Celtic Gods: The Gaulish and Irish God, Cicolluis (Great-breasted)

Cicolluis
A Gaulis and Irish God, also known as Cicollus, Cicolus, Cichol: Great-breasted

Cicolluis (Cicollus, Cicolus, Cichol) is a Gaulish and Irish god known from seven inscriptions in France and one in Germany where he is conflated with Roman Mars. In Ireland he is known as Cíocal Gricenchos, the earliest leader of the Formrians. He seems to have acted as a protective deity.



Synonyms: Cicollus, Cicolus, Cichol, Cíocal
Gaul, Irish: Great-breasted

Cicolluis would seem to be a common epithet for Gaulish Mars. Mars Cicolluis is known from dedications at Xanten, Germany (AE 1981, 690), Aignay-le-Duc (CIL XIII 02887; where his consort is given as Litavis) and Mâlan (CIL XIII 05597, 05598, 05599, 05601 and 05604; where his consorts are given as Litavis and the Roman personification of war, Bellona) both in the Côte d'Or. He is also known from an inscription at Chassey, Franche-Comté again in France where he is named alone (and not as an epithet of Mars). A partial inscription which may be dedicated to Cicolluis comes from Fuffey-les-Echirey, again in the Côte d'Or. As Cicollus this deity is knwn from Windisch in Switzerland and as Mars Cicoluis he is known from Dijon, Côte d'Or, France (CIL XIII 05479).

Cicolluis may be cognate with the Irish Cíocal Gricenchos who is the earliest-mentioned leader of the Fomorians, the semi-divine first inhabitants of Ireland. Seathrún Céitinn records a tradition that he arrived in Ireland one hundred years after the Flood, with fifty men and fifty women on six boats. His peopled lived on fish and fowl for two hundred years until Partholon, bringing the plough and oxen, invaded and defeated them in the Battle of Magh Ithe.

Cicollus' name is probably derived from the reconstructed proto-Celtic roots *k-kƒ (breast, but which also yeilds the insular Celtic words for meat) and *olyo- (all, whole, every) thus the name is 'All-breast' or 'Great-breasted'. This is probably an epithet for 'strength' and would fit in with Cíocal as a leader of the Fomóiri. It would therefore seem that Cicolluis was equated with the warrior aspect of Roman Mars amd may have been a protective deity.



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