... we should recall here the comments made by Jean Gerson, chancellor of the University of Paris in 1395, who spoke of a craze at that time for pictures which showed the diis gentium (the gods of the nations) "not excepting Bel phegor", and which were used for prognostication: even in the churches and on festival days obscene [blasphemous?] pictures were sold tanquem idola Belphegor, which corrupted the young, while sermons were ineffective to remedy this evil.
We may suppose that Gerson knew his gods of the nations as most educated people did. Various of the diis gentium had been known since Carolingian times. .... I take Bel Phegor to derive from the Greek phago and describe a god known for eating [a specific type of] food, though it can equally mean the god of mathematical apportioning.
|