Nodens is a Celtic healing god that was worshipped by the Celts of Britain. He is mostly known from the remains of a Romano-Celtic temple at Lydney Park in Gloucestershire. As well as being a healing god, Nodens seems to have had associations with the sea. This would not be unusual in Celtic religions, and divine sea imagery was also common at healing shrines in Gaul. The Romans seem to have compared him to Mars, who was principally a god of war but also had healing powers.
What’s in a Name?
The name Nodens is derived from a Latin inscription at the shrine in Gloucestershire, but the Celtic etymology of the name is unclear. It may be related to the Welsh noun nudd, which means mist, haze, or fog. It could also be linked to the Celtic stem neud, which means to catch, attain, or acquire. It could also be linked to neued, which means need.
Nodens at Lydney Park
The shrine for Nodens at Gloucester is of Romani-Celtic design. Measuring 72 by 54 meters, it has three chambers. It has been suggested that these chambers served as dormitories for sick visitors to sleep in as they waited to experience a vision of the divine presence in their dreams.
Dozens of figures of dogs have been found at the site, presumably placed there as offerings. Dogs were associated with healing in the ancient world. They may have been votives, and/or there to guide those seeking healing on their vision journey.
Excavations at the site also revealed a strong association with sea imagery. They found a bronze relief depicting a priest’s ceremonial headdress decorated with images of a sea deity, fishermen, and tritons, plus a merman with hammer and chisel. This suggests that Nodens may also have been considered a god of the sea. Sea images have also been found at curative shrines in ancient Gaul. At Lydney Park, the floor was originally decorated with a mosaic showing dolphin, fish, and sea monsters.
The site also revealed a bronze plaque of a woman, about 320 pins, nearly 300 bracelets, and over 8,000 coins. These were probably all left as votive offerings. Archaeologists also recovered oculists’ stamps used to mark sticks of eye ointment, similar to examples found in Gallo-Roman healing sanctuaries.
Several Latin inscriptions found around the temple remains are also revealing.
A curse dedicated to Nodens reads: Silvianus [the Roman god of hunting and wild nature] has lost his ring and given half to Nodens. Among those who are called Senicianus do not allow health until he brings it to the temple of Nodens.
This curse seems to relate to a gold ring found at Silchester in Hampshire dating from the 4th century CE. According to the inscription, it was originally the property of a British Roman called Silvianus, as indicated by a faded inscription, but it was stolen by a man named Senicianus, who placed a new inscription on the ring. It seems that Silvianus cursed the thief to poor health until he returned the ring to the temple of Nodens.
It is known that J.R.R. Tolkien studied this inscription and ring and that it may have served as inspiration for his own ring, and Nodens as inspiration for Sauron.
Several inscriptions relate Nodens to the Roman god Mars, with dedications to Mars Nodens by the weapon instructor Flavius Blandinus, by Pectillus, and by Titus Flavius Senilis, the superintendent of the cult, with the work being the charge of the dream interpreter. This final inscription suggests that one mode of healing at the temple was for an interpreter to suggest healing practices based on dreams.
The temple was built on an iron ore mine, and Nodens was also known as the lord of mines. This may explain the hammer and chisel imagery that also appears on the sea crown. Mines were generally associated with the underworld.
Other Temples of Nodens
At Cockersand Moss in Lancashire, we only have a silver statuette, that is now sadly lost but had an inscription on the base that was a dedication to Mars Nodons.
Another curse tablet found at Ratcliffe-on-Soar in Nottinghamshire may also indicate a shrine of Nodens. While the inscription (below) does not mention Nodens, researchers believe it was deposited at a shrine of Nodens in the area.
To the god Jupiter best and greatest there is given that he may hound … through his mind, through his memory, his inner parts (?), his intestines, his heart, his marrow, his veins … whoever it was, whether man or woman who stole away the denarii of Canius (?) Dignus that in his own person in a short time he may balance the account. There is given to the god above named a tenth part of the money when he has (repaid it?).
There is some evidence that the same god may have been worshipped at Mainz in Germany, as there is mention of Noadatus, who is also invoked alongside Mars.
One of the Tuatha De Danann?
While this evidence for the worship of Nodens comes from Romano-Celtic Britain, it is possible that Nodens was related to the Celtic-Irish god Nuada Airgetlam, the first king of their pantheon known as the Tuatha De Danann.
He was an early king but was disqualified from the position after losing an arm. No longer hole, he could no longer rule. He was later restored to power after he was given a magically working silver arm. This earned him the epithet Airgetlam, which means silver arm.
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