Medocius
Medocius is the name of a war and battle deity in Celtic mythology who was worshiped in Britain .
mythology
Only one dedicatory inscription was found by Medocius in 1891 near Colchester (County Essex , England ), the former Camulodunum . The inscription reads:
- Deo Marti Medocio Camp-
- e (n) sium et Victori (a) e Alexan-
- dri Pii Felicis Augusti nos (tr) i
- donum Lossio Veda de suo
- posuit nepos Vepogeni Caledo
- ("Donated to the god of the battlefields Mars Medocius and the victory of [Emperor Caesar Marcus Aurelius Severus ] Alexander Pius Felix Augustus of Lossius Veda, the grandson of Vepogenus Caledos, from his own [funds]")
According to the Interpretatio Romana , he is equated with Mars . Since Libyan troops were garrisoned in Camulodunum , he is also presumed to be a Libyan deity, although this has not yet been proven beyond doubt.
His name is derived from the reconstructed protoceltic root * medwo-oci ("the drunk one") and the lexeme * okitā ("harrows that lead the harrow") and could mean "mead-egger who harrows for the mead". A connection with the Celtic custom, handed down by ancient chroniclers, of holding a drink before the battle is suspected.
See also
literature
- Helmut Birkhan : Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-7001-2609-3 .
- Bernhard Maier : Lexicon of Celtic Religion and Culture (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 466). Kröner, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-520-46601-5 .
Individual evidence
- ^ AE 1892, 89 .
- ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-7001-2609-3 , p. 1090.