Celtic Gods: The Gaulish and Cymric god, Meldius (Lightning)

Meldius/Mellt
A Gaulish God, also known as Mellt: Lightning

Meldius (Mellt) is a Gaulish and Cymric god known from Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France and from the patronymic of the god Mabon/Maponos (Mabon fab Mellt). Both the Gaulish and Welsh names mean 'lightning' and he may have been the tutelary deity of the Meldi tribe.



Synonyms: Mellt
Gaul, Cym: Lightning

Meldius is a deity known from a single inscription found at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, Bouches-du-Rhône, France (AE 1946 458) which reads: Meldio v(otum) s(olvit) / Silanus / Lutevi f(ilius) (To Meldius, by the son of Silanus Vitevis in fulfilment of a vow). Beyond his name nothing is known of this deity and his attributes. However, the does lend itself to interpretation and is probably derived from the reconstructed proto-Celtic lexical elements *meldī- (lightning) and the masculine ending -us giving us a meaning of 'Lightning'. This name is highly suggestive of a character in Cymric mythology known as Mellt. Mellt may be the father of the divine youth Mabon/Maponos, at least as is preserved in the medieval legends. The equating of Mellt with Meldius makes it seem far more likely that the deity was also known in Britain. This deity may aslo have been the tutelary deity of the Meldi tribe (The people of the Lightning god). As such he would seem to be a deity of the 'Father of the Tribe' type.

Taken together the evidence indicates that though this deity is little known from literary sources he may have had a fairly extensive geographic spread.



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