Greyhorn Pagans

  Before I get back into the creation myth series I want to sidetrack just a little and tell the story of Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome.  It's a cool story with a lot going on including but not limited to fratricide. So strap in, hold tight cause here we go. A little backstory first. Legend has it that Ascanio (son of the Trojan hero Aeneid (or Aeneas ) (whom I covered in the Roman origin story) founded the city of Alba Longa on the right bank of the river Tiber . Many of the ascendants of Aeneid reigned there peacefully until Nimitor became king. When Nimitor was king his brother Amulius seized the power and dethroned Nimitor (nothing like some brotherly rivalry, right?) , killing his male heirs and forcing his daughter, Rhea Silvia , to become a Vestal Virgin so that she would not provide a male heir to the throne. (Vestal Virgins were charged with keeping a sacred fire that was never to be extinguished and were sworn to chastity.) Nevertheless she gav...

  Nehalennia (Celtic: "she of the sea"): ancient goddess, venerated in the Roman age at the mouth of the river Scheldt.  All of them can be dated to the second and early third centuries CE. Most pieces show a young female figure, sitting on a throne in an apse between two columns, holding a basket of apples on her lap. Nearly always, there is a wolf dog at her side. In some cases, the fruit basket is replaced by something that looks like loaves of bread; in other cases, we can see the woman standing next to a ship or a prow. Several inscriptions inform us that the votive altar was placed to show gratitude for a safe passage across the North Sea, and we may assume that other altars were dedicated for the same reason. (Of course, this does not mean that all pieces were erected after a safe passage.) An example of a typical inscription: To the goddess Nehalennia, on account of goods duly kept safe, Marcus Secundinius Silvanus, trader in pottery with Britain, fulfilled his vow ...