Gurzil

Bull war-god of the Laguatan and other Tripolitanian Berbers, our fullest source being Corippus' Latin epic Iohannis. parentIds links to the Siwan Ammon, his attested father. Classified deity (war-god).

Parentage

• parent: Ammon

Domains

• war

Powers

• lead the war-host in the form of a bull
• Leads the Laguatan war-host in the form of a bull

Epithets

• Gurzil latin · Gurzil · literaryThe bull-formed war-god of the Laguatan Berbers, borne into battle at the army’s headCorippus, Iohannis (the wars in North Africa) (primary)

Sources

• Gurzil was a Berber war-god conceived as the son of Ammon and a cow and depicted as a bull or bull-headed warrior, taken into battle by the Laguatan against the Byzantine general John Troglita (recorded by Corippus, mid-6th c.).: Corippus, Iohannis (De Bellis Libycis), trans. G. W. Shea (1998). Lewiston: Edwin Mellen Press. (reference); Bates, O. (1914). The Eastern Libyans. London: Macmillan, chapter on Religion. (reference)
• A hilltop sanctuary of Gurzil is plausibly located at Ghirza in Libya, where al-Bakri reports a stone idol still venerated; the cult's priest-chief Ierna was killed defending the image.: al-Bakri, Kitab al-Masalik wa-l-Mamalik (11th c.). (reference); Mattingly, D. J. (1995). Tripolitania. London: Batsford. (reference)