Belenus

Continental Celtic god whose cult stretched from the Italian peninsula to the British Isles. A principal shrine was at Aquileia on the Adriatic, and his worship was also associated with health giving waters such as those at Aquae Borvonis (Bourbon-les-Bains, north-east France). His worship was also known in Aquitaine and what is now Austria. Several ancient commentators linked him with Apollo, and some modern commentators classify him only as an aspect of Apollo; a shrine of Belenus at Inveresk, Scotland, is inscribed ‘Apollini Granno’. The 19th-century attempt to link Belenus, under the spelling Bel, with the Phoenician Baal is now rejected. A tribal leader of pre-Roman Britain styled himself Cunobelinus or ‘Hound of Belenus’. Belenus apparently gives his name to Beli Mawr, a Welsh ancestor-deity, and may give his name to the fountain of Bérenton (formerly Belenton) at Brocéliande in Brittany. The celebrations for the calendar feast of Beltaine may or may not derive from the veneration of Belenus. In Geoffrey of Monmouth (1136), Belenus is reduced to a mere mortal conqueror. Fanciful folk etymology links Belenus with Billingsgate, near the Thames in London. See. J. Gourvest, ‘Le Culte de Belenos en Provence occidentale et en Gaule’, Ogam, 6 (1954), 257–62. See also BORVO.

In Celtic mythology, Belenus (also Belinus, Belenos, Belinos, Belinu, Belanu, Bellinus, Belus, Bel) was a deity worshipped in Gaul, Britain and Celtic areas of Austria and Spain. He had shrines from Aquileia on the Adriatic to Kirkby Lonsdale in England.^[1][2] His name means "shining one"^{[citation needed]} or "henbane god"^[3] and he is associated with heat and healing. He may be the same deity as Belatu-Cadros.^{[citation needed]} In the Roman period he was identified with Apollo.^[1] His consort was Belisama.^{[citation needed]} His name has been found on around fifty inscriptions. These are mainly concentrated in Aquileia and Cisalpine Gaul, but also extend into Gallia Narbonensis, Noricum, and far beyond.

Romano-Celtic Apollo

In ancient Gaul and Britain, Apollo may have been equated with fifteen or more different Celtic names and epithets (notably Grannos, Borvo, Maponus, Moritasgus and others).^[1] The solar or healing implications of Belenus (“the brilliant one”^{[citation needed]} or “henbane god”^[3]) would have encouraged syncretism with the god Apollo.

Other proposed identifications

The Welsh ancestor-deity Beli Mawr may be derived from Belenus, although his character and attributes are different.^{[citation needed]} The Irish festival of Beltaine may also be connected, or may derive from the same Celtic root, bel-, "shining".^{[citation needed]} The Irish mythical figure Bile ("sacred tree") is sometimes linked with Belenus,^[4] but neither the linguistics nor the myths match.^{[citation needed]} 19th century attempts to link him with the Semitic deity Baal were even more tenuous and are now rejected.^{[citation needed]} The legendary king Belinus in Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain is probably also derived from this god. The name of the ancient British king Cunobelinus means "hound of Belenus".

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Nicole Jufer & Thierry Luginbühl (2001). Les dieux gaulois : répertoire des noms de divinités celtiques connus par l'épigraphie, les textes antiques et la toponymie. Paris: Editions Errance. ISBN 2-87772-200-7.
2. ^ www.Roman-Britain.org. Roman Inscriptions of Britain (RIB 611).
3. ^ ^{a b} Peter Schrijver, "On Henbane and Early European Narcotics", Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie vol.51 (1999), pp.17-45
4. ^ Associations between the Welsh Beli and the Irish Bile

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