Latobius was a sky and mountain

Celtic god The gods and goddesses of the pre-Christian Celtic peoples are known from a variety of sources, including ancient places of worship, statues, engravings, cult objects and place or personal names. The ancient Celts appear to have had a pantheon ...

worshipped by the people of

Noricum Noricum () is the Latin name for the Celtic kingdom or federation of tribes that included most of modern Austria and part of Slovenia. In the first century AD, it became a province of the Roman Empire. Its borders were the Danube to the nort ...

(modern

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, and ...

). During ancient Roman times he was equated with aspects of

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but slightly less than one-thousandt ...

and

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmos ...

. Votive inscriptions for ''Mars Latobius''Duval, Paul-Marie. "Chronique gallo-romaine". In: ''Revue des Études Anciennes''. Tome 69, 1967, n°3-4. p. 345. www.persee.fr/doc/rea_0035-2004_1967_num_69_3_3798 are typically found on mountain tops (e.g., on the highest peak of the

Koralpe The Koralpe ( en, Kor Alps, sl, Golica or ), also referred to as ''Koralm'', is a mountain range in southern Austria which separates eastern Carinthia from southern Styria. The southern parts of the range extend into Slovenia. Running from north ...

mountain range, between the

Lavant Lavant may refer to: *Lavant, Tyrol, Austria, a municipality *Lavant, West Sussex, a civil parish ** Lavant railway station **Lavant (ward) *River Lavant, West Sussex, the winterbourne after which the village is named *Lavant (river), Carinthia, Au ...

and Mur valleys) and on passes in former Noricum.

Etymology

Xavier Delamarre Xavier Delamarre (; born 5 June 1954) is a French linguist, lexicographer, and diplomat. He is regarded as one of the world's foremost authorities on the Gaulish language. Since 2019, he has been an associate researcher for the CNRS-PSL AOrOc l ...

proposed to derive the

theonym A theonym (from Greek ''theos'' (Θεός), "god"'','' attached to ''onoma'' (ὄνομα), "name") is the proper name of a deity. Theonymy, the study of divine proper names, is a branch of onomastics (the study of the etymology, history, and u ...

''Latobios'' from an earlier *''Lātu-biyo''- ('Furious Striker'), composed of the root ''lāto-'' ('furor, ardour'; cf. OIr. ''láth'',

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...

''lawd'') attached to *''biyo''- ('strike'; cf. OIr. ''fu-bae'' 'harming').

References

;Bibliography * * Dictionary of Celtic Myth and Legend. Miranda Green. Thames and Hudson Ltd. London. 1997 Sky and weather gods Gaulish gods Mountain gods {{Deity-stub