Intarabus was aGaulish god in the pantheon of theTreveri and some neighbouring peoples. His name is known from nine inscriptions from a relatively compact area in what are nowBelgium,Luxembourg, westernGermany and easternFrance.[1] He may have been thetutelary deity of one of the threepagi (subdivisions) of the Treveri.[2] In most cases, Intarabus is invoked alone – without anysynthesis to a Roman deity, and without accompanying female deities. However, one inscription invokes him asMars Intarabus, noting that afanum andsimulacrum of this god had been restored atTrier.[3][4] Meanwhile, another inscription fromMackwiller inAlsace gives Intarabus the epithetNarius.[5] An inscription atErnzen in Germany has his name as[In]tarabus,[6] while another fromFoy-Noville (now within the town ofBastogne in Belgium), invokesEntarabus in conjunction with theGenius Ollodagus.[7]
A bronze statuette from the Foy-Noville site, identified on the base asDeo Intarabo (in thedativecase), depicts the god as a beardless, long-haired man in a tunic, draped with a wolf skin.[8] His raised right hand would presumably have held a spear or some other implement, while his left hand, extended at waist length, is now missing.[9][10]
The theatre atEchternach appears to have been dedicated to Intarabus,[11][12] as was anaedicula at Ernzen.[13] A silver ring engraved simply with the nameIntarabo (again, in the dative case) was found atDalheim.[9]
According to Helmut Birkhan, the site atMackwiller reveals a number of evolutions in the local cult. Starting in the 1st century CE, there was a sanctuary for Narius Intarabus related to worship at a local spring. In the 2nd century CE, amithraeum was built there, and inscriptions testify to the common worship ofMithras and Narius Intarabus. In the second half of the 3rd century, the mithraeum was replaced with a traditional Gaulish-style temple, which now enclosed the sacred spring. From this it can be seen that the Mithraic cult was abandoned in favour of the older Celtic local deities.[14]
The name ‘Intarabus’ has been characterized as “etymologically obscure”;[15]Xavier Delamarre, however, takes the name to meanentar-abus "Entre-Rivières" (between rivers).[16]
