Limestone figurative carving, probably an altar piece depicting a naked man (FindID 52144-8647)

Viridios, or Viridius, is a god of ancient

Roman Britain Roman Britain was the period in classical antiquity when large parts of the island of Great Britain were under occupation by the Roman Empire. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410. During that time, the territory conquered wa ...

Centres of worship

Inscribed stones dedicated to Viridios have been recovered in the Romano-British town of ''Cavsennae'' or ''Cavsennis'', now

Ancaster, Lincolnshire Ancaster is a village and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, on the site of a Roman town. The population of the civil parish was 1,317 at the 2001 census increasing to 1,647 at the 2011 census. The civil par ...

, in England. So far, Ancaster is the only place where inscriptions to this god have been found.

The Ancaster inscriptions

The first inscribed stone was discovered in 1961 in a grave in Ancaster. Wright (1962) reports the find thus: Time Team Stone Inscription

The Latin inscription may be translated in English as: ''For the god Viridius, Trenico made this arch, donated from his own funds''. This stone is now in The Collection Museum in

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincol ...

. A second inscribed stone was discovered in 2001 by British Channel 4 Television's archaeological programme ''

Time Team ''Time Team'' is a British television programme that originally aired on Channel 4 from 16 January 1994 to 7 September 2014. It returned online in 2022 for two episodes released on YouTube. Created by television producer Tim ...

''. The stone was discovered as part of a late Roman or early Sub-Roman ''

cist A cist ( or ; also kist ; from grc-gre, κίστη, Middle Welsh ''Kist'' or Germanic ''Kiste'') is a small stone-built coffin-like box or ossuary used to hold the bodies of the dead. Examples can be found across Europe and in the Middle Ea ...

'' burial, being used as a side slab in the grave. Located near the grave where the first inscribed stone was found, the inscription on this second stone reads: ::::DIO VRID ::::SANCT which has been interpreted as: ''To the holy god Viridios''.

Etymology of the name

The Ancaster inscriptions are in Latin, suggesting that the name of the god is also in Latin. If so, the name is used in the dative form, meaning ''to (the deity)''. The nominative form, and therefore the name of the god, would be ''Viridius'' or ''Viridios''. Because of the Latin word ''viridis'' ('green', 'fresh', 'vigorous'), the simplest etymology proposed is that the god's name derives from this root word and refers to a local, tribal Roman god possessing these characteristics. The

Green Man The Green Man is a legendary being primarily interpreted as a symbol of rebirth, representing the cycle of new growth that occurs every Spring (season), spring. The Green Man is most commonly depicted in a sculpture, or other representation of ...

is a well-known pagan mythic personage whose human face sprouting green leaves or vines is found in some medieval churches. Significant speculation exists as to the possible Celtic origins of the deity. Wright specifically addresses such speculations, but notes that such a connection cannot be affirmatively made as there are no firm historico-linguistic connections in evidence between the modern conception of Viridios as a Celtic deity and the god Viridios referenced on the inscriptions:

Related archaeological evidence

An additional limestone figurative carving, probably used as an altarpiece, was also found near Ancaster and dated to the late

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...

. The carving depicts a naked man holding an axe, standing beneath an archway. While no inscriptions appear on the stone, the location of the find near Ancaster, and the features displayed on the god that may depict suggested meanings of the name ''Viridios'' ('mighty', 'virile', 'verdant', 'fertile'), have led some to speculate that the altarpiece is a depiction of the god ''Viridios''.

References

External links