Au fil de Sirona… la déesse de Mediolanum/Mâlain

In 2014, the realization of a diagnosis in Mâlain (Côte-d'Or) offered the opportunity to better discern the site of the western sanctuary of Mediolanum, ancient antique agglomeration of the city of Lingons. In this great religious complex, ancient finds had shown the existence of a cult to Mars Cicolluis and Litavis/Bellona. Recent research shows that in the sanctuary, the faithful also addressed the god Apollo Mogetimarus and the goddess Sirona for healing purposes. Indeed, two inscriptions and the discovery of seven anatomical ex-votos illustrate in an exceptional way a cult rendered to this couple of healing deities already attested by the group of statuettes discovered in Mâlain in 1977. The sculpture exhumed during the diagnosis represents the Goddess partially dressed as a nymph. This representation is faithful to the image of the statuette and this iconography appears as isolated in the well-identified corpus of this divine figure. The sculptures, notably from the sanctuaries of Alésia (Côte-d'Or) and Hoscheid (Rhineland-Palatinate), show Sirona dressed in a long tunic. In the company of the serpent, the goddess of Mâlain is not without evoking a sculpture discovered in Cologne identified as a representation of Hygie. A goddess of Celtic origin with a well-marked identity, Sirona seems to have enjoyed a special favor in Roman Gaul and in Germany for her salutary role.