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Matuix
A Gaulish God: Bear King
Matuix is a Gaulish god known from a single inscription found at Poitiers, France, where he is associated with Roman Apollo. He seems to be a god of fortune and augury, a mage god in a similar vein to other Celtic bear gods. |
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Gaul: Bear King
Matuix is a deity known from an inscription found at Poitiers, Vienne, Frace (AE 1962, 225) where he is assimilated with Apollo as Apollo Matuix and his companion is given as Tutela [the Romanized verion of the goddess Tyche or Fortune]. His assimilation with Apollo by interpretato Romana would make him the divine youth, though his consort Tutela (a name meaning Vulva) but who is the Roman personification of Fortune would indicate that Matuix was a god of augury. The name is formed from the reconstructed proto-Celtic elements: *matu- (bear) and *rĨx- (king) giving us 'Bear King' as an interpretation. This may well relate to ancient cult of the bear as an animal of augury. A beast who, in hibernating in winter, lived between the worlds of the living and the dead and could commune with the departed ancestors.
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