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Smertullus
A Gaulish God, He of the Abundant Perforations/He of the Abundant Piercings
Smertullus is a Gaulish god known from a single inscription found at Escolives-Sainte-Camille, France and possibly Dijon, France. His attribues are unclear but he may have been a smith god or a sacrificail god of the Lugus type. |
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Gaul: He of the Abundant Perforations/He of the Abundant Piercings
Smertullus is a god known from a single inscription found at Escolives-Sainte-Camille in the Yonne valley, France. Though a fragmentary inscription that may also be dedicated to Smertullus has been found at Dijon, Côte d'Or, France. Also an inscription dedicated to Marti Sme[rtuli]t[a]no found at Mö, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany [CIL XIII 04119] also probably represents the same god. Unfortunately no iconography survives for this deity and we are entirely dependent on the interpretation of his name to gain some understanding of his attributes.
Etymologically Smertullus' name is related to those of Smertrios and Rosmerta and can be derived from the reconstructed proto-Celtical lexical elements *smer- (abundant) and *tullo- (pierced, perforated) along with the Latinized masculine ending -us. This suggests an interpretation of 'He of the Abundant Perforations' or 'He of the Abundant Piercings'. This might suggest that Smertullus was a hammer god of the Sucellus type (ie one who produces many dents/perforations with his hammer). Alternatively he could have been a sacrificial deity of the Lugus type (ie a deity whose body is subject to many perforations).
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