Senuna
Sign in to saveAlso known as Senua
frame|right|The silver Senuna statue recovered in 2002 Senuna was a Celtic goddess worshipped in Roman Britain. She was unknown until a cache of 26 votive offerings to her were discovered in 2002 in an undisclosed field at Ashwell End in Hertfordshire by metal detectorist Alan Meek. Her imagery shows evidence of syncretism between a pre-Roman goddess with the Roman Minerva (for a parallel, cf. Sulis Minerva, the Romano-British goddess worshipped at Bath).
~4 min read
Article
7 sectionsContents
- Offerings to Senuna
- Inscriptions
- Iconography
- Name and etymology
- Modern worship
- Sources
- Further reading
frame|right|The silver Senuna statue recovered in 2002 Senuna was a Celtic goddess worshipped in Roman Britain. She was unknown until a cache of 26 votive offerings to her were discovered in 2002 in an undisclosed field at Ashwell End in Hertfordshire by metal detectorist Alan Meek. Her imagery shows evidence of syncretism between a pre-Roman goddess with the Roman Minerva (for a parallel, cf. Sulis Minerva, the Romano-British goddess worshipped at Bath).
Senuna's shrine consisted of a ritual midden, onto which offerings were thrown, surrounded by a complex of buildings including workshops and accommodation for pilgrims. It was certainly no humble crossroads shrine. The dedicatory artefacts kept in the shrine were subsequently buried together on the edge of the midden, perhaps intended for temporary safe-keeping, in the late 3rd or 4th century CE.