Fountain of the Idol

The Fountain of the Idol (Portuguese: Fonte do Ídolo) is a Roman fountain located in the civil parish of São José de São Lázaro, in the municipality of Braga, northern Portugal. Located in the former territory of the Callaici Bracari, the granite rock fountain/spring has Latin inscriptions, dedicated to the Gallaecian and Lusitanian gods Tongoenabiagus and Nabia (built during era of Roman Emperor Augustus).

History

The construction of the fountain probably began in the 1st century, associated with a water cult, dedicated to the Lusitanian divinty Tongoenbiagus, and ordered constructed by Celicus Fronto.

Kingdom

First identified by Georg Braun in his map of Braga in 1594, the document indicated the location of the spring (marked by a channel of water).

By 1695, the land on which the fountain is located was owned by Father Santos Rodrigues, vicar of São João de Castelões, in Guimarães. On his death, his property passed to his niece, D. Angélica de Barros, who later bequeathed it to her brother-in-law Vicente Gomes do Couto.