Page:The Celtic Review volume 3.djvu/49

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
34
THE CELTIC REVIEW

and perhaps were often regarded only as members of groups. On the other hand, individual gods are numerous, while grouped gods are rare. Here, too, we do not find traces of the worship of one deity at the expense of others, but the ancient type of worship of groups seems to hold its own. Prof. Rhŷs has noted the absence of Ματρεβο along with Άνδοουναβο near Avignon. It is noticeable that here there are no traces of the worship of Quadriviae.

3. The district between Lugdunum and the Lower Rhine.—This is a large district, which may be roughly regarded as extending from Lugdunum to Trèves (Augusta Treverorum) and thence to Cologne and to the mouth of the Rhine. From this large and important district many inscriptions containing names of Celtic deities have come down to us, and in this respect it stands in very marked contrast to the districts in the west of Gaul. Except in the neighbourhood of Cologne, grouped goddesses are here conspicuous by their absence. In their stead we find several individual goddesses, often associated with some god, and some of these goddesses appear to have attained to more than a strictly local worship. In accordance with the plan already adopted of dealing with the group-goddesses first, the worship of Matres may be first considered. At Langres there are three inscriptions with the words Matra[b(us)] and Matra, [Ma]tris, and [Ma]trab[us], respectively. These, together with the Mairsæ of Dijon, may be regarded as forming the northerly representatives of the group-goddesses of the Rhone valley and its neighbourhood, which were discussed in the previous section. If we now cross into the Rhine valley, we reach another zone of Matres or Matræ. In this zone the Matres are generally qualified by some local or descriptive adjective. At Bonn we have an inscription dedicated ‘Matiribus domesticis,’ and probably another also of the same type. At Andernach we have the formula ‘Matribus suis.’ On the road from Zahlbach to Mainz there is an inscription ‘Iovi optimo maximo et Matribus.’ At Frankfort on the Main, we have Matribus, and similarly at Heddernheim. At Ell, in Alsace, we have Matrabus, and at