Taranis

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In Celtic mythology Taranis was the god of thunder worshipped in Gaul and Britain 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.M. Annaeus Lucanus. Pharsalia, [Book I]. 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.Paul-Marie Duval. 2002. Les Dieux de la Gaule. Paris, Éditions Payot. He is likely connected with the Anglo-Saxon god Þunor, the Norse Thor, Ambisagrus, the Irish Tuireann and the Culdee saint Taran. The name Taranis has not yet been recovered from Gaulish inscriptions, but similar variants have, such as Taranucno-, Taranuo-, and Taraino-.Nicole Jufer & Thierry Luginbühl. 2001. Répertoire des dieux gaulois. Paris, Éditions Errance.

Etymology

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

Taranis, as a personification of thunder, is often identified with similar deities found in other Indo-European mythologies. Of these, Thor and the Hittite god Tarhun (see also Teshub) contain a comparable *tor- element. Others have different etymologies, e.g. *Perkwunos, Brontes and Indra.

References

Ellis, Peter Berresford, Dictionary of Celtic Mythology (Oxford Paperback Reference), Oxford University Press, (1994): ISBN 0195089618
MacKillop, James. Dictionary of Celtic Mythology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. ISBN 0192801201.
Wood, Juliette, The Celts: Life, Myth, and Art, Thorsons Publishers (2002): ISBN 0007640595

Works cited

External links

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