Artaius
Sign in to saveArtaius is a Celtic epithet applied to the Roman god Mercury during the Romano-Celtic period. It is known from a single inscription from Beaucroissant in the Isère:
In the Vinony graph
Within Vinony's link graph, Artaius is referenced by 131 other articles, and connects out to Belenus, Ancient Celts and Gaul.
Vinony files it under Bear deities, Gaulish gods and Mercurian deities.
Its subject is documented across 7 Wikipedia language editions.
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- Celtic deity
- Gender
- male
Show 1 more fact
- described by source
- Pauly–Wissowa
Sources (1)
via Wikidata · CC0
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Encyclopedic overview
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- References
Artaius is a Celtic epithet applied to the Roman god Mercury during the Romano-Celtic period. It is known from a single inscription from Beaucroissant in the Isère: MERCVRIO AVG ARTAIO SACR SEX GEMINIVS CVPITVS EX VOTO "To the august Mercury Artaius, Sextus Geminius Cupitus (has dedicated this) sacred (stone) in fulfillment of a vow."
In Gaulish, the word artos means ‘bear’, and artaios would have been a derivative (meaning something like ‘ursine’). Miranda Green considers Mercury Artaius to have been a bear-god. It is also possible that Artaius is derived from a place name (so that, as an "Artaian Mercury", he would only indirectly have any association with bears). Based on the inscription found at Beaucroissant, Auguste Longnon surmised that the location was once called Artay; there is a similarly named town, Artaix, in Saône-et-Loire.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Artaius” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.