Ialonus Contrebis


In ancient Celtic religion, Ialonus Contrebis or Ialonus or Gontrebis was a god worshipped in what are now Lancashire and Provence. Ialonus is thought to be the god of clearings and/or meadows.

Name

The name Ialonus, which may have designated a god of clearing, derives from the Celtic stem ialo-. The stem ialon- also had the meaning 'village' in Gaulish. In the words of Xavier Delamarre, "In forest-covered Gaul, a village was essentially established by clearing a wood."
The name Contrebis is based on the prefix con- attached to the root -treb-. It can be compared with the Celtiberian place name Contrebia, meaning 'conurbation'.

Cult

He is known from three dedicatory inscriptions. One, at Lancaster, was dedicated to Deo Ialono Contre Sanctissimo ; another, at Overborough or Over Burrow near Kirkby Lonsdale, to Deo San Gontrebi. In the third inscription, found at Nîmes in Provence, Ialonus was invoked in conjunction with the goddess Fortune.