Celtic Gods: The Brythonic and Gaulish Goddess, Adsullata, She who is Gazed Upon
Adsullata
A Brythonic and Gaulish goddess, also known as Esyllt: She who is Gazed Upon

This deity is known from a single inscription found at Saudörfel, Austria and also the character of Esyllt from the Cymric (Welsh) tale of Drystan ac Esyllt which later became the tale of 'Tristan and Isolde'. It is thought that she originated as a Celtic solar deity and may well have had a healing aspect.

Synonyms: Esyllt
Bryth, Gaul: ?She who is gazed upon

Originally a Gaulish deity she was probably introduced to the insular Brython (as her cognate, Sul or Sulla) via Brittany or Belgium (Gaulish Armorica). This goddess in invoked at Saudörfel, Austria where she is invoked along with the god Savus. This link between Adsullata and Savus has led to her association with the Save Valley in Slovenia which is associated with her consort, Savus. It is thought that she may originally have been a localized solar deity and she only later became associated with the river Savus in Slovenia. She may either be cognate with or was the origin of the goddess Sul or Sulla as both theonyms may be etymologically linked to her name.

It has been proposed that the goddess' name is derived from the same root as the Cymric word syllu (to gaze) (the proto-Celtic *silīn [to look, to gaze]) and means something like 'She who is gazed upon'. By linguistic drift the name Adsullata eventually gave rise to the Cymric name Esyllt, heroine of the epic of Drystan ac Esyllt. Though whether the famous love of Tristan's originally retained some of the goddess' attributes can no longer be stated with certainty. Though it is likely as Tristan certainly had magical attributes in the surviving Cymric fragments of his tale. It is tempting to speculate that Adsullata may have had a healing aspect which survived in later mythos as Esyllt's prowess with herbs and the healing arts.

If, however, Adsullata was, originally a solar deity then she may have been the one doing the gazing. That is, she was the sun gazing down upon her people. Then that radiance was transferred back to the goddess as beauty.



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