Magusanus: a Gaulish God, also known as Makinosanos (Old Youth)

Synonyms:
Gaul: The Great One

Magusanus is known from a number of inscriptions where he is invariably assimilated with Roam Hercules as HERCULI MAGUSANUS. In Germany, inscriptions to this deity have been found at Bonn (CIL XIII 10027-212b; AE 1971, 82; CIL XIII 08010), Grimmlinghausen (CIL XIII 10027-212d), Xanten (CIL XIII 08610; AE 1977, 570), Cologne (CIL XIII 10027-212c) and Deutz (CIL XIII 08492) where his consort is given as one form of the Matronae, Ambirenae. Two dedications are known from Tongern (CIL XIII 10027-212a) and Geldria (CIL XIII 08705) in Belgium and a dedication to this deity (by the Batavians) is even known from Rome (CIL VI 31162). Other inscriptions are known from the Netherlands: Utrecht (AE 1977, 539 and 540), Houten (AE 1994, 1284), Neerijnen-Waardenburg (AE 1994, 1282), Ruimel (CIL XIII 08771) and Westkapelle (CIL XIII 08777) as well as Romania: Clumafaia (AE 1977, 702) and Gherla (AE 1977, 704) as well as Alba Iulia (AE 1995, 290) where, once again, he is not assimilated with Hercules. Both these regions of the Netherlands and Rumania used to be part of Northern Gaul. An inscription reading: HERCVLI MAGVSAN[vs] SACRVM VAL NIGRINVS DVPLI ALAE TVNGRORVM (To holy Hercules Magusanus, Valerius Nigrinus, Duplicarius of the [First] Tungrian Wing [dedicates this]) was found at the Antoine Wall fort and camp, Mumrills, Scotland (RIB 2140).

Magusanus has long been considered a Germanic deity, transported to Celtic lands by Batavian soldiers in the employ of the Roman empire. However, current thinking considers the name Magusanus to be a Celtic (ie Gaulish) name which has been Germanicized (see the paper by Lauran Toorians, NOWELE, 2003. On the strength of this Magusanus is included in this list of Celtic deities. His name has been interpreted as meaning: 'The Young Old One'. The obvous Celtic element in the name is the reconstructed proto-Celtic element *seno- (old), which does not exist in Gernamic. The first element in the name is more problematic and the obvious link is to the proto-Germanic *magadi- (young person) though this also kinks to the proto-Celtic *mak^w-ino- (youth) thus the original form of the name may have been something like *Makinosanos but which was subsequently Germanized. The name 'Old Youth' relates to the properties of the Gaulish Hercules whom the second-century BEC autor, Lucian of Samosata described as being an old man. This links in to Gaulish Hercules' wisdom and his role as a psychopomp, but he is also strong and associated with fertility, two aspects of youth. Thus the epithet 'Old Youth' is apposite. The naming of Magusanus' consort as an aspect of the Mares, the Abirenae links to fertility aspect of the Gaulish Hercules' cult.

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