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Teutates (spelled variously Toutatis, Totatis, Totates) is a Celtic god attested in literary and
epigraphic Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...
sources. His name, which is derived from a
proto-Celtic Proto-Celtic, or Common Celtic, is the hypothetical ancestral proto-language of all known Celtic languages, and a descendant of Proto-Indo-European. It is not attested in writing but has been partly Linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed throu ...
word meaning "tribe", suggests he was a tribal deity. The Roman poet Lucan's epic ''
Pharsalia ''De Bello Civili'' (; ''On the Civil War''), more commonly referred to as the ''Pharsalia'' (, neuter plural), is a Latin literature, Roman Epic poetry, epic poem written by the poet Lucan, detailing the Caesar's civil war, civil war between Ju ...
'' mentions Teutates,
Esus Esus is a Celtic god known from iconographic, epigraphic, and literary sources. The 1st-century CE Roman poet Lucan's epic ''Pharsalia'' mentions Esus, Taranis, and Teutates as gods to whom the Gauls sacrificed humans. This rare mention of Cel ...
, and
Taranis Taranis (sometimes Taranus or Tanarus) is a Celtic thunder god attested in literary and epigraphic sources. The Roman poet Lucan's epic ''Pharsalia'' mentions Taranis, Esus, and Teutates as gods to whom the Gauls sacrificed humans. This rare ...
as gods to whom the
Gauls The Gauls (; , ''Galátai'') were a group of Celts, Celtic peoples of mainland Europe in the Iron Age Europe, Iron Age and the Roman Gaul, Roman period (roughly 5th century BC to 5th century AD). Their homeland was known as Gaul (''Gallia''). Th ...
sacrificed humans. This rare mention of Celtic gods under their native names in a Latin text has been the subject of much comment. Almost as often commented on are the scholia to Lucan's poem (early medieval, but relying on earlier sources) which tell us the nature of these sacrifices: in particular, that victims of Teutates were immersed headfirst into a small barrel and drowned. This sacrifice has been compared with a poorly understood ritual depicted on the Gundestrup cauldron, some motifs in
Irish mythology Irish mythology is the body of myths indigenous to the island of Ireland. It was originally Oral tradition, passed down orally in the Prehistoric Ireland, prehistoric era. In the History of Ireland (795–1169), early medieval era, myths were ...
, and the death of the bog body known as the Lindow Man. Teutates appears in a number of inscriptions, most of which have been found in border or frontier areas. When these inscriptions pair Teutates with a Roman god, they pair him with
Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...
. Alongside the inscriptions to Teutates, there are inscriptions to a number of etymologically related deities (Teutanus, Toutanicus, Toutiorix). The presence of these similar deity-names have been used to argue that "Teutates" was a generic name, applied to any tribe's
tutelary deity A tutelary (; also tutelar) is a deity or a Nature spirit, spirit who is a guardian, patron, or protector of a particular place, geographic feature, person, lineage, nation, culture, or occupation. The etymology of "tutelary" expresses the concept ...
. Teutates has been linked to Roman rings with inscribed on them, of which over 60 examples are known, found around
Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...
in England. These three letters have been repeatedly conjectured to abbreviate "Totatis", a late variant of Teutates's name.


Name


Etymology and development

The name Teutates derives from proto-Celtic *'' teutā'' ("tribe"). This proto-Celtic word is otherwise attested by
Old Irish Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic (, Ogham, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ; ; or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic languages, Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive written texts. It was used from 600 to 900. The ...
("tribe"),
Middle Welsh Middle Welsh (, ) is the label attached to the Welsh language of the 12th to 15th centuries, of which much more remains than for any earlier period. This form of Welsh developed directly from Old Welsh (). Literature and history Middle Welsh is ...
("people, country"), and Cornish ("people"). Sometimes, Teutates is explained as a reflex of proto-Celtic ("father of the tribe"). However, this explanation is problematic, insofar as it assumes haplology (omission of a syllable) in the development of the word and requires that the "a" be short (which conflicts with Lucan's scansion). In line with general Celtic vowel changes, the first vowel in the deity's name developed from to to . Of the spellings attested in the epigraphic record, "Toutatis" attests to the second stage of this development, and "Totates" attests to the third. Given its date, the spelling "Teutates" in Lucan probably does not attest to the first stage. Latin lacked the
diphthong A diphthong ( ), also known as a gliding vowel or a vowel glide, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of ...
of
Gaulish Gaulish is an extinct Celtic languages, Celtic language spoken in parts of Continental Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire. In the narrow sense, Gaulish was the language of the Celts of Gaul (now France, Luxembourg, Belgium, ...
, so Latin speakers approximated this diphthong with (the only u-diphthong in Latin). The epithet "Teutanos" (known from the Danube Valley) does, however, preserve this first stage. If it is an attestation of the god's name, the spelling "Tutate" on a 5th-century CE inscription from
Poitiers Poitiers is a city on the river Clain in west-central France. It is a commune in France, commune, the capital of the Vienne (department), Vienne department and the historical center of Poitou, Poitou Province. In 2021, it had a population of 9 ...
may show a later vowel development from to .


Protector of the tribe

It has been repeatedly suggested (for example, by and Patrizia de Bernardo Stempel) that the theonym Teutates was a general title applied to tribal tutelary deities. Each tribe would therefore have its own Teutates. As evidence for this interpretation, scholars have pointed to the number of bynames similar to Teutates in the epigraphic record (Teutanus, Toutanicus, Toutiorix) and the inconsistency with which these bynames were associated with Roman deities. argues against this contention on the grounds that the suffix "-ati-" is uncommon; if the name was derived independently in each case, we would expect more variants along the lines of "tribal father" (for example, , , or ). In his capacity as tribal deity, Teutates has been compared with the oath taken by several heroes of medieval Irish mythology: '' Tongu do dia toinges mo thúath'' ("I swear by the god by whom my tribe swears").


Lucan and the scholia


Lucan

Lucan's ''Pharsalia'' or ''De Bello Civili'' (''On the Civil War'') is an epic poem, begun about 61 CE, on the events of
Caesar's civil war Caesar's civil war (49–45 BC) was a civil war during the late Roman Republic between two factions led by Julius Caesar and Pompey. The main cause of the war was political tensions relating to Caesar's place in the Republic on his expected ret ...
(49–48 BCE). The passage relevant to Teutates occurs in "Gallic excursus", an
epic catalogue An epic catalogue is a long, detailed list of objects, places or people that is a characteristic of epic poetry. Examples *In the ''Iliad'': **Catalogue of Ships, the most famous epic catalogue **Trojan Battle Order *In the ''Odyssey'', the catal ...
detailing the rejoicing of the various Gaulish peoples after
Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...
removed his legions from Gaul (where they were intended to control the natives) to Italy. The passage thus brings out two themes of Lucan's work, the barbarity of the Gauls and the unpatriotism of Caesar. The substance of the last few lines is this: unspecified Gauls, who made human sacrifices to their gods Teutates, Esus, and Taranis, were overjoyed by the exit of Caesar's troops from their territory. The reference to "Diana of the Scythians" refers to the human sacrifices demanded by Diana at her temple in Scythian Taurica, well known in antiquity. That Lucan says little about these gods is not surprising. Lucan's aims were poetic, and not historical or ethnographic. The poet never travelled to Gaul and relied on secondary sources for his knowledge of Gaulish religion. When he neglects to add more, this may well reflect the limits of his knowledge. We have no literary sources prior to Lucan which mention these deities, and the few which mention them after Lucan (in the case of Teutates,
Lactantius Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius () was an early Christian author who became an advisor to Roman emperor Constantine I, guiding his Christian religious policy in its initial stages of emergence, and a tutor to his son Crispus. His most impo ...
and Papias) rely on this passage. The secondary sources on Celtic religion which Lucan relied on in this passage (perhaps
Posidonius Posidonius (; , "of Poseidon") "of Apameia" (ὁ Ἀπαμεύς) or "of Rhodes" (ὁ Ῥόδιος) (), was a Greeks, Greek politician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, historian, mathematician, and teacher native to Apamea (Syria), Apame ...
) have not come down to us. This passage is one of the very few in classical literature in which Celtic gods are mentioned under their native names, rather than identified with Greek or Roman gods. This departure from classical practice likely had poetic intent: emphasising the barbarity and exoticness the Gauls, whom Caesar had left to their own devices. Some scholars, such as Jan de Vries, have argued that the three gods mentioned together here (Esus, Teutates, and Taranis) formed a divine triad in ancient Gaulish religion. However, there is little other evidence associating these gods with each other. Other scholars, such as Graham Webster, emphasise that Lucan may as well have chosen these deity-names for their scansion and harsh sound.


Scholia

Lucan's ''Pharsalia'' was a very popular school text in late antiquity and the medieval period. This created a demand for commentaries and
scholia Scholia (: scholium or scholion, from , "comment", "interpretation") are grammatical, critical, or explanatory comments – original or copied from prior commentaries – which are inserted in the margin of the manuscript of ancient a ...
dealing with difficulties in the work, both in grammar and subject matter. The earliest Lucan scholia that have come down to us are the ''Commenta Bernensia'' and ''Adnotationes Super Lucanum'', both from manuscripts datable between the 9th and 11th centuries. Also important are comments from a
Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...
codex (the ''Glossen ad Lucan''), dating to the 11th and 12th centuries. In spite of their late date, these scholia are thought to incorporate very ancient material, some of it now lost. The ''Commenta'' and ''Adnotationes'' are known to contain material at least as old as Servius the Grammarian (4th century CE). Below are excerpts from these scholia relevant to Teutates: The first excerpt, about the sacrifice to Teutates, comes from a passage in the ''Commenta'' which details the human sacrifices offered each of to the three gods (persons were suspended from a tree and dismembered for Esus, persons were burned in a wooden tub for Taranis). This passage, which is not paralleled anywhere else in classical literature, has been much the subject of much comment. It seems to have been preserved in the ''Commenta'' by virtue of its author's preference for factual (over grammatical) explanation. The ''Adnotationes'', by comparison, tell us nothing about the sacrifices to Esus, Teutates, and Taranis beyond that they were each murderous. The sacrifice to Teutates described here has been repeatedly linked to the image on the Gundestrup cauldron of a large man immersing a warrior headfirst into a container. However, this connection must remain hypothetical, as the meaning of the scene surrounding this ritual is unknown to us, and we know nothing certain about the iconography of Teutates. compared the sacrificial barrel with the various occurrences of cauldrons in medieval Irish mythology (variously beneficent, malevolent, and resurrectory). Jan de Vries connected this ritual with the habit of Irish heroes of drowning themselves in vessels when locked in a burning house. The violent end of the bog body known as the Lindow Man—throat slashed, strangled, bludgeoned, and drowned—has also been connected with this sacrificial ritual. All three commentaries offer the ''
interpretatio romana , or "interpretation by means of Greek odels, refers to the tendency of the ancient Greeks to identify foreign deities with their own gods. It is a discourse used to interpret or attempt to understand the mythology and religion of other cult ...
'' of Teutates as Mercury, Roman god of commerce. This ''interpretatio'' was repeated by the Latin lexicographer Papias in the middle of the 11th century CE. The scholiast of the ''Commenta'', however, notes that other sources give an ''interpretatio'' of Teutates as
Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...
, Roman god of war. The scholiast connects this second ''interpretatio'' with a story he sees in some sources, that Teutates's demand for human sacrifices was a demand for the blood of those slain in war; however, other sources before the scholiast tell him that Taranis's demand for human sacrifices was in analogy with the demands of other Gaulish gods. The first ''interpretatio'' of Teutates as Mercury has caused a minority of scholars to identify Teutates with Caesar's Gaulish Mercury. However, the evident confusion of the sources the scholiast of the ''Commenta'' had available to him has been taken to count against the evidentiary value of either of these ''interpretatios''. In epigraphy, the only Roman god paired with Teutates is Mars. However, similar bynames (Teutanus, Toutanicus, Toutiorix) are paired variously with Mercury,
Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...
,
Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...
, and Mars. The practice of ''interpretatio'' was fairly flexible when applied to Celtic gods. Roman gods could have many Celtic equivalents and Celtic gods could have many Roman equivalents. In the Celtic provinces, Mars seems to have been a particularly multi-functional figure, carrying associations with fertility and healing as well as with war. In Gaul alone, Mars is given about 50 native epithets.


Epigraphy

The stone monuments to Teutates are clustered along the military frontier of the Roman Empire. The portable votive objects, by contrast, have mainly been found in shrine or domestic sites. The cult of Teutates is poorly attested in Gaul; the only certain inscriptions are on a stylus from Jort and five fragments of pottery from Beauclair. Patrice Lajoye and Claude Lemaitre point out that both Jort and Beauclair are on Gaulish tribal borders. Not included in the above dossier are the attestations of the epithet Teutanus. Many votive altars dedicated to (" Jupiter Optimus Maximus Teutanus") have been found in the Danube Valley, with as many as 16 found in Gellért Hill alone. In Upper Germania, there are two attestations of a and one attestation of a . Perhaps related is a , attested in
Dacia Dacia (, ; ) was the land inhabited by the Dacians, its core in Transylvania, stretching to the Danube in the south, the Black Sea in the east, and the Tisza in the west. The Carpathian Mountains were located in the middle of Dacia. It thus ro ...
. The nature of Teutanus is quite obscure. The word seems to mean "protector of the tribe". Andreas Hofeneder affirms that Teutates and Teutanus seem to be "linguistically and functionally closely related". Daniel Szabó proposed a local syncretisation of Teutates and Taranis.


''TOT'' rings

As many as 68 finger rings with the letters inscribed on them have been found in Britain. These date between the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE. The find-spots of these rings are concentrated around
Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...
and, more broadly, within the territory of the Corieltauvi tribe. Emil Hübner, in an 1877 supplement to the ''
Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum The ''Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum'' (''CIL'') is a comprehensive collection of ancient Latin inscriptions. It forms an authoritative source for documenting the surviving epigraphy of classical antiquity. Public and personal inscriptions throw ...
'', was the first to propose that these three letters should be read as an abbreviation of the deity-name . This suggestion was thereafter taken up by Anne Ross, Martin Henig and Jack Ogden, and Adam Daubney (of the Portable Antiquities Scheme). Three-letter inscriptions on Roman rings are usually abbreviations of deity-names, for example rings to Mercury and rings to
Minerva Minerva (; ; ) is the Roman goddess of wisdom, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. She is also a goddess of warfare, though with a focus on strategic warfare, rather than the violence of gods such as Mars. Be ...
. Two rings, found in the 2000s, which preface with ("God") have been taken to confirm that the god Teutates is referenced here. However, other explanations of the inscription have been given. Hübner proposed, as an alternative reading, that these rings abbreviated the charm ("so many (years you live)"), a proposal which has been followed by and Hofeneder. Guy de la Bédoyère has given a number of additional Latin phrases that could abbreviate. Henig and Ogden entertained the possibility that the letters "may be a '' vox magica''", i.e., a meaningless set of letters supposed to have magical properties. Henig and Ogden have pointed out that this ''TOT'' motif may appear on some 7th-century Saxon sceats.


See also

*
Lugus Lugus (sometimes Lugos or Lug) is a Celtic god whose worship is attested in the epigraphic record. No depictions of the god are known. Lugus perhaps also appears in Ancient Rome, Roman sources and medieval Insular Celts, Insular mythology. Va ...


Notes


References


Further reading

* * * * * * * * *


External links

* {{Authority control Celtic gods Tutelary gods National gods Human sacrifice Lucan