Grannus (also Granus, Mogounus,[1] and Amarcolitanus[2]) was a Celtic deity of classical antiquity. He was regularly identified with ApolloasApollo Grannus and frequently worshipped in conjunction with Sirona, and sometimes with Mars and other deities.[3]
The theonym Grannus is a latinized form of Gaulish Grannos.[4] The same stem appears in the personal names Grania, Grannia, Grannicus, and Grannica, as well as in the place names Grignols (from an earlier *Granno-ialon 'Grannus' clearing'), Aquae Granni (> Aachen), and Granéjouls.[5]
Its etymology remains debated. The name could be connected to Proto-Celtic *grand-/grend-, meaning 'beard' (cf. Middle Irish grend, Middle Welsh grann 'chin, beard, cheek', Middle Breton grann 'eyebrow'), although some scholars have pointed that the god is never actually portrayed with a beard. Old French grenon ('small beard'), Old Spanish greñon ('beard') and Occitan gren ('moustache') are derived from an earlier *grennos, that is supposed to be Gaulish, but the vocalism is difficult to reconcile with the other forms.[5][6][7]
An alternative etymology connects the name to a reconstructed form *gra-snó- (< *gwhr-snó-), which could be related to Proto-Celtic *gwrīns-/gwrens-, meaning 'heat' (cf. Middle Irish grīs 'heat, glow, embers', Middle Welsh gwres 'heat [of the sun, fire], passion, lust').[4][8] Scholar Jürgen Zeidler contends that this would be a "probable reference to the sun's heat and its healing properties".[9] In early twentieth century scholarship, the theonym was often compared with the Old Irish grían ('sun'),[5] which, according to linguist Ranko Matasović, should be derived from Proto-Celtic *gwrensā (> Primitive Irish *gwrēnā).[8]
AtMonthelon, Grannus is called Deus Apollo Grannus Amarcolitanus[2] ("The one with a piercing or far-reaching look"[10]), and at Horbourg-Wihr Apollo Grannus Mogounus.[3][1]
In all of his centres of worship where he is assimilated to a Roman god, Grannus was identified with Apollo,[3] presumably in Apollo's role as a healing or solar deity. In Trier, he is identified more specifically with Phoebus as Apollo Grannus Phoebus.[11][3]
One of the god's most famous cult centres was at Aquae Granni (now Aachen, Germany). Aachen means ‘water’ in Old High German, a calque of the Roman name of "Aquae Granni".[12] The town's hot springs with temperatures between 45 °C and 75 °C lay in the somewhat inhospitably marshy area around Aachen's basin-shaped valley region.[12] Aachen first became a curative centreinHallstatt times.[12]
According to Cassius Dio, the Roman Emperor Caracalla (188 AD to 217 AD) unsuccessfully sought help from Apollo Grannus—as well as Aesculapius and Serapis—during a bout of physical and mental illness, visiting the god's shrine and making many votive offerings; Dio claims that the gods refused to heal him because they knew Caracalla's intentions to be evil.[13] Caracalla's visit to the shrine of ‘the Celtic healing-god’ Grannus was during the war with Germany in 213.[14][citation needed]
A 1st century AD Latin inscription from a public fountain in Limoges mentions a Gaulish ten-night festival of Grannus (lightly Latinized as decamnoctiacis Granni):
Translation: "The vergobretus Postumus son of Dumnorix gave from his own money the Aqua Martia ("Water of Martius [or Mars]", an aqueduct[16]) for the ten-night festival of Grannus".[citation needed]
The name Grannus is sometimes accompanied by those of other deities in the inscriptions. In Augsburg, he is found with both Diana and Sirona;[17] he is again invoked with Sirona at Rome,[18] Bitburg,[19] Baumberg,[20][3] Lauingen,[21] and Sarmizegetusa (twice).[22]AtEnnetach he is with Nymphs,[23]atFaimingen with Hygieia and the Mother of the Gods,[24] and at Grand with Sol.[3] A votive altar at Astorga invokes him after "holy Serapis" and "the many-named Isis", and before "the unvanquished Core and Mars Sagatus".[25][3]
Media related to Grannus at Wikimedia Commons