Erriapus (deity)

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Erriapus (also Eriapus) was a tutelary deity worshipped in southern Gaul.

Several inscriptions to the god are known. There was an important cult site to him at Saint-Béat (Haute-Garonne). [1]

One image is known of him, a stone altar of the 2nd century CE found in Saint-Béat on which he is identified as D(eo) Erriape. In this image, he is depicted naked and with a club. His iconography shows the influence of the Roman god Silvanus. [2]

He may be either the protective deity of either the Montagne d'Arrie in Saint-Béat (as Daniel Nony and Michel Labrousse suggest) or a local spring (as Carole Billod suggests). [2]

References

  1. Nony, Daniel (1981). "Le Dieu Eriapus Dévoilé". Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik. 43: 243–248. JSTOR   20186136.
  2. 1 2 Billod, Carole (1988). "Erriapus". Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae. Vol. IV. pp. 12–13.

Further reading