Celtic Gods and Godesses Abandinus  Abandinus was a local Celtic River God associated with the River Ouse formerly known as Alban or Aban and the Celtic river names Abona or Afon, and he is known from an inscription from a Celtic-Roman Temple in Godmanchester in Cambridgeshire England, and two other local temples, and a votive feather is dedicated to him with a fragmentary text ‘to the God Abandinus, Vatiaucus gave this from his own resources' inscribed on a plaque, and a water tank and a well in one of the three temples on the site suggests the worship of a water God, and also associates him with a local spring. It has been suggested that Abandinus is related to Maponos, a much more well known Celtic God, as there are linguistic characteristics, with the alternative reading of the God's name ‘Maband.' Maponos  Maponos or Maponus was a Celtic God was worshipped mainly in Northern Britain and also in Gaul, and was equated in Roman Times with the Greek God Appolo. Maponus meaning ‘divine son' or ‘divine youth,' and was ‘The God of Youth.' He personified youthful masculinity, which explains the syncretism with the Graeco-Roman God Apollo.
The Ravenna Cosmography, a reference book of locations compiled by an unknown monk in 700 AD mentions a ‘Locus Maponi', ‘the place of Maponos,' suggesting he was associated with a Cult Centre thought to have been between Lochmaben and Lockerbie, the name Lochmaben may have derived from Locus Maponi, ‘the ford of Maponos' is thought to be Ladyward near Lockerbie in Scotland. The Lochmaben Stone lies near Gretna on the farm named Old Graitney, the old name for Gretna. The name Clachmabenm meaning ‘stone of Maben or Maponos'has been corrupted to Lochmaben. The stone was probably part of a stone circle and the area is thought to have been centre for the worship of Maponus. Maponus is also mentioned in Gaul at Bourbonne-les-Bains and at Chamalieres, and is also attested in Northern Britain at Brampton, Corbridge (Corstopitum), Ribchester (Bremetenacum) and Chesterholm. At Corbridge there are two dedications to Apollo Maponos and one to the God Maponos Apollo. The inscription at Brampton was made by four Germans and is to the God Maponos and the numen of the emperor. The inscription by a unit of Sarmatians based at Ribchester in Latin, shows the association with Apollo and can be precisely dated to the day of 29th August according to the Roman calendar and the year 241 AD by mention of the two consuls. All the inscriptions are in Latin, with the exception of the inscription from Chamalieres, which is a long magical text written in Gaulish inscribed on a rolled lead sheet, the second line seeks the help of Maponos. Dedications suggest he was associated with music and poetry, but on a sculptured stone in Ribchester, England, he was portrayed alongside an unnamed Goddess of Hunting. In Welsh Mythology Maponus surfaces in the Middle Welsh narrative, the Mabinogion, as Mabon, son of Modron, who herself was the continuation of the Gaulish Matrona, ‘Matronly Spirit.' The theme of Maponos son of Matrona ‘Child of The Mother', and the development of names in the Mabinogi from Common Brythonic and Gaulish theonyms have been examined by Hamp in 1999, Lambert in 1979 and Meid in 1991. Mabon apparently features in the tale of a newborn child taken from his mother at the age of three nights, and is explicitly named in the story of ‘Culhwch ac Olwen. The story of Culhwch and Olwen forms part of what has become known as the Mabinogion that features both the White Book of Rhydderch and the Red Book of Hergest. The tale is as much about Arthur as it is about Culhwch. Maponus's name lives on in Arthurian romance in the guise of Mabon, Mabuz, and Mabonagrain.;-***The Full Story Will appear in The Arthurian Web-site.***  The deity pictured here with the club on the Gundestrup Cauldron is the Dagda, with the wheel symbolizing either his great wealth or his power. the Irish Celtic mythology the counterpart of Marponos is found in the epithet of Angus or Oengus, the eternal youthful spirit to be found in Newgrange called Bruigh na Boinne, a pre-Celtic Neolithic barrow or chambered tomb. Irish mythology portrays him as the son of the Dagda, a king of the Irish Gods, and of Boann, a personification of the River Boyne. In Irish mythology, the Macc Oc frequently features as a trickster and a lover.
The Dagda; Eochaidh Ollathir, the Ruler of the Celtic Gods, God of Magic, Wisdom and Heaven will appear on a later site.
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