Nantosuelta

A depiction of Nantosuelta from Speyer, showing her distinctive sceptre and birds. The head of Sol can be seen in the tympanum.

In Celtic mythology, Nantosuelta is the goddess of nature, the earth, fire, and fertility

A 1948 article suggests that there is an uncanny resemblance between Nantosuelta and what we know of the Irish goddess The Morrígan, who was associated with death and war. The two are compared and the authors suggest that Nantosuelta was cognate to the Irish Morrígan.[1] This theory is not widely held or found in more recent scholarship on the subject.

The Mediomatrici (Alsace, Lorraine) depicted her in art as holding a round house on a pole and with a crow. Other likely depictions show her with a pot or bee hive. Nantosuelta's round house may have symbolized abundance. It was believed that Nantosuelta transformed into a crow on the battlefield, which was an appropriate transformation for the goddess or may have been a metaphor for her ability to powerfully navigate a battlefield.[2]

Nantosuelta is often associated with water and depicted as being surrounded by water. The goddess's name literally translates as 'of winding stream' or 'sun-drenched valley'.[3][better source needed]

Nantosuelta is attested by statues and by inscriptions.

  1. ^ Heichelheim & Housman, 314.
  2. ^ Heichelheim & Housman. Sucellus and Nantosuelta in Mediaeval Celtic Mythology.
  3. ^ Journeying to the Goddess: The Goddess Nantusuelda, Weblog Februari 11, 2012.