Celtic Gods: The Gaulish god, Gabrus (The Caprine One)

Gabrus
A Gaulish God, also known as Gebrus, Gebrinnius, Gebrinus: The Caprine One

Gabrus (Gebrus, Gebrinnius, Gebrinus) is a Gaulish god known from several inscriptions found in France and Germany where he is equated with Roman Mercury. He was probably a goat-horned god and may have been associated with the Celtic netherworld.



Synonyms: Gebrus, Gebrinnius, Gebrinus
Cym: The Caprine One

Gabrus' name is derived from the Celtic for goat (cf Cymric gafr, Irish gabhar). An inscription to this deity was found at Strasbourg, France where, under interpretatio Romana he was equated with Mercury. The deity is also known from Bonn, Germany where he is named Gebrinnius and again asimilated with Roman Mercury. He is also known as Gebrinius, from another altarstone found at Bonn where the deity is depicted as in the image shown above. In this image the association of Gabrinus with the goat/ram is made clear as his right hand is resting on the head of such a beast. The same deity may also be invoked in a partial inscription from Mürlenbach, Germany which reads Capri[...]. This may either represent a G/C transformation in the inscription or it could be a deliberate Latinization as the Celtic gabr and Latin caper both mean 'goat'.

In Britain at least, the assimilation of horned deities into the cult of Mercury is well attested (Anne Ross Pagan Celtic Britain which, along with his name, strongly suggests that Gabrus was a goat-horned god. In Celtic context Mercury is both a healer but also heads a fertility-chthonic cult; that its a cult of birth and death. He is also often pictured with a purse, and is the guardian of treasure. Which is entirely compatible with the Celtic gods of the netherworld. Could Grabus therefore have been a deity of the netherworld in a similar manner to Afallach, Dis Pater and Gwyn vab Nudd? This is an intriguing possibility but without further inscriptional evidence it cannot be proven.

Though it is purely supposition as regards Gabrus, the Celts were a primarily agrarian peoples and had deitites that originated in agriculture, such as Epona (horses), Tarvos Trigaranus, Donnotaurus (cattle), Moccus (pigs), and Gabrus may be another deity that falls into this class.



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