Celtic Gods: The Brythonic God, Belatucadros (Decorated by Death)

Belatucadros
A Brythonic God, also known as Belatocadros, Belatucadros, Belatugagrus: Decorated by Death

This Brythonic god is known from several inscriptions fround in North-West England and he may have been a horned deity of the Carvetii tribe of Brougham. In many of the inscriptions he is equated with Roman Mars, indicating that he was a warrior deity, possibly with a 'hunter god' aspect.



Synonyms: Belatocadros, Belatucadros, Belatugagrus
Gaul: Decorated by Death

A Brythonic deity, he is known from the regions of Cumberland and Westmoreland in the North-West.

Inscriptions to Belatucadros have been found at Carvoran where he is invoked both as Deo Belatucadro and as Deo Marti Belatucadro, which latter dedication was also found on a red sandstone altar found at Carlisle. At Plumpton this deity is invoked as the sacred god Belatucardos and at Netherby he is invoked as the warrior deity, Mars.

As Belatucauros he is known from an inscription at Carrawburgh, Northumbria, which reads: DEO BELLETI CAVRO LVNARIS (For the god Belatucauros, Lunaris [made this].). This inscription was found at the site of Coventina's Well where there are inscriptions to eight other deities as well as almost twenty to Coventina herself, which goes some way to indicate the importance of the site and the continuation of the cult of the spring in this area.

The inscription to Belatucadros from Netherby is interesting, as it was here that an impressive horned head (depicted above) was discovered. This sculpture, the localization of Belatucadros to the north-west and his equation with Mars may mean that, like Camulos Belatucadros was one of the ‘Horned Warrior Deities if the North’.

There is also evidence in the form of a concentration of inscriptions at Brougham, the Roman Brocavum, tribal center of the Carvetii (The Deer People), that the cheif deity of this tribe was the horned god, Belatucadros. As such Belatucadros may once have posessed a hunter aspect; not surprising for a warrior god.

Belatucadros' name can be interpreted using the reconstructed proto-Celtic lexical elements: *belatu (death) and *kadro- (decorated) along with the masculine ending -os. Thus Belatucadros can be interpreted as 'Decorated by Death' a fitting epithet for a deity equated with Roman Mars.



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