Editing Loucetios

{{Short description|Gallic deity identified with Mars}}
{{distinguish|Lucretius}}
[[File:Autel dédié à Mars Loucetios-Musée archéologique de Strasbourg.jpg|right|300px|thumb|An altar to Mars Loucetios at The Rhine in the [[Musée archéologique (Strasbourg)|Musée archéologique de Strasbourg]].]]
In [[Gallo-Roman religion]], '''Loucetios''' ([[Latin]]ized as '''Leucetius''') was a [[Gaul|Gallic]] god known from the Rhine-Moselle region, where he was identified with the Roman [[Mars (mythology)|Mars]].<ref name="jufer"/> Scholars have interpreted his name to mean ‘lightning’.<ref name="xdel">{{cite book |author=Xavier Delamarre |url=https://archive.org/details/dictionnairedela00dela |title=Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise |publisher=Editions Errance |year=2003 |isbn=9782877722377 |edition=2nd |location=Paris |page=[https://archive.org/details/dictionnairedela00dela/page/n197 199] |url-access=limited}}</ref> Mars Loucetius was worshipped alongside the goddess [[Nemetona]].<ref name="wightman219">{{cite book|author=Edith Mary Wightman |title=Roman Trier and the Treveri |year=1970 |publisher=Rupert Hart Davis |location=London, England |page=219}}</ref>

==Name and etymology==
The name ''Loucetios'' derives from a Celtic stem *''lowk-et''-, meaning 'flash of lightning, thunderbolt' (cf. Old Irich ''lóchet''), itself from the root *''lowk''- ('bright, light'; cf. Middle Irish ''luach'' 'glowing light', Middle Welsh ''llug'' 'eyesight, perception'). It is the source of the place name ''[[Luzech]]'', attested as ''Luzechium'' in 1326 CE.{{Sfn|Delamarre|2003|p=200}}

The name may be a reference to either a Celtic common [[metaphor]] for battles as thunderstorms (cf. Old Irish ''torannchless'', the 'thunder feat'), or else the divine [[Aura (paranormal)|aura]] of the hero (the ''lúan'' of [[Cú Chulainn]]).<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |year=2006 |title=Loucetius |encyclopedia=Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia |publisher=ABC-Clio |editor=John Koch |page=1192 |author=Helmut Birkhan}}</ref> It is presumably analogous to [[Oscan language|Oscan]] ''Loucetius'' ‘light-bringer’, an epithet of [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|year=1997|title=Loucetios|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture|publisher=Taylor & Francis|page=513|author=J.P. Mallory and D.Q. Adams}}</ref>

==Inscriptions and shrines==
About a dozen inscriptions in honour of Mars Loucetius have been recovered, mainly from eastern Gaul, with a particular concentration among the [[Vangiones]] and [[Aresaces]] (two [[Rhine|Rhenish]] tribes). Inscriptions to him have also been found at [[Bath, Somerset|Bath]] and [[Angers]];<ref name="jufer">{{cite book|author=Nicole Jufer & Thierry Luginbühl |year=2001 |title=Les dieux gaulois : répertoire des noms de divinités celtiques connus par l'épigraphie, les textes antiques et la toponymie |publisher=Editions Errance |location=Paris |pages=48–49}} The sites listed for Loucetius/Leucetius are [[Strasbourg]], [[Worms, Germany|Worms]], [[Eisenberg, Rhineland-Palatinate|Eisenberg]], [[Groß-Gerau]], [[Klein-Winternheim]], [[Wiesbaden-Frauenstein|Frauenstein]], [[Großkrotzenburg]], [[:de:Mainz-Marienborn|Marienborn]], [[Angers]], and [[Bath, Somerset|Bath]].</ref> the altar at Bath specifies that it was dedicated by a citizen of the [[Treveri]].<ref>''[[Roman Inscriptions of Britain|RIB]]'' 1, 140.</ref>

Inscriptions often invoke Mars Loucetius together with [[Victoria (goddess)|Victoria]] or [[Nemetona]]<ref name="wightman219"/> (or both, in the case of the [[Eisenberg, Rhineland-Palatinate|Eisenberg]] inscription<ref name="ae2007">''[[Année Épigraphique|AE]]'' 2007, 1044.</ref>). Edith Mary Wightman considers this pair “closely similar to if not identical with, [[Lenus]] and [[Ancamna]]”,<ref name="wightman219"/> who are known chiefly from the territory of the [[Treveri]] adjacent to those of the [[Aresaces]] and [[Vangiones]].

Four of the inscriptions to Mars Loucetius are also dedicated ''IN H(onorem) D(omūs) D(ivinae)'',<ref>These are the inscriptions at Groß-Gerau (''[[Année Épigraphique|AE]]'' 1991, 1272), Großkrotzenburg (''[[Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum|CIL]]'' XIII: 7412), Worms (''CIL'' XIII: 6221), and Eisenberg (''AE'' 2007, 1044).</ref> ‘in honour of the divine house’ (i.e. the imperial family).

Wightman further suggests that the shrine of Mars Loucetius at [[Klein-Winternheim]], south of [[Mainz]], was “a central one for the Aresaces”,<ref name="wightman219"/> the ancient inhabitants of the [[Mainz-Bingen]] area.

<!-- ==Depictions==
If any come to light, they'd go here.
-->==Modern literature==

In [[Neil Gaiman]]'s ''[[American Gods]]'', Leucotios{{sic}} appears in chapter three, during Shadow's (the main character) dream of forgotten gods. Gaiman's Leucotios is described as a “man with ... white hair, with a necklace of teeth about his neck, holding a drum”.<ref>{{cite book|author=Neil Gaiman |title=American Gods |url=https://archive.org/details/americangodsnove00gaim_041 |url-access=limited |year=2001 |publisher=HarperTorch |location=New York, NY |page=[https://archive.org/details/americangodsnove00gaim_041/page/n71 58]}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Bibliography==
*{{Cite book|last=Delamarre|first=Xavier|title=Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise: Une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental|year=2003|publisher=Errance|isbn=9782877723695|author-link=Xavier Delamarre}}

{{Celtic mythology (ancient)}}

[[Category:Gaulish gods]]
[[Category:Thunder gods]]
[[Category:Martian deities]]
[[Category:Celtic mythology]]