Famous visitors and the oracle of Aponus

The cult of Aponus’ water was maintained during the Roman period, assuming an oracular connotation that Suetonius, a Latin author who lived between the end of the 1^st century AD and the beginning of the 2^nd century AD, associates with the mythical figure of Geryon: in fact, he reports that the young Tiberius, future Emperor, on his way to Illyricum for a military expedition, stopped near Padua to consult the oracle on the success of his expedition. He was told to throw the gold dice in the sacred source in Aponus and the resulted number was the highest sum. Those dice, Suetonius adds, were still visible at his time under the surface of the water.  It is therefore evident that an organized sanctuary existed in the spa area in Roman times, the fulcrum of which was the sacred source of Aponus.  Another author of the 4^th century AD, Claudian, wrote a poem dedicated to Aponus and told about the thermal source and the ex-voto that were thrown into it.

 

Suetonius, Tiberius, 14: Et mox, cum Illyricum petens iuxta Patavium adisset Geryonis oraculum, sorte tracta, qua monebatur ut de consultationibus in Aponi fontem talos aureos iaceret, eventi ut summum numerum iacti a beo ostenderent; hodieque sub aqua visuntur hi tali.

 

“Furthermore, while he was headed for Illyricum and stopped near Padua to consult the oracle of Geryon, fortune advised him to throw gold dice into the source of Aponus, to know the future; well, the dice he threw gave the highest sum. They can still be seen today at the bottom of the water.”

 

Text written by Prof. Paola Zanovello, Department of Ancient Sciences, University of Padua

 

 

 

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