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Ocelus
Ocelus is a Celtic god known from three inscriptions in Roman Britain. 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 to the numen (divine spirit) of the emperor,[1][3] and was dedicated on 23 August AD 152. The second Caerwent inscription dedicates an altar to Mars Ocelus.[4] The god was also venerated at Carlisle, where he was once more equated with Mars and again linked to the imperial cult.[2] So Ocelus seems to have been a British, perhaps Silurian god, associated with Mars, probably in the latter's Celtic capacity as a protector. At Caerwent he is linked with Lenus, a Treveran healing deity, and with Vellaunus, who is also recorded among the Gaulish Allobroges;[5] the name "Vellaunus" has been glossed as 'chief' or 'commander'.[6] One of the Caerwent inscriptions reads as follows:[4]
(VSLM stands for uotum soluit libens merito, a familiar votive formula; an optio was an officer subordinate to a centurion.) References
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