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Celtic religious inscriptions exist in several types of epigraphies/alphabets:
Unlike the 100s of Celtic theonyms attested on Latin inscriptions, the inscriptions written in a Celtic language should provide us first-hand information on the names of 'Celtic' gods in prehistoric time. But unfortunately, the majority of these inscriptions do not mention the names of individual deities. They do not follow the pattern we see in inscriptions from Roman times. One impressive Celtic inscription comes from Vercelli in the NW of Cisalpine Gaul: it is the dedication of a ceremonial and/or religious site by a certain Akisios: Why doesn't he name any individual god or goddess? Probably because this information was not superfluous for him. Was it a dedication to all gods or 'the divine' in general?
Probably due to Roman influence, from around the 1st century BCE, we see Gallo-Greek dedications in southern France mentioning individual gods. |
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