Re: Liburnan Isis in Germania

It might be that Tacitus did not have the true name of the Suebian
goddess, and recorded one that equated to Isis, who was basically one
of the 'Great Mother' goddesses. Why he chose to identify Isis from
this large group is curious, though. Could it be that she was the
eponymous goddess of the Suebians? A goddess named "Sue." Hmmm ;). We
might suspect that she is also found in Roman records as Nerthus and
in Snorri's writings as Frigga, IMO.

--- In cybalist@..., tgpedersen@... wrote:
> Tacitus: Germania
>
> 9.2
>
> "Pars Sueborum et Isidi sacrificat: unde causa et origo peregrino
> sacro parum comperi nisi quod signum ipsum in modum liburnae
> figuratum docet advectam religionem."
>
> "Some of the Suebi also make sacrifices to Isis. Of where the cause
> and origin of this foreign cult is, I have figured out very little,
> except that her image, shaped in the Liburnan fashion(?)/in the
> fashion of a Liburna(?) points to a religion coming from the
> outside."
>
> What is 'liburnae' here? My dictionary says: 'liburna' "light, fast-
> sailing warship; (Liburian/Dalmatian/Croatian galley/brigantine)"
> (Croatian??). This makes little sense (the goddess placed in a
model
> ship? Bronze age figurines once part of a model ship have been
found
> at Grevensvænge)? Liburnia, on the other hand, was the region made
up
> of Raetia and Vindelica.
>
> Can anybody help me out here?
>
> Normally when a Roman writer mentions that a Barbarian people
> worships a Mediterranian god, one assumes that he is using
> a "interpretatio Romana", and that the Barbarian god actually had
> another name and no relation to the one the writer identifies him
> with. But in this case Tacitus explicitly states that the cult is
> foreign (the "Liburna" thing also points in that direction). I
> suppose this means we can take him on his word, that this is
actually
> an Isis cult? Anyway, if a "native" Germanic goddess is meant here,
> who is it?
>
> And of course I shouldn't hide that I think this is another
> indication that the story of the "Odin" migration is true. Note we
> are talking about the Suebi here, the confederation of tribes which
I
> try to identify with Odin's first attempt at setting up a
> confederation, based on his own people, in Saxland (Germania).
>
> Torsten