Editing Taranis (section)

==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]] (49–48 BCE). The passage relevant to Taranis occurs in "Gallic excursus", an [[epic catalogue]] detailing the rejoicing of the various Gaulish peoples after Caesar 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]].<ref name=Hofeneder2>{{cite book |title=Die Religion der Kelten in den antiken literarischen Zeugnissen |volume=2 |last=Hofeneder |first=Andreas |date=2008 |location=Wien |publisher=Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften }}</ref>{{rp|296}}

{{verse translation
|lang1=la
|Tu quoque laetatus converti proelia, Trevir,
Et nunc tonse Ligur, quondam per colla decore
Crinibus effusis toti praelate Comatae; 
Et quibus inmitis placatur sanguine diro
Teutates horrensque feris altaribus Esus
Et Taranis Scythicae non mitior ara Dianae.<ref>Lucan, ''De Bello Civilo'', 1.441-446</ref>
|Transferral of the warfare pleased you too, [[Treviri]],
and you, [[Ligures]], now shorn of hair but once in all of Long-Haired
Gaul unrivalled for your tresses flowing gracefully over your necks;
and the people who with grim blood-offering placate
Teutates the merciless and Esus dread with savage altars
and the slab of Taranis, no kinder than Diana of the Scythians.<ref>Translation from {{cite book |last=Braund |first=Susan H. |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |series=Oxford World's Classics |title=Lucan: Civil War |date=1992 }}</ref>}}

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.<ref name=Hofeneder2/>{{rp|298–299}} The reference to "Diana of the Scythians" refers to the human sacrifices demanded by [[Diana Nemorensis|Diana at her temple in Scythian Taurica]], well known in antiquity.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Green |first=C. M. C. |title=Lucan ''Bellum Civile'' 1.444-46: A Reconsideration |journal=Classical Philology |date=January 1994 |volume=89 |issue=1 |pages=64–69 |doi=10.1086/367392 |jstor=269754 }}</ref>{{rp|66–67}} 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.<ref name=Hofeneder2/>{{rp|296}}<ref name=GreenAltar>{{cite journal |last=Green|first=Miranda J. |date=1982|title=Tanarus, Taranis and the Chester altar |journal=Journal of the Chester Archaeological Society |volume=65 |pages=37–44 |doi=10.5284/1070267 }}</ref>{{rp|40}}

We have no literary sources prior to Lucan which mention these deities, and the few which mention them after Lucan (in the case of Taranis, [[Papias (lexicographer)|Papias]] alone{{efn|1=Papias was a Latin lexicographer of the 11th century. His dictionary has entries for Teutates and Taranis, which do no more than give ''interpretatios'' of these pagan deities (the origin of whom Papias did not even know). Papias evidently relies on the commentary tradition to Lucan.<ref name=Hofeneder3>{{cite book |title=Die Religion der Kelten in den antiken literarischen Zeugnissen |volume=3 |last=Hofeneder |first=Andreas |date=2011 |location=Wien |publisher=Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften |url=https://archive.org/details/9783700169970-gesamt-2 }}</ref>{{rp|531–532}}}}) rely on this passage.<ref name=Hofeneder2/>{{rp|299}} The secondary sources on Celtic religion which Lucan relied on in this passage (perhaps [[Posidonius]]) have not come down to us.<ref name=Hofeneder2/>{{rp|297}} This passage is one of the very few in classical literature in which Celtic gods are mentioned under their native names,{{efn|For the most part, classical sources describe Celtic gods under Greek or Roman names without further comment. [[Georg Wissowa]] emphasises that Lucan "stands almost alone" ({{lang|de|steht nahezu allein}}) apart from this tradition. [[Epona]], the Gallo-Roman horse god, is a notable exception; she appears frequently in classical literature, and never under an ''interpretatio''.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Georg |last=Wissowa |title=Interpretatio Romana: Römische Götter im Barbarenlande |journal=Archiv für Religionswissenschaft |volume=19 |url=https://archive.org/details/archivfrreligi19reliuoft/page/1 |date=1916–1919 |pages=1–49 }}</ref>{{rp|9–11}} Other Celtic gods mentioned under their own name in later literature include [[Belenus]], [[Ogmios]], [[Grannus]], and [[Andraste]].<ref name=Hofeneder3/>{{rp|24}}}} rather than [[interpretatio graeca|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.<ref name=Hofeneder2/>{{rp|298}}

Some scholars, such as 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 (archaeologist)|Graham Webster]], emphasise that Lucan may as well have chosen these deity-names for their [[scansion]] and harsh sound.<ref name=Hofeneder2/>{{rp|299}}

===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]] dealing with difficulties in the work, both in grammar and subject matter.<ref name=Hofeneder2/>{{rp|312}} The earliest Lucan scholia that have come down to us are the [[Commenta Bernensia and Adnotationes Super Lucanum|''Commenta Bernensia'' and ''Adnotationes Super Lucanum'']], both from manuscripts datable between the 9th and 11th centuries.<ref name=Esposito>{{cite book |last=Esposito |first=Paolo |chapter=Early and Medieval ''Scholia'' and ''Commentaria'' on Lucan |title= Brill's Companion to Lucan |pages=453–463 |doi=10.1163/9789004217096_025 |date=2011 |editor-last=Asso |editor-first=Paolo |location=Leiden / Boston |publisher=Brill  |isbn=978-90-04-21709-6 }}</ref>{{rp|453}} Also important are comments from a [[Cologne]] codex (the ''Glossen ad Lucan''), dating to the 11th and 12th centuries.<ref name=Hofeneder2/>{{rp|312}} 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).<ref name=Esposito/>{{rp|453–454}} Below are excerpts from these scholia relevant to Taranis:

{|class="wikitable"
|-
!Commentary
!Latin
!English
|-
|''Commenta Bernensia ad Lucan'', 1.445
|{{lang|la|Taranis Ditis pater hoc modo aput eos placatur: in alveo ligneo aliquod homines cremantur.}}
|Taranis Dispater is appeased in this way by them: several people are burned in a wooden tub.<ref name=HofenederCB/> 
|-
|''Commenta Bernensia ad Lucan'', 1.445
|{{lang|la|item aliter exinde in aliis invenimus. [...] praesidem bellorum et caelestium deorum maximum Taranin Iovem adsuetum olim humanis placari capitibus, nunc vero gaudere pecorum.}}
|We also find it [depicted] differently by other [authors]. [...] the leader of wars and chief of the heavenly gods, Taranis, [they consider] to be Jupiter, who was once accustomed to be appeased with human heads, but now [is accustomed] to delight in those of animals.<ref name=HofenederCB>Translation after the German in {{cite book |title=Die Religion der Kelten in den antiken literarischen Zeugnissen |volume=2 |last=Hofeneder |first=Andreas |date=2008 |location=Wien |publisher=Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften |page=317}}</ref>
|-
|''Adnotationes super Lucanum'', 1.445.
|{{lang|la|Taranis Iuppiter dictus a Gallis, qui sanguine litatur humano.}}
|Taranis is called Jupiter by the Gauls, to whom sacrifices are made with human blood.<ref name=HofenederAS>Translation after the German in {{cite book |title=Die Religion der Kelten in den antiken literarischen Zeugnissen |volume=2 |last=Hofeneder |first=Andreas |date=2008 |location=Wien |publisher=Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften |page=331 }}</ref>
|-
|''Glossen ad Lucan'', 1.445
|{{lang|la|Tharanis Iuppiter. hi omnes in Teutonicis partibus colebantur a Taranu. ut feria teutonice dicitur. }}
|Tharanis Jupiter. All of these were worshipped in the [[Teutons|Teutonic]] regions at Taranus (?), as a day of the week is called in [[Germanic languages|Teutonic]].<ref name=HofenederG>Translation after the German in {{cite book |title=Die Religion der Kelten in den antiken literarischen Zeugnissen |volume=2 |last=Hofeneder |first=Andreas |date=2008 |location=Wien |publisher=Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften |page=334 }}</ref>
|}

The first excerpt, about the sacrifice to Taranis, comes from a passage in the ''Commenta'' which details the human sacrifices offered each of to the three gods (persons were suspended from trees and dismembered for Esus, persons were drowned in a barrel for Teutates). This passage, which is not paralleled anywhere else in classical literature, has been much the subject of much commentary. It seems to have been preserved in the ''Commenta'' by virtue of its author's preference for factual (over grammatical) explanation.<ref name=Hofeneder2/>{{rp|318}} The ''Adnotationes'', by comparison, tell us nothing about the sacrifices to Esus, Teutates, and Taranis beyond that they were each murderous.<ref name=Hofeneder2/>{{rp|332}}

[[File:The Wicker Man of the Druids crop.jpg|alt=Drawing of the wicker man being used in human sacrifice|thumb|An imaginative 18th-century illustration of the [[wicker man]]]]
The ''Commenta'' tells us that as sacrifices to Taranis, several people were burned in a wooden {{lang|la|alveus}}. The Latin word {{lang|la|alveus}} is translated above as "tub", but it could applied to any hollow container. In various settings, the term could be used to mean a ship's hull, a bath tub, a [[drainage basin]], a canoe, or a beehive.<ref name=Hofeneder2/>{{rp|324}} [[Miranda Aldhouse-Green|Miranda Green]] linked this sacrifice with the [[wicker man]], the well-known wooden figure in which (according to [[Caesar]] and [[Strabo]]) humans were burned as sacrifices.<ref>{{cite book |title= Dictionary of Celtic Myth and Legend |first= Miranda |last= Green |publisher= Thames and Hudson Ltd. |location=London |date=1997 |isbn= 978-0-500-27975-5 |url= https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofcelt00gree }}</ref>{{rp|100}}

The ''interpretatio romana'' of Taranis as Jupiter, given by all three commentaries, is otherwise attested in epigraphy, and agrees with our understanding of Taranis as a thunder god. By contrast, the ''interpretatio'' of Taranis as Dis Pater, which only the ''Commenta'' gives,{{efn|1=The ''Commenta'' offers two sets of ''interpretatios'' of the three Celtic gods mentioned in Lucan. In the first set, Teutates is [[Mercury (god)|Mercury]], Esus is [[Mars (god)|Mars]], and Taranis is [[Dis Pater]]. In the second set, Teutates is Mars, Esus is Mercury, and Taranis is Jupiter.<ref name=Hofeneder2/>{{rp|317}}}} is quite obscure. It is not given in any inscription, and we do not know what Taranis had to do with the underworld.{{efn|Among those who identify the Celtic wheel god with Taranis, some attempt has been made to substantiate the identification of Taranis with Dis Pater. [[Fritz Heichelheim]] cited the wheel god of [[Séguret]], who has a snake coiled behind it, as evidence of the chthonic associations of Taranis. [[Pierre Lambrechts]] took the Jupiter columns as showing Taranis's dominion over both the underworld and overworld.<ref name=BN>{{cite book |title=Die Iupitersäulen in den germanischen Provinzen |first1=Gerhard |last1=Bauchhenß |first2=Peter |last2=Noelke |publisher=Rheinland |location=Köln |date=1981 }}</ref>{{rp|80}}}}<ref name=Hofeneder2/>{{rp|324}} Manfred Hainzmann points out that Dis was associated in Latin literature with the night sky and night thunderstorms. [[Statius]], for example, refers to Dis Pater as the "thunderer of the underworld" (''Thebaid'', 11.209).<ref name=Hainzmann/>{{rp|24}}

In the course of giving the ''interpretatio'' of Taranis as Jupiter, the scholiast of the ''Commenta'' mentions that Taranis was "leader of wars". This is an unusual trait to associate with Jupiter rather than [[Mars (god)|Mars]] (Roman god of war), though the Romans occasionally gave Jupiter martial functions. Hofeneder has associated the comment that Taranis was "appeased with human heads" with this martial function, as the (pre-Roman) Celtic custom of carrying off their foes' heads in battle is well-attested.<ref name=Hofeneder2/>{{rp|324–325}} The scholiast describes a transition from human to animal sacrifice, probably connected to the suppression of human sacrifice in Gaul in the Imperial period.<ref name=Demandt>{{cite book |first=Alexander |last=Demandt |chapter= Der Baumkult der Kelten |pages=1–18  |editor1-first=Charles Marie |editor1-last=Ternes |editor2-first=Hartmut |editor2-last=Zinser |title=Dieux des Celtes – Götter der Kelten – Gods of the Celts  |series=Études Luxembourgeoises d’histoire et de science des religions |volume=1 |location=Luxemburg |date=2002 }}</ref>{{rp|5}}

Caesar states in his ''[[Commentaries on the Gallic War]]'' that the Gauls regarded [[Gaulish Dis Pater|a Gaulish god]] (whom Caesar equated with Dis Pater) as their ancestor.<ref name=Hainzmann>{{cite book |last=Hainzmann |first=Manfred |chapter=Taranis – Jupiter: Keltischer Donner und römischer Blitz |editor1-first=Charles Marie |editor1-last=Ternes |editor2-first=Hartmut |editor2-last=Zinser |title=Dieux des Celtes – Götter der Kelten – Gods of the Celts  |series=Études Luxembourgeoises d’histoire et de science des religions |volume=1 |location=Luxemburg |date=2002 |pages=19–38 }}</ref>{{rp|24}} As Taranis is the only Celtic god equated with Dis Pater in ancient literary sources, Taranis has often been a cited as a candidate for [[Gaulish Dis Pater]].<ref name=Hofeneder2/>{{rp|201}} On the other hand, Caesar also briefly refers to an unnamed Gaulish god who "rules over all the gods" ({{lang|la|imperium caelestium tenere}}), and whom he equates with Jupiter. It has been suggested that Taranis is behind this description.<ref name=Hofeneder1>{{cite book |title=Die Religion der Kelten in den antiken literarischen Zeugnissen |volume=1 |last=Hofeneder |first=Andreas |date=2005 |location=Wien |publisher=Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften }}</ref>{{rp|208}} The similarity between Caesar's description of Gaulish Jupiter, and the ''Commenta''{{'s}} description of Taranis as "chief of the heavenly gods" ({{lang|la|caelestium deorum maximum}}), has been noted, though this may reflect reliance on Caesar's text or a routine characterisation of the Roman god Jupiter.<ref name=Hainzmann/>{{rp|25}}