Godin Nehalennia

The Temple of Nehalennia at Domburg

Ada Hondius-Crone

This book deals with the monuments dedicated to the Roman goddess Nehalennia and with the remains of her temple, which were revealed in 1647 after a terrific storm on the Domburg shore in Holland.
The reader who is not an archeologist may learn something new about the corner of Holland, nearest to England, while students of archeology will find here a complete collection of all the monuments of Domburg, twenty-eight of which were dedicated to the same divinity, namely to the goddess Nehalennia. She was protector of the sailor and the traveller on land, guardian of their precious goods, patroness of their ships and waggons. She was a goddess in whose name a temple was erected in the second and third centuries of our era. The men who shared in her benevolence placed votive offerings in this temple. These stones were provided with their names. The sanctuary was situated near the sea in the neighbourhood of the present-day Domburg in Zeeland on the critical point where the over-land-route and the sea-route met.
A veil is drawn over the essence of the goddess. Her name is not recorded in ancient writings, nor has her temple been mentioned in Roman times. The reliable records of the discovery in 1647 are scarce.
The author of this book has collected the data carefully and has greatly enlarged the results by her research. With stubborn tenacity she brought together the numerous fragments which were scattered about, thus trying to precise what threatened to be lost.
Making use of the finds she tries to revive for the reader the harbour near the temple and the sea route to England as they were in about the third century A.D.
The book includes a map of the district in that period and a publication of the documents describing the first finds, together with a survey of all the literature concerning the monuments, which has appeared during the last three centuries. New photographs are shown side by side with the drawings which engravers in the past made of the monuments. The last complete treatise dates from 1845 and hence the book supplies an urgent need for an up-to-date study.