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Artist
Andre Charles Voillemot
(1823 - 1893)
French
Title
Velleda
Date
c. 1869
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
230 x 148 cm
Location
Museum of Fine Arts of Rennes
Image size
380 x 594 pixels
File size
43.65 KB
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Velleda or Veleda was a virgin wise-woman of the Bructeri, a woman with the ability to foretell the future. She was believed to have a direct line of communication with the gods and was held in great reverence throughout Germany, even reaching the status of deity among many.
During her time in Germany a number of women were thought to have prophetic powers and were regarded as divine beings, of these Veleda was one of the best known. Her fame rose rapidly after she foretold the fall of the Roman legions at Vetera.
She lived alone in a tower and met with no one except for a special attendant through whom all of her predictions were made. Eventually she was captured by the Romans, her fate remains unknown.
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