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Solimara
A Gaulish Goddess: She who is Greatest
Solimara is a Gaulish goddess known from a single inscription found at Bourges, France. Her name is also associated with Soulosse-sous-Saint-Elophe, France where she was probably the tutelary goddess of the town. She may have been a mother goddess, with a strong healing aspect to her cult. |
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Gaul: She who is Greatest
Solimara is a goddess known from a single inscription found at Bourges in the Cher, France (CIL XIII 01195) where the goddess' name is associated with the carving of a horse surmounting what could be either a fish or a serpent. Toponymic evidence also suggests that Solimara was the protectress of modern-day Soulosse-sous-Saint-Elophe (north of Neufchâteau in the Vosges region of France). Durning Roman times the name of this place was Solimaricia (The town of Solimara) and coins struck here bear the goddess' name; strongly indicative that she was the tutelary deity of the town.
Beyond limited iconography and the goddess' name we have little information about her attributes, though her cult seems to have been of some import. Etymologically her name can be interpreted as being formed from the reconstructed proto-Celtic elements: *sollo- (all) and *māro- (large, great) along with the feminine ending -a. Thus her name can be rendered as 'She who is Greatest' indicating that she was a mother goddess. Her association with horses and serpents also indicates that her cult had healing aspects and that she may also have been considered as a psychopomp; conveying the spirits of the departed to the next world.
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