Page:The Celtic Review volume 3.djvu/62

Rh on an inscription in Cumberland she is called a nymph in the words Deae Nymphae Brig(antiae). There is at Birrens, near Middleby, an inscription of the second century A.D., which reads Brigantiae s(acrum). It is not improbable that Brigantia was the tribal deity of the powerful tribe of the Brigantes of the north of England. Another goddess whose name occurs on inscriptions in Britain is Epona. She is mentioned on an inscription at Carvoran in the formula Deae Eponae, and at Auchindavy, near Kirkintilloch, in Scotland, in the middle of the second century, along with Mars, Minerva, the goddesses of the fields (Campestres), Hercules, Epona, and Victory. With this inscription may be compared the inscriptions of Rome, on which Epona is mentioned along with several other deities. A goddess Latā, or Latis, is mentioned on inscriptions at Kirkbampton and Birdoswald. In the former case we have Deae Lati, in the latter Dae Lati. On two inscriptions, one at Chesters and the other at Birdoswald, a goddess is mentioned, whose name is given in an abbreviated form as Rat. . . In the former case we have Dea(e) Rat. . ., in the latter Dae Rat. There is not enough evidence to associate her with Ratae, the old name of Leicester.

It may be here noted that, in the case of the names of gods found in Britain, the chief links with the continent are for the most part with the district around Cologne, Trêves, and Mayence, but there are sometimes unexpected links with other districts. Grannus ( = Apollo), who was largely worshipped in the neighbourhood of the Rhine, is mentioned on an inscription found at Musselburgh, near Edinburgh, but we find Ialonus, whose name occurs on an inscription at Nîmes, mentioned also on an inscription at Lancaster. Leucetios, the Mars of the neighbourhood of Mainz, is mentioned on an inscription at Bath. Maponos ( = Welsh Mabon) is mentioned three times as a god in Britain, as well as in a place-name Maponi, but on the continent there are no traces of him as a god. The British references to him take the forms, Deo sancto Apollini Mapon(o) (at Ribchester, county Durham),