Editing Taranis (section)

===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}}