Celtic Gods: The Brythonic God, Saegontius (Leader in Victory)

Saegontius
A Brythoninc god: Leader in Victory

Saegontius is a Brythonic god known from a single inscription found at Silchester in England where he is equated with Roman Hercules. He would seem to be a martial deity, equated with the strength aspect of Hercules.



Synonyms:
Bryth: Leader in Victory

Saegontius is a god known from a single inscription discovered at Calleva Atrebatum (capital of the Atrebates tribe), modern Silchester in Hampshire. The inscription itself [RIB 87] is very interesting and reads: DEO HERCVLI SAEGON T TAMMONIVS SAENI TAMMONI FIL VITALIS OB HONOREM (To the god Hercules Saegontius, Titus Tammonius Vitalis, son of Saenius Tammonius. For the sake of honour). From Gaul a number of deities are equated with Hercules by Interpretato Romana (one of the most famous being Ogmios), but we have few such instances from Britain. Typically, however, the Celtic 'Hercules' is a club-bearing deity, often old and sun-darkened, who is the god of eloquence as well as being a god of strength.

With no image upon which to base the comparison we cannot really know with any certainty whether Saegontius falls into this common mould and the only real clue to the deity's attributes are his linking with Hercules and his name, which can be interpreted on the basis of the reconstructed proto-Celtic lexicon as being derived from the components *sego(s)- (force, victory) and *tigern- (ruler, leader). Thus Saegontius is the 'Leader in Victory'.



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