The strongest evidence we have of the Norse Goddess Freyja comes to us, unsurprisingly perhaps, from Scandinavian sources. But did you know that we may have a representation of her found in the archaeological record from Germany?
I was reading Alexandra Pesch’s article “GOLD BRACTEATES AND FEMALE BURIALS: MATERIAL CULTURE AS A MEDIUM OF ELITE COMMUNICATION IN THE MIGRATION PERIOD“, found within the book Weibliche Eliten in der Frühgeschichte/Female Elites in protohistoric Europe (edited by Dieter Quast), which mentions the earlier discovery of a phalera from Eschwege-Niederhone near Hessen, Germany.
Phalerae were ornamental discs (usually metal-wrought) that adorned Roman style military standards or harness especially for ceremonial purposes. They could represent unit medallions, medals, victories and more. We know the Celts also used them on equestrian tack, or even for religious purposes. We know there were both Celtic and Germanic legionnaires in the Roman military complex, and we have evidence of syncretization between Roman and Germanic cultures through which we see Romano-Germanic syncretized gods like: Hercules Magusanus, Mercurius Cimbrianus, Mercurius Hranno, etc. We also have over a thousand known votive altars to the Matronae in the Rhineland. These altars were rendered in a Roman style, with Latin inscription, representing Germanic (and sometimes Celtic) numinous female deities. So seeing connections between Roman art styles with Celtic and Germanic motifs is established archaeological fact. And this cultural exchange could lend itself to religious iconography placed on a phalera. (If we think of the widespread Germanic tribal diaspora we can point to other examples of divine iconography on military related items. Examples include the Torslunda Plates , boar crested helmets suggesting ties to possibly Freyr, and the very Odinic helmet found at Sutton Hoo where one of the garnet rimmed eyes were dark and the other garnet-rimmed eyed intentionally backed by gold to be more illuminated in appearance).
The phalera in this case depicted a female figure flanked by what we think are a pair of cats, holding a possible reflex bow (or bent staff). The Goddess Freya is described as having two cats. We see this mentioned in Gylfaginning and Skáldskaparmál. We also know her as a Goddess with a tie to the war dead, so seeing her with martial weapons wouldn’t be too much of a stretch, which is why she remains a contender for the female figure depicted. A theory exists connecting the depiction of the female figure on the phalera to the female figure on the B-Type bracteates (aka Fürstenberg types), which scholar Marit Gaimster describes in his Vendel Period Bracteates on Gotland, as “a female figure, in a short skirt and double-looped hair, holding a stave or sceptre in her right hand and a double-cross feature in the left”.
The female figure on the phalera is wearing a crown with pendilia (ornamental, often bejeweled fringe) dangling from it. She has epaulettes with a similar placement to bracteates that we see in the finds from other various female burials. To me, her hair appears divided into two twin forward facing tails, each end of the tail seems to be secured by the ribbon knot style we see in other archaeological finds found in Scandinavia such as on some of the guldgubber embossings found at Sorte Muld, or the presumed Valkyrie figure from Hårby. But whereas those other finds show the ribbon knot hairstyle as occurring singularly, not as twinned in the hair style on the phalera.
While we are uncertain if the ribbon knot hairstyle had a cultural value assigned to it beyond mere aesthetic choice, it is apparent by the frequency of it’s depiction in archaeological relics that it was recognizable to those ancient heathen cultures.
While we don’t know if the female figure on the phalera was definitively meant to be a representation of the Goddess Freyja, it is certainly interesting food for further contemplation. Remember, there’s far more out there to consider than what survives to us written in the Eddas alone.
Wyrd Designs 