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Toutatis or Teutates was a Celtic god
Celtic polytheism

Celtic polytheism, sometimes known as Celtic paganism, refers to the religious beliefs and practises of the ancient Celts of western Europe prior to Christianisation....
 worshipped in ancient Gaul
Gaul

Gaul is the name used for the region of Western Europe comprising part of present day northern Italy, France, Belgium, western Switzerland and the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the west bank of the River Rhine....
 and Britain
Roman Britain

Roman Britain refers to those parts of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire between AD 43 and 410. The Romans referred to their province as Britannia....
. On the basis of his name's etymology, he has been widely interpreted to be a tribal protector. Today, he is best known under the name Toutatis (pronounced in Gaulish
Gaulish language

The Gaulish language is the Celtic language that was spoken in Gaul before the Vulgar Latin of the late Roman Empire became dominant in Roman Gaul....
) through the Gaulish
Gauls

The Gauls were a Continental Celtic Celts people of Classical Antiquity, the inhabitants of Gaul , and speakers of the Gaulish language.Archaeologically, they were the bearers of the La T?ne culture ....
 catchphrase "By Toutatis!", invented for the Asterix
Asterix

The Adventures of Asterix is a List of Asterix volumes of France comic strips written by Ren? Goscinny and illustrated by Albert Uderzo . The series first appeared in French in the magazine Pilote on 29 October 1959....
 comics by Goscinny and Uderzo. The spelling Toutatis, however, is authentic and attested by about ten ancient inscriptions.






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Toutatis or Teutates was a Celtic god
Celtic polytheism

Celtic polytheism, sometimes known as Celtic paganism, refers to the religious beliefs and practises of the ancient Celts of western Europe prior to Christianisation....
 worshipped in ancient Gaul
Gaul

Gaul is the name used for the region of Western Europe comprising part of present day northern Italy, France, Belgium, western Switzerland and the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the west bank of the River Rhine....
 and Britain
Roman Britain

Roman Britain refers to those parts of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire between AD 43 and 410. The Romans referred to their province as Britannia....
. On the basis of his name's etymology, he has been widely interpreted to be a tribal protector. Today, he is best known under the name Toutatis (pronounced in Gaulish
Gaulish language

The Gaulish language is the Celtic language that was spoken in Gaul before the Vulgar Latin of the late Roman Empire became dominant in Roman Gaul....
) through the Gaulish
Gauls

The Gauls were a Continental Celtic Celts people of Classical Antiquity, the inhabitants of Gaul , and speakers of the Gaulish language.Archaeologically, they were the bearers of the La T?ne culture ....
 catchphrase "By Toutatis!", invented for the Asterix
Asterix

The Adventures of Asterix is a List of Asterix volumes of France comic strips written by Ren? Goscinny and illustrated by Albert Uderzo . The series first appeared in French in the magazine Pilote on 29 October 1959....
 comics by Goscinny and Uderzo. The spelling Toutatis, however, is authentic and attested by about ten ancient inscriptions. Under the spelling Teutates, the god is also known from a passage in Lucan.

Epigraphic evidence

Teutates was worshipped especially in Gaul and in Roman Britain
Roman Britain

Roman Britain refers to those parts of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire between AD 43 and 410. The Romans referred to their province as Britannia....
. Inscriptions to him have been recovered in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
, for example that at Cumberland Quarries (RIB 1017), dedicated to Jupiter Optimus Maximus
Jupiter (mythology)

In Roman mythology, Jupiter or Jove was the king of the gods,and the god of sky and thunder. He is the equivalent of Zeus in the Greek pantheon....
 and Mars Toutatis. Two dedications have also been found in Noricum
Noricum

Noricum, in ancient history geography, was a Celtic kingdom stretching over the area of today's Austria and Slovenia. It became a Roman province of the Roman Empire....
 and Rome
Rome

Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....
.

Evidence from Pharsalia

Teutates was one of three Celtic gods mentioned by the Roman poet Lucan in the 1st century AD, the other two being Esus
Esus

Esus or Hesus was a Celtic religion known from two monumental statues and a line in Lucan 's Pharsalia....
 ("lord") and Taranis
Taranis

In Celtic mythology Taranis was the god of thunder worshipped in Gaul, Ancient Britain, and 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....
 ("thunderer"). According to later commentators, victims sacrificed to Teutates were killed by being plunged headfirst into a vat filled with an unspecified liquid. Present-day scholars frequently speak of ‘the toutates’ as plural, referring respectively to the patrons of the several tribes. Of two later commentators on Lucan's text, one identifies Teutates with Mercury
Mercury (mythology)

In Roman mythology, Mercury was a messenger, and a god of trade, profit and commerce, the son of Maia Maiestas, also known as Ops, the Roman version of Cronus, and Jupiter ....
, the other with Mars
Mars (mythology)

Mars was the Roman mythology warrior God , the son of Juno and Jupiter , husband of Bellona , and the lover of Venus . He was the most prominent of the military gods that were worshipped by the Roman legions....
.

Etymology

‘Teutates’ is widely thought to be derived from the Proto-Celtic *teuta- ~ *touta- meaning ‘people’ or ‘tribe’. Proto-Celtic eu generally shifted to ou before the second century BCE. It has been suggested that the name means ‘father of the tribe’ but if this were the case, the expected name would be *Toutater (Proto-Celtic *teuta- plus *fatir)..

Syncretism

As noted above, among a pair of later reviewers on Lucan's work, one identifies Teutates with Mercury
Mercury (mythology)

In Roman mythology, Mercury was a messenger, and a god of trade, profit and commerce, the son of Maia Maiestas, also known as Ops, the Roman version of Cronus, and Jupiter ....
 and Esus
Esus

Esus or Hesus was a Celtic religion known from two monumental statues and a line in Lucan 's Pharsalia....
 with Mars. At times the Gaulish “Mercury
Mercury (mythology)

In Roman mythology, Mercury was a messenger, and a god of trade, profit and commerce, the son of Maia Maiestas, also known as Ops, the Roman version of Cronus, and Jupiter ....
” may have the characteristic of a warrior, while the Gaulish “Mars” as may act as a god of protection or healing.

Paul-Marie Duval argues that each tribe had its own toutatis; he further considers the Gaulish Mars the product of syncretism with the Celtic toutates, noting the great number of indigenous epithets under which Mars was worshipped.

See also

  • Interpretatio Romana
  • Germanic Mercury


Sources