Lugus, also sometimes called Lugh, is a Celtic god that whispers through history. No confirmed images of the god survive, but his name appears in various inscriptions. He was also clearly prevalent enough to show up in Roman and Medieval accounts of the Celts.
Most surviving dedications to Lugus survive from Iberia and date to between the 1st century BCE and the 3rd century CE. They were mostly dedications in Latin from Roman troops in the region. In all but one example, Lugus is referred to in the plural as Lugoves, suggesting that the name might not belong to a single deity but a class of deities, such as personal protective deities of people and places like the Roman Lares.
It is speculated that in his Gallic War, when Julius Caesar talks about an important Gallic god that he identifies with the familiar Roman god Mercury, he is referring to Lugus due to the prominence of the prefix “Lug” in many personal names and place names, such as the famous city of Lugdunum. However, this is difficult to marry with the idea of Lugus as a more general kind of deity.
In Medieval texts about Irish mythology, Lugh emerges as an important supernatural figure. That Lugh is the same as Lugus is speculative and based on etymological factors.
Called Lugh Lamfhota, or “long-armed Lugh,” he appears in the Mythological Cycle and the Ulster Cycle. He appears as one of the leading members of the Tuatha De Danann, the supernatural race that occupied Ireland before mankind, and one of the three great heroes of most of the related stories. He is described as a youthful warrior who is notably large and beautiful and wields a magical invincible spear from his horse. He carries a black shield with a hard boss of white bronze.
Lugus also appears in Welsh mythology as Lleu Llaw Gyffes, “Lugh of the skilful hand,” a protagonist in the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi. He is a prince with extraordinary magical skills who eventually becomes the kind of Gwynedd.
In these contexts, Lugh was known as a sun god associated with storms and with familiars including ravens, crows, lynx, and a magical hound.
A Gallo-Roman silver cup from Lyon has been suggested to represent Lugus. It shows a human counting money – a potential connection to Mercury – next to a raven – a potential connection to Odin whom the Romans also associated with Mercury. It has also been suggested that the depiction of Mercury on an altar from Reims, based on the fact that a rat appears above the figure, since the Gaulish word for rat is “lucot,” potentially representing a pun for Lugus.
Another suggestion is that Lugus is a triple god that combines Esus, Toutais, and Taranis. This is because Gaulish Mercury is associated with triplism and sometimes appears with three faces or as three phalluses. This relates to Lugh in Irish mythology, who is born as one of triplets.
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