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Vintius
A Gaulish god: God of Winds
Vintius is a Gaulish god known from four inscriptions all from France where he is variously invoked with Roman Mars and Roman Pollux. He would seem to be a deity associated with sea navigation. |
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Gaul: God of Winds
Vintius is a god known from four inscriptions. In the first of these at Hauteville, Ain [CIL XII 2558] Vintius is invoked as: Augusto Vintio (the Great Vintius) and at Vence, Alpes Maritimes [CIL XII 0003], France Vintius is invoked as Marti Vintio where hee is linked with Roman Mars by Interpretato Martio. The other two inscriptions both come from Seyssel, Haute-Savoie, France [CIL XII 2561 and 2562] where the god is invoked as Vintio Polluci and is linked by Interpretato Romano with the Greco-Roman god, Pollux; a deity of seafarers and navigation. Thus it would seem that Vintius might be a maritime deity, or at least a deity of naval navigaion, perhaps in a martial context as suggested by Vintius' being equated with Mars.
Beyond the epigraphic evidence, however, we have no image to confirm the nature and attributes of Vintius and we are left with the interpretation of the deity's name. This can be derived from the reconstructed proto-Celtic element *winto (wind, which gives modern Cymric gwynt) with the deicitic prticle ī along with the Latinized masculine ending us. Thus Vintius is the 'God of Winds'. This would certainly be a fiting name to a navigator deity conflated with Pollux. For, in an age where vessels depended on wind and muscle power for propulsion they were entirely at the mercy of the winds.
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