him for thirteen days, and Lug passes in review the various craftsmen (i.e. the gods), and though they try to prevent such a marvellous person risking himself in fight, he escapes, heads the warriors, and sings his war-song.  Balor, the evil-eyed, he slays with a sling-stone, and his death decided the day against the Fomorians.  In this account Lug samildanach is a patron of the divine patrons of crafts; in other words, he is superior to a whole group of gods.  He was also inventor of draughts, ball-play, and horsemanship.  But, as M. D’Arbois shows, samildanach is the equivalent of “inventor of all arts,” applied by Caesar to the Gallo-Roman Mercury, who is thus an equivalent of Lug.[315] This is attested on other grounds.  As Lug’s name appears in Irish Louth (Lug-magh) and in British Lugu-vallum, near Hadrian’s Wall, so in Gaul the names Lugudunum (Lyons), Lugudiacus, and Lugselva ("devoted to Lugus”) show that a god Lugus was worshipped there.  A Gaulish feast of Lugus in August—­the month of Lug’s festival in Ireland—­was perhaps superseded by one in honour of Augustus.  No dedication to Lugus has yet been found, but images of and inscriptions to Mercury abound at Lugudunum Convenarum.[316] As there were three Brigits, so there may have been several forms of Lugus, and two dedications to the Lugoves have been found in Spain and Switzerland, one of them inscribed by the shoemakers of Uxama.[317] Thus the Lugoves may have been multiplied forms of Lugus or Lugovos, “a hero,” the meaning given to “Lug” by O’Davoren.[318] Shoe-making was not one of the arts professed by Lug, but Professor Rh[^y]s recalls the fact that the Welsh Lleu, whom he equates with Lug, disguised himself as a shoemaker.[319] Lugus, besides being a mighty hero, was a great Celtic culture-god, superior to all other culture divinities.

The euhemerists assigned a definite date to Lug’s death, but side by side with this the memory of his divinity prevailed, and he appears as the father and helper of Cuchulainn, who was possibly a rebirth of the god.[320] His high position appears in the fact that the Gaulish assembly at Lugudunum was held in his honour, like the festival of Lugnasad in Ireland.  Craftsmen brought their wares to sell at this festival of the god of crafts, while it may also have been a harvest festival.[321] Whether it was a strictly solar feast is doubtful, though Professor Rh[^y]s and others insist that Lug is a sun-god.  The name of the Welsh Lleu, “light,” is equated with Lug, and the same meaning assigned to the latter.[322] This equation has been contested and is doubtful, Lugus probably meaning “hero."[323] Still the sun-like traits ascribed to Lug before Mag-tured suggest that he was a sun-god, and solar gods elsewhere, e.g. the Polynesian Maui, are culture-gods as well.  But it should be remembered that Lug is not associated with the true solar festivals of Beltane and Midsummer.