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Sirona
A Gaulish Goddess: also known as Serona, Sarona, Dirona, Sthirona, Đirona: The Star Goddess
Sirona (Serona, Sarona, Dirona, Sthirona, Đirona) is a Gaulish goddess known from almost 30 inscriptions foun in Germany, France, Austria, Romania, Switzerland and Italy. She is also known from statues and carvings where she is invariably accompanied by the Gaulish 'Mercury'. She is a goddess of healing, often depicted with that symbol of rebirth, the snake, draped around her arm. |
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Gaul: The Star Goddess
Sirona is a goddess known from a number of inscriptions (almost 30) scatered throughout northern Gaul (Southern Germany, Northern France, Romania, Austria, Switzerland) and also Italy. As Sirona she is known from Mainz, Maximiliansau, Mühlburg and Wiesbaden in Germany. She is also named in Bitburg, Grossbotwar, Hochscheid, Alzey, Nierstein again in Germany where she is invoked along with Apollo. At Augsburg in Germany she is invoked as Diana Sirona and invoked with Apollo Grannus (with whom she is also invoked at Baumberg, Germany). In France Sirona is invoked at Corseul, Côtes-d'Armor and Gironde in Bordeaux as well as Flavigny in Cher, Luxueil in the Haute-Saô;ne and Walschbronn in the Moselle where, once again, she is invoked with Apollo. Inscriptions to this goddes have also been found at Vienna in Austria as well Augst in Switzerland where once more she is invoked with Apollo. At Rome in Italy, Breta and Sarmizegetusa in Rumania she is invoked along with Apollo Grannus. The same goddess is invoked as Serana in Budapest, Hungary (where she is invoked with Apollo) and as Serona at Le Mans, France where she is invoked as Serona Sivelia and associated with Apollo Atesmertius. A theonymic homonym for Sirona seems to be Dirona (which reflects the consonatal shift from an initial 'S' to a 'D' or 'H' common in P-Celtic languages) and she is invoked by this name at Ihn and Trier, Germany as well as Alise-Sainte-Reine, Côte d'Or and Saint-Avold, Moselle, France and Andernach in Luxembourg. Though an inscription from Saint-Avold indicates that it is not an initial 'D' that is intended but the Gaulish sound 'Đ' which can be rendered as 'sth'. The inscription itself reads Deas Đironae Maior Magiatis Filius VSLM (To the goddess Sthiorna, the son of Maior Magiatis willingly and deservedly fulfils his vow). The problem encountered with rendering of Sthirona's name using the lating alphabet is further indicated by the inscription on the bronze statue of the goddess from Mâlain in the Côte d'Or (above) which is dedicated to Thiron(a) et Apollo. Further fragmentary inscriptions that may be dedicated to Sirona have also been fond at Niedaltdorf and Worms, Germany as well as Nuits-Saint-Ceorges in the Côte d'Or, France (where she is invoked with Apollo) and Sion in the Meurthe-et-Moselle, France. The insciption dedicated to Seranae (Serana) at Budapest in Hungary also probably represents this selfsame deity.
A number of the inscriptions dedicated to Sirona occur on statues depitcing the goddess so that other statues depicting a similar goddess in the company of Gaulish Apollo can also be attributed as depictions of this deity (it is from a number of these that the association of Sirona with Apollo Borvo comes). The first image above, that of Sirona naked to the waist and holding a snake comes from the Mâlain bronze where the goddess is accompanied by a classical Apollo with Lyre. The centre image is derived from the Vienne-en-Val relief where the goddess is shown on one face of a stone pillar that also bears images of Apollo, Minerva and Gercules. Sirona wears a long dress and a diadem, from which falls a veil. Her left hand holds a cornucopia and in her right is a patera which she is offering to a coiled snake. The third image is derived from the Alzey relief hows Sirona wearing a long gown and carrying a patera in her right hand and a sceptre in her left. Above her are the suggestions of serpentine forms. In Celtic belief the serpent was both a symbol of sovereignty and a symbol of healing. Thus it can be assumed that Sirona was a healing goddess. This is confirmed by Sirona's linking with Apollo, Grannus and Borvo as well as by a dedication at Wien which invokes both Sirona and Aesculapius (this being the Romanized form of the Greek healer god, Asklepios): I(ovi) O(ptimo) M(aximo) Apolloni et Sirona (Ae)sculap(io) P(ublius) Ael(ius) Lucius (centurio) L(egionis) X VSLLM.
The several temples known to be dedicated to Sirona are all of the fanum type (with an inner chamber or cella encircled by an outer walkway or pronaos and they are all constructed around either thermal springs or wells. The most inpressive of these was the santuary complex at Hochscheid in Germany. It is built around a spring which filled a cistern in the temple itself and its remote location probably meant that it was a pilgrimage site. Here a status of the goddess was found where she holds a bowl of eggs in her left hand and her right hand points towards this. Around her right forearm a serpent has wound itself. What is interesting about this statue is that the goddess wears a star-shaped diadem about her brow (an obvious link to the meaning of her name).
Sirona's name is can be derived from the reconstructed proto-Celtic elements *ster- (star) along with the deific particle -on- and the feminine ending -a. Thus Sirona is the 'Star Goddess'.
If you would like to try the foods of the time of the ancient Celts, then why not have a look at the ancient recipes section of this site. For the foods of the time when some of these tales were written down, take a look at the Medieval recipes section of the site and, in particular, the recipes from The Forme of Cury.
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