DIJON, FRANCE
This, the Sanctuary of Sequana, was one of the most important sanctuaries in Gaul, at the source of the Seine River. Its Roman name was Fontes Sequanae, “The Springs of Sequana.” Probably this site was visited as a sacred spot for hundreds of years before the Romans arrived, but during the Roman period it was developed on a grand scale. There was an extensive religious complex with a focus on a pool by a spring. The cluster of buildings included two temples and a colonnaded precinct.
This major sanctuary was presided over by the goddess Sequana, who was portrayed in a bronze figurine as a goddess standing in a duck-prowed boat. Her arms are outstretched in a gesture of welcome.
Among and beneath the Romano-Celtic remains there are the remains of the older Celtic sanctuary. These were discovered in the 1960s when the Roman period buildings were excavated. The Iron Age sanctuary was found in a waterlogged layer, which helped to preserve the almost 200 wooden votive offerings. These offerings included models carved in oak or beechwood of various body parts: arms, legs, heads, and internal organs. They show that the sanctuary was a healing sanctuary and they also show the sorts of ailments people suffered from: arthritis, blindness, goitres, hernias, milk deficiency, and infertility or impotence. In the first century BC, pilgrims journeyed to the healing spring at the source of the Seine to leave models of their physical problems.
Many of the models showing the complete figure are crudely carved, but the head is more carefially depicted. This may be because it was considered important for Sequana to recognize the person she was going to cure, or it may be a by-product of the need to carve the eyes in a way that made it clear that they were closed; many of the pilgrims were blind or partially sighted.
The late Iron Age votives were distinctly Celtic in character and seem to represent a population that was rather poor.
By the Roman period, the “visitor experience” was more organized, more lavish, and may have catered for people coming from a larger area. In the first century AD,
When the buildings were erected, there was an organized healing ceremony, followed by sleep in dormitories to wait for the cure to take effect. It may well be that the colonnaded precinct was designed as a dormitory.
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