In Gallo-Roman religion, Loucetios (

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 ...

ized as Leucetius) was a Gallic god known from the Rhine-Moselle region, where he was identified with the Roman

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...

. Scholars have interpreted his name to mean ‘lightning’. Mars Loucetius was worshipped alongside the goddess

Nemetona Nemetona, or 'she of the sacred grove', is a Celtic goddess with roots in northeastern Gaul. She is thought to have been the eponymous deity of the Germano-Celtic people known as the Nemetes;Beck, pp. 237-238. evidence of her veneration is found ...

Name and etymology

The name ''Loucetios'' derives from a Celtic stem *''lowk-et''-, meaning 'flash of lightning, thunderbolt' (cf. Old Irich ''lóchet''), itself from the root *''lowk''- ('bright, light'; cf. Middle Irish ''luach'' 'glowing light', Middle Welsh ''llug'' 'eyesight, perception'). It is the source of the place name '' Luzech'', attested as ''Luzechium'' in 1326 CE. The name may be a reference to either a Celtic common

metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared wi ...

for battles as thunderstorms (cf. Old Irish ''torannchless'', the 'thunder feat'), or else the divine aura of the hero (the ''lúan'' of

Cú Chulainn Cú Chulainn ( ), called the Hound of Ulster ( Irish: ''Cú Uladh''), is a warrior hero and demigod in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology, as well as in Scottish and Manx folklore. He is believed to be an incarnation of the Irish god L ...

). It is presumably analogous to

Oscan Oscan is an extinct Indo-European language of southern Italy. The language is in the Osco-Umbrian or Sabellic branch of the Italic languages. Oscan is therefore a close relative of Umbrian. Oscan was spoken by a number of tribes, including ...

''Loucetius'' ‘light-bringer’, an epithet of

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but slightly less than one-thousandth t ...

Inscriptions and shrines

About a dozen inscriptions in honour of Mars Loucetius have been recovered, mainly from eastern Gaul, with a particular concentration among the

Vangiones The Vangiones appear first in history as an ancient Germanic tribe of unknown provenance. They threw in their lot with Ariovistus in his bid of 58 BC to invade Gaul through the Doubs river valley and lost to Julius Caesar in a battle probably near ...

and

Aresaces The Aresaces were Belgic tribe. They were closely related to, and probably originally part of, the Treveri. They inhabited the left bank of the Rhine in the Mainz -Bingen area, which was once the easternmost part of Treveran territory. Written ...

(two Rhenish tribes). Inscriptions to him have also been found at Bath and

Angers Angers (, , ) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Anjou until the French Revolution. The inhabitants of both the city and the pr ...

; The sites listed for Loucetius/Leucetius are Strasbourg,

Worms Worms may refer to: *Worm, an invertebrate animal with a tube-like body and no limbs Places *Worms, Germany Worms () is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, situated on the Upper Rhine about south-southwest of Frankfurt am Main. It had ...

, Eisenberg,

Groß-Gerau Groß-Gerau () is the district seat of the Groß-Gerau district, lying in the southern Frankfurt Rhein-Main Region in Hesse, Germany, and serving as a hub for the surrounding area. In 1994, the town hosted the 34th Hessentag state festival. Geogra ...

, Klein-Winternheim, Frauenstein,

Großkrotzenburg Großkrotzenburg is a municipality in the Main-Kinzig district, in Hesse, Germany. It has a population of around 7,500. The town is mainly known for its swimming lake and its coal-fired power station. Geography Location Großkrotzenburg is loc ...

, Marienborn,

, and Bath. the altar at Bath specifies that it was dedicated by a citizen of the

Treveri The Trēverī ( Gaulish: *''Trēueroi'') were a Celtic tribe of the Belgae group who inhabited the lower valley of the Moselle from around 150 BCE, if not earlier, until their displacement by the Franks. Their domain lay within the southern fri ...

. Inscriptions often invoke Mars Loucetius together with

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

(or both, in the case of the Eisenberg inscription'' AE'' 2007, 1044.). Edith Mary Wightman considers this pair “closely similar to if not identical with,

Lenus Lenus ( grc, Ληνός) was a Celtic healing god worshipped mainly in eastern Gaul, where he was almost always identified with the Roman god Mars. Name The theonym ''Lenos'' may derive from a stem ''lēno''-, which could mean 'wood, bocage' (c ...

and

Ancamna In Gallo-Roman religion, Ancamna was a goddess worshipped particularly in the valley of the river Moselle. She was commemorated at Trier and Ripsdorf as the consort of Lenus Mars, and at Möhn as the consort of Mars Smertulitanus.Nicole Jufer & ...

”, who are known chiefly from the territory of the

adjacent to those of the

and

. Four of the inscriptions to Mars Loucetius are also dedicated ''IN H(onorem) D(omūs) D(ivinae)'', ‘in honour of the divine house’ (i.e. the imperial family). Wightman further suggests that the shrine of Mars Loucetius at Klein-Winternheim, south of

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-west, with Ma ...

, was “a central one for the Aresaces”, the ancient inhabitants of the

Mainz-Bingen Mainz-Bingen is a district (''Kreis'') in the east of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from north clockwise) Rheingau-Taunus, the district-free cities Wiesbaden and Mainz, the districts Groß-Gerau, Alzey-Worms, Bad ...

area.

Modern literature

In Neil Gaiman's '' American Gods'', Leucotios appears in chapter three, during Shadow's (the main character) dream of forgotten gods. Gaiman's Leucotios is described as a “man with ... white hair, with a necklace of teeth about his neck, holding a drum”.

References

Bibliography

* Gaulish gods Thunder gods Martian deities {{Celt-myth-stub