Gurzil was an important ancient Berber deity. He is known from two sources, the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

poem ''Iohannis'' by the 6th-century Christian Roman poet

Corippus Flavius Cresconius Corippus was a late Berber-Roman epic poet of the 6th century, who flourished under East Roman Emperors Justinian I and Justin II. His major works are the epic poem '' Iohannis'' and the panegyric ''In laudem Iustini minoris''. ...

and a

Neo-Punic The Punic language, also called Phoenicio-Punic or Carthaginian, is an extinct variety of the Phoenician language, a Canaanite language of the Northwest Semitic branch of the Semitic languages. An offshoot of the Phoenician language of coastal We ...

inscription from

Lepcis Magna Leptis or Lepcis Magna, also known by other names in antiquity, was a prominent city of the Carthaginian Empire and Roman Libya at the mouth of the Wadi Lebda in the Mediterranean. Originally a 7th-centuryBC Phoenician foundation, it was great ...

.A. F. Elmayer, "The Libyan God Gurzil in a Neo-Punic Inscription from Tripolitania", ''Libyan Studies'' 13 (1982), pp. 49–50. Gurzil

According to Corippus, the

Laguatan The Laguatan (Lawata, Lawati) was a Zenata Berber clan that inhabited the Cyrenaica area during the Roman period. They have been described as primarily raiders and nomadic, but others consider them a settled group who also raided. The Laguatan emer ...

Tripolitania Tripolitania ( ar, طرابلس '; ber, Ṭrables, script=Latn; from Vulgar Latin: , from la, Regio Tripolitana, from grc-gre, Τριπολιτάνια), historically known as the Tripoli region, is a historic region and former province o ...

carried a representation of Gurzil in the form of a bull into battle against the

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

when they revolted along with the Austurii in AD 546. They regarded Gurzil as the offspring of

Amun Amun (; also ''Amon'', ''Ammon'', ''Amen''; egy, jmn, reconstructed as (Old Egyptian and early Middle Egyptian) → (later Middle Egyptian) → (Late Egyptian), cop, Ⲁⲙⲟⲩⲛ, Amoun) romanized: ʾmn) was a major ancient Egyptian ...

, presumably the Amun whose temple was at Siwa, and a cow. Corippus also mentions idols of wood and metal, presumably also images of Gurzil. After several battles the Laguatan and their allies were defeated.

Ierna Ierna (d. 547) was a Berber tribal leader of the Laguatan and also high priest of the god Gurzil who was active in the praetorian prefecture of Africa during the Moorish Wars of the mid-sixth century. Apparently he led the Laguatan at the Battle ...

, the chief and high priest of the Laguatan, was killed while trying to rescue the image of Gurzil. The image was destroyed. The combination of royal and priestly functions in Ierna is not otherwise attested among ancient Berbers. The Neo-Punic inscription is partially damaged and resists interpretation. The last four letters of the first line spell the name of Gurzil, while the first four of the second line spell Satur. If the latter is the Roman god

Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine and a half times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth; h ...

it suggests that he was equated with Gurzil per an ''

interpretatio Romana ''Interpretatio graeca'' (Latin, "Greek translation") or "interpretation by means of Greek odels is a discourse used to interpret or attempt to understand the mythology and religion of other cultures; a comparative methodology using ancient Gr ...

''. This would be the only known instance of such an interpretation among the Berbers. The inscription may be read " o-and-soendowed the expenses for Gurzil–Saturn". The name of Gurzil may be detected elsewhere in the

toponymy Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...

of Tripolitania. A temple among the ruins of

Gerisa Gerisa, also called Ghirza, was an ancient city of Roman Libya near the Limes Tripolitanus. It was a small village of 300 inhabitants on the pre-desert zone of Tripolitania. History Even if there was a small local settlement, it was only when R ...

(Ghirza) in Libya may have been dedicated to Gurzil, and the name of the town itself may even be related to his name. According to the 9th-century Muslim writer al-Bakrī, there was a placed called Gherza in Tripolitania with a hilltop sanctuary containing a stone idol that the Berber tribes from the surrounding region still worshipped. The relief carving of a horned god at

Volubilis Volubilis (; ar, وليلي, walīlī; ber, ⵡⵍⵉⵍⵉ, wlili) is a partly excavated Berber-Roman city in Morocco situated near the city of Meknes, and may have been the capital of the kingdom of Mauretania, at least from the time of Kin ...

has been tentatively identified as Gurzil. This would be the only evidence of his worship outside of Tripolitania, but the identification is highly speculative.

References

{{reflist Berber gods Roman Libya War gods