Northern mythology

2G0
EPITOME OF GERMAN MYTHOLOGY.
precludes all doubt on the subject. But with respect to
the temples^ of which mention is made, either on the
Rhine or in Gaul (where the greater number occur), it is
doubtful whether they are not rather to be considered as
Keltic, which
the invading Franks and Burgundians appropriated
to themselves; as heathenism is inclined to
dedicate to its own worship places regarded by others as
holy. With respect to other places, the accounts supplied
by the authorities are so vague, that it cannot be pronounced
with certainty whether the question is of a temple
or a grove, as the " fanum arboribus consitum,^' which is
mentioned among the Langobardi ^, can certainly have
been only a grove. The fourth chapter of the Indiculus,
" De casulis, i. e. fanis,^^ may refer to small buildings,
in which probably sacrificial utensils or sacred symbols
were kept^.
The paucity of temples among the Germans implies also
a paucity of idols among them ; for the heathen temple
did not, like a Christian church, serve for the reception of
a holyday congregation, but was originally a mere shelter
or house for the image of the god.
Certainly we are not
justified in totally denying the presence of images ; as it
is expressly stated that the Gothic king Athanric (ob. 382)
caused a carved image to be carried about^, which, like
Nerthus, was everywhere received with prayers and oiFerings.
Nor are we, at the same time, justified in assuming
the fact of their existence among all the German
nations ; and although in the authorities idola and simulacra
are repeatedly mentioned, and great zeal is manifested
against the folly of the heathen, in expecting aid
from images of gold, silver, stone and wood ;
yet are these
only general forms of speech directed against idolatry, and
^ Vita S, Bertulfi Bobbiensis (ob. 640), in Act. Bened. sec. 2, p. 1G4.
2 Miiller, p. 65.
2 %Qavov e