'''Apotropaei''' ({{langx|el|Ἀποτρόπαιοι}}) were in ancient Greece certain divinities, by whose assistance the Greeks believed that they were able to avert any threatening danger or calamity—that is, figures of apotropaic magic. Their statues stood at Sicyon near the tomb of Epopeus.<ref>Pausanias, ''Description of Greece'' 2.11.2</ref> The gods Apollo, Zeus and Athena were worshiped with the cult epithet ''Apotropaios'' (Averter) in various Greek cities.<ref>SEG 21:541; SEG 18, 478</ref> The ancient Romans likewise worshipped gods of this kind, and called them ''dii averrunci'', derived from ''averruncare''.<ref>Marcus Terentius Varro, ''De Lingua Latina'' 7.102</ref><ref>Aulus Gellius, ''Attic Nights'' 5.12</ref>
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{{DGRBM|author=LS|title=Apotropaei|volume=1|page=247|url=http://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moa/acl3129.0001.001/262}}
{{Authority control}} Category:Greek gods
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