Aponus

Aponus is the god of the steaming mineral springs at the foot of the Euganean hills in the territory of Patavium (Padua), the heart of ancient Venetia. Although his name is transmitted only in Latin sources, the cult place itself is far older: excavation of the thermal lake at San Pietro Montagnon has yielded a rich Palaeovenetic votive deposit beginning in the eighth century BC, showing that the Veneti venerated the healing waters long before Romanization. In the imperial period the fons Aponi was famous throughout Italy; Martial and Silius Italicus mention it, Suetonius links it with the oracle of Geryon consulted by the future emperor Tiberius, and Claudian devoted an entire poem to the miraculous spring. Modern Abano Terme preserves the god's name.

Domains

• healing
• thermal springs
• prophecy

Powers

• to cure sickness and relieve pain through the hot mineral waters of the Euganean springs
• to reveal the future through lots drawn at his spring beside the oracle of Geryon

Sources

• Lazzaro, L. (1981). Fons Aponi: Abano e Montegrotto nell'antichità. Abano Terme: Francisci.
• Dämmer, H.-W. (1986). San Pietro Montagnon (Montegrotto): un santuario protostorico paleoveneto. Mainz: Philipp von Zabern.
• Claudian, Carmina minora 26 ('Aponus'); Martial, Epigrams 6.42; Suetonius, Life of Tiberius 14.