1. Meaning of Name: Both Olmsted and Mackillop assert that the name means either “eye” or “sun” or both. Green is content to say that the name is “linked philologically with the sun”.1
2. Pronounciation: SUL-is, with the “u” like in “put”.
3. Other names and Epithets: Olmsted gives us Solimara, Sulevia, Sulevias, Suleviae, Sulevis, and Idennica. Noémi Beck disputes this association of the Suleviae, asserting that the etymology of their name is not in fact related to Sulis, and that they should not be linked to her.2
4. Interpretatio Romana: Famously Minerva.3
5. Irish Equivalent: Grian, the Sun.4
6. Indo-European Equivalent: Sawélyosyo Dhugeter, the Sun Goddess.5
7. Realm: Ueronadâ/Upper World Goddess.
8. Iconography: Sulis is depicted as a typical Romano-Celtic Minerva. She is famously worshipped in the healing shrine at Aquae Sulis, modern Bath, England.6
9. Significance: Sulis is the Sun Maiden, and also a major healer. As another deity of Fire in Water, hot springs are associated with her. It should be noted that inscriptions to her are very largely found in Britain. It is possible that she is a British deity, and that she was not known on the Continent. If so, this would suggest that the Ancient British had a Sun-Maiden, Sulis, while the Continental Gauls had a Sun-God, Grannus.7
- Olmsted, Gods of the Celts and Indo-Europeans, p. 364; Mackillop, p. 393; Green, Dictionary, p. 200-201 ↩
- Olmsted, Gods of the Celts and Indo-Europeans, pp. 362-363; Beck, Goddesses in Celtic Religion: Cult and Mythology: A comparative study of Ancient Ireland, Britain, and Gaul ↩
- Olmsted, Gods of the Celts and Indo-Europeans, p. 363; Green, Dictionary, p. 201 ↩
- Olmsted, Gods of the Celts and Indo-Europeans, p. 364 ↩
- Serith, Deep Ancestors, pp. 70-71 ↩
- Green, Dictionary, pp. 200-202 ↩
- Green, Dictionary, pp. 200-202; Olmsted, Gods of the Celts and Indo-Europeans, p. 362-364 ↩