ROMANO-CELTIC FUSION: The continental Gauls had access to writing since the Greeks colonized the Mediterranean coast of France around 600 BCE. Because the Celts distrusted writing, they did not make early use of it. As a result, most inscriptions are Romano-Celtic; the name of a Roman deity was combined with that of a Celtic deity. Thus references occur to such figures as Mars Rudiobos and Mercury Teutates. The association usually depends on a single aspect of the classical god's nature, and unfortunately it is not always possible to determine the link between the two.

VARIETY: Celtic social organization never transcended that of the geographically localized clan. In many cases, each clan had distinctive names for their gods. Of about four hundred extant Romano-Celtic names of deities, over seventy-five per cent of them occur only once.

POLITICAL NATURE: Stelae marking boundaries are prone to geo-political statements. For example, one boundary stele shows the Matrones, the local triple goddesses of the Treviri, tromping gleefully on Tricephalus, the god of the neighboring Remi.