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Post by Sìle on Aug 6, 2008 17:50:41 GMT -1
A 2000-year-old carving of a so-called "northern god", adopted by the Romans for protection and good luck, has been uncovered in Northumberland. The 40cm high figure, holding a shield in one hand and spear or sword in the other, was discovered near Chesters Fort on Hadrian's Wall. Experts say the find is exciting as it helps shed light on how people used local idols for protection. The carving is thought to be that of Cocidius, a Romano-British warrior god. Rock art expert Tertia Barnett said: "This is a completely unexpected discovery. "It shows how much there is still to discover about Northumberland's ancient past." The carving was uncovered by a team of volunteers looking for prehistoric rock art as part of the Northumberland and Durham rock art project. The rock has now been covered again to protect it. Research by the volunteers is on-going. Source: BBC News.
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Post by littleraven on Aug 6, 2008 18:24:47 GMT -1
Fascinating. The thing that's neve sat with me is that being a 'Romano-British' God is why would the Romans allow the natives to evoke a local God in His martial aspect when they have a habit of de-arming the locals? Playing with fire, so to speak.
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Post by Blackbird on Aug 7, 2008 13:34:52 GMT -1
Strange that one's appeared again - I looked at that discovery when researching my Horned Gods article, but uselessly, I can't find my notes on it now...
Many of the so-called Romans would have been local fellows anyway, so it's not surprising that the honouring of the local gods carried on in some form.
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Post by megli on Aug 9, 2008 12:52:21 GMT -1
Can't work out what Cocidius means. Possibly 'The Red One', but I'd have expected *Coccidius. Maybe the absence of the -c- isn't so important here.
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Post by Tegernacus on Aug 9, 2008 13:36:52 GMT -1
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Post by Tegernacus on Aug 9, 2008 14:01:30 GMT -1
"The red one" - I wonder if he was red because that's how the Romans described Mars, or whether he was red because that was the colour of blood?
Reminded me of something Dr Howell said in "Searching for the Silures" - the colour of war for that tribe was red*, ie thats what colour they painted their chariots etc. (Which is kind of contrary to the traditional "painted in blue woad" image we have) Maybe red was an "auspicious colour" with which to go hack some heads off.
(* which, Dr Howells argues, has fed through to more modern things like the Ddraig Goch and into such things as the Welsh Rugby kit. It's all primal. Or somesuch. There is prehistoric evidence for it, anyhow)
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Post by megli on Aug 9, 2008 16:38:23 GMT -1
As poor Emer says in 'The Sickbed of Cu Chulainn': 'Acht chena is álaind cech nderg, is gel cach núa, is caín cech ard, is serb cach gnáth...'. 'But whatever's red is beautiful, what’s new is bright, what’s tall is fair, what’s familiar is stale.'
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