Religion in antiquity is the theme of the Week of the Classics. But what do we know about the gods of the Germanic inhabitants of the Netherlands at the beginning of our era? Little, for the Germans made no statues of their gods. They did adopt all kinds of customs from the Romans, as we learn from the Roman writings.
The Romans called the inhabitants of the northern border of the Roman Empire, the Rhine, Teutons. This again included different peoples such as the Batavians between the Rhine and Waal and the Frisians in the north. Except from a few archaeological finds, we know little about their religion, because they have not written anything about it themselves. For the Week of the Classics, with the theme 'All gods! Religion in antiquity" we look at the gods in the present-day Netherlands at the time of the Romans. Roman historiography offers a solution.
Roman touch
The Germanic peoples did not make images of their gods. According to the Roman writer Tacitus (c. 56-117), the Germans believed that no justice was done to the heavenly dwellers by giving them a human appearance and imprisoning them in a temple. The archaeological finds from before the Roman period correspond to this idea. These mainly consist of sacrificial pits in which bones of animals and people have been found. It is also thought that the Germans saw certain places in nature as sacred, such as the meeting of rivers or a swamp. Water played an important role in this. At such locations, offerings have been found in the form of jewelry, weapons and again people.
Several Romans recorded the events in the distant barbarian land for the honor and glory of the Roman state. This is how Caesar described the wars he waged here. We cannot take these texts literally because they are not very unbiased. The barbarians, in this case the Germans, were of course inferior to the Romans:not so cultured and civilized, not to be trusted, and so on. However, these resources can still be used. This is because it also describes Germanic gods who had acquired a Roman tinge after mutual contact. Tacitus says in his book Germania :“They worship Mercury, to whom they also offer human sacrifices on certain days. Hercules and Mars propitiate them with lawful animals.” It is just not clear which Germanic gods these were originally.
Adopted Gods
The Romans were very easy to add foreign gods to their pantheon, as long as their followers respected the Roman gods and joined the cult. They were convinced that they were the same gods, who had different names in other areas. Tacitus called this the Interpretatione Romana, the Roman interpretation. For example, sacrifices to Hercules-Magusanus have been found at camps where Germans were encamped under Roman command. This supreme god of the Batavians was merged with the Roman demigod Hercules.
Important male gods romanized after the barbarians became part of the Roman Empire. By merging the names of a Roman with a native god, a new history was written that emphasized the alliance with Rome. Important in this was the origin myth, which had to be formally approved by Rome. With their descent from Hercules, the Batavi attained a higher status than tribes without a ancestry myth. In addition, joint participation in the cult of the military Hercules strengthened social unity among the Batavians, who in turn consisted of different tribes.
Indigenous gods
The Roman religious experience was a practical one. For example, you want to survive a long journey or heal from an illness. Then you promise to make a sacrifice to the deity in question if he or she grants your wish:do ut des (I give, that you may give). When the wish was granted, the happy or healed Roman had a votive stone made, an offering in stone with the payment of his debt carved on it. The Germans adopted this custom and such sacrificial stones have also been found in the Netherlands. Native gods were mainly thanked for this, but in a Roman way. The best known is Nehalennia. She probably had a temple near Domburg in Zeeland, but it was already swallowed by the sea in the third century. In 1647 it was first recorded that a votive stone with her name on it had been found on the beach. Especially since the 1970s, fishing nets often bring up pieces of altar, addressed to Nehalennia.
Nehalennia was a Germanic goddess of fertility and the patroness of shippers and merchants. Female deities mainly meddled in personal affairs and were usually worshiped quite locally. It was enough to put the word Dea (goddess) before the native name. With important male gods who looked after overarching interests, including the Roman ones, that was a different matter. Larger groups also worshiped these gods, so that they were given a Roman name for recognition.
The Batavian supreme god Hercules-Magusanus was such a god. He was probably also a god of war, because of the many recovered weapons that were sacrificed to him. Remains of temples (usually) in honor of Hercules Magusanus have also been excavated in the Netherlands. Traces of temples in Roman architectural style have been found in Empel en Kessel in Brabant and Elst in Gelderland:a closed rectangular building on a podium with columns and a triangular roof. These temples were located on a walled temple site. The statue of the god was in the temple and only the priest was allowed to enter. Outside, at the bottom of the stairs to the entrance, was the altar. On the site itself people gathered, not only to attend sacrifices, but also to trade and to catch up.
Shrines were often made of wood, but the important temples were made of natural stone. That had to be imported to our areas, which meant a hefty price tag. Cheaper small statues of bronze or stone for the house altar and amulets have been found for daily home-garden-and-kitchen worship. Many of these statues depict Jupiter, the supreme god of the Romans, and his wife Juno and daughter Minerva. Together they formed the divine trio, Trias Capitolina. Mercury, god of commerce, and Mars, god of war and maintainer of Roman peace, were also popular.
Temples and shrines can often be found in locations that held sacred significance before the Romans came around. The place where the rivers Roer and Maas meet was already dedicated to the goddess Rura. Kessel's temple to Hercules Magusanus stood at a place where the Maas and Waal rivers converged. Furthermore, temples were often located near a village or camp (castra e.g. Nijmegen). The only official Roman city (municipium ) was the current Voorburg, but no temple has been found here besides a small altar of Jupiter. It is suspected that it must be underground somewhere.
Renewed alliance
During the Batavian revolt led by Julius Civilis in 69-70 several wooden temples went up in flames. After the weather had calmed down somewhat, the Romans built larger specimens of stone in these places to confirm the new covenant. The temple of Elst is also such a rebuilt temple and the largest that has been found so far in the Netherlands. Because of its size, 31 by 23 meters and 15 meters high, the supreme god Hercules Magusanus was probably worshiped here. The temple of Empel was a smaller shrine to him. A statuette of the god and many sacrificed weapons have been recovered here.
After the Romans withdrew from the area of the Teutons in the third century and Christianity slowly made its entrance, the temples fell into disrepair. The precious stones were often used for other purposes, such as for churches. To make the transition to the new religion smoother, the Christians built these holy houses on the site where a shrine had previously stood. The church of Elst, for example, was built over the temple. After a proven Roman example.