Ocelus Vellaunus

-Written by Nico Solheim-Davidson and Drunertos Tarwoknos.

Ocelus Vellaunus, interpreted as both the Roman Mars and the Treveran Lenus, showcases the religious diversity of Britain, and its deep connections to the Mediterranean and Gaul. Ocelus Vellaunus is Himself a fairly local God, with two of His three inscriptions from Caerwent, and His final inscription in Carlisle, but despite the local focus of His cult, with no evidence of His worship outside of Britain, there was potentially a college dedicated to Mars within Caerwent who associated Ocelus Vellaunus with the Treveran Lenus. 

Etymology

Delamarre gives the root for Ocelus as ocelo- and the meaning as ‘point, promontory’.[1] Ocelus corresponds to the Welsh uchel ‘lofty’.[2] Delamarre gives the meaning of Vellaunus as ‘leader, commander’, the word being common in topographical names, e.g. Uellauno-dunum ‘fortress of command’ and personal names, such as dubno-uellaunos ‘world ruler’.[3] Vellaunus corresponds to the Welsh gwell ‘better, superior’.[4] Stempel suggests a different meaning however, proposing ‘Avenger Victor’ as the proper translation of Ocelus Vellaunus.[5] 

If we use the ‘Enrar Olla’ approach,[6] in which we take all etymological meanings and other functions of a God, we can suggest something of the nature of Ocelus Vellaunus. Ocelus Vellaunus may then have taken the position of a ‘chief God’ of the Silures as the ‘ruler up high’, but in His role as ruler, Ocelus would have taken on the responsibility of avenging the wrongs done to His worshippers. Similar ideas are seen with the healing Goddess Sulis, who avenged Her worshippers as well as heal them.[7] Ocelus Vellaunus’ links to healing will be seen below.

Interpretatio

Ocelus Vellaunus provides an interesting case where He is interpreted as both the Roman God Mars, and also the Gaulish God Lenus, in a process of interpretatio celtica. The writer or commissioner of RIB 309 was deliberate in linking a local ‘Mars’ with a ‘Mars’ that they may be more familiar with themselves, suggesting that Lenus and Ocelus Vellaunus, at least in Marcus Nonius Romanus eyes, share many of the same spheres of influence. Lenus Mars, whose Celtic name comes first in inscriptions, had a large healing sanctuary in Trier, which might suggest that Ocelus Vellaunus, like many of the Celtic Mars, was a healing God too.[8] Viducus Brigantici says of Lenus:

“Patron god of the tribe, protector of the land and healer of maladies, Lenus Mars holds a special place in the Treveran pantheon. His entourage includes Ancamna/Victoria, the Xulsigiæ, and the specialized form Mars Jovantucarus who cares for the young; he himself has a variety of sobriquets.”[9]

In the quote above, we can see that Lenus takes on many of the aspects we expect from a Celtic ‘Mars’, namely the protective and healing role, and because of the association between Ocelus Vellaunus and Lenus Mars in RIB 309, the author suggests that Ocelus must have taken on a similar role for worshippers in Britain. Indeed, there were finds within the temple at Caerwent which lends itself to healing cults, namely parts of a bronze serpent and a bird’s head carved from bone.[10] However, this link only works if the temple in Caerwent was the home of Ocelus, which will be discussed more below.

RIB 309 continues to present interesting information on Ocelus Vellaunus, not only does it provide the epithet Vellaunus to Ocelus and the link between Lenus and Ocelus, it gives evidence to the existence of a college of religious professionals who were, at least in part, dedicated to Ocelus Vellaunus. The college may have been a "Collegnium Martensium”, a religious college dedicated to Mars.[11]

The Chief God of the Silures?

With all that has been discussed up until this point, with the etymology of the names and the location of inscriptions, scholars have suggested that Ocelus Vellaunus may have been the ‘chief God’ of the Silures.[12] Ocelus would likely have been given cult in the temple which stood at the heart of Caerwent, and while no inscriptions are found from the temple site itself, it is likely that the inscriptions were removed from the temple to be used as building material, as RIB 309 was found within a wall made up of other fragments from buildings.[13] To further support this idea, both RIB 309 and RIB 310, a statue base and altar, were made from local sandstone, and may have emphasised the local ‘Silurian’ nature of Ocelus Vellaunus’ cult. [14]

Interpretatio Britanna

Due to his connection to Roman emperors, as well as being interpreted as Mars by the Romans, Ocelus Vellaunus can be seen as a god associated with oaths and contracts, as well as that of leadership, authority, and warfare. The connection with leadership and authority is also made stronger through RIB 310, as this was dedicated by an optio. The role of the optio was to enforce the orders of the centurion, and supervising subordinates, amongst other duties. In this way, Ocelus can be seen as the "right hand man", for want of a better term, of another deity, such as Taranos/Taranis.

Footnotes

[1] Xavier Delamarre, Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise: une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental. Paris: Ed. Errance, 2003, p. 237.

[2] Andrew Breeze, ‘Mars Braciaca (RIB 278) at Haddon Hall, Derbyshire’, Language - Culture - Politics, vol 1, 2022, p. 105.

[3]  Delamarre, Dictionnaire, p. 311.

[4] Breeze, Mars Braciaca, p. 105.

[5] Patrizia de Bernado Stempel, ‘Continuity, translation and identification in Romano-Celtic religion: the case of Britain’, in Continuity and Innovation in Religion in the Roman West, R. Haeussler and A.C. King (eds), Journal of Roman Archaeology Supplementary Series 67, Vol. 2, 2008, p. 79.

[6] Cassanā Sigroni, (Apollo) Grannus: What’s in a Name?, sigroni, 2022, https://sigroni.wordpress.com/2022/04/04/apollo-grannus-whats-in-a-name/, accessed 23/06/2023.

[7] Albion and Beyond, Sulis Minerva, Albion and Beyond, n.d., https://albionandbeyond.com/sulis-minerva, accessed 23/06/2023.

[8] Miranda Aldhouse-Green, Sacred Britannia, London, 2018, p. 65-66.

[9] Viducus Brigantici, Leno Marti: to Lenus Mars, Deo Mercurio, n.d.,  http://www.deomercurio.be/en/marti.html, accessed 26/04/2023.

[10] Kenneth J. Fairless, ‘Aspects of the archaeology of the Brigantes’, unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Durham University, 1989, p. 486.

[11] Alessandra Esposito, Performing the Sacra: Priestly roles and their organisation in Roman Britain, Oxford, 2019, p. 121.

[12] Fairless, Brigantes, p. 485-487.

[13] Fairless, Brigantes, p. 486.

[14] Miranda Aldhouse-Green, ‘Singing Stones: Contexting Body-Language in Romano-British Iconography‘, Britannia, vol. 43, 2012, p. 119.

Inscriptions

“To the god Mars Lenus or Ocelus Vellaunus and to the Divinity of the Emperor Marcus Nonius Romanus, in return for freedom from liability of the college, gave this gift from his own resources on 23rd August in the consulship of Glabrio and Homulus.” (RIB 309)

“To the god Mars Ocelus, Aelius Augustinus, optio, willingly and deservedly fulfilled his vow.” (RIB 310)

“To the god Mars Ocelus and to the Divinity of the Emperor Alexander Augustus, and to Julia Mamaea, mother of the army and senate and country, and to the whole Divine House … .” (RIB 949)

References

Albion and Beyond. Sulis Minerva, Albion and Beyond, n.d., https://albionandbeyond.com/sulis-minerva, accessed 23/06/2023. 

Aldhouse-Green, Miranda Sacred Britannia, London, Thames & Hudson, 2018.

Aldhouse-Green, Miranda. ‘Singing Stones: Contexting Body-Language in Romano-British Iconography‘, Britannia, vol. 43, 2012, p. 115-134. doi:10.1017/S0068113X12000190. 

Breeze, Andrew. ‘Mars Braciaca (RIB 278) at Haddon Hall, Derbyshire’, Language - Culture - Politics, vol. 1, 2022, p. 103-111, DOI: 10.54515/lcp.2022.1.103-111. 

Brigantici, Viducus. Leno Marti: to Lenus Mars, Deo Mercurio, n.d.,  http://www.deomercurio.be/en/marti.html, accessed 26/04/2023. 

Delamarre, Xavier Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise: une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental. Paris: Ed. Errance, 2003.

Esposito, Alessandra Performing the Sacra: Priestly roles and their organisation in Roman Britain, Oxford, Archaeopress Publishing, 2019.

Fairless, Kenneth J. ‘Aspects of the archaeology of the Brigantes’, unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Durham University, 1989.

RIB 309, Dedication to Mars Lenus or Ocelus Vellaunus and to the Divinity of the Emperor, Roman Inscriptions of Britain, https://romaninscriptionsofbritain.org/inscriptions/309. 

RIB 310, Altar dedicated to Mars Ocelus, Roman Inscriptions of Britain, https://romaninscriptionsofbritain.org/inscriptions/310. 

RIB 949, Dedication to Mars Ocelus and to the Divinity of the Emperor Alexander Augustus, and to Julia Mamaea, Roman Inscriptions of Britain, https://romaninscriptionsofbritain.org/inscriptions/949. 

Sigroni, Cassanā. (Apollo) Grannus: What’s in a Name?, sigroni, 2022, https://sigroni.wordpress.com/2022/04/04/apollo-grannus-whats-in-a-name/, accessed 23/06/2023.

Stempel, P. de Bernardo. ‘Continuity, translation and identification in Romano-Celtic religion: the case of Britain’, in Continuity and Innovation in Religion in the Roman West, R. Haeussler and A.C. King (eds), Journal of Roman Archaeology Supplementary Series 67, Vol. 2, 2008, p. 67-82.