Lenus ([; E. Courtney (1995) reads the original dative form as Ληνῷ in Musa Lapidaria: A Selection of Latin Verses 160, p. 152. Ληνῷ agrees with dative Ἄρηι in the following line.]) was a Celtic god of healing,
Name
The
Gaulish language theonym Lenos has been derived from a stem
lēno-, which could mean 'wood, bocage' (cf. Welsh
llwyn 'bush, grave, shrub'). His name most often appears in inscriptions as "Lenus Mars", rather than "Mars Lenus" as would be expected from other most syncretized names. His name also occasionally appears as "Mars Laenus".
[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. .] While the bulk of religious inscriptions to Lenus Mars are in Latin, there is one Latin-Greek bilingual inscription that identifies the god as "Lēnos ...
Ares" in the Greek version.
Cult
Lenus was an important god of the
Treveri, who had large sanctuaries at medicinal springs at
Trier and the
Martberg by Pommern in what is now
Germany. Two dedications to him are also known from southwestern
Roman Britain (Chedworth and
Caerwent). Edith Wightman characterizes him as “one of the best examples of a
Teutates, or god of the people, equated with Mars—protector of the tribe in battle, but also ... bestower of health and general good fortune” (p. 211).
[Edith Mary Wightman (1970). Roman Trier and the Treveri. Rupert Hart-Davis, London.] His sanctuary "Am Irminenwingert" at Trier had a large temple, baths, smaller shrines and a theatre; that on the Martberg also included a large variety of buildings, probably including rooms for health-seeking pilgrims to stay. Notwithstanding his associations with healing, Lenus Mars is depicted classically as a warrior with Corinthian helmet in a bronze statuette from the Martberg.
At Trier, Lenus Mars's divine partners were the Celtic goddess Ancamna and the Roman Victoria,[ L'Arbre Celtique] as well as the Xulsigiae, who are perhaps water nymphs.[Musée d'histoire et d'art, Luxembourg. 1974. Pierres sculptées et inscriptions de l'époque romaine, catalogued by Eugénie Wilhelm, p.71.]
Lenus was not the only Celtic god identified with Mars by the Treveri; others, such as Iovantucarus (apparently a protector of youth), Intarabus, Camulos, and Loucetios were identified with Mars and perhaps, by extension, with Lenus. "Lenus Mars" is accompanied by the epithets "Arterancus"
In Britain, Lenus was identified with three other gods, namely the Roman people Mars, and the Celtic Britons gods Ocelus and Vellaunus,[B. Collingwood and R.P. Wright. The Roman Inscriptions of Britain. Oxford. RIB 309. Quoted at Roman-Britain.org (
]
target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> archived version).
- DEO MARTI LENO SIVE OCELO VELLAVN ET NVM AVG M NONIVS ROMANVS OB IMMVNITAT COLLEGNI D D S D GLABRIONE ET HOMVLO COS X K SEPT
- To the god Mars Lenus or Ocelus Vellaunus and to the numina of the Augustus, Marcus Nonius Romanus dedicated this from the privilege of the college during the consulship of Glabrio and Homulus ten days before the Calends of September.
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