Taranis

Taranis (Jupiter with wheel and thunderbolt),Le Chatelet, Gourzon, Haute-Marne, France.

In Celtic mythology Taranis was the god of thunder worshipped in Hispania and mentioned, along with Esus and Toutatis, by the Roman poet Lucan in his epic poem Pharsalia as a Celtic deity to whom sacrificial offerings were made.^[1] He was associated, as was the cyclops Brontes (‘thunder’) in Greek mythology, with the wheel and may have received human sacrifices.

Many representations of a bearded god with a thunderbolt in one hand and a wheel in the other have been recovered from Gaul, where this deity apparently came to be syncretised with Jupiter.^[2] He is likely connected with the Anglo-Saxon god Þunor, the Norse Thor, Tiermes ^[3] [ðiermes] of the Nordic Sami people, the Germanic Donar, the Celtic Ambisagrus (likely from Proto-Celtic *ambi-sagros = "about-strength"), the Irish Tuireann, and the Roman Mars. The name Taranis has not yet been recovered from Gaulish inscriptions, but similar variants have, such as Taranucno-, Taranuo-, and Taraino-.^[4]

Etymology

The reconstructed lexis of the Proto-Celtic language as collated by the University of Wales [1] suggests that the name is likely to be ultimately derived from the Proto-Celtic *Toranos. This Proto-Celtic word means ‘thunder’. In present day Welsh Taranu means 'to thunder'.

Taranis, as a personification of thunder, is often identified with similar deities found in other Indo-European pantheons. Of these, Thor and the Hittite god Tarhun (see also Teshub) contain a comparable *tor- element. The Thracian deity names Zbel-thurdos, Zbel-Thiurdos also contain this element (Thracian thurd(a), "push, crash down"). Others have different etymologies, e.g. *Perkwunos, Brontes, and Indra.

References

Votive Celtic wheels called Rouelles, thought to correspond to the cult of Taranis. Thousands such wheels have been found in sanctuaries in Belgic Gaul, dating from 50 BCE to 50 CE. Musée d'Archéologie Nationale.

• Ellis, Peter Berresford, Dictionary of Celtic Mythology (Oxford Paperback Reference), Oxford University Press, (1994): ISBN 0-19-508961-8
• MacKillop, James. Dictionary of Celtic Mythology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. ISBN 0-19-280120-1.
• Wood, Juliette, The Celts: Life, Myth, and Art, Thorsons Publishers (2002): ISBN 0-00-764059-5

Works cited

1. ^ M. Annaeus Lucanus. Pharsalia, Book I.
2. ^ Paul-Marie Duval. 2002. Les Dieux de la Gaule. Paris, Éditions Payot.
3. ^ Scheffer, Johannes (1674). The History of Lapland. Oxford.
4. ^ Nicole Jufer & Thierry Luginbühl. 2001. Répertoire des dieux gaulois. Paris, Éditions Errance.

External links

• Celtic Gods and Associates
• Images of Taranis
• Celtic Gods

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