Cariociecus the War-Lord
Celtiberian · deity · Roman period · Recorded classification
Name leads with the English phrase 'the War-Lord'; attested form Mars Cariociecus (almost always as an epithet of Mars). Native theonym uncertain. The grisly sacrificial practices come from Strabo's general account of western Iberian war-cult, not specifically named for this god, and are flagged as such. Known from epigraphy plus the classical sources on Iberian war-rites.
Domains
- war battle
Powers
- receive war-captives and severed hands
Sources
- Cariociecus (Cariocecus) was a war-god of the Lusitanians and northwestern Hispania, syncretised with Mars as 'Mars Cariociecus', with a known local cult at Tuy (Tude) in Galicia.: Mars Cariociecus dedication, Tuy (Tude), Galicia (inscription); J. C. Olivares Pedreño, 'Celtic Gods of the Iberian Peninsula', e-Keltoi 6 (2005) (secondary)
- Strabo describes the war-cult of the western Iberians: sacrifices of goats, horses and prisoners, divination from the entrails and fall of wounded captives, and the consecration of severed right hands.: Strabo, Geography III.3.6 (literary)