Laebo the Receiver of the Boar
Lusitanian · deity · Iron Age (Cabeço das Fráguas inscription) · Recorded classification
Name leads with the English phrase 'the Receiver of the Boar' (its only defined cultic act); attested form Laebo/Labbo, in the dative. Etymology and even the number (singular vs. plural) and gender of the deity are unresolved, hence sex 'unknown'. Known only from the Cabeço das Fráguas and Plasencia inscriptions; no narrative.
Domains
- pastoral livestock
Powers
- receive the offering of a pig
Sources
- Laebo (read by some as Labbo) is named in the Cabeço das Fráguas invocation as the recipient of a pig; a second attestation, a votive altar from Plasencia (Cáceres), confirms the theonym and extends the cult eastward.: Cabeço das Fráguas inscription, Benespera (Guarda) (inscription); Votive altar from Plasencia (Cáceres) reading Labbo; cf. Palaeohispanica / Dialnet study (2021) (inscription)
- Witczak (1999) analysed Laebo as a dative plural (a pair or collective of deities), an interpretation other scholars reject.: K. T. Witczak (1999); B. M. Prósper, 'On the Indo-European origin of two Lusitanian theonyms (laebo and reve)' (2024) (secondary)