Atepomarus
{{Short description|Deity in Celtic Gaul}}
{{More citations needed|date=August 2021}}
Atepomarus{{cite book|author=Jacques Lacroix|year=2007|title=Les noms d'origine gauloise - La Gaule des dieux|publisher=Errance|isbn=978-2-87772-349-7|page=102 |lang=FR}} or Atepomaros{{cite book |first=Jacques |last=Lacroix |year=2012 |title=Les noms d'origine gauloise: La Gaule Des Combats |publisher=Éditions Errance |isbn=978-2-87772-479-1 |page=184 |lang=FR}} in Celtic Gaul was a healing god from Mauvières (Indre). Apollo was associated with this god in the form Apollo Atepomarus.
At some of Apollo's healing sanctuaries (as at Sainte-Sabine, Burgundy) small figurines of horses were associated with him.
Names and etymology
The title also appears as Atepomerus.{{cite book|last1=Persigout|first1= Jean-Paul|title=Dictionnaire de Mythologie Celte|publisher=Éditions du Rocher|date= 1996|page= 103|isbn=2-268-00968-8|language=fr}}
Scholarship suggests the name is a compound of at- (intensifier), -epo- (the Celtic word for "horse") and -marus ("large, great").{{cite journal |last1=Bousquet |first1=Jean |title=Inscriptions de Rennes |journal=Gallia |date=1971 |volume=29 |issue=1 |pages=109–122 [116: footnote 15]|doi=10.3406/galia.1971.2572|doi-access=|language=fr}}{{cite book|last1=Matasovic|first1= Ranko|title=Etymological Dictionary of Proto Celtic|publisher= Brill|date= 2008|page= 258|isbn=978-90-04-17336-1}} Thus, the epithet is sometimes translated as "Great Horseman"{{cite book|author=Jacques Lacroix|year=2007|title=Les noms d'origine gauloise - La Gaule des dieux|publisher=Errance|isbn=978-2-87772-349-7|page=102 |lang=FR |quote=On trouve aussi dans les inscriptions un théonyme ATEPOMARUS, le «Grand-Cavalier» (surnom de l’Apollon ou du Mercure gaulois) ... |trans-quote=We also find among the inscriptions a theonym ATEPOMARUS, the "Great Horseman" (epithet to the Gaulish Apollo or the Gaulish Mercury) ...}}{{cite book |first=Jacques |last=Lacroix |year=2012 |title=Les noms d'origine gauloise: La Gaule Des Combats |publisher=Éditions Errance |isbn=978-2-87772-479-1 |page=184 |lang=FR |quote=... ATÉPOMAROS (le “Très-grand-Cavalier”) ...}} or "possessing a great horse".{{cite journal |last1=Gricourt |first1=Daniel |last2=Hollard |first2=Dominique |title=Lugus et le cheval |language=fr|journal=Dialogues d'histoire ancienne |date=2002 |volume=28 |issue=2 |pages=121–166 [124, 126] |doi=10.3406/dha.2002.2475|doi-access=}}Polomé, Edgar C. "Etymologische Anmerkungen zu keltischen Götternamen". In: Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie (ZcP) 49-50, no. 1 (1997): 741. https://doi.org/10.1515/zcph.1997.49-50.1.737
Pierre-Yves Lambert rejects his connection with horses and suggests an etymology based on *ad-tepo, related to 'protection, refuge'.{{cite journal|last1=Lambert|first1= Pierre-Yves|title=Patrice Lajoye, Des dieux gaulois. Petits essais de mythologie. Budapest, Archaeolingua alapítvány, Series Minor no 26, 2008|journal=Études Celtiques|volume= 38|date= 2012|pages=320–321 [321]|url= https://www.persee.fr/doc/ecelt_0373-1928_2012_num_38_1_2361_t15_0320_0000_2|language=fr|department=[Review]}}
Role
=As founder=
A character named Atepomarus appears with a Momoros (fr) as a pair of Celtic kings and founders of Lugdunum. They escape from Sereroneus and arrive at a hill. Momorus, who had skills in augury, sees a murder of crows and names the hill Lougodunum, after the crows. This myth is reported in the works of Klitophon of Rhodes and in Pseudo-Plutarch's De fluviis.{{cite book|last1=Johnston|first1= Andrew C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h6olDwAAQBAJ&dq=lugh+atepomarus&pg=PA144|title= The Sons of Remus: Identity in Roman Gaul and Spain|publisher=Harvard University Press|date= 2017|pages=142, 144|isbn=9780674660106}}{{cite journal |last1=Clavel-Lévêque |first1=Monique |title=Mais où sont les druides d'antan... ? Tradition religieuse et identité culturelle en Gaule |journal=Dialogues d'histoire ancienne |date=1985 |volume=11 |pages=556–604 [598] |doi=10.3406/dha.1985.1675|doi-access=|language=fr}}
=As a theonym=
The name appears as a theonym attached to Graeco-Roman deities Apollo and Mercurius.{{cite journal |last1=Carru |first1=Dominique |last2=Christol |first2=Michel |last3=Janon |first3=Michel |title=Mercure et les Ateii de Carpentorate (Carpentras, Vaucluse): Note sur une inscription récemment découverte |journal=Revue archéologique de Narbonnaise |date=2004 |volume=37 |issue=1 |pages=277–289 [285] |doi=10.3406/ran.2004.1143|doi-access=|language=fr}} An inscription of Apollo Atepomarus was found in Mauvières, tied to the Gallic tribe of the Bituriges.{{cite journal |last1=Hatt |first1=Jean-Jacques |title=Apollon guérisseur en Gaule: Ses origines, son caractère, les divinités qui lui sont associées - Chapitre II |journal=Revue archéologique du Centre de la France |date=1983 |volume=22 |issue=3 |pages=185–218 [189]|doi=10.3406/racf.1983.2383|language=fr|doi-access=}}{{cite journal |last1=Fincker |first1=Myriam |last2=Tassaux |first2=Francis |title=Les grands sanctuaires "ruraux" d'Aquitaine et le culte impérial |journal=Mélanges de l'École française de Rome: Antiquité |date=1992 |volume=104 |issue=1 |pages=41–76 [71] |doi=10.3406/mefr.1992.1746 |language=fr|doi-access=}}
References
{{reflist|}}
Bibliography
- Dictionary of Celtic Myth and Legend. Miranda Green. Thames and Hudson Ltd. London. 1997
- Animals in Celtic Life and Myth, Miranda Green, Routledge.
Further reading
- {{cite journal |last1=Picard |first1=Gilbert Charles |title=Imperator Caelestium |journal=Gallia |date=1977 |volume=35 |issue=1 |pages=89–113 |doi=10.3406/galia.1977.1557|language=fr|doi-access=free}}
External links
- {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20080321112543/http://www.celtnet.org.uk/gods_a/atepomarus.html Atepomarus at celtnet]}}
{{Celtic mythology (ancient)}}