Albruna
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Albruna, Aurinia or Albrinia are some of the forms of the name of a probable Germanic seeress who would have lived in the late 1st century BC or in the early 1st century AD. She was mentioned by Tacitus in Germania, after the seeress Veleda, and he implied that the two were venerated because of true divine inspiration by the Germanic peoples, in contrast to Roman women who were fabricated into goddesses. It has also been suggested that she was the frightening giant woman who addressed the Roman general Drusus in his own language and made him turn back at the Elbe, only to die shortly after, but this may also be an invention to explain why a consul of Rome would have turned back. In addition, there is so little evidence for her that not every scholar agrees that she was a seeress, or that she should be included in a discussion on them. She may also have been a minor goddess, a matron.
Her name has been discussed since the 19th century based on various different forms in the manuscripts where her name appears, and several theories have been put forward, of which Albruna used to be the most accepted one. The emendation Albruna has been explained with definitions such as 'having secret knowledge of elvish spirits', 'confidante of elves' and the 'one gifted with the divine, magical powers of the elves'. However, in 2002, the interpretation Albruna was seriously questioned by a Swedish scholar, who called it a "phantom name" (spöknamn), and since then more scholars have begun to doubt that the form was correct, and may be more in favour of the forms Aurinia and Albrinia. Other suggestions are that it has been derived from a Germanic word *auraz meaning 'water', 'sand' and 'luster', or that it may be a hybrid word containing the Latin word aureum for gold, but they have not become generally accepted. Moreover, it is pointed out that the emendation Albruna is noteworthy in its possible meanings, and that it is similar to the name of another early Germanic priestess.
Drusus
Her name appears in Tacitus' Germania. In spite of the extensive treatment of the Germanic peoples in the work, only four are mentioned by name, and she is one of them beside the seeress Veleda and the kings Maroboduus and Tudrus.[1] The context is a part of his work where he mentions the position of sanctity that women held among the Germanic tribes.[2]
sed et olim Albrunam et compluris alias venerati sunt, non adulatione nec tamquam facerent deas.[3][4]
but in ancient times also they reverenced Albruna and many other women — in no spirit of flattery, nor for the manufacture of goddesses. (Hutton's and Peterson's translation).[5]
and in former times, too, they revered Albruna and a number of other women, not through servile flattery nor as if they had to make goddesses out of them. (Birley's translation).[6]
The reference to "making goddesses out of women" is considered to serve to contrast the Germanic reverence of their seeresses with the Roman custom of deifying female members of the imperial family, such as Drusilla, and Poppaea.[7] It is a sarcastic comment on Roman customs,[8] because according to Tacitus, the Germanics identified divine inspiration when they saw it, while the Romans made it up.[9]
Simek comments that it is not clear from the text whether she was a seeress, like Veleda, but she may have been a matron.[2] Orchard agrees that although she was likely a seeress, it is possible that she was one of the matrons, who are like Albruna "now little more than names" and attested in more than 500 inscriptions.[10]
Since there is no mention of the time when she would have lived, some scholars locate her in the time of Germanicus' campaign (AD 11–16), while others set her in the time of Drusus and Tiberius.[11]
Much (1967) and Kienast identify her with the tall but unnamed Germanic seeress who addressed Drusus in his own language and frightened him so much with her prophecies that he did not dare cross the Elbe with his troops in 9 BC and returned after which he died.[12] The account was mentioned by both Cassius Dio and Suetonius.[12][13]
Drusus was a consul and the stepson of emperor Augustus, and he was conducting a military campaign in the territories of the Suebes. He was stopped by a barbarian woman (barbara mulier) of superhuman size who warned him that he should not continue further with his army. However, he did not heed the warning but resumed the march until he reached the Elbe. He gave up crossing it, but erected a monument in his own honour. On his return from the Elbe he was injured and died in the summer camp before he could return to Rome.[14]
Cassius Dio (book LV):
From there he proceeded to the country of the Cherusci, and crossing the Visurgis, advanced as far as the Albis, pillaging everything on his way. The Albis rises in the Vandalic Mountains, and empties, a mighty river, into the northern ocean. Drusus undertook to cross this river, but failing in the attempt, set up trophies and withdrew. For a woman of superhuman size met him and said : "Whither, pray, art thou hastening, insatiable Drusus ? It is not fated that thou shalt look upon all these lands. But depart; for the end alike of thy labours and of thy life is already at hand." It is indeed marvellous that such a voice should have come to any man from the Deity, yet I cannot discredit the tale; for Drusus immediately departed, and as he was returning in haste, died on the way of some disease before reaching the Rhine. (Cary's translation).[15]
Suetonius:
He also killed many of the enemy and forced them far back into the most remote places of the interior, not leaving off his pursuit until an apparition, in the form of a barbarian woman but of greater than human size, gave a warning, in the Latin language, that the victor should not press further on. (Edward's translation).[16]
She may indeed have lived in the Elbe region at the time of Drusus, and may very well have been the one Drusus encountered.[17] However, as commented by Okamura, the encounter with Drusus may have been a creation by the Roman public opinion c. 9 B.C. to explain why their army could have turned back. Since they would have had some familiarity with the northern Germanic seeresses, they could have imagined that only the supernatural powers of these sorceresses could have thwarted the advance of the Roman legions. It is also possible that the encounter may have been fabricated by Drusus' friends to give an honorable explanation as to why he retreated and soon mysteriously died, and so the account may give an insight into the public Roman imagination, and not about the seeresses of the Germanic tribes.[17]
