Le culte des divinités féminines en Gaule Belgique et dans les Germanies sous le Haut-Empire romain

Studying the polytheist religions and cults of Antiquity means analysing the interactions between gods and humans. But we need to go beyond the mere description of a ritual or mythological narrative if we wish to aim for a better understanding of ancient cults in their whole complexity. Religions in Rome and her Empire are among the most commonly studied subjects. Unlike previous works that predominantly focused on the male deities in the Gallic provinces, this book aims to examine the goddesses in Gallia Belgica and the Germanic provinces in order to reconstruct the complex patterns underlying their cults.

The female deities are first approached by scrutinising critically their origins – Gallo-Germanic, Greco-Roman or Greco-Oriental – and the transformations and reinventions they were submitted to through contact with Roman culture. This is not enough to acquire the whole picture of the female cults in these provinces and we therefore need to scrutinise the available evidence for rituals and cult practices for each goddess. Comprehending ritual practices – ceremonies, votive offerings, animal sacrifices, banqueting, etc. –, forms of cult (public or private) and possible connection to the imperial cult are key to identifying collective mentalities, as worshippers communicated with each goddess on account of her particular functions by employing specific gestures and practices. But whatever the characteristics and the origin for each goddess, it is apparent that the practices and the rituals appear to derive from understandings of Roman cults.

The analysis of the cults of female deities from Gallia Belgica and the Germaniae necessitates a multi-level approach: first, a chronological approach to identify major breaks and profound transformations; second, a geographical approach to reveal local and provincial features and habits; third, a sociological approach to assist in understanding the dedicants’ expectations, from slaves and freedmen up to the elites.