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Nehalennia was a goddess worshipped on the coast of today's Netherlands (Domburg and Colijnsplaat, province of Zeeland) – in the Germanic-Celtic border zone on the North Sea. Her name cannot be interpreted with certainty; the worship falls in the Roman imperial period (2nd–3rd c. AD).
Nehalennia was above all the protective goddess of traders and seafarers. Whoever wished to cross the stormy North Sea to Britain made her an offering and vowed a votive stone if the crossing succeeded. In her images she appears with typical attributes: a dog at her feet, a cornucopia or basket of fruit (prosperity) and often a ship's prow (safe voyage).
What is special: Nehalennia is no footnote but attested by over 300 altars and votive stones – many recovered from 1970 onward from the Oosterschelde, where a sunken temple precinct lay. This makes her one of the best documented deities of the whole North Sea region and shows how closely religion and trade were linked.
"Wits must he have who wanders wide, but all is easy at home."Hávamál 5, after Henry A. Bellows 1923 (public domain)
Nehalennia reminds us that religion on the North Sea was very practical: a goddess trusted before the voyage – and thanked in stone after a safe return. Related is the Rhineland Matronae cult.
The Matronae · Germanic Religion · Celtic Religion · Interpretatio Romana · Nerthus – the earth goddess.
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