Ocelus

[branynos]

from Miranda Green's "Dictionary of Celtic Myth & Legend"

"Three inscriptions from Roman Britain allude to the god Ocelus. He is twice invoked on dedications at Caerwent: one stone is the base of a statue of which only a pair of 'human' feet and a pair of goose feet survive. The invocation is to Mars Lenus or Ocelus Vellaunus and the numen (spirit) of the emperor and it was dedicated on 23rd August AD152. The second Caerwent inscription dedicates an altar to Mars Ocelus. The god was venerated again at Carlisle, where he was once more equated with Mars and againlinked to an imperial cult. So Ocelus seems to have been a British, perhaps Silures god, associated with the Roman Mars, probably in the latter's Celtic capacity as a protector. At Caerwent, he is linked Lenus a Treveran healing deity and with Vellaunus, who is recorded among the Gaulish Allobroges"

Does anybody know anything more about Ocelus than is provided by M Green? I have a growing 'push' to find out about him but he seems to be a very private deity.

And while I know its extremely unlikely to be connected in anyway whats so ever where does the word 'ocelot' derive from?

curious & a tad frustrated

[Brochfael]

Your best clue is probably the conflation with Mars. Everyone knows Mars as a war god but he was also an agricultural deity. The apparent lack of inscriptions elsewhere would suggest he is a Silurian deity. I can't think of any other routes of research at present but I'll post again if anything occurs.

[Blackbird]

There is a picture of that altar on this site: www.caerleon.net/history/army/altar2.htm

And the Roman Britain site ( www.roman-britain.org/places/venta_silurum.htm ) gives a footnote thus:

"Mars Ocelus would appear to be a conflation of the Roman war god Mars with a Celtic or Germanic warrior god named Ocelus. The name may mean 'Mars the Ocelenian', in reference to a demigod/hero of the Ocelenses tribe from Lusitania, named the Lancienses by Pliny (iv.22). Alternately the name may be a conflation with the ancient philosopher Ocellus of Lucania and should perhaps be read as 'Mars the Philosopher'. There is another stone dedicated to Mars Ocelus at Carlisle (RIB 949), dated to the 3rd century. Another stone bearing these names has been found here at Caerwent (vide RIB 309 infra)."

I'm not sure on the etymology of the name - I'll do some digging and see what I can find.

[branynos]

I hadn't forggoten about Ocelus.
I followed the leads suggested and from what I can make out he appears to have come to Britain with the Roman army, because of his martial aspect, and while he may have been honoured in Silure terrority he's unlikely to be a 'native' god.

[Blackbird]

Perhaps - though there are plenty of other British Gods who were awarded the prefix 'Mars', and for whom we have only a couple of inscriptions. To be sure, you'd have to see if the name Ocelus has a Celtic or Latin root.

[Brochfael]

Distinguishing Celtic from Latin roots may be easier said than done since the languages are not all that dissimilar.

Best example is the word for Bull:
Latin-Taurus
Modern Welsh-Tarw
Mediaeval Irish-Tarbh
Ancient Gaulish-Tarvos

[Blackbird]

True - both Latin and Celtic languages are both in the IE family.

Given that there are many British Gods for whom we have a similarly small amount of evidence - and given that Ocelus receives a suffix, rather than being named in his own right, I would suspect him to be a British 'native' rather than an import.

Perhaps there is not enough information to prove the case either way.