Intarabus was a Gaulish god in the pantheon of the Treveri and some neighbouring peoples. His name is known from nine inscriptions from a relatively compact area in what are now Belgium, Luxembourg, western Germany and eastern France.[1] He may have been the tutelary deity of one of the three pagi (subdivisions) of the Treveri.[2] In most cases, Intarabus is invoked alone – without any synthesis to a Roman deity, and without accompanying female deities. However, one inscription invokes him as Mars Intarabus, noting that a fanum and simulacrum of this god had been restored at Trier.[3][4] Meanwhile, another inscription from Mackwiller in Alsace gives Intarabus the epithet Narius.[5] An inscription at Ernzen in Germany has his name as [In]tarabus,[6] while another from Foy-Noville (now within the town of Bastogne in Belgium), invokes Entarabus in conjunction with the Genius Ollodagus.[7]
A bronze statuette from the Foy-Noville site, identified on the base as Deo Intarabo (in the dative case), 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 at Echternach appears to have been dedicated to Intarabus,[11][12] as was an aedicula at Ernzen.[13] A silver ring engraved simply with the name Intarabo (again, in the dative case) was found at Dalheim.[9]
According to Helmut Birkhan, the site at Mackwiller 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, a mithraeum was built there, and inscriptions testify to the common worship of Mithras 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 mean entar-abus "Entre-Rivières" (between rivers).[16]
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