Potrimpos (2)

Potrimpos in Lettish mythology, was a chief deity of the Lithuanuians and ancient Prussians before the occupancy of the country by the Germans, being the second person in the Northern trinity, which consisted of Perkunos, Potrimpos and Pikollos. He was the god of victory in war, and in peace the giver of fruitfulness, of blessing, and of domestic felicity. His image stood at Rome. It represented a friendly, laughing youth. As Perrkunos was a god of the warming and destructive fire, so Potrimpos was a god of the fructifying anid destructive water. Ears of corn and wheat were offered to him, and his head was decorated with field products. Many children were also burned as sacrifices to him. In a large brass urn a snake was kept and fed in honor of him; therefore the snake was always a sacred animal among the Prussians. It seems possible that Potrimpos was a female deity, and the wife of Donnerer — at least, some modern writers affirm this. Perhaps this was the mother of the gods, whom Tacitus mentions as worshipped among the AEsthyans.