Nodens

Nodons, also Nodens, is the name of a revered in ancient Celtic Kingdom of God. He is described as the god of healing, the water and the dogs. Dedicatory inscriptions prove his adoration in Lydney Park, Gloucestershire today.

Worship

The sanctuary at Lydney Park seems to have been built by the local archaeological finds Nodons honor. In addition to votive offerings, which bear the name Nodons, a bronze statue was found, which is a drawn by four horses, wagons, on which a man stands with a mace, and a monument on which a man kills a fish. This monument also bears the inscription with the name Nodons. Furthermore, here was also a bronze dog and a shattered mosaic of fish shapes - but without nameltliche Assignment - detected. On a votive tablet with a dog image Nodons is also mentioned.

More dedicatory inscriptions were found in Cocker sand Moss (City of Lancaster) in the county of Lancashire, but these are now considered lost.

Interpretation

There are attempts to derive the name Nodons from the Gothic, with niutan " reach, attain " and nuta " fishermen, hunters, scavengers " is taken as a basis. Furthermore etymological parallels to the Irish legendary figure and deity Nuada and the Welsh form of Nudd be drawn. Recurring attributes such as a silver hand ( and Nuada Nudd ) to the bronze hand Nodons substantiate this suspicion.

Nodons was further identified by the interpretatio romana with Mars. Other sources also attest to equate with Silvanus.