__NOTOC__ In ancient

Celtic polytheism Ancient Celtic religion, commonly known as Celtic paganism, was the religion of the ancient Celtic peoples of Europe. Because the ancient Celts did not have writing, evidence about their religion is gleaned from archaeology, Greco-Roman accounts ...

, Latis is the name of two Celtic deities worshipped in

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 ...

. One is a goddess (Dea Latis), the other a god (Deus Latis), and they are both known from a single inscription each.

Dea Latis

The dedication to Dea Latis was found at Birdoswald Roman Fort in

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, in 1873. It reads simply: The E is written as a , , . The stone is now in the Carlisle Museum. She may have been associated with the nearby rivers.

Deus Latis

The dedication to Deus Latis, recovered on an altar-stone at the Roman fort of Aballava,

Burgh-by-Sands Burgh by Sands () is a village and civil parish in the City of Carlisle district of Cumbria, England, situated near the Solway Firth. The parish includes the village of Burgh by Sands along with Longburgh, Dykesfield, Boustead Hill, Moorhouse, C ...

(also in

) reads: The altar-stone to Deus Latis was found near an image of a horned god and another dedication to the god

Belatucadros Belatucadros or Belatucadrus, was a deity worshipped in Celtic northern Britain, particularly in Cumberland and Westmorland. In the Roman period he was identified with Mars and appears to have been worshipped by lower-ranked Roman soldiers as wel ...

Etymology

The name 'Latis' may conceivably be related to the

Proto-Celtic Proto-Celtic, or Common Celtic, is the ancestral proto-language of all known Celtic languages, and a descendant of Proto-Indo-European. It is not attested in writing but has been partly reconstructed through the comparative method. Proto-Celt ...

words *''lati-'' meaning 'liquor', *''lat-'' 'day', or *''lāto-'' 'lust'.Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies,

University of Wales , latin_name = , image = , caption = Coat of Arms , motto = cy, Goreu Awen Gwirionedd , mottoeng = The Best Inspiration is Truth , established = , , type = Confederal, non-member ...

.
Proto-Celtic—English lexicon
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Dea Latis

Deus Latis

Etymology

References

Further reading