Ganuenta

Ganuenta was an settlement of roman antiquity near the Zeelandic place Colijnsplaat. It was situated on the southern shore of the river Scheldt.

Replica of the temple of Nehalennia at Colijnsplaat

    There was a tempel for the goddess Nehalennia here. Little is known about Nehalennia, but it must have been a Celtic or Germanic goddess. She had power over trade and seafaring. Many travellers would visit Ganuenta on their journey, to pray to Nehalennia for a safe journey over sea. The large amount of altarstones indicates that it was a major site for the worship of the goddess. In 1970 altars and remains of the temple were lifted out of the Eastern Scheldt. In 2005 a replica of the Gallo-Roman tempel was openend to the public in Colijnsplaat.

    Finds after 1970

    On 14 April 1970 fisherman K.J. Bout found parts of an altar to Nehalennia in his nets, while he was fishing near Colijnsplaat. Focussed searches in 1970 and 1971 (and later in 1974) resulted in the finds of about 240 altars and statues, votive stones and remains of a roman building. These are now stored and displayed in the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden. These were found in the Schaar of Colijnsplaat, a fairway in the Eastern Scheldt, where the temple of Nehalennia once stood.

    The names of the persons who gifted the statues and altars show they were merchants from Italia, Cologne, Trier and Britannia. They traded in salt, fish sauce and textiles. Other wares were ceramics from the area around the Rhine, terracotta figurines from Cologne and Trier, and wine from Southern France and the Mosel-area. One inscription found translates to: "Before Nehalennia, Marcus Exingius Agricola, citizen of Trier, salt merchant in Cologne, has fulfilled his promise, willing and with reason.". The majority of the votive offerings were donated by merchants to beseech the goddess for safe passage to Britannia.

    In the period after the year 300 the tempel disappeared into the Schaar of Colijnsplaat, near the settlement of Ganuenta. Sinds 1999 a group of Flemish amateur archaeologists of the Landelijke Werkgroep Archeologie Onder Water (national working group underwater archaeology) works to map the bottom of the sea, around the location where the temple disappeared beneath the waves. In 2004 a replica of the temple was built in Colijnsplaat.

    • www.nehalennia-tempel.nl A website about the temple (in Dutch).
    • Jan. J.B. Kuipers en Robert Jan Swiers, Het verhaal van Zeeland, blz. 26–27, Verloren B.V, 2005 ISBN 90-6550-843-0 (in Dutch)
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