Page:Bury J B The Cambridge Medieval History Vol 2 1913.djvu/501

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The Gods
473

A name corresponding to that of the god Segomo of Gaul is found on an Ogam inscription in Ireland — Netta-Segamonas (the Champion of Segamo), and, later, as Nia-Sedhamain (for Seghamain). The Gaulish god Camulos has his British counterpart in the Camalos or Camulos after whom Colchester received its name Camalodunum or Camulodunum. The proper name Camulorigho (in an oblique case) found on an inscription in Anglesey, as well as Camelorigi, which occurs on an inscription at Cheriton in Pembrokeshire, are further evidence that the god Camulos was not unknown in Britain. This is still more probable, since the name of this deity occurs on an inscription at Barhill,[1] while the wide range of his worship is suggested by the existence of his name on inscriptions at Salona,[2] Rome[3] and Clermont.

It would be unsafe to take the fact that the name of a deity occurs on an inscription in Britain as evidence that the deity in question was worshipped by the natives, since the inscriptions found in Britain are mostly those of soldiers who often paid their vows to the deities of their own lands. At the same time, the area over which certain inscriptions are found makes it highly probable that the deities mentioned on them were worshipped, among other countries, in Britain itself. The following account of the deities mentioned on inscriptions in Britain will suggest not a few instances where this was doubtless the case. The name Aesus, which is probably identical with the Gaulish Esus, occurs once on a British silver coin,[4] and this fact makes it not unreasonable to suppose that this god was worshipped in Britain. On an inscription found at Colchester, there is mentioned a god identified with Mercury, called Andescox,[5] but of this deity nothing further is known. The name of another god Aneχtiomarus (a name probably meaning "the great protector") is found, identified with Apollo, on an inscription at South Shields on the Herd sands, south of the mouth of the Tyne, and the beginning of the same name occurs on a stone which is in the Museum at Le Mans. The name Antenociticus is found on an inscription of the second century[6] at Benwell, and Antocus[7] at Housesteads, but the connexion of these gods with Britain is uncertain, as is that of a god Arciaco[8] mentioned on a votive inscription at York. The name Audus,[9] identified with Belatucadrus, on an inscription at Scalby Castle, is probably British, and similarly that of Barrex, a god identified with Mars, mentioned on an inscription at Carlisle.[10] A deity, whose name is incomplete (Deo Sancto Bergant ...), mentioned on an inscription found at Longwood near Slack (Cambodunum), was not improbably the tribal god of the Brigantes. Another name, Braciaca, identified with Mars on an inscription[11] at Haddon House near Bakewell, was probably that

  1. C.I.L. VII. 1103.
  2. Ib. III. 8671.
  3. Ib. VI. 46.
  4. Evans, British Coins, p. 386.
  5. C.I.L. VII. 87.
  6. Ib. VII. 503.
  7. Ib. VII. 656.
  8. Ib. VII. 231.
  9. Ib. VII. 874.
  10. Ib. VII. 925.
  11. Ib. VII. 176.