Beli Mawr (Beli the Great) was a Welsh ancestor deity. He was the consort of Don and the father of Caswallawn, Arianrhod, Lludd and Llefelys. Several royal lines in medieval Wales traced their ancestry to him. Welsh mythology, the remnants of the mythology of the pre-Christian Britons, has come down to us in much altered form in medieval Welsh manuscripts such as the Red Book of Hergest, the White Book of Rhydderch, the Book of Aneirin and the Book of Taliesin. ... Look up deity in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Dôn was a Welsh mother goddess, equivalent of the Irish Danu. ... In Welsh mythology, Caswallawn son of Beli was a legendary king of Britain who fought Julius Caesar. ... In Welsh mythology, Arianrhod (silver wheel) was a daughter of Beli and Don. ... Lludd Llaw Eraint, Lludd of the Silver Hand, son of Beli Mawr, is a legendary hero from Welsh mythology. ... Llefelys (also Llevelys, Lleuelys) is a character in Welsh mythology, namely the story of Lludd and Llefelys. Llefelys is king of France while his brother Lludd is king of Britain. ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times. ... For an explanation of often confusing terms such as Great Britain, Britain, United Kingdom, England and Wales and England, see British Isles (terminology). ...

He is usually, though not universally, considered to have derived from the Celtic god Belenus. Historical linguistics suggests that the name Beli may be derived from Bolgios, a name attested as one of the leaders of the Gaulish sack of Delphi in the 3rd century BC. It is related to the Irish "Beltane", modern Gaelic "bealtuinn" (May-day), comes from Irish "béalteine", reflecting the diphthonging of the initial vowel from Early Irish "beltene", or "belltaine", Proto-Celtic *belo-te(p)niâ (according to Stokes), and means "bright-fire". The Gaulish god-names "Belenos" (*Bright one) and "Belisama" (probably the same divinity, originally from *belo-nos = our shining one) are also from the same source, as was Shakespeare's "Cym-beline". Celtic mythology is the mythology of Celtic polytheism, apparently the religion of the Iron Age Celts. ... In Celtic mythology, Belenus (also Belinus, Belenos, Belinos, Belinu, Bellinus, Belus, Bel) was a deity worshipped in Gaul, Britain and Celtic areas of Italy and Austria. ... Historical linguistics (also diachronic linguistics or comparative linguistics) is primarily the study of the ways in which languages change over time. ... Map of Gaul circa 58 BC Gaul (Latin Gallia, Greek Galatia) was the region of Western Europe occupied by present day northern Italy, France, Belgium, western Switzerland and the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the west bank of the Rhine river. ... The theatre, seen from above Delphi (Greek Δελφοί — Delphoi) is an archaeological site and a modern town in Greece. ... (2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC - 1st millennium) // Events Teotihuacán, Mexico begun The first two Punic Wars between Carthage and Rome over dominance in western Mediterranean Rome conquers Spain Gaulish migration to Macedon, Thrace and Galatia 282-226: Colossus of Rhodes 281 BC Antiochus I Soter, on the assassination... This article is about the Gaelic holiday. ... Proto-Celtic, also called Common Celtic, is the putative ancestor of all the known Celtic languages. ... Cymbeline is a play by William Shakespeare. ...

Beli appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain as Heli. Geoffrey of Monmouth (c. ... Geoffrey of Monmouths Historia Regum Britanniæ (English: The History of the Kings of Britain) was written around 1136. ... This article is about the Mythical British king Heli. ...

External links

• Beli Mawr
• Associations between the Welsh Beli and the Irish Bile
• Beli Mawr and the Belgae