Anvallus was a Gaulish god, known from several public inscriptions at Augustodunum (

Autun Autun () is a subprefecture of the Saône-et-Loire department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of central-eastern France. It was founded during the Principate era of the early Roman Empire by Emperor Augustus as Augustodunum to give a Ro ...

). Two

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

inscriptions on altars were dedicated by ''gutuatres'' in requital of vows; both such dedications began with the formula '' Aug(usto) sacr(um)''.'' CIL'' XIII:11225. The title '' gutuater'' is typically understood to mean 'priest';Xavier Delamarre (2003). ''Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise.'' Errance, Paris, p184. the ''gutuatres'' have at times been taken to be Romanized continuations of the druids. These altars were both discovered in 1900 on the site of Autun's railway station, along with a Greek-style helmet of thin bronze that would have been left there as a votive offering. The third text mentioning a name similar to Anvallus was a

Gaulish Gaulish was an ancient Celtic language spoken in parts of Continental Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire. In the narrow sense, Gaulish was the language of the Celts of Gaul (now France, Luxembourg, Belgium, most of Switze ...

text found on a limestone cartouche: :LICNOS · CON :TEXTOS · IEVRV :ANVALONNACV · :CANECOSEDLON · According to P.-Y. Lambert and J.-P. Savignac, this stone commemorated the dedication of a kind of seat or throne by a person named Licnos Contextos. The seat was dedicated to a sanctuary of Anvalos, in the interpretation of P.-Y. Lambert; Delmarre gives the translation "Licnos Contextus dedicated to Anvalonnacos the (golden?) seat". The god's name has been analyzed as a composition ''an-ualos'', of which the second root has been understood to mean 'sovereign' or 'prince', and the first 'without' or 'not'.Xavier Delamarre (2003). ''Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise.'' Errance, Paris, pp43, 305. The name might therefore be understood as 'without a sovereign', i.e. inferior to none.

References

{{Gaulish-Brythonic mythology Gaulish gods Culture of Burgundy