Artaius is a
Celtic epithet
[Xavier Delamarre (2003). ''Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise.'' Paris: Editions Errance, p.56] applied to the Roman god
Mercury during the
Romano-Celtic period. It is known from a single inscription from
Beaucroissant in the
Isère:
::
MERCVRIO
::
AVG ARTAIO
::
SACR
::
SEX GEMINIVS
::
CVPITVS
::
EX VOTO
:''"To the august Mercury Artaius, Sextus Geminius Cupitus (has dedicated this) sacred (stone)
in fulfillment of a vow."''
In
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 ...
, the word ''artos'' means ‘bear’, and ''artaios'' would have been a derivative
(meaning something like ‘ursine’).
Miranda Green considers Mercury Artaius to have been a
bear-god. It is also possible that Artaius is derived from a place name (so that, as an "Artaian Mercury", he would only indirectly have any association with bears). Based on the inscription found at Beaucroissant, Auguste Longnon surmised that the location was once called Artay; there is a similarly named town,
Artaix, in Saône-et-Loire.
[Longnon, Auguste, ''Les noms de lieu de la France'', Paris, 1920, p. 114.]
CuriosityArtaius
is also the name of an Italian Melodic/Folk metal band.
References
Gaulish gods
Votive offering
Mercurian deities
Bear deities
{{Celtic mythology (ancient)