver 1999, pp. 24–27.
  10. ^ Maier 1994, p. 40.
  11. ^ de Bernardo Stempel, Patrizia; Hainzmann, Manfred; Mathieu, Nicolas (2013), de Bernardo Stempel, Patrizia; Hofeneder, Andreas (eds.), "Celtic and Other Indigenous Divine Names Found in the Italian Peninsula", Théonymie celtique, cultes, interpretatio - Keltische Theonymie, Kulte, Interpretatio (1 ed.), Austrian Academy of Sciences Press, pp. 73–96, ISBN 978-3-7001-7369-4, JSTOR j.ctv8mdn28.8
  12. ^ Schrijver 1999, p. 27–28.
  13. ^ a b Prósper 2017, p. 262.
  14. ^ Schrijver 1999, pp. 30–34, 39–40.
  15. ^ Schrijver 1999, p. 27.
  16. ^ a b Delamarre 2003, p. 71.
  17. ^ Schrijver 1999, p. 26.
  18. ^ Schrijver 1999, pp. 30–31.
  19. ^ 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. Paris: Editions Errance. ISBN 2-87772-200-7.
  20. ^ Charrière, Georges. "La femme et l'équidé dans la mythologie française". In: Revue de l'histoire des religions, tome 188, n°2, 1975. pp 131. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3406/rhr.1975.6132; www.persee.fr/doc/rhr_0035-1423_1975_num_188_2_6132
  21. ^ Duval, Paul Marie. "Cultes gaulois et gallo-romains. 1. Données rituelles et mythologiques attestées". In: Travaux sur la Gaule (1946-1986). Rome: École Française de Rome, 1989 (Publications de l'École française de Rome, 116). p. 245. www.persee.fr/doc/efr_0000-0000_1989_ant_116_1_3665
  22. ^ Green Miranda. Dictionary of Celtic Myth and Legend. Thames and Hudson Ltd. London. 1997.
  23. ^ Koch, John T. (2006). Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, Inc. ISBN 1-85109-440-7.
  24. ^ a b Kropej 2012, p. 217.
  25. ^ Maier, Bernhard (2012). Geschichte und Kultur der Kelten. C.H.Beck.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  26. ^ Helmut Birkhan, Kelten. Versuch einer Gesamtdarstellung ihrer Kultur, p. 583.
  27. ^ "Britannia Celtic Gods: Belenos, God of the Sun". Archived from the original on 26 April 2014. Retrieved 2 July 2014.
  28. ^ Šašel Kos 2001, p. 14.
  29. ^ Šašel Kos 2001, p. 9.

Bibliography

Further reading

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