Baco (also Bacon) is a Gaulish Celtic god, known from Gallo-Roman inscriptions found in the areas of Chalon-sur-Saône [1] and Eauze. [2] The inscription at Chalon-sur-Saône, dated to 69 to 96 CE, was dedicated by a decurion in the Roman cavalry. [3]
The god's name (also Gallicized as Bacon) indicates that he was probably a boar-god, [4] [5] of whom many are recorded in the Celtic world. [6] An account of Baco is also preserved in the hagiography of a St Marcel de Chalon , [7] martyred in 177 or 179 CE. [8] According to L. Armand-Calliat, the cult of this Baco was inherited by St Anthony the Great, venerated in the Haute-Bourgogne region on 17 January. [9]