Maponos
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In Celtic mythology, Maponos or Maponus ("divine son") was a god of youth known mainly in northern Britain but also in Gaul. In Roman times he was equated with Apollo.
The Welsh mythological figure Mabon ap Modron is certainly derived from Maponos, who by analogy we may assume was the son of the mother-goddess Dea Matrona. The Irish god Aengus, also known as the Mac Óg ("young son"), is probably related to Maponos, as are the Arthurian characters Mabuz and Mabonagrain.
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Etymology of the Name
Entries in the University of Wales' reconstructed Proto-Celtic lexicon (http://www.wales.ac.uk/documents/external/cawcs/pcl-moe.pdf ) suggest that the name is likely to be ultimately derived from the Proto-Celtic *Makwonos , a phrase with the Proto-Celtic semantic connotations of ‘The Youthful Lad.’ He may therefore personify youthful masculinity, which fact would explain the syncretism with the Graeco-Roman god Apollo.
Was this god the British Apollo?
The difficulty of working out to which deity inhabitants of Roman Britain are referring when they mention Apollo is profound.In ancient Gaul, Apollo may have been equated with fifteen different Celtic gods. Maponos (“Youthful Male Spirit”) is mentioned in Gaul at Bourbonne-les-Bains (CIL 13, 05924) but crops up chiefly in the north of Britain at Corbridge, Ribchester and Chesterholm (in antiquity, Vindolanda).
This inscription (RIB 583) by a unit of Sarmatians based at Corbridge, Britain (in antiquity, Corstopitum) shows the association with Apollo and also can be precisely dated to the day (pridie Kalendas Septembres, or 29 August in the Roman calendar) 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)
Later versions of Maponos
Maponos surfaces in the Middle Welsh narrative, the Mabinogion, as Mabon, offspring of Modron, who is herself the continuation of Gaulish Matrona (“Matronly Spirit”). He apparently features in the tale of a newborn child taken from his mother at the age of three nights. His name lives on in Arthurian romance in the guise of Mabon, Mabuz, and Mabonagrain. His counterpart in Irish mythology would seem to be Mac ind Óg (“Young Son”, “Young Lad”), evidently another epithet for Angus or Oenghus, the eternally youthful spirit to be found in Newgrange called Bruigh na Bóinne, a pre-Celtic Neolithic barrow or chambered tomb. Irish mythology portrays him as the son of Dagda or Daghda, king of the Irish gods and husband of Angus ’s mother Boann, an apparent personification of the River Boyne. In Irish mythology, Youthful Spirit frequently features as a trickster god and a love god.
Bibliography
- Ellis, Peter Berresford (1994) Dictionary of Celtic Mythology(Oxford Paperback Reference), Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195089618
- MacKillop, James (1998) Dictionary of Celtic Mythology. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0192801201.
- Wood, Juliette, (2002) The Celts: Life, Myth, and Art. Thorsons Publishers. ISBN 0007640595