In Celtic mythology, Sirona was a goddess worshipped predominantly in East Central Gaul and along the Danubian limes. A healing deity, she was associated with healing springs; her attributes were snakes and eggs. She was the sometimes depicted with Apollo Grannus or Apollo Borvo. She was particularly worshipped by the Treveri in the Moselle Valley. A Celtic cross incorporating the Celtic knotwork motif associated with later Celtic cultures Celtic mythology is the mythology of Celtic polytheism, the apparent religion of the Iron Age Celts. ... A goddess is a female deity, in contrast with a male deity known as a god. A great many cultures have goddesses, sometimes alone, but more often as part of a larger pantheon that includes both of the conventional genders and in some cases even hermaphroditic (or gender neutral) deities. ... Map of Gaul circa 58 BC Gaul (from Latin Gallia, c. ... Families Acrochordidae Aniliidae Anomalepididae Anomochilidae Atractaspididae Boidae Bolyeriidae Colubridae Cylindrophiidae Elapidae Hydrophiidae Leptotyphlopidae Loxocemidae Pythonidae Tropidophiidae Typhlopidae Uropeltidae Viperidae Xenopeltidae Snakes are cold blooded legless reptiles closely related to lizards, which share the order Squamata. ... Egg has multiple meanings. ... In Celtic mythology, Grannus (also Gramnos, Gramnnos) was a god of healing and mineral springs. ... In Celtic mythology, Borvo (to boil), also Bormo, Bormanus, was a deity worshipped in Gaul. ... The Treveri tribe of Gaul inhabited the lower valley of the Moselle, within the southern fringes of the vast Arduenna Silva (Ardennes Forest). ... Moselle River/Germany The Moselle (French Moselle, German Mosel, from Latin Mosella, little Meuse) is a river flowing through France, Luxembourg and Germany, joining the Rhine river at Koblenz. ...

Etymology of the name

The name of the goddess was written in various ways: Sirona, Đirona, Thirona (Jufer & Luginbühl pp.62-63), indicating some difficulty in capturing the initial sound in the Latin alphabet. The symbol Đ is used here to represent the Tau Gallicum, an additional letter used in Gaulish and pronounced sti- or tsi- (Eska 1998) - it is not a form of the letter "D". The root is Gaulish *ster- (*h₂ster) meaning a star. The same root is found in Old Irish as ser, Welsh ser, Middle Cornish steyr and Breton ster. (Delamarre p.282) The name Đirona combines the root *ster- with the -on- frequently, but not exclusively, found in theonyms (for example Epona, Matrona) and the usual Gaulish feminine singular -a. Gaulish is the name given to the Celtic language that was spoken in Gaul before the Vulgar Latin of the late Roman Empire became dominant in Roman Gaul. ... Gaulish is the name given to the Celtic language that was spoken in Gaul before the Vulgar Latin of the late Roman Empire became dominant in Roman Gaul. ... Irish (Gaeilge in Irish), a Goidelic language spoken in Ireland, the UK, and the USA, is constitutionally recognised as the first official language of the Republic of Ireland. ... Welsh redirects here, and this article describes the Welsh language. ... The Cornish language (in Cornish: Kernowek, Kernewek, Curnoack) is one of the Brythonic group of Celtic languages that includes Welsh, Breton, the extinct Cumbric and perhaps the hypothetical Ivernic. ... Breton (Brezhoneg) is a Celtic language spoken by some of the inhabitants of Brittany in France. ... This article is about the Celtic goddess; for the video game character, see The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time characters. ... In Celtic mythology, Dea Matrona (divine mother goddess) was the goddess of the river Marne in Gaul. ...

Evidence for Sirona

The evidence for Sirona is both epigraphic (inscriptions) and representational (sculptures and statues). As the map shows, it is primarily concentrated in east-central Gaul, up to the Germanic limes, and along the Danubian limes as fat east as Budapest. A few outliers are seen in Aquitaine, Brittany, and one in Italy. There are no Sirona finds in Britannia, Hispania, or in any of the other Roman provinces. Map of Gaul circa 58 BC Gaul (from Latin Gallia, c. ... Britannia, the British national personification. ... Hispania was the name given by the Romans to the whole of the Iberian Peninsula (modern Portugal, Spain, Andorra and Gibraltar) and to two provinces created there in the period of the Roman Republic: Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior. ... Map of the Roman Empire, with the provinces, after 120 AD. In Ancient Rome, a province (Latin, provincia, pl. ...

Map showing the distribution of Sirona inscriptions and representations

Image File history File links Sironadist. ...

Inscriptions

Some inscriptions, such as those at Bordeaux (CIL XIII 00582), Corseul (CIL XIII 03143), the three from Ihn in Saarland, Germany (AE 1994, 1256, AE 1994, 1257, AE 1991, 1248), Mainz (CIL 13, 06753), Mühlberg in Baden-Württemburg (CIL 13, 06327) and Trier (CIL 13, 03662) are to the goddess Sirona alone, deae Đironae. For the wine, see Bordeaux Wine City motto: Lilia sola regunt lunam undas castra leonem. ... Saarland is one of the 16 states of Germany. ... Map of Germany showing Mainz Mainz (French: Mayence) is a city in Germany and the capital of the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate. ... There are communes and places that have the name Mühlberg in Germany: Mühlberg (Elbe), in the Elbe-Elster district, Brandenburg Mühlberg (Thuringia), in the Gotha district, Thuringia Mühlberg (339) m, a mountain that is situated near Bahretal This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which... Furthermore there are nine independent towns, which dont belong to any district: Baden-Baden Freiburg Heidelberg Heilbronn Karlsruhe Mannheim Pforzheim Stuttgart Ulm History The state combines the historical states of Baden, Hohenzollern and Württemberg. ... Trier: The Porta Nigra, viewed from outside Location of Trier Trier (French: Trèves, Spanish: Treveris, Italian: Treviri) is Germanys oldest city. ...

More usually, Sirona is paired with Apollo, as in this inscription from [[Graux[[ (CIL XIII, 04661) in the Vosges mountains: Vosges is a French département, named after the Vosges mountain range. ...

Apollini et Si/ronae / Biturix Iulii f(ilius) / d(edit)

or this inscription from Luxeuil-les-Bains in Franche-Comte (CIL XIII 05424): Luxeuil-les-Bains is a town and commune of eastern France, in the Haute-Saône département. ... The Franche-Comté (the former Free County of Burgundy, as distinct from the neighbouring Duchy) is a region of eastern France. ...

Apollini / et Sironae / idem / Taurus

When paired with Sirona, Apollo is often assimilated with a Gaulish deity, such as Apollo Borvo or Apollo [Grannus]]. An example from Sarmizegetusa in Dacia (AE 1983, 00828): Gaulish is name given to the now-extinct Celtic language that was spoken in Gaul before the Romans, the Franks and the British Celts invaded. ... In Celtic mythology, Borvo (to boil), also Bormo, Bormanus, was a deity worshipped in Gaul. ... Sarmisegetuza was the most important Dacian military, religious and political center. ... Dacia, in ancient geography the land of the Daci, a subtribe of the Getae, was a large district of Central Europe, bounded on the north by the Carpathians, on the south by the Danube, on the west by the Tisa (Tisza river, in Hungary), on the east by the Tyras...

Apollini / Granno et / Sironae / C(aius) Sempronius / Urbanus / proc(urator) Aug(usti)

and another from Augsburg (AE 1992, 01304) where Sirona is given the epithet sancta (holy) and is joined by Diana: Augsburg is a city in south-central Germany. ... Diana was the equivalent in Roman mythology of the Greek Artemis (see Roman/Greek equivalency in mythology for more details). ...

Apollini / Granno / Dianae / [s]anct(a)e Siron(a)e / [p]ro sal(ute) sua / suorumq(ue) / omn(ium) / Iulia Matrona

A dedication from Großbottwar in Baden-Württemburg (CIL 13, 06458 = AE 1994, 01305) can be precisely dated to the year 201 CE by mention of the two consuls, L. Annius Fabianus and M. Nonius Arrius Mucianus: Furthermore there are nine independent towns, which dont belong to any district: Baden-Baden Freiburg Heidelberg Heilbronn Karlsruhe Mannheim Pforzheim Stuttgart Ulm History The state combines the historical states of Baden, Hohenzollern and Württemberg. ... The List of Roman Consuls from the Death of Commodus 193 Q. Pompeius Sosius Falco, C. Iulius Erucius Clarus Vibianus 194 Imp. ...

In h(onorem) d(omus) d(ivinae) Apo[lli]ni et Sironae / aedem cum signis C(aius) Longinius / Speratus vet(eranus) leg(ionis) XXII Pr(imigeniae) P(iae) F(idelis) et Iunia Deva coniunx et Lon/gini Pacatus Martinula Hila/ritas Speratianus fili(i) in / suo posuerunt v(otum) s(olverunt) l(ibentes) l(aeti) m(erito) / Muciano et Fabiano co(n)s(ulibus)

Depictions

At the sulphur springs of Alzey in Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany, a stone bas-relief shows Sirona wearing a long gown and carrying a patera in her right hand and a sceptre in her left. The identification as Sirona is assured by a dedication (AE 1933, 00140) to Apollo and Sirona. Alzey is a town of 18,111 inhabitants (2002) in Germany. ... Rhineland-Palatinate (German Rheinland-Pfalz) is one of 16 Bundesländer of Germany. ... The word patera has various meanings: A patera was a broad, shallow dish used for drinking, primarily in a ritual context such as a libation. ... A sceptre or scepter is an ornamental staff held by a ruling monarch, a prominent item of kingly regalia. ...

The richly furnished spring sanctuary of Hochscheid (Cueppers 1990; Weisgerber 1975) was decorated with statues of Sirona and Apollo, again confirmed by an inscription (AE 1941, 00089 = AE 1945, 00121) Deo Apolli/ni et sanc/t(a)e Siron(a)e ... (to Apollo and holy Sirona ...). The statue of Sirona shows her carrying a bowl of eggs (Green 1986 p.162) and holding a long snake coiled around her lower arm (a link to the iconography of the Greek healing goddess Hygeia, daughter of Asklepios). She wears a long gown and has a star-shaped diadem on her head (a link with the meaning of the name Sirona). In Greek mythology, Hygieia (Roman equivalent: Salus) was a daughter of Asclepius. ... Asclepius was the god of medicine and healing in ancient Greek mythology, according to which he was born a mortal but was given immortality as the constellation Ophiuchus after his death. ...

A bronze statue from Mâlain in the Côte d'Or and dating to around 280 CE (Deyts & Roussel 1994; Deyts 1998) shows Sirona naked to the waist and holding a snake draped over her left arm, together with a very classical Apollo with lyre. The inscription ( ILingons-M, 00002) is Thiron(a) et Apollo. Côte-dOr is a département in the eastern part of France. ... A Lyre is a stringed musical instrument well known for its use in Classical Antiquity. ...

A stone with an engraved bust of Sirona from Saint-Avold, now in the Musée de Metz, bears an inscription (CIL XIII 04498): Saint-Avold is a city and commune in the Moselle département, Lorraine région in northeastern France. ...

Deae Đironae/ Maior Ma/giati filius / v(otum) s(olvit) l(ibens) m(erito).

At Vienne-en-Val in the Loiret, a square stone pillar depicts Sirona, Apollo, Minerva and Hercules (Debal 1973). 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. Again there is a similarity with Hygeia, who also carries a snake. Indeed, when a statue has no inscription, it is not clear whether Sirona or Hygeia is depicted, a syncretism demonstrated by the inscription at Wein (AE 1957, 00114) which includes Sirona and Aesculapius, the Roman form of Asklepios: Loiret is a département in north-central France named after the Loiret River. ... Minerva was a Roman goddess of crafts and wisdom. ... Hercules and Cacus, by Baccio Bandinelli, 1525 - 1534. ... Cornucopia held by the Roman goddess Aequitas on the reverse of this antoninianus struck under Roman Emperor Claudius II. The cornucopia, also known in English as the Horn of Plenty, is a symbol of prosperity and affluence, dating back to the 5th century BC. In Greek mythology, Amalthea raised Zeus... The word patera has various meanings: A patera was a broad, shallow dish used for drinking, primarily in a ritual context such as a libation. ... In Greek mythology, Hygieia (Roman equivalent: Salus) was a daughter of Asclepius. ... Vienna (German: Wien [viːn]; Hungarian: Bécs) is the capital of Austria, and also one of Austrias nine federal states (Bundesland Wien). ... Asclepius was the god of medicine and healing in ancient Greek mythology, according to which he was born a mortal but was given immortality as the constellation Ophiuchus after his death. ...

[I(ovi)] O(ptimo) M(aximo) / Apollini / et Sirona[e] / [Ae]sculap[io] / P(ublius) Ael(ius) Luciu/s |(centurio) leg(ionis) X v(otum) s(olvit) / l(ibens) l(aetus) m(erito)

A different aspect of Sirona is shown at Sainte-Fontaine, where Sirona holds fruit and corn (Green 1986 p.161).

Temples

Several temples to Sirona are known. Often these were of the Gallo-Roman fanum type, an inner [cella] with an outer walkway or pronaos, and were constructed around thermal springs or wells, as at Augst (Bakker 1990) and Oppenheim-Nierstein (Cüppers 1990). A pronaos is the inner area of the portico of a Ancient Greek or Roman temple, situated between the colonnade or walls of the portico and the entrance to the cella or shrine. ...

At Budapest(in antiquity, Aquincum) a healing shrine at the spring which fed the aqueduct was dedicated to Apollo (presumably Grannus) and Sirona (AE 1982, 0806 Budapest (pronounced ) is the capital city of Hungary and the countrys principal political, industrial, commercial and transportation centre. ... Aquincum was the ancient Roman city which was the original settlement founding Hungarys capital city, Budapest. ... Pont du Gard, France, a Roman era aqueduct circa 19 BC, it is one of Frances top tourist attractions at over 1. ...

Apolini /et/Serana(e)/ T(itus)Iul(ius) MER/CATOR D(e)C(urio)/V[1]LM

It was established by the emperor Caracalla when he visited Pannonia, although Dio Cassius says (Roman Histories, 78.15) that the emperor Caracalla Caracalla (April 4, 186–April 8, 217) was emperor of the Roman Empire from AD 211–217. ... Position of the Roman province of Pannonia Pannonia is an ancient country bounded north and east by the Danube, conterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia. ... Dio Cassius Cocceianus (155–after 229), known in English as Dio Cassius or Cassius Dio, was a noted Roman historian and public servant. ...

received no help from Apollo Grannus, nor yet from Aesculapius or Serapis, in spite of his many supplications and his unwearying persistence.

Two inscriptions describe the establishment of temples to Sirona. From Ihn-Niedaltdorf an inscription (CIL XIII, 04235 = AE 1991, 1248) records the donation of a building and its furnishings at the dedicant's expense:

De[ae Sirona]e / aedem [cum suis or]na/mentis M[3] v(otum) s(olvit) l(ibens) l(aetus) m(erito)

At Wiesbaden in Hessen (in antiquity, Aquae Mattiacorum) an inscription (CIL XIII 07570) records the restoration of a temple by a curator at his own expense: Wiesbaden is a city in central Germany. ... Hesse is also the name of the German writer Hermann Hesse, as well as the German mathematician Otto Hesse. ...

Sironae / C(aius) Iuli(us) Restitutus / c(urator) templ(i) d(e) s(uo) p(osuit)

An elaborate shrine and temple complex at Hochscheid (Cüppers 1990) has already been mentioned. It was built in the second century CE around a spring, which filled a cistern in the temple. The remote location is thought to have been a pilgrimage site (Weisgerber 1975). It was destroyed in the third century, probably during the Germanic incursions of 250-270, and was never rebuilt.

References

• Année Epigraphique (AE), yearly volumes.
• Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (CIL) vol XIII, The Gauls and Germanies.
• Cüppers, H. (ed) (1990) Die Römer in Rheinland-Pfalz. Theiss. ISBN 3-8062-0308-3
• Delamarre, X. (2003). Dictionaire de la Langue Gauloise (2nd ed.). Paris: Editions Errance. ISBN 2-287772-237-6
• Debal, J. (1983) Vienne-en-Val, Divinites et Sanctuaires. Bulletin de la Société Archéologique et Historique de l'Orléanais, 42
• Deyts, S; Roussel, L. (1994) Mâlain, fouilles de Mediolanum : découverte, en juillet 1993, d'un buste de divinité de l'eau dans son contexte. Revue archéologique de l'Est et du Centre-Est - Dijon, 45 pp. 503-509
• Deyts, S. (1998). A la rencontre des Dieux gaulois, un défi à César. Paris: Réunion des Musées Nationaux.
• Dio Cassius, Roman Histories. Earnest Cary (trans), Loeb Classical Library. Available online
• Eska, J. F. (1998) Tau Gallicum. Studia Celtica 32 pp.115-127
• Green, M. (1986) Gods of the Celts. Gloucestershire: Sutton Publishing Limited. ISBN 0750915811. (Page numbering in reference above is to the 1986 edition, not the 2004 edition, ISBN 0750934794)
• Jufer, N.; Luginbühl, T. (2001) Répertoire des dieux gaulois. Paris, Editions Errance. ISBN 2-87772-200-7
• Weisgerber, G. (1975). Das Pilgerheiligtum Des Apollo Und Der Sirona Von Hochscheid Im Hunsruck. Bonn: Rudolf Habelt Press.

External Links

• Alzey sculpture (in German, illustrated) - includes an unreferenced woodcut of a temple to Apollo and Sirona
• Vienne-en-Val sculptures (in French, illustrated).

116 Sirona is an asteroid. 116 Sirona is a somewhat large and bright-colored main belt asteroid. ... An asteroid is a small, solid object in our Solar System, orbiting the Sun. ...