Vellaunus

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Vellaunus is a Celtic god known from only two inscriptions. The first, found at Caerwent is the base of a state recording the dedication of the statue to:

"To the god Mars Lenus, otherwise known as Ocelus Vellaunus and to the Imperial numen".

Above this base there survives only a pair of human feet and those of a goose. The dedication dates to AD 152.

The second inscription was located in the territory of the Allobroges in souther Gaul, where he was associated with Mercury.

Mars Lenus was a god of the Treveri with great cult centres at Trier and Pommern; Ocelus was a local British deity, to whom another stone was inscribed at Caerwent, and who was also worshipped at Carlisle. Mars Lenus was clearly equated in Britain with other, localised Celtic divinities.

[edit] References

Dictionary of Celtic Myth and Legend. Miranda Green. Thames and Hudson Ltd. London. 1997