Cissonius (also Cisonius, Cesonius) was an ancient Gaulish god. After Visucius, Cissonius was the most common name of the Gaulish Mercury; around seventeen inscriptions dedicated to him extend from France and Southern Germany into Switzerland.^[1] 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. ... Mercury is a god, also known as the god of trade, profit and commerce. ...

Cissonius was represented either as a bearded, helmeted man riding a ram and carrying a wine cup, or else as a young man with winged helmet and herald's staff accompanied by a rooster and goat.^{[citation needed]} The Caduceus A caduceus (kerykeion in Greek; Unicode U+2624 (☤)) is a winged staff with two snakes wrapped around it. ...

Map showing the distribution of inscriptions to Cissonius.

The name has been interpreted as meaning "courageous", "remote"^{[citation needed]} or else "carriage-driver".^[2] He was probably a god of trade and protector of travellers, since Mercury exercised similar functions in the Roman pantheon.

In one inscription Cissonus is identified with Matutinus.^[1] Also Matunus. ...

The place-name Niederzissen in the Kreis Ahrweiler may be derived from the name of Cissonius.^{[citation needed]} There are 439 German districts (Kreise), administrative units in Germany. ... Categories: Districts of Rhineland-Palatinate ...

References

1. ^ ^a b Nicole Jufer & Thierry Luginbühl. 2001. Les dieux gaulois : répertoire des noms de divinités celtiques connus par l'épigraphie, les textes antiques et la toponymie. Editions Errance, Paris. pp.34-5
2. ^ J.-J. Hatt (1989), Mythes et dieux de la Gaules, I : les grandes divinités masculines, Paris, p.217. Cited in William van Andringa (2002). La religion en Gaule romaine : Piété et politique (I^er-III^e siècle apr. J.-C. Editions Errance, Paris. pp.135,155. Van Andringa thus summarizes Hatt's conclusions: "Cissonius dériverait du gaulois cissum, voiture." ("Cissonius would be derived from the Gaulish cissum, carriage.")