Celtic Gods: The Gaulish and Brythonic God, Ollodagus (He who is God of the Realm, He who Encompasses the Realm)

Ollodagus
A Gaulish and Brythonic God: He who is God of the Realm, He who Encompasses the Realm

Ollodagus (Olloudius, Olludius) is a Gaulish and Brythonic god known from Belgium, France and England whre he is equated with Roman Mars. The image of the deity from Custom Scrubs displays him as a genius locus (spirit of place). He is the protective spirit of the region he protects.



Synonyms: Olloudius, Olludius
Gaul, Bryth: He who is God of the Realm, ?He who Encompasses the Realm

Ollodagus is known from an inscription and a statue found in 1862 at Noville-lez-Bastogne, Belgium where he is invoked along with Entarabus and is invoked as Genius Ollodagus. Thus it would seem that Ollodagus was assimilated by interpretato Romana with the genius locus (the spirit of place). As Olloudius he is known from Vallauris, Alpes Maritimes, France (CIL XII 0167) and Cannes, France (CIL XII 0166) where he is equated by interpretato Romana with Mars. The same deity, named as Olludius, is also known from an inscription found at Custom Scrubs, Bisley, Hampshire (RIB 0131) where the following inscription was seen on a gabled relief: MARTI OLLVDIO (For Mars Olludius). This was discovered and described in 1799 and though the relief itself exists (see above) the inscription accompanying it is now lost.

Noville-lez-Bastogne lies at the heartlands of what used to be the territory of the Treveri tribe. It would seem likely therefore that this deity was considered as the protective spirit of the region and may also have been the protective deity of the tribe.

The iconography of the Brythonic form of the deity, Ollodius depicts the deity in the form of the genius locus where he holds a patera (a sacred vessel) in his right hand and what looks like a double cornucopia in his left. The second relief from Custom Scrubs depicts Romulus in the Guise of Mars, which is the common epithet of this deity in the Gaulish inscriptions. Again we see Ollodagus/Ollodus invoked as the 'protector of the realm'.

This supposition is also born-out by the interpretation of the deity's name which can be interpreted as being derived from the reconstructed proto-Celtic lexical elements: *oljo- (all) and dalg-e/o (hold) he is thus the deity who holds, or encompasses everything which could be interpreted as 'He who Encompasses the Realm' and agrees with his function as the genius locus. Alternatively, the second element of the name may be derived from the component *dŒwo- (god) and it is this name that links all the alternate Theonyms together in that Ollodagus/Ollodius/Olloudius can all be interpreted as the 'God of All'; which due to his link as the genius locus can be interpreted as 'He Who is God of the Realm'.



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