The Goddess Nerthus & the Ancient Franks:

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

The Goddess Nerthus & the Ancient Franks:

(Pictured:Nerthus (1905) by Emil Doepler)

During the time of Roman expansion in Europe, the Romans encountered many Germanic tribes on the other side of the Rhine and Danube rivers.

The German people were a constant threat to the Empire since the first appearance of the Cimbri and Teutones at the end of the second century BC. Julius Caesar encountered them in his campaign in Gaul, in mid 1st century BC. In his memoir, called Gallic Wars, Caesar was able to distinguish the German from the Celts.

The origin of the German people was obscure, but it is believed that they were originally come from Scandinavia, before migrating to northern Germany and the Baltic. More Germanic tribes began migrating south, placing continuous stress on Roman defence frontiers.

A Roman historian named Tacitus, (fl. AD 100), who wrote Germania, provided some details of the German society culture and religion. Other writers including Strabo, Jordanes, and Procopius.

The continuous invasions and migrations on the Roman frontiers had caused instability and finally the collapse of the Roman Empire in the west.

NERTHUS

Nerthus was an ancient Germanic earth goddess. She was known since the time of the Roman Empire. Tacitus, the Roman historian in 1st-2nd century AD, identified Nerthus with the Roman goddess Terra Mater. Nerthus was a popular goddess since she was worshipped by seven Germanic tribes – Reudigni, Aviones, Anglii (Angles), Varini, Eudoses, Suarines and the Huitones.

***Tacitus recorded that each year there was festival where the goddess would supposedly travelled in a chariot pulled by two white heifers, escorted by the priest.***

No one was allowed to take up war or bear arms during the festivities. Even iron tools were locked up during the goddess' journey. It was good luck for those settlements she visited in her journey.

At the end of the festival, the priest would guide the chariot to a sacred lake, where Nerthus would bathe. Her chariot would be covered with a cloth. After the selected slaves bathed the goddess in the lake, the slaves were then drowned, as sacrifices to Nerthus.

***Nerthus' attributes also resembled that of the ancient Celtic counterpart, Matres or Matrone, the group of mother goddesses that was popular around the Rhine River.***

Though the worshipped of Nerthus seemed to ended in the 5th or 6th century, the later tradition says that she had been identified with Norse god, Njörd (Njord), the Vanir god of the wind and sea. Njörd was the male form of Nerthus. How had Nerthus undergone a change of sex, still baffled modern scholars [hermaphroditic deity].

Nerthus may well have been the unnamed sister and wife of Njörd, in the Norse myths, who became the mother of Freyr and Freyja. Though none of the Norse authors ever gave a name to Njörd's sister. Or she may well be the ancient form of Freyja herself. Since the Norse writers believed that the Vanir deities were older than the Aesir, then that Teutonic Nerthus became the Norse Freyja is more than likely true.
(Credit timelessmyth.com)