ght man into the comparative calm of
civilised life.

CHAPTER V--THE HUMANISED GODS OF CELTIC RELIGION

One of the most striking facts connected with the Celtic religion is the
large number of names of deities which it includes. These names are
known to us almost entirely from inscriptions, for the most part votive
tablets, in acknowledgment of some benefit, usually that of health,
conferred by the god on man. In Britain these votive tablets are chiefly
found in the neighbourhood of the Roman walls and camps, but we cannot be
always certain that the deities mentioned are indigenous. In Gaul,
however, we are on surer ground in associating certain deities with
certain districts, inasmuch as the evidence of place-names is often a
guide. These inscriptions are very unevenly distributed over Gaulish
territory, the Western and the North-Western districts being very
sparsely represented.

In the present brief sketch it is impossible to enter into a full
discussion of the relations of the names found on inscriptions to
particular localities, and the light thus thrown on Celtic religion; but
it may be here stated that investigation tends to confirm the local
character of most of the deities which the inscriptions name. Out of
these deities, some, it is true, in the process of evolution, gained a
wider field of worshippers, while others, like Lugus, may even have been
at one time more widely worshipped than they came to be in later times.
Occasionally a name like Lugus (Irish _Lug_), Segomo (Irish, in the
genitive, _Segamonas_), Camulos, whence Camulodunum (Colchester), Belenos
(Welsh _Belyn_), Maponos (Welsh _Mabon_), Litavis (Welsh _Llydaw_), by
its existence in Britain as well as in Gaul, suggests that it was either
one of the ancient deities of the Aryan Celts, or one whose worship came
to extend over a larger area than its fellows. Apart from a few
exceptional considerations of this kind, however, the local character of
the deities is most marked.

A very considerable number are the deities of springs and rivers. In
Noricum, for example, we have Adsalluta, a goddess associated with Savus
(the river Save). In Britain 'the goddess' Deva (the Dee), and Belisama
(either the Ribble or the Mersey), a name meaning 'the most warlike
goddess,' are of this type. We have again Axona the goddess of the river
Aisne, Sequana, the goddess of the Seine, Ritona of the river Rieu,
numerous nymphs and many other deities of