- Chapter Twenty-Five -
1970: 208- 1 7; Thevenot 1968: 60-73; Duval 1976: 70; Green 1992a: 142-3;
Collingwood and Wright 1965: 213). Mercury was equally diverse: his titles or
surnames include Cissonius and Moccus (Duval 1976: 70; Thevenot 1968: 157).
Jupiter was surnamed Brixianus in Cisalpine Gaul and Parthinus in north-east
Dalmatia, both topographical names associated with high places: these are just two of
many such titles (Pascal 1964: 76-83; Wilkes 1969: 165). Apollo was worshipped in
Gaul mainly as a healer: Moritasgus, Grannus, Belenus and Vindonnus are among his
epithets (Green 1992a: 30-2). Sometimes the Celtic name comes first: a good example
is Sulis Minerva, the healer-goddess of Bath (Aquae Sulis). The pairing of Roman and
Celtic god-names is confusing and difficult to interpret (Webster 1986b). Sometimes
the Celtic surname is descriptive - hence Mars Rigisamus (,Greatest King') at West
Coker in Somerset (Collingwood 193 I: fig. I, 2), or topographical, like Apollo
Grannus at Grand in the Vosges (de Vries 1963: 82-3). But Sulis was clearly a goddess
in her own right, equated in the Roman period with the classical Minerva.
Another method of epigraphic pairing concerns the linkage of male and female
divinities (see Figure 25.12). A pattern may be discerned here, in that, very fre-
quently, the male deity bears a Roman or Roman and Celtic name, whilst that of the
female is wholly indigenous. Examples include Mercury and Rosmerta; Apollo
Grannus and Sirona; Mars Loucetius and Nemetona. Sometimes both members of
the divine couple have Celtic names: such is the case with Sucellus and Nantosuelta;
Luxovius and Bricta, the local spirits of Luxeuil; or Ucuetis and Bergusia, the craft
deities of Alesia (Green 1986a: 46; 1989: 46-54, 75-86; 1992a: 180-1, 160). Again the
native element may often be interpreted as descriptive: 'Sucellus' means 'The Good
Striker' (and his iconographic image is that of a man bearing a long-shafted hammer);
Nantosuelta's name means 'Winding Brook'; Rosmerta is 'The Great Provider';
Nemetona 'The Goddess of th~ Sacred Grove'. Interestingly, goddesses like
Rosmerta and Sirona may be invoked alone, without their partner, thus signifying
their independent status within the Celtic pantheon.
Epigraphy gives us the names of many more purely native divinities, sometimes
linked with images. Such is Epona, the great horse-goddess, worshipped all over
the Celtic world (Figure 25.5) (Green 1992a: 90-2; Linduff 1979: 817-37; Magnen
and Thevenot 1953; Oaks 1986: 77-84). The mother-goddesses or deae matres are
interesting: often they are known merely by their Latin title 'matres' or 'matronae',
but they may bear descriptive epithets which bear witness to localized versions of
their cult. The Rhineland mother-goddesses bear outlandish-sounding topographical
surnames, such as the Matronae Aufaniae or the Vacallinehae (Green 1992a: 146-7;
von Petrikovits 1987: 241-54; Lehner 1918-21, 74ff.). The Celtic thunder-god Taranis
is sometimes equated with the Roman Jupiter, but his occurrence alone on several
inscriptions argues for his independent identity (Green 1982: 37-44; 1986b: 65-76).
The god of the Lydney (Glos.) sanctuary, Nodens, is invoked on his own, but he is
also linked with both Mars and Silvanus (Henig 1984: 51-6; Green 1992a: 162), as if
the native god were perceived as possessing an affinity with the functions of both
Roman deities. This apparent confusion in pairing recurs, for instance, with Mars and
Mercury in Gaul, whose native surnames are sometimes shared: thus both Mars
Visucius and Mercury Visucius were invoked on dedications (de Vries 1963: 150;
Duval 1976: 88).