In
ancient Celtic religionCeltic polytheism, sometimes known as Celtic paganism, refers to the religious beliefs and practises of the ancient Celtic peoples of western Europe prior to Christianisation....
,
Maponos or
Maponus ("divine son") was a god of youth known mainly in northern Britain but also in
GaulGaul is a historical name used in the context of the Roman Empire in references to the region of Western Europe approximating present day France and Belgium, but also sometimes including the Po Valley, western Switzerland, and the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the west bank of the River...
. In
RomanRoman Britain was those parts of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire between AD 43 and about 410. The Romans referred to their province as Britannia...
times he was equated with
ApolloIn Greek and Roman mythology, Apollo , is one of the most important and many-sided of the Olympian deities...
.
The
WelshWelsh mythology, the remnants of the mythology of the pre-Christian Britons, has come down to us in much altered form in medieval Welsh manuscripts such as the Red Book of Hergest, the White Book of Rhydderch, the Book of Aneirin and the Book of Taliesin....
mythological figure
Mabon ap ModronMabon ap Modron is a figure of Welsh mythology, the son of Modron. Both he and his mother were likely deities in origin, decending from a divine mother-son pair...
is apparently derived from Maponos, who by analogy we may suggest was the son of the mother-goddess
Dea MatronaIn Celtic mythology, Dea Matrona was the goddess of the river Marne in Gaul.In many areas she was worshipped as a triple goddess, and known as Deae Matres , with a wider sphere of believed influence...
. The Irish god
AengusIn Irish mythology, Aengus aka Aengus Óg , Mac ind Óg , Maccan or Mac Óg is a member of the Tuatha Dé Danann and probably a god of love, youth and poetic inspiration...
, also known as the
Mac Óg ("young son"), is probably related to Maponos, as are the Arthurian characters Mabuz and Mabonagrain.
Etymology of the name
In
GaulishThe Gaulish language is the Celtic language that was spoken in Gaul, Switzerland, eastern Belgium and western Germany before being supplanted by Vulgar Latin, Dutch and German from around the 4th century A.D onwards. Gaulish is paraphyletically grouped with Celtiberian, Lepontic, and Galatian as...
,
mapos means a young boy or (more rarely) a son. The suffix
-on is augmentative. Besides the theonym
Maponos, the root
mapos is found in personal names such as
Mapodia,
Mapillus, and
Maponius;
mapo is also found in the Carjac inscription (RIG L-86). The root is
Proto-Indo-EuropeanThe Proto-Indo-European language is the unattested, reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European languages, spoken by the Proto-Indo-Europeans. The existence of such a language has been accepted by linguists for over a century, and there have been many attempts at reconstruction...
. (Delamarre 2003 pp. 216-217).
In
Insular Celtic languagesInsular Celtic languages are those Celtic languages that originated in the British Isles, in contrast to the Continental Celtic languages of mainland Europe and Anatolia. All surviving Celtic languages are from the Insular Celtic group; the Continental Celtic languages are extinct...
, the same root is found in
WelshWelsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of Celtic spoken natively in Wales, in England by some along the Welsh border and in the Welsh immigrant colony in the Chubut Valley in Argentine Patagonia....
,
CornishThe Cornish language is one of the Brythonic group of Celtic languages. The language continued to function as a community language in parts of Cornwall until the late 18th century, and a process to revive the language was started in the early 20th century, continuing to this day.The revival of...
and
BretonThe Breton language is a Celtic language spoken in Brittany , France.-History:Breton is a Brythonic language, descended from the Celtic British language brought from Great Britain to Armorica by migrating Britons during the Early Middle Ages. Like the other Brythonic languages, Welsh and Cornish,...
mab meaning
son (Delamarre 2003 pp. 216-217), derived from Common Brythonic
*mapos (identical to Gaulish). In Old Irish,
macc also means
son; it is found in
OghamOgham is an Early Medieval alphabet used primarily to represent the Old Irish language, and occasionally the Brythonic ancestor of Welsh...
inscriptions as the genitive
maqui,
maqqi,
maqui (Sims-Williams 2003 pp. 430-431) with a geminative expressive doubling
. (This is the source of Scottish and Irish names starting
Mac or
Mc).
He therefore personified youthfulness, which would explain the syncretism with the Graeco-Roman god
ApolloIn Greek and Roman mythology, Apollo , is one of the most important and many-sided of the Olympian deities...
.
Evidence for Maponos
The evidence is mainly epigraphic. Maponos (“Divine Son”) is mentioned in
GaulGaul is a historical name used in the context of the Roman Empire in references to the region of Western Europe approximating present day France and Belgium, but also sometimes including the Po Valley, western Switzerland, and the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the west bank of the River...
at
Bourbonne-les-BainsBourbonne-les-Bains is a commune in the Haute-Marne department in north-eastern France.-Spa:Bourbonne is a health resort due to hot springs. These thermal springs were known to the Gauls and to the Romans who built baths...
(CIL 13, 05924) and at
ChamalièresChamalières is a commune in the Puy-de-Dôme department in Auvergne in central France.Chamalières is the third-largest town in the department and lies about from Lyon.-History:...
(RIG L-100) but is attested chiefly in the north of
BritainGreat Britain is an island lying to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island. With a population of about 59.6 million people, it is the third most populated island on Earth. Great Britain is surrounded by over 1000 smaller...
at
BramptonBrampton is a small market town within the City of Carlisle district of Cumbria, England about 9 miles east of Carlisle and 2 Roman miles south of Hadrian's Wall. It is situated next to the A69 road...
,
Corbridge Corbridge is a village in Northumberland, England, situated west of Newcastle and east of Hexham. Villages in the vicinity include Halton, Acomb, Aydon and Sandhoe.-Roman fort and town:...
(in antiquity,
CoriaCoria was a fort and town, located south of Hadrian's Wall, in the Roman province of Britannia. Its full Latin name is uncertain. Today it is known as Corchester or Corbridge Roman Site, adjoining Corbridge in the English county of Northumberland.-Name:The place-name appears in contemporary...
),
RibchesterRibchester is a village and civil parish within the Ribble Valley district of Lancashire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Ribble, northwest of Blackburn and east of Preston.The village has a long history with evidence of Bronze Age beginnings...
(In antiquity, Bremetenacum Veteranorum) and Chesterholm (in antiquity,
VindolandaVindolanda was a Roman auxiliary fort located at Chesterholm, just south of Hadrian's Wall in northern England, near the modern border with Scotland; it guarded the Stanegate, the Roman road from the River Tyne to the Solway Firth...
). Some inscriptions are very simple such as
Deo Mapono (to the god Maponos) from Chesterholm (AE 1975, 00568). At Corbridge are two dedications (RIB 1120 and RIB 1121)
Apollini Mapono (to Apollo Maponos) and one (RIB 1122)
[Deo] / [M]apo[no] / Apo[llini] (To the god Maponos Apollo). The inscription at Brampton (RIB 2063) by four Germans is to the god Maponos and the numen of the emperor:
- Deo / Mapono / et n(umini) Aug(usti) / Durio / et Ramio / et Trupo / et Lurio / Germa/ni v(otum) s(olverunt) l(ibentes) m(erito)
This inscription (RIB 583) by a unit of
SarmatiansThe Sarmatians, Sarmatæ or Sauromatæ were a people of Ancient Iranian origin. Mentioned by classical authors, they migrated from Central Asia to the Ural Mountains around fifth century B.C...
based at Ribchester shows the association with Apollo and also can be precisely dated to the day (
pridie Kalendas Septembres, or 29 August in the
Roman calendarThe Roman calendar changed its form several times in the time between the foundation of Rome and the fall of the Roman Empire. This article generally discusses the early Roman or pre-Julian calendars...
) and the year (241 CE, by mention of the two consuls).
- Deo san(cto) / [A]pollini Mapono / [pr]o salute d(omini) n(ostri) / [et] n(umeri) eq(uitum) Sar/[m(atarum)] Bremetenn(acensium) / [G]ordiani / [A]el(ius) Antoni/nus |(centurio) leg(ionis) VI / vic(tricis) domo / Melitenis / praep(ositus) et pr(aefectus) / v(otum) s(olvit) l(ibens) m(erito) / [de]dic(atum) pr(idie) Kal(endas) Sep(tembres) / [Im]p(eratore) d(omino) n(ostro) Gord[i]/[ano A]ug(usto) II e[t] Pon[peia]no(!) co(n)s(ulibus)
The preceding inscriptions are all in Latin. The name is also found on the inscription from Chamalières, which is a relatively long magical text (12 lines) written in
GaulishThe Gaulish language is the Celtic language that was spoken in Gaul, Switzerland, eastern Belgium and western Germany before being supplanted by Vulgar Latin, Dutch and German from around the 4th century A.D onwards. Gaulish is paraphyletically grouped with Celtiberian, Lepontic, and Galatian as...
on a rolled lead sheet. The second line calls for the help of Maponos (here in the accusative singular, Maponon:
artiu maponon aruerriíatin (RIG L-100).
Two items of place-name evidence also attest to Maponos in Britain. Both are from the 7th-century
Ravenna CosmographyThe Ravenna Cosmography was compiled by an anonymous cleric in Ravenna around AD 700. It consists of a list of place-names covering the world from India to Ireland. Textual evidence indicates that the author frequently used maps as his source....
.
Locus Maponi (Richmond & Crawford #228) or "the place of Maponos", is thought to be between Lochmaben and Lockerbie (the name Lochmaben may be derived from Locus Maponi, with the
p to
b sound shift).
Maporiton (Richmond & Crawford #163) or "the ford of Maponos" is thought to be Ladyward, near Lockerbie. The
Lochmaben StoneThe Lochmaben Stone is a megalith standing in a field, nearly a mile west of the Sark mouth on the Solway Firth, three hundred yards or so above high water mark on the farm of Old Graitney in Dumfries & Galloway in Scotland. Map reference: NY 3123 6600...
lies near Gretna on the farm named Old Graitney, the old name for Gretna. The name Clachmabenm meaning 'stone of Maben or Maponos' has become corrupted to Lochmaben. This stone was probably part of a stone circle and the area is thought to have been a centre for the worship of Maponus.
Other Celtic epithets of Apollo
In Britain, dedications have been found to
Apollo AnextiomarusAnextiomarus is a Celtic epithet of the sun-god Apollo recorded in a Romano-British inscription from South Shields, England. The form is a variant of Anextlomarus 'Great protector', a divine style or name attested in a fragmentary Gallo-Roman dedication from Le Mans, France...
,
Apollo Anicetus Sol,
Apollo GrannusIn classical Celtic polytheism, Grannus was a deity associated with spas, the sun, fires and healing thermal and mineral springs. He seems to have embodied the notion of therapeutic heat....
and
Apollo Maponus (the latter showing a Latinising influence,
-os becoming
-us). It can thus be difficult to tell from a simple dedication to Apollo whether the classical deity is meant or whether a particular Celtic deity is being referred to under a classical name. The situation in Gaul is even more complicated, with at least twenty epithets being recorded. (Jufer & Luginbühl pp. 94-96).
Welsh mythology
Maponos surfaces in the Middle Welsh narrative, the
MabinogionThe Mabinogion is the title given to a collection of eleven prose stories collated from medieval Welsh manuscripts. The tales draw on pre-Christian Celtic mythology, international folktale motifs, and early medieval historical traditions...
, as
MabonMabon ap Modron is a figure of Welsh mythology, the son of Modron. Both he and his mother were likely deities in origin, decending from a divine mother-son pair...
, son of
ModronIn Welsh mythology, Modron was a daughter of Afallach, derived from the Gaulish goddess Matrona. She may have been the prototype of Morgan le Fay from Arthurian legend...
, who is herself the continuation of Gaulish
MatronaIn Celtic mythology, Dea Matrona was the goddess of the river Marne in Gaul.In many areas she was worshipped as a triple goddess, and known as Deae Matres , with a wider sphere of believed influence...
(“Matronly Spirit”). The theme of Maponos son of Matrona (literally,
child of mother) and the development of names in the
MabinogiThe Mabinogion is the title given to a collection of eleven prose stories collated from medieval Welsh manuscripts. The tales draw on pre-Christian Celtic mythology, international folktale motifs, and early medieval historical traditions...
from
Common BrythonicThe Brythonic languages form one of the two branches of the Insular Celtic language family, the other being Goidelic. The name Brythonic was derived by Welsh Celticist John Rhys from the Welsh word Brython, meaning an indigenous Briton as opposed to an Anglo-Saxon or Gael...
and
GaulishThe Gaulish language is the Celtic language that was spoken in Gaul, Switzerland, eastern Belgium and western Germany before being supplanted by Vulgar Latin, Dutch and German from around the 4th century A.D onwards. Gaulish is paraphyletically grouped with Celtiberian, Lepontic, and Galatian as...
theonyms has been examined by Hamp (1999), Lambert (1979), and Meid (1991). Mabon apparently features in the tale of a newborn child taken from his mother at the age of three nights, and is explicitly named in the story of
Culhwch ac Olwen.
His name lives on in Arthurian romance in the guise of
MabonMabon ap Modron is a figure of Welsh mythology, the son of Modron. Both he and his mother were likely deities in origin, decending from a divine mother-son pair...
, Mabuz, and Mabonagrain.
Irish mythology
His counterpart in
Irish mythologyThe mythology of pre-Christian Ireland did not entirely survive the conversion to Christianity, but much of it was preserved, shorn of its religious meanings, in medieval Irish literature, which represents the most extensive and best preserved of all the branches of Celtic mythology...
would seem to be
Mac(c) ind Ó‘cIn Irish mythology, Aengus aka Aengus Óg , Mac ind Óg , Maccan or Mac Óg is a member of the Tuatha Dé Danann and probably a god of love, youth and poetic inspiration...
(Hamp 1999) (“Young Son”, “Young Lad”), an epithet of Angus or Oengus, the eternally youthful spirit to be found in
NewgrangeNewgrange is a passage tomb of the Brú na Bóinne complex in County Louth. It is one of the most famous prehistoric sites in the world, and indeed the most famous of all Irish prehistoric sites...
called
Bruigh na BóinneBrú na Bóinne is a World Heritage Site in County Meath, Ireland and is the largest and one of the most important prehistoric megalithic sites in Europe. It is a complex of Neolithic chamber tombs, standing stones, henges and other prehistoric enclosures, some dating from as early as 35th century...
, a pre-Celtic
NeolithicThe Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BCE in the Middle East that is traditionally considered the last part of the Stone Age...
barrowA tumulus is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, Hügelgrab or kurgans, and can be found throughout much of the world...
or chambered tomb.
Irish mythologyThe mythology of pre-Christian Ireland did not entirely survive the conversion to Christianity, but much of it was preserved, shorn of its religious meanings, in medieval Irish literature, which represents the most extensive and best preserved of all the branches of Celtic mythology...
portrays him as the son of
the DagdaThe Dagda is an important god of Irish mythology. The Dagda is a father-figure and a protector of the tribe...
, a king of the Irish gods, and of
BoannBoann is the Irish mythology goddess of the River Boyne, a river in Leinster, Ireland. According to the Lebor Gabála Érenn she was the daughter of Delbáeth, son of Elada, of the Tuatha Dé Danann. Her husband is variously Nechtan, Elcmar or Nuada. Her lover is the Dagda, by whom she had her son,...
, a personification of the River
BoyneSeveral terms incorporating the word "Boyne" include:
* River Boyne, a river in Ireland* Boyne River , three rivers of that name in Ontario* Boyne Falls, Michigan,* Boyne Resorts, a ski resort company in Michigan...
. In
Irish mythologyThe mythology of pre-Christian Ireland did not entirely survive the conversion to Christianity, but much of it was preserved, shorn of its religious meanings, in medieval Irish literature, which represents the most extensive and best preserved of all the branches of Celtic mythology...
, the Macc Óc frequently features as a trickster and a lover.
External links