Niskus: a Brythonic God (The Washer)

Synonyms:
Bryth: The Washer

Niskus is a deity known from a single inscription found on a lead curse tablet found on the foreshore of the Hamble Estuary, Hampshire, by a metal detectorist, concerning the theft of a gold coin (solidus) and some silver coins (argentioli).

In general, curse tablets appeal to a deity (or deities) using formulaic, often legalistic, language to punish the known or unknown perpetrators of the crime until reparation is made. The deity is typically requested to impair the physical and mental well being of the perpetrator, by the denial of sleep, by causing normal bodily functions to cease, or even by death. These afflictions are to cease only when the property is returned to the owner or disposed of as the owner wishes, often by its being dedicated to the deity. The Hamble tablet is an excellent exemplar of this and reads:

ɖomınϵ nϵptunϵ
tıbı ɖono homınϵm quı.
(Solidum) ınvolavıt Mu-
conı ϵt argϵntıoloϟ
Sϵx ıdϵo dono nomına
quı dϵcϵpıt ϟı maϟcϵl ϟı
Fϵmına ϟı puuϵr ϟı puue-
lla ıdϵo ɖono tıbı, Nıϟkϵ,
ϵt Nϵptuno vıtam, valı-
tudınϵm, ϟanguϵm ϵıuϟ
quı conϟcıuϟ fuerıt ut
eum decıpıaϟ. fuerem
quı hoc ınvolavıt ϟanguϵm
ϵııuϟ conϟumaϟ ϵt dϵ-
cıpıaϟ, domınϵ Nϵp-
tunϵ

Which can be translated as: "Lord Neptune, I give you the man who has stolen the solidus and six argentioli of Muconius. So I give the names who took them away, whether male or female, whether boy or girl. So I give you, Niskus, and to Neptune the life, health, blood of him who has been privy to that taking-away. The mind which stole this and which has been privy to it, may you take it away. The thief who stole this, may you consume his blood and take it away, Lord Neptune". (This translation being based on the work of Dr Roger Tomlin as published in in Britannia 28, 1997, pp. 455–458.)

The association of Niskus with Neptune would indicate that Niskus was also considered as a 'god of the sea'. A supposition that is supported by the shore-side location of the curse tablet. For more information about Niskus, however, we have to turn to the interpretation of the god's name; which can be derived from the reconstructed proto-Celtic root *nig-yo-' ('to wash'; which also gives us the Irish ninis along wwith the Latinized masculine ending -us. Thus niskus is 'He who Washes' or 'The Washer'. This may refer to the wat the sea washes over the foreshore at each high tide and thus (in a similar manner to Dylan Niskus may have been a deity of the tides and the foreshore.

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