Cissonius (also Cisonius) is an epithet of the Roman god Mercury recorded in Latin votive inscriptions of the Gallo-Roman period. It is among the native surnames of Mercury that recur at several sites in the western provinces, with dedications concentrated in Germania Superior and the neighbouring parts of Gallia Belgica, Germania Inferior and Raetia. Most texts pair the name with Mercury as Mercurius Cissonius, although in a few dedications Cissonius is invoked without Mercury. The name is attested only in inscriptions, and its meaning is disputed.

Name

The name occurs in the forms Cissonius and Cisonius. Jan de Vries also noted a variant Cessonius.

The meaning of the name is disputed. Jean-Jacques Hatt derived it from Gaulish *cissum ('carriage'), which would present Mercury as a god of carters. Xavier Delamarre instead connected the name with Gaulish *sounos ('sleep, dream') and tentatively analysed it as *cit-souno- ('bringing dreams'), while marking the derivation as uncertain. Jan de Vries noted that many of Mercury's native surnames remain obscure and that some do not look Celtic at all.

Cult and interpretation

Mercury was the Roman god most often depicted and invoked in Gaul, and inscriptions there regularly attach a native surname to him. Cissonius is one of the epithets that recur at several places, alongside Visucius and Arvernus. James MacKillop places it among the surnames that suggest a shade of identity distinct from the Roman Mercury, and in several dedications the name is used without Mercury, as deus Cissonius.

On Hatt's etymology, William Van Andringa notes that the surname would present Mercury as a god of carters, in keeping with his role as a god of commerce and travel, and points out that at Nida the god was invoked both as Negotiator ('the trader') and as Cissonius. Native surnames of this kind are in other cases descriptive or drawn from the place of the cult, but the reading of Cissonius rests on the disputed etymology, and the god's character beyond his identification with Mercury is not otherwise defined.

Epigraphy

Cissonius is known only from Latin inscriptions of the imperial period. Most of the dedications come from Germania Superior, chiefly the Rhineland and the Swiss plateau, with outliers in Gallia Belgica, Germania Inferior and Raetia.

At Vesontio a woman named Dubitatia Castula, described as Syrian by origin, rebuilt at her own expense a temple and portico of Mercurius Cissonius that had fallen into ruin, evidence that the god had an established sanctuary in the town. At Augusta Treverorum, the chief city of the Treveri, Mercury was worshipped in the Altbachtal precinct. The principal dedication there gives him no native surname, but fragmentary inscriptions from the town record him as Cissonius and as Visucius.

See also

• Mercury in Gaul

• Visucius

• List of Celtic deities

Notes

References

Bibliography

Further reading