Maponos

Maponos, Maponus [Romano-British, divine youth; great son]. Celtic god of Roman-occupied Britain, apparently associated with the powers of music and poetry. Although his cult seems to have been centred on north Britain (a shrine at Chesterholm, Northumberland, is inscribed ‘Deo Mapono’), his name is also invoked at sites in what is now France as well, including perhaps the Gaulish inscriptions of Chamalières. As a patron of music and poetry, Maponos is often linked with Gaulish Apollo, especially Apollo Citharoedus [harper or cithern-player]. Most commentators feel that Maponos contributes to the conception of the Welsh divine youth Mabon, and Patrick K. Ford (1977) has asserted that Maponos is virtually identical with Pryderi. Eric Hamp argues further that a true gloss of the word Mabinogi would be ‘the (collective) material pertaining to the god Maponos’. The deity is also equated with the Irish Angus Óg, especially when he is referred to by the patronymics Mac Óc, Mac Óg, Mac-ind-Óc, Macc Óc, etc. Additionally, Maponos probably contributed to the conception of the Arthurian figures Mabuz and Mabongrain.

Bibliography

See Patrick K. Ford , The Mabinogi (Berkeley and Los Angeles, Calif., 1977), 3.