Сулис: Кельтское божество термальных источников Бата

Celtic water deity

In the localised Celtic polytheism practised in Great Britain, Sulis was a deity worshiped at the thermal spring of Bath. She was worshiped by the Romano British as Sulis Minerva, whose votive objects and inscribed lead tablets suggest that she was conceived of both as a nourishing, life giving mother goddess and as an effective agent of curses invoked by her votaries.

The exact meaning of the name Sulis has been a matter of debate, but an emerging consensus among linguists regards the name as cognate with Old Irish súil ("eye, sight"). A common Proto Celtic root *sūli , related to the various Indo European words for "sun" (cf. Homeric Greek ηέλιος, Sanskrit sūryah, from c *suh2lio ) has also been proposed, although the Brittonic terms for "sun" (Old Breton houl, Old Welsh heul) feature a diphthong that is absent from Sulis and they are not attested as a feminine form or with the i inflection. Pierre Yves Lambert argues for a Proto Celtic form *su wli , composed of the prefix su ("good") attached to the Celtic verbal theme *wel ("to see"). The medieval Welsh personal name Sulgen (< Sulien; "born from Sulis") and the Breton personal name Sul, borne by a local saint, are also related.

Sulis was the local goddess of the thermal springs that still feed the spa baths at Bath, which the Romans called Aquae Sulis ("the waters of Sulis"). Sulis was likely venerated as a healing divinity, whose sacred hot springs could cure physical or spiritual suffering and illness. According to scholar Miranda Green, the cult of Sulis at Bath was active until the mid fourth century CE. Her name primarily appears on inscriptions discovered in an extensive temple area to her at Bath, with only a single instance outside of Britain at Alzey, Germany. At the Roman temple at Bath, several ancient additions to the altar area suggest that sacrifice there was a major part of worshipping the goddess. The open area surrounding the altar may have been used for processions and public offerings of meats and liquids. From the evidence of funerary inscriptions discovered on the site, it appears that visitors to the sacred springs may have included retired soldiers, soldiers acting as tourists, and/or soldiers looking for relief from injury or illness. In order to afford the inscriptions, those who recorded their visit with altars or tombstones would likely have been of higher status. This coal would have been brought by slaves, who would also assist in cleaning and service for cult meals.

About 130 curse tablets, mostly addressed to Sulis, have been found in the sacred spring at the Roman baths in Bath. Typically, the text on the tablets offered to Sulis relates to theft; for example, of small amounts of money or clothing from the bath house. It is evident, from the localized style of Latin ("British Latin") used, that a high proportion of the tablets came from the native population. In formulaic, often legalistic, language, the tablets appeal to the goddess Sulis to punish the known or unknown perpetrators of the crime until reparations are made. Sulis is typically requested to impair the physical and mental well being of the perpetrator, by the denial of sleep, causing normal bodily functions to cease, or even by death. These afflictions are to cease only when the property is returned to the owner or disposed of as the owner wishes, often by its being dedicated to the goddess. One message found on a tablet in the Temple at Bath (once decoded) reads: "Docimedis has lost two gloves and asks that the thief responsible should lose their minds [sic] and eyes in the goddess' temple." The tablets were often written in code, by means of letters or words being written backwards; word order may be reversed and lines may be written in alternating directions, from left to right and then right to left (boustrophedon). While most texts from Roman Britain are in Latin, two scripts found here, written on pewter sheets, are in an unknown language which may be Brythonic. They are the only examples of writing in this language ever found. The only dated tablet of the collection is Bath tablet 94, though no year is given alongside the day and month. This can be inferred, however, by comparison to handwriting used on other tablets, which range from the 'Old Roman cursive' of the second and third centuries CE to the 'New Roman cursive' of the fourth century CE. Sulis' pre Roman presence has also been suggested by the discovery of eighteen Celtic Iron Age coins at the lowest levels of the site, as documented by Barry Cunliffe in 1988. This is one of the reasons Sulis is named first in the syncretic Sulis Minerva. Through the Roman Minerva syncresis, later mythographers have inferred that Sulis was also a goddess of wisdom and decisions. Of the 17 dedicatory altars and bases found at the Roman temple at Bath, 9 evoke Sulis Minerva through her single or double name. In particular, there are two altars found at the Cross Bath (RIB 146) and Hot Bath (RIB 150) sites respectively, which list 'Sulis Minerva' in full.

Sulis has a number of modern day worshipers among the Wiccan and pagan communities.