Sequana: a Gaulish Goddess, (The Fast-flowing One)

Synonyms: Secuana, Siquanna
Gaul: The Fast-flowing One

Sequana is a goddess known from nine inscriptions found either at Saint-Germain-la-Feuille or Salmaise, both near Dijon at the source of the Seine, Côte D'Or, France. In seven of these she is invoked as Deae Sequanae, but in one she is invoked as Secuanae (Secuana). This inscription (CIL XIII 02863) contains many spelling errors and indicates that the original pronunciation of Sequana would have been something like Sek-ooana. This makes sense as Gaulish is a P-Celtic language and does not contain the Indo-European sound k^w represented in English by the symbol q. One of the inscriptions occurs on what was once a sanctuary situated on a series of terraces climbing a low cliff some 30km north-west of Dijon. This is the site of the Fontes Sequanae, presumably the primary shrine to Sequana and is located at the spring source of the Seine. Thus it would seem that Sequana was the tutelary goddess of this river (indeed, Strabo names the river as Sequana in his Cosmogeny) as well as being the tutelary goddess of the local Sequanae tribe.

Fontes Sequanae is fascinating in terms of its location, history and what was discovered there. Though little more than foundations remain today, two pottery vessels were discovered. The first of these contained over a hundred carved effigies of eyes, breasts, limbs, heads and even internal organs. The second vessel contained over eight-hundred such carvings. Images such as these are generally linked with healing centers and the carvings represent the affliceted area in need of the deity's attention. Based on the carvings found at the sacred site, ocular and respitatory problems seem to have predominated. It would seem that the pilgrims attending her sacred shrine would have wound their way up the terraces, past streams and cisterns conveying her sacred waters before enterig a dormitory building where they would take the 'sacred sleep' in the hopes of receiving a vision of the healer goddess. At the top of the hill would have been the main sanctuary and this, at least in Roman times, would have contained an image of the goddess. The only surviving image of Sequana is a large bronze statue of a woman draped in a Romanesque gown and with a diadem on her head who stands on a boat, the prow of which was shaped like the head of a duck (see above). This statue can now be seen in the Museé Archeologique de Dijon. Though duck lore is scarce in later Celtic wirting it may be, by association with Sequana as a healing water goddess that the duck was also associated with healing cults. Indeed, inscriptions at the site thanking Sequana for her gift of healing conclusively prove that Fontes Sequanae was a healing centre and Sequana herself was a healing goddess.

From other surviving inscriptions it would seem that Sequana's sanctuary was usurped by Christianity and re-dedicated to a supposed male saint, St Sequanus so that the healing cult of the goddess continued, only in a different guise. The goddess is also invoked as Siquanna at Saint-Germain-la-Feuille, Côte d'Or, France.

Sequana's name has proved to be very dificult to interpret, in no small part because of the confusion betweeen the 'q' (k^w) and 'k-oo' sounds in the name. However, if the name is truly P-Celtic then the first syllable would be sek- and may be derived from the reconstructed proto-Celtic root *sek-lā- (leg) from which is derived the Cymric word hegl (leg) and the verb heglu (to run [away]), compounded with the intensifier *an(a) and the feminine ending a her name can be interpreted as 'The Fast-flowing One' which would be compatible with a deity who was originally a river goddes who then became a healing deity.

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