RIIG Religious Inscriptions -- Vallauris, Marseille, and Mercury of Lezoux

A Good Works Translation from RIIG ALM-01-01, BDR-07-01, and PDD-01-01

These three RIIG records show three different edges of Continental Celtic religion: a lost silver cup with a Gaulish-in-Greek formula, a damaged Massiliote stone that may name Belenos, and a Lezoux cult statue where a clear Latin dedication stands beside broken Gaulish traces.

Translation

Vallauris Silver Cup

Ouenikoimedou.

This is not a sentence translation. The inscription is preserved as a complete formula or name on a lost silver cup. RIIG's analyzed readings divide the form in more than one way: either as ouen-ikoi medou, as a genitive personal name, or as a form involving medu "mead." The public English therefore keeps the source form visible.

Marseille Stele

...for Belenos (?)...

This rendering follows the Gaulish religious reading recorded by RIIG, but the question mark is part of the evidence. The stone may preserve a Gaulish dative theonym for Belenos, or it may instead be a Greek funerary name in the genitive. The page does not decide the problem.

Mercury of Lezoux

Sacred to Mercury and Augustus.

The Latin dedication is secure. The associated Gaulish traces are not translated as a sentence. RIIG records a likely ie[uru] dedication verb in the damaged Gaulish side, but the dedicator and final form remain fragmentary.

Object Notes

Vallauris

RIIG ALM-01-01 records a lost silver cup from Vallauris in Deciates territory. The inscription is Gaulish in Greek script. RIIG dates it broadly to the second or first century BCE, with low certainty, and cites RIG I pages 414-418 with figure 335.

The record preserves the main reading:

ΟΥЄΝΙΚΟΙΜЄΔΟΥ

It also exposes historical or control readings such as:

OYЄNIKOMЄΔOY
OYЄNIΧOIMЄΔOY
ΟΥЄΝΙΚΟΙΜΕΔΟΥ

Marseille

RIIG BDR-07-01 records a damaged limestone stele from the ancient port area of Marseille / Massilia. RIIG classifies it as a religious or cultic inscription, Gaulish in Greek script, dated broadly to the second or first century BCE with low certainty.

The source problem is the whole point of the object. The Gaulish religious interpretation reads the damaged text as a possible dative form of Belenos. The Greek alternative treats the ending as a genitive personal name and would move the object outside the Gaulish religious corpus.

Lezoux

RIIG PDD-01-01 records the colossal Mercury statue from Lezoux in Arvernian territory. The object carries a secure Latin cult dedication and damaged Gaulish traces. RIIG classifies it as a religious or cultic inscription, dating it to the first or second century CE with medium certainty, and cites RIG II.1 pages 107 and 109-118 with figures 50-51.

The secure Latin side reads:

MERCVRIO
ET AVGVSTO
SACRVM

The damaged Gaulish side reads:

A[ ... ]
IE[---]
ESO[ ... ]

RIIG's analyzed line 2 gives ie[uru], a familiar Gaulish dedication verb, but the surrounding broken text remains too uncertain for a continuous English translation.

Colophon

This page translates three RIIG source records for the Celtic continental expansion of the Good Works Library. It gives source-close English only where the evidence is secure enough: the Vallauris form is preserved rather than smoothed, the Marseille Belenos interpretation keeps its uncertainty marker, and the Mercury of Lezoux page translates only the secure Latin dedication while displaying the damaged Gaulish traces.

Compiled and formatted for the Good Works Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

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Source Text: RIIG ALM-01-01, BDR-07-01, and PDD-01-01

Gaulish, Greek-script, Latin, and damaged Gaulish source text from the inspected RIIG records for Vallauris, Marseille, and Lezoux. This page presents the complete surviving source text for the three selected records with source-close English.

RIIG ALM-01-01 / RIG G279, Vallauris Silver Cup

Support: lost silver cup from Vallauris.

Language/script: Gaulish in Greek alphabet.

Main source reading:

ΟΥЄΝΙΚΟΙΜЄΔΟΥ

Analyzed source display:

ουεν ικ οι μεδου

RIIG BDR-07-01 / RIG G24, Marseille Stele

Support: damaged limestone stele from Marseille.

Language/script: disputed Gaulish in Greek alphabet or Greek.

Diplomatic source display:

[ .. ]ΛЄΝ
Ο̣Υ

Normalized/restored source display:

[βε]λεν-
ου

Source-close rendering:

...for Belenos (?)...

RIIG PDD-01-01 / RIG L8, Mercury of Lezoux

Support: arkose statue from Lezoux.

Language/script: Latin and damaged Gaulish in Latin alphabet.

Latin source text:

MERCVRIO
ET AVGVSTO
SACRVM

Latin source-close rendering:

Sacred to Mercury and Augustus.

Damaged Gaulish source text:

A[ ... ]
IE[---]
ESO[ ... ]

Analyzed damaged Gaulish display:

a[ ... ]
ie[uru]
eso[ ... ]

Gaulish source-close rendering:

[Name?]
made / dedicated
[undetermined form]

Source Colophon

The RIIG HTML source records for ALM-01-01, BDR-07-01, and PDD-01-01 were captured and inspected on 2026-05-13 at Tulku/Tools/celtic/sources/continental_batch_2026-05-13/riig_first_gallo_greek_religious_cluster/. The direct source routes are https://riig.huma-num.fr/documents/ALM-01-01, https://riig.huma-num.fr/documents/BDR-07-01, and https://riig.huma-num.fr/documents/PDD-01-01. RIIG cites RIG I for Vallauris and Marseille, and RIG II.1 for Mercury of Lezoux. The Good Works English is a new source-close rendering from the inspected source displays and does not reproduce RIIG images or modern commentary.

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