ORIGIN: Celtic [Irish]
TYPE: Tribal war god associated with healing
KNOWN PERIOD OF WORSHIP: Prehistoric times until Christianization 400 CE.
SYNONYMS: Nuada argatlam; Nodens (Romano-Celtic); Nudd (Welsh)
CENTER(S) OF CULT: the best known is the sanctuary of Nodens at Lydney, Gloucester, England.
ART REFERENCES: None specific, though possibly the subject of anonymous carvings.
LITERARY SOURCES: Books of Invasions; Cycles of Kings; Votive Inscriptions.
NFORMATION: One of the Tuatha de Danann who lost an arm at the Battle of Moytura against the Fir Bolg. The arm was replaced by the physician god Diancecht who made a prosthesis out of silver, hence Nuada Argatlam (Nuadu of the silver hand). The original sanctuary at Lydney in Gloucestershire was taken over and enlarged by the Romans who renamed the god Nodens. Also considered to be the father of the Irish Royal dynasty.