Ocelus

Not to be confused with Ocellus.

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]

Mars Ocelus
Other names	Mars Lenus, Ocelus Vellaunus
Major cult center	Venta Silurum,[1] Luguvalium Carvetiorum[2]
Animals	Bird (goose)[1][3]
Gender	Male
Equivalents
Roman	Mars
Gaulish	Lenus[1][3]

One of the Caerwent inscriptions reads as follows:^[4]

DEO / MARTI / OCELO / AEL(ius) AGVS/TINVS OP(tio) / V S L M
To the god Mars Ocelus, Aelius Agustinus, lieutenant, willingly and deservedly fulfilled his vow

(VSLM stands for uotum soluit libens merito, a familiar votive formula; an optio was an officer subordinate to a centurion.)