Puemonus Popricus
Umbrian · deity · Iguvine Umbrian religion; 3rd 1st c. BCE · deity
Puemonus Popricus belongs to the oldest layer of the Iguvine Tablets: he and Vesuna appear together in Tabulae III and IV and nowhere else in the series. The two share a victim, portions of one sheep being assigned to each, and it is this ritual fact — together with the derivation of both names from roots meaning 'to pasture' — that gives them their pastoral character. The epithet Popricus, Latin publicus, makes him a god of the community at large, which has invited comparison with Liber as a general god of increase. His name resembles that of Pomona, but resemblance is not identity and the registry keeps them apart.
Domains
- pastoralism
- fertility
Powers
- to prosper the flocks and increase of the community as a whole, as the epithet Popricus declares
Epithets
- Pupřike
Relations
- ally: Vesuna
Sources
- Iguvine Tablets, Tabula III 26-35; IV 1-33.
- Reference discussion of Puemonos Popricos and Vesuna as a divine pair restricted to the oldest tablets, with the *po(i)- / *ues- pastoral etymology and the shared sheep offering.
- J. W. Poultney, The Bronze Tables of Iguvium (American Philological Association, 1959) — the English translation from which these tablet references were recorded; see data-sources/audits/lane-1/umbrian-census.tsv.