Alisanos
Alisanos was a local Celtic god worshipped near Dijon.
Name
The theonym Alisanos is generally connected with the Gaulish word alisia, which may denote either a 'rock, boulder, rocky height' or the 'whitebeam'. On this basis, Alisanos has been interpreted either as a deity associated with rocky features of the landscape or as a god of whitebeams or alders. An alternative etymology, deriving the name from a river name Alisos, has also been suggested. Most Celticists nevertheless traditionally interpret Alisanos as a 'god of the rock', viewing him as an expression of Celtic animism, the belief that natural features of the landscape were endowed with their own divine presence.The same root appears in the toponym Alesia, located further north in Burgundy. Some scholars has thus proposed to interpret him as a 'topical god of Alesia', and possibly the eponymous spirit of the site. However, this interpretation is weakened by the existence of other toponyms and anthroponyms formed from the same root that have no connection with Alesia. Patrizia de Bernardo Stempel has further objected that the cult of 'eponymous town deities' appears to be a development of the Gallo-Roman period, probably under Roman influence, which would be difficult to reconcile with a pre-Roman origin for the god.
Attestations
The worship of Alisanus is attested by two dedicatory inscriptions on bronze bowls, found at Couchey and Visignot, near Dijon.The inscription from Couchey is engraved on bronze and written in Gaulish.
The inscription from Visignot, written in Latin, records a man fulfilling a vow by dedicating a bronze bowl to the god Alisanus in gratitude for his son, Contedius.