Celtic Gods: The Gaulish God, Sexsarborius (The Six Trees)

Sexsarborius
A Gaulish God; also known as Sexarborius, Suexoprennos: The Six Trees

Sexsarborius (Sexarborius, *Suexoprennos) is a Gaulish god known from three inscriptions found from France. The name is Latin, but seems to represent a native deity whose name may originally have been Suexoprennos.



Synonyms: Sexarborius, *Suexoprennos
Gaul: The Six Trees

Sexsarborius/Sexarorius is a Latin epithet for what appears to be a native Gaulish deity. The name itself being derived from the Latin elements sex (six) and arboreo (tree) with the deitic particle -ī-. Thus Sex(s)arborius is the 'God of the Six Trees'. His existence is attested from three inscriptions. At Arbas in the Haute-Garonne, France (CIL XIII 129) the inscription reads: Sexarboribus Q(uintus) Rufius Germanus v(otum) (To Sexarborius, Quintus Rufinus Germanus offers this).

At St-Caudens, Haute-Garonne, France there are two inscriptions. The first of these (CIL XIII 132) reads: Ex voto Sexsarbori deo L(ucius) Domit(ius) Censorinus v(otum) s(olvit) l(ibens) m(erito) (As the result of a vow, Lucius Domitius Censorinus offers this to the god Sexsarborius willingly and deservedly in fulfilment of a vow). The other (CIL XIII 175) reads: Sexsarbori deo T(itus) Pompeiu[s] Campanus (To the god Sexsarborius Titus Pompeius Campanus [offers this]). As all the inscriptions are clustered in the Haute-Garonne this indicates that Sexsarborius was a local deity who seems to bear a Latin rather than a Gaulish name.

If the god did bear a Gaulish name then (assuming that the Latin form is a translation) it can be reconstructed on the basis of the reconstructed proto-Celtic lexicon as being formed from the elements *swexs (six) and *kwresno (tree) yileding *Suexoprennos in Gaulish. Unfortunately, as there are no images of this deity and he is not linked to any Roman deity by Interpretato Romao almost nothing of this god's attributes can be recovered save that he is a deity (and likely protector) of a number of tree species (or of sacred groves containing many tree species).



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