Gurzil was an important ancient Berber deity. He is known from two sources, the Latin 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 inscription from Lepcis Magna.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 of

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 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 of ...

, 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''. 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 of Tripolitania. A temple among the ruins of Gerisa (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 Abū ʿUbayd ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Muḥammad ibn Ayyūb ibn ʿAmr al-Bakrī ( ar, أبو عبيد عبد الله بن عبد العزيز بن محمد بن أيوب بن عمرو البكري), or simply al-Bakrī (c. 1040–1 ...

, 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 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