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Post by nellie on Jan 21, 2011 7:50:14 GMT -1
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Post by Lee on Jan 21, 2011 17:45:08 GMT -1
well hell... "While Rosmerta appears with "Mercury" in various guises throughout Gaul and Britain, in these specific representations both of them are particularly linked to the concept of sovereignty. In Iron Age society the cohesion of a group around a chieftain was secured and given a sacred recognition by the means of a communal feast, in which a ritual drink served by the goddess of the land (a role played by a priestess or by the chieftain's consort) was shared, binding all the participants to their land, their ruler, and each other. Rosmerta was the divine keeper of the drink of sovereignty, while the spear-wielding "Mercury" was the archetype of all rulers, the Otherworldly protector of the earthly king." which i was suggesting back on page 1
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Post by Adam on Jan 21, 2011 19:56:20 GMT -1
now you are just being a smart arse ;D
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Post by nellie on Aug 6, 2011 10:55:37 GMT -1
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Post by potia on Aug 6, 2011 11:53:54 GMT -1
Interesting. Rosmerta isn't a goddess I have had any contact with so far or at least, not that I know of.
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Post by nellie on Aug 6, 2011 15:48:07 GMT -1
No me neither, but I'm keen to try to make contact. I'm still stuck at the research phase right now though I'd love to read 'lady with a mead cup' but it's a bit pricey. A general google search doesn't really pull too much up - tends to be the same information repeated again and again, but I hadn't come across the link to healing spring before so maybe this instance was just a localised thing?
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Post by Lee on Aug 9, 2011 12:34:46 GMT -1
this may be entirely nonsensical but it occurred to me yesterday.
what if Rosmerta is merely the title given in Gaul to the goddess we regard over here as Rigantona?
if we are looking at the land being represented as a goddess - Rigantona to us - and the sacred marriage and relationship with the King or Sovereign - embodied in Lugus, then doesnt it make sense that they would be seen together. with a name like 'great provider' it certainly sounds like the landscape abounding with growth and food.
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Post by nellie on Aug 9, 2011 13:34:45 GMT -1
It's something I've been wondering myself Lee, but I'm hesitant to say yay or nay. The Gaulish bowl is interesting - Queen and Rosmerta together could maybe be suggestive? Something for the linguists that one! I see quite a few similarities but there's also a bit there that isn't the same.
What is it they say though - absence of evidence is not evidence of absence?
If they were the same goddess under different titles it would be revealing, but surely Rosmerta's iconography would then have some sort of horsey representation? Possibly I'm over simplifying things by looking at it in this way?
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