Belenos: a Cymric and Gaulish god (Lord of Death)

Synonyms: Bolgios
Cym, Gaul: ?Lord of Death

The etymology of Bolgios and thus of the Cymric deity Beli is in doubt but it may derive from belu 'to kill' (and is thus related to the reconstructed proto-Celtic *belatu- (death)). An alternative is that it is derived from bolg an old word for bag or stomach. Considering that Bolgios was a battle leader in legend the derivation 'Lord of the Kill' or 'Lord of (battle) Death' may be more likely.

Along with Brennos Bolgios was the legendary leader of the Celts on thieir invasion of Macedonia in the second century BCE. Bolgios himself led the invasion of Macedonia and crushed the army of Ptolemy Keraunos.

Bolgios' name also survives in the name of the great Celtic tribe, the Belgae the final wave of Late Iron age settlers before the arrival of the Romans. Hence the name is also preserved in the name of Belgium (land of Bolgios). Origianlly the Belgiae would probably have been known as the Bolgioi (meaning 'The Host of Bolgios'). But through linguistic mutation Bolgioi becomes Belgiae.

In Cymric mythology Bolgios survives as the great father god Beli Mawr. Again, through linguistc mutation Bolgios becomes Belgios in Brythonic and then Beli in Middle Cymric. As a result (and as discussed previously) it is highly unlikely that Beli represents the deity Belenos.

Beli Mawr (Beli the great), a god of death, is the paterfamilias of the Brythonic godly pantheon, the Plant Dôn. According to the Harlian MS 3958, Beli Fawr was founder of the Gwynedd line of kings and husband to Anna (who may be a confabulation of Dôn), mother [of the Gwynedd line of kings], and a cousin of the Virgin Mary. According to the lineage of his daughter, Penarddun Beli is the son of the shadowy, rather elemental figure of Manogan. Manogan may well not be a truly corporeal entity, which would make Beli the first corporeal entity; the father of all the gods and humans. Indeed, by way of his daughter, Penarddun (who became the wife of Llŷr Beli could be described not only as the paterfamilias of the Plant Dôn but also the ancestor of their opponents, the Plant Llŷr. In this respect Beli is referred to in the Mabinogion of Macsen Weldig as the British ruler whom Magnus Maximus defeats on his way to Arfon to gain the hand of fair Elen.

In Cymric literature Beli is knwon from Triad 35 of the Trioedd Ynys Prydein where he is named as the father of Arianrhod and Caswallon. Triad 37 also names Beli as the father of Lludd/Nudd. Beli is also known from two mentions in the Llyfr Taliesin poem, Kein gyfedwch (A beautiful Carousal). The first of these gives: Seith meib o veli dyrchafyssyn (seven sons of Belie were raised up) and a later instance in the same poem names Britain as Ynys vel Veli (Beli's Honeyed Isle).

Geoffrey of Monmouth uses the name Belinus as the son of Manogan and this has led to the persistant confusion between Beli and Belenos (for the reasons that they are not one and the same deity see the page on Belenos). In Nennius' Historia Brittonum Bellinus filius Minocanni is the legendary British ruler from whom Julius Caesar conquered the country. All traditions and the oldest genealogies portray Beli as the paterfamilias of the Brythonic peoples and the proprietor of Britain. This may well represent later traditons concerning a deity who was once seen as the father of the Brythonic gods.

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