- Andraste
Andraste, according to
Dio Cassius , was a Celtic wargoddess invoked [ [http://www.cbc.ca/arts/features/kingarthur/ Warrior queens and blind critics] ] byBoudica while fighting against the Roman occupation of Britain in AD61 ::"I thank thee, Andraste, and call upon thee as woman speaking to woman [...] those over whom I rule are Britons, men that know not how to till the soil or ply a trade, but are thoroughly versed in the art of war and hold all things in common, even children and wives, so that the latter possess the same valour as the men. As the queen, then, of such men and of such women, I supplicate and pray thee for victory, preservation of life, and liberty against men insolent, unjust, insatiable, impious." [
Cassius Dio . [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/62*.html Published online by Bill Thayer] . Cf. also the Gaulish goddessAndarta .]She is mentioned only once. She may be the same as Andate, mentioned later by the same source, and described as 'their name for Victory', i.e. the Goddess Victoria. [
Cassius Dio . [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/62*.html Published online by Bill Thayer] . Cf. also the Gaulish goddessAndarta .] Thayer asserts that she may be related toAndarta also. The goddess Victoria is related to Nike, Bellona,Magna Mater ,Cybele , andVacuna —goddesses who often are depicted onchariots .Andraste and hares
Many
Neopagan sources describe thehare as sacred to Andraste. This seems to derive from a misreading of the passage in Dio Cassius in which Boudica releases a hare from her gown:The hare's release is described as a technique of
divination , with an augury drawn from the direction in which it runs. This appears to be similar to the Roman methods ofdivination which ascribe meaning to the directions in which birds fly, with the left side being auspicious and the right side inauspicious. ["Religio Romana," [http://www.religioromana.net/augury.htm "Augury"] .]Taking an
augury at this point before a battle is thus a means of testing the 'good fortune' of which Boudica speaks, with no implication that the hare is sacred to Andraste. More importantly, the unflattering comparison of the Romans with 'hares and foxes' is not consistent with the reverence one would expect if the hare were a symbol of the Goddess. Boudica is evidently giving thanks to Andraste for the omen of victory and not addressing the hare as Andraste.References
External links
* [http://www.thewhitegoddess.co.uk/goddess/andraste.html Somewhat speculative page on Andraste and Boudica.]
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