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.