Vosegus

File:Vosegus Inschrift Neustadt Museum Speyer.jpg

Votive stone for Vosegus (AD 151–230); the text reads Vosego / Iulius Vi/tunis v(otum) / s(olvit) l(ibens) l(aetus) m(erito) ("To Vosegus, Julius Vitunis discharges the vow freely and happily, as is deserved".")

Vosegus (Template:IPA; sometimes Vosagus, Vosacius, Vosagō, Vosegō, Vogesus) was a name used in the Roman Empire for a Celtic god of hunting and forestation.<ref>Geschichte zur frühen Besiedlung des Oberrheingrabens, Geological Institute of Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg (German)</ref>

Description and history

On the rare representations that have come down to us, Vosegus is represented with a bow and a shield, and he is sometimes accompanied by a dog.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He is also associated with a local hunting deity with a piglet under his arm, and sometimes associated with nuts, acorns, and pine cones.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The central area where Vosegus was worshiped was around the Donon. On top of a hill there was a temple dedicated to Vosegus.<ref>Template:Usurped</ref>

The name is derived from the Proto-Celtic *uɸo- (“sub-, under”) and *segos (“force, victory”).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Later in Gallo-Roman religion, Vosegus was the patron god of the Vosges in eastern Gaul. His name is attested in about five inscriptions from western Germany and eastern France, twice in the form Vosego Silv(estri) and once as Merc(urio) Vos(ego).<ref>Nicole Jufer & Thierry Luginbühl. 2001. Les dieux gaulois : répertoire des noms de divinités celtiques connus par l'épigraphie, les textes antiques et la toponymie. Editions Errance, Paris.</ref>

References

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