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Inancient Celtic religion,Maponos orMaponus ("Great Son") is a god of youth known mainly in northernBritain but also inGaul. InRoman Britain, he was equated withApollo.[1]
TheWelsh mythological figureMabon ap Modron is apparently derived from Maponos,[1] who by analogy we may suggest was the son of the mother-goddessDea Matrona. The Irish godAengus, also known as theMac Óg ("young son"), is probably related to Maponos.
InGaulish,mapos means a young boy or a son.[2] The suffix-onos is augmentative. Besides thetheonymMaponos, the rootmapos is found in personal names such asMapodia,Mapillus, andMaponius;mapo is also found in the Carjac inscription (RIG L-86). The root isProto-Indo-European*makʷos. (Delamarre 2003 pp. 216–217).
InInsular Celtic languages, the same root is found inWelsh,Cornish andBretonmab meaningson (Delamarre 2003 pp. 216–217), derived fromCommon Brythonic*mapos (identical to Gaulish). InOld Irish,macc also meansson; it is found inOgham inscriptions as the genitivemaqui,maqqi,maqui (Sims-Williams 2003 pp. 430–431) with a geminative expressive doubling*makʷkʷos. (This is the source of Scottish and Irish names startingMac orMc as well as Welsh or Cornish namesAp, often shortened to just 'P-).
He therefore personified youthfulness, which would explain thesyncretism with the Graeco-Roman godApollo.
The evidence is mainly epigraphic: Maponos is attested in Britain in a military context,[3][4] and in Gaul in a civilian milieu.[5][6]
Maponos (“Great Son”) is mentioned inGaul atBourbonne-les-Bains (CIL 13, 05924) and atChamalières (RIG L-100) but is attested chiefly in the north ofBritain atBrampton,Corbridge (ancientCoria),Ribchester (In antiquity,Bremetenacum Veteranorum) andChesterholm (in antiquity,Vindolanda). Some inscriptions are very simple such asDeo 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 thenumen 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)
"To the god Maponos and to theNumen of Augustus, theGermani Durio, Ramio, Trupo and Lurio have fulfilled theirvow willingly, as is deserved."
This inscription (RIB 583) by a unit ofSarmatians based at Ribchester shows the association with Apollo and also can be precisely dated to the day (pridie Kalendas Septembres, or 29 August in theRoman calendar) and the year (241 CE, by mention of thetwo consuls).
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 inGaulish 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).
There are at least three statues to Maponos. In one, he is depicted as a harper and stands opposite a Celtic Diana huntress figure. A sketch of this image appears in Ann Ross'Pagan Celtic Britain.[8]
Two items of place-name evidence also attest to Maponos in Britain. Both are from the 7th-centuryRavenna Cosmography.Locus Maponi (Richmond & Crawford #228) or "the place of Maponos", is thought to be betweenLochmaben andLockerbie (the name Lochmaben may be derived from Locus Maponi, with thep tob sound shift).Maporiton (Richmond & Crawford #163) or "the ford of Maponos" is thought to be Ladyward, near Lockerbie. TheLochmaben Stone lies near Gretna on the farm named Old Graitney, the old name for Gretna. The name Clachmaben, 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. An inscription fromBirrens in Scotland (RIB-3, 3482 / AE 1968, 254) mentions alo(cus) Mabomi, which is often regarded as a stone-cutter's error forlocus *Maponi.[1]
The fifteenth day of Riuros on theColigny calendar is marked with the name Mapanos, which might be a reference to a festival for Maponos.[8]
In Britain, dedications to Apollo have been found with the following epithets:
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).
Maponos surfaces in theMiddle Welsh narrative, theMabinogion, asMabon,[9][10][11][12][13][14] son ofModron[15] who is herself the continuation of GaulishMatrona (“Matronly Spirit”). The theme of Maponos son of Matrona (literally,child of mother) and the development of names in theMabinogi fromCommon Brythonic andGaulish 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 ofCulhwch ac Olwen.
A similar character in Welsh literature is Mabon son ofMellt, who may in fact be the same as Mabon son of Modron.[16]
ScholarsProinsias Mac Cana andRoger Sherman Loomis suggested that Maponos survived inArthurian mythology as Mabon, Mabuz and Mabonagrain.[17][18]
His counterpart inIrish mythology would seem to beMac(c) ind Ó‘c[19][20] (Hamp 1999) (“Young Son”, “Young Lad”), an epithet of Angus or Oengus,[21][22] the eternally youthful spirit to be found inNewgrange calledBruigh na Bóinne, a pre-CelticNeolithicbarrow orchambered tomb.Irish mythology portrays him as the son ofthe Dagda, a king of theIrish gods, and ofBoann, a personification of theRiver Boyne. InIrish mythology, the Macc Óc frequently features as a trickster and a lover.
[R. Bromwich] souligne que le culte de Maponos était particulièrement populaire parmi des officiers romains (beaucoup d'entre eux sans doute étaient d'origine celtique) stationnés dans le Nord de la Grande-Bretagne, dans le Northumberland, Cumberland, Lancashire où l'on a trouvé des dédicaces à Maponos.[[R. Bromwich] assigns that the cult of Maponos was particularly popular among Roman soldiers (especially among those of undoubtedly Celtic origin) stationed in Northern Great Britain, in Northumberland, Cumberland and Lancashire, where dedications to Maponos are found.]
A cult of Maponus is attested, in six British inscriptions, four of which equate the god with Apollo and were made by members of the sixth legion. ... High-ranking officers patronized Maponus' cult, significantly the only British cult to attract prominent attention at Corbridge.
Mais le monde brittonique garde bien le nom lui-même [du dieu Maponos]: Mabon mab Modron est Maponos fils de Matrona.[But the Bryttonic world retains the name [of god Maponos]: Mabon mab Modron is Maponos son of Matrona.]
... the name and something of the tradition of Maponus survived into the heroic age of Wales: in the Mabinogion Mabon appears as a mighty hunter, and his name is undoubtedly derived from an old Celtic word*maqono-s, meaning a boy or youth.
The deity survived in Welsh myth as the heroic hunter Mabon who, in the "Mabinogion," was abducted from his mother at birth and imprisoned until Culwch's companions rescued him.
Maponos, most commentators now agree, contributes to the conception of the Welsh divine hero Mabon.
The Welsh Mabon reappears in the romances as Mabon, Mabuz, and Mabonagrain.
... a sacred youth who became Maponos and later Mabon in Wales, son of the great mother Modron or Matrona. In Ireland, Mabon was Mac ind Og or Aonghus Og (Angus or Oenghus), son of the god known as the Dagda (Daghdha) and the sacred river Boann.Online edn, Oxford Academic, 3 Oct. 2011. Accessed 26 Feb. 2025.
In Ireland the obvious parallel to Mabon-Maponos isMac ind Óg, 'The Young Lad', also known asOenghus.
The British divinity [Maponos] is additionally the counterpart of the Irish Angus Óg, god of youth, beauty and (qualifiedly) love, especially when he is referred to by one of the many forms of his patronymic, Mac Óc, Mac-ind-Óc, etc.
Media related toMaponos at Wikimedia Commons
