Baco (also Bacon) is 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 ...

Celtic god, known from

Gallo-Roman Gallo-Roman culture was a consequence of the Romanization of Gauls under the rule of the Roman Empire. It was characterized by the Gaulish adoption or adaptation of Roman culture, language, morals and way of life in a uniquely Gaulish context ...

inscriptions found in the areas of Chalon-sur-Saône and

Eauze Eauze (; Gascon: ''Eusa'') is a commune in the Gers department in southwestern France. History Located in the heart of south-west France, 130 kilometers from the Spanish border, Eauze is originally a proto-Basque city that became Roman. It wa ...

. The inscription at Chalon-sur-Saône, dated to 69 to 96 CE, was dedicated by a decurion in the Roman cavalry.

Origin

The god's name (also

Gallicized Francization (in American English, Canadian English, and Oxford English) or Francisation (in other British English), Frenchification, or Gallicization is the expansion of French language use—either through willful adoption or coercion—by mo ...

as Bacon) indicates that he was probably a boar-god, of whom many are recorded in the Celtic world. An account of Baco is also preserved in the hagiography of a St ,

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

ed in 177 or 179 CE. According to L. Armand-Calliat, the cult of this Baco was inherited by St

Anthony the Great Anthony the Great ( grc-gre, Ἀντώνιος ''Antṓnios''; ar, القديس أنطونيوس الكبير; la, Antonius; ; c. 12 January 251 – 17 January 356), was a Christian monk from Egypt, revered since his death as a saint. He is d ...

, venerated in the Haute-Bourgogne region on 17 January.

References

External links

* {{celtic mythology (ancient) Gaulish gods Animal gods