Teutates (spelled variouslyToutatis,Totatis,Totates) is aCeltic god attested in literary andepigraphic sources. His name, which is derived from aproto-Celtic word meaning "tribe", suggests he was atribal deity.
The Roman poetLucan's epicPharsalia mentions Teutates,Esus, andTaranis as gods to whom theGauls 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 arethe 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 theGundestrup cauldron, some motifs inIrish mythology, and the death of thebog body known as theLindow 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 withMars. 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 has been used to argue that "Teutates" was a generic name, applied to any tribe'stutelary deity.
Teutates has been linked to Roman rings withTOT inscribed on them, of which over 60 examples are known, found aroundLincolnshire in England. These three letters have been repeatedly conjectured to abbreviate "Totatis", a late variant of Teutates's name.
The name Teutates derives from proto-Celtic *teutā ("tribe").[1]: 321 This proto-Celtic word is otherwise attested byOld Irishtúath ("tribe"),Middle Welshtut ("people, country"), andCornishtus ("people").[2]: 386 Sometimes, Teutates is explained as a reflex of proto-Celtic*teuto-tatis ("father of the tribe"). However, this explanation is problematic, insofar as it assumeshaplology (omission of a syllable) in the development of the word and requires that the "a" beshort (which conflicts with Lucan'sscansion).[3]: 200 [4]: 263
In line with general Celtic vowel changes, the first vowel in the deity's name developed from/eu/ to/ou/ to/o/.[5]: 295 Of the spellings attested in the epigraphic record, "Toutatis" attests to the second stage of this development, and "Totates" attests to the third.[1]: 321 Given its date, the spelling "Teutates" in Lucan probably does not attest to the first stage. Latin lacked thediphthong/ou/ ofGaulish, so Latin speakers approximated this diphthong with/eu/ (the only u-diphthong in Latin).[6]: 8 The epithet "Teutanos" (known from theDanube Valley) does, however, preserve this first stage.[7]: 51 If it is an attestation of the god's name, the spelling "Tutate" on a 5th-century CE inscription fromPoitiers may show a later vowel development from/o/ to/u/.[7]: 54
It has been repeatedly suggested (for example, byWolfgang Meid [de] andPatrizia de Bernardo Stempel) that the theonym Teutates was a general title applied to tribal tutelary deities. Each tribe would therefore have its own Teutates.[7]: 54 [8]: 33 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.[7]: 54 [9]Jürgen Zeidler [de] 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,*teut-ater-,*teut-atta-, or*teuto-genos).[10]: 221–222
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").[8]: 33 [11]: 163
Lucan'sPharsalia orDe Bello Civili (On the Civil War) is an epic poem, begun about 61 CE, on the events ofCaesar's civil war (49–48 BCE). The passage relevant to Teutates occurs in "Gallic excursus", anepic catalogue detailing the rejoicing of the various Gaulish peoples afterJulius 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 ofCaesar.[1]: 296
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.[12]
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.[13]
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.[1]: 298–299 The reference to "Diana of the Scythians" refers to the human sacrifices demanded byDiana at her temple in Scythian Taurica, well known in antiquity.[14]: 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.[1]: 296
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[a] andPapias[b]) rely on this passage.[1]: 299 The secondary sources on Celtic religion which Lucan relied on in this passage (perhapsPosidonius) have not come down to us.[1]: 297 This passage is one of the very few in classical literature in which Celtic gods are mentioned under their native names,[c] rather thanidentified 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.[1]: 298
Some scholars, such asJan 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 asGraham Webster, emphasise that Lucan may as well have chosen these deity-names for theirscansion and harsh sound.[1]: 299
Lucan'sPharsalia was a very popular school text in late antiquity and the medieval period. This created a demand for commentaries andscholia dealing with difficulties in the work, both in grammar and subject matter.[1]: 312 The earliest Lucan scholia that have come down to us are theCommenta Bernensia andAdnotationes Super Lucanum, both from manuscripts datable between the 9th and 11th centuries.[17]: 453 Also important are comments from aCologne codex (theGlossen ad Lucan), dating to the 11th and 12th centuries.[1]: 312 In spite of their late date, these scholia are thought to incorporate very ancient material, some of it now lost. TheCommenta andAdnotationes are known to contain material at least as old asServius the Grammarian (4th century CE).[17]: 453–454 Below are excerpts from these scholia relevant to Teutates:
| Commentary | Latin | English |
|---|---|---|
| Commenta Bernensia ad Lucan, 1.445 | Mercurius lingua Gallorum Teutates dicitur, qui humano apud illos sanguine colebatur. Teutates Mercurius sic apud Gallos placatur: in plenum semicupium homo in caput demittitur, ut ibi suffocetur. | In the language of the Gauls, Mercury is called Teutates, who was worshipped by them with human blood. Teutates Mercury is appeased by the Gauls in this way: a man is lowered headfirst into a small barrel[d] so that he suffocates there.[19] |
| Commenta Bernensia ad Lucan, 1.445 | item aliter exinde in aliis invenimus. Teutates Mars "sanguine diro" placatur, sive quod proelia numinis eius instinctu administrantur, sive quod Galli antea soliti ut aliis deis huic quoque homines immolare. | We also find it [depicted] differently by other [authors]. Teutates Mars is appeased with "grim blood-offering," either because the battles are directed by the impulse of his divine will, or because the Gauls used to sacrifice men to him as well as to other gods.[19] |
| Adnotationes super Lucanum, 1.445 | Teutates Mercurius sic dicitur, qui a Gallis hominibus caesis placatur. | Teutates is the name given to Mercury, who is appeased by the Gauls by killing people.[20] |
| Glossen ad Lucan, 1.445 | Teutates id est Mercurius, unde Teutonici. | Teutates, that is Mercury, from whence theTeutons.[21] |
The first excerpt, about the sacrifice to Teutates, comes from a passage in theCommenta 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 theCommenta by virtue of its author's preference for factual (over grammatical) explanation.[1]: 318 TheAdnotationes, by comparison, tell us nothing about the sacrifices to Esus, Teutates, and Taranis beyond that they were each murderous.[1]: 332
The sacrifice to Teutates described here has been repeatedly linked to the image on theGundestrup 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.[1]: 319 [e]Françoise Le Roux [fr] investigated the sacrificial barrel of Teutates through the various occurrences of cauldrons in medieval Irish mythology (variously beneficent, malevolent, and resurrectory).[23]Jan de Vries connected this ritual with the habit of Irish heroes of drowning themselves in vessels when locked in burning houses.[24]: 48 The violent end of thebog body known as theLindow Man—throat slashed, strangled, bludgeoned, and drowned—has also been connected with this sacrificial ritual.[25][26]
All three commentaries offer theinterpretatio romana of Teutates asMercury, Roman god of commerce.[1]: 320 Thisinterpretatio was repeated by the Latin lexicographerPapias in the middle of the 11th century CE.[15]: 532 The scholiast of theCommenta, however, notes that other sources give aninterpretatio of Teutates asMars,[f] Roman god of war. The scholiast connects this secondinterpretatio 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.[1]: 320
The firstinterpretatio of Teutates as Mercury has caused a minority of scholars to identify Teutates withCaesar's Gaulish Mercury.[27][28]: 206 However, the evident confusion of the sources the scholiast of theCommenta had available to him has been taken to count against the evidentiary value of either of theseinterpretatios.[29]: 27 [23]: 56 In epigraphy, the only Roman god paired with Teutates is Mars. However, similar bynames (Teutanus, Toutanicus, Toutiorix) are paired variously with Mercury,Apollo,Jupiter, and Mars.[11]: 164 The practice ofinterpretatio was fairly flexible when applied to Celtic gods. Roman gods could have many Celtic equivalents and Celtic gods could have many Roman equivalents.[30]: 156 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.[31]
| Text | Image | Context | Date | Citation | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MARTI / TOUTATI / TI(BERIUS) CLAUDIUS PRIMUS / ATTII LIBER(TUS) / V(OTUM) S(OLVIT) L(IBENS) M(ERITO) |  | Inscribed on a votive silver plaque. Found inBarkway,Hertfordshire, England.[32] | 3rd century CE[33] | CILVII, 84 =RIB219 | Translated, this inscription reads "To Mars Toutatis, Tiberius Claudius Primus, freedman of Attius, willingly and deservedly fulfilled his vow.".[32] |
| I(OVI) O(PTIMO) M(AXIMO) ET RIOCALAT(I) / [TO]UTAT(I) M / [AR(TI)] COCID(I)O / [VO]TO FECI / [T] VITA / [LIS] |  | Inscribed on a sandstone altar. Found inCumbria, England.[34] | 2nd to 3rd century CE[35] | CILVII, 335 =RIB1017 | The number of separate deities named in the stringRiocalati Toutati Marti Cocidio is uncertain.[1]: 320 The editors of theRoman Inscriptions of Britain opt for three, and translate the inscription "ToJupiter, Best and Greatest, and to Riocalatis, Toutatis, and MarsCocidius in fulfilment of a vow Vitalis made (this altar)."[34] |
| MARTI / TOUTATI / S(ACRUM) VINOMA / V(OTUM) L(IBENS) S(OLVIT) | Inscribed on atabula ansata. Precise find-spot unknown, but said to have been found nearHadrian's Wall.[36] | 2nd century CE[37] | AE2001, 1298 =RIBBrit.32.20 | Translated, this reads "Sacred to Mars Toutatis. Vinoma willing(ly) paid a vow"[36] | |
| TOUTATIS | Inscribed on a (fragmentary)grey ware jar. Found inKelvedon,Essex, England.[38] | 1st century CE (perhapsFlavian)?[38] | RIB2503.131 | Miranda Green notes that, at the same site, pottery with stamped decoration of Celtic horsemen was found.[39]: 290 | |
| bisgontaurionanalabisbisgontaurion / ceanalabisbisgontaurioscatalages / uimcanimauimspaternamasta / magiaresetutateiustinaquem / peperit sarra |  | Inscribed on a silver plaque. Found inPoitiers, France.[40] | 5th century CE[40] | RIG II.2 L-110 =CILXIII, 10026,86 | ThisVulgar Latin text (with several Greek borrowings) is quite difficult to interpret. The first two lines seem to be a medical prescription, and the following lines some sort of magical formula.[40] Christoph Dröge proposed that the fourth line contained an invocation of Teutates (in the form Tutate),[41]: 211 an interpretation which has been followed by Patrizia de Bernardo Stempel,[7]: 52 but not by Bernhard Maier[3]: 200 orPierre-Yves Lambert.[40] |
| TOUTATI // SE(XTUS) COS(IUS) VEBR(US) | Inscribed on a bronzestylus. Found inJort,Normandy, France.[42]: 21–22 | 1st century CE?[42]: 24 | AE2013, 1078 | ||
(1)TOTATES |  | Inscribed on five pottery sherds. Found at the site of Beauclair, inVoingt,Auvergne, France.[11] | 2nd century CE?[11]: 159–161 | AE2009, 861 | A vase found at the same archaeological site, now lost, has a text inscribed on it which may be another attestation of "Totates".[11]: 159–160 |
| IN H(ONOREM) D(OMUS) D(IVINAE) / APOLLINI TOU/TIORIGI [...] | Inscribed on an altar. Found inAquae Mattiacorum (RomanWiesbaden), Germany.[43] | 222 to 235 CE[43] | CILXIII, 7564 | This dedication toApollo Toutiorix is the only epigraphic attestation of the epithetToutiorix ("king of the tribe"), which is perhaps related to Teutates.[11]: 164 | |
| MARTI / LATOBIO / MARMOGIO // TOUTATI // SINATI MOG/[E]TIO C(AIUS) VAL(ERIUS) / [V]ALERINUS / EX VOTO | Inscribed on a votive tablet. Found inSeggau Castle,Styria,Austria[1]: 320 | Second half of 2nd to first half of 3rd centuries CE[44] | CILIII, 5320 | This tablet gives a dedication toMarsLatobius Marmogius Sinatis ToutatisMogetius. This string probably does not denote a single deity, as it would be unusual to attach five native bynames to one Roman god. De Bernardo Stempel has interpreted it as a votive inscription to two deities: Mars Latobius Marmogius and Sinatis Toutatis Mogetius.[1]: 320–321 Adam Daubney has interpreted it as a votive inscription to five: Mars Latobius, Marmogius, Toutatis, Sinatis, Mogetius.[45]: 106 The wordToutatis seems to have been added after the inscription was completed, inserted between two lines.[11]: 164 | |
| PETIGANUS / PLACIDUS / TOUTATI / MEDURINI / VOTUM SOL/VET ANNI/VERSARIUM | Inscribed on an altar. Found inRome, Italy.[46] | 2nd century CE[46] | CILVI, 31182 | Votive inscription to Toutati Medurini by one Petiganus Placidus. The site corresponds to ancantonment of theRoman legion, so the dedicant may have been a Celtic soldier.[11]: 164 Meduri(ni)s, whose name is paired with Teutates's here, is an otherwise unknown deity.[1]: 320 |
The stone monuments to Teutates are clustered along the military frontier of the Roman Empire.[45]: 106 The portable votive objects, by contrast, have mainly been found in shrine or domestic sites.[45]: 107 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.[42]: 24–25
Not included in the above dossier are the attestations of the epithet Teutanus. Many votive altars dedicated toI(OVI) O(PTIMO) M(AXIMO) TEUTANO ("Jupiter Optimus Maximus Teutanus")[g] have been found in theDanube Valley, with as many as 16 found inGellért Hill alone. InUpper Germania, there are two attestations of aMercurio Touteno[h] and one attestation of aDeo Touteno.[i] Perhaps related is aMars Toutanicus, attested inDacia.[j][11]: 164 The nature of Teutanus is quite obscure. The word seems to mean "protector of the tribe".[11]: 164 Andreas Hofeneder affirms that Teutates and Teutanus seem to be "linguistically and functionally closely related".[1]: 321 Daniel Szabó proposed a local syncretisation of Teutates and Taranis.[47]: 206
As many as 68 finger rings with the lettersTOT inscribed on them have been found in Britain. These date between the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE.[45]: 105, 113 The find-spots of these rings are concentrated aroundLincolnshire and, more broadly, within the territory of theCorieltauvi tribe.[45]: 107 Emil Hübner, in an 1877 supplement to theCorpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, was the first to propose that these three letters should be read as an abbreviation of the deity-nameTot(atis).[27] This suggestion was thereafter taken up byAnne Ross,Martin Henig andJack Ogden, and Adam Daubney (of thePortable Antiquities Scheme).[11]: 161
Three-letter inscriptions on Roman rings are usually abbreviations of deity-names, for exampleMER rings to Mercury andMIN rings toMinerva.[48] Two rings, found in the 2000s, which prefaceTOT withDEO ("God") have been taken to confirm that the god Teutates is referenced here.[45]: 105 However, other explanations of the inscriptionTOT have been given. Hübner proposed, as an alternative reading, that these rings abbreviated the charmtot (annos vivas) ("so many (years you live)"), a proposal which has been followed byWilli Göber [de] and Hofeneder.[27][1]: 320 Guy de la Bédoyère has given a number of additional Latin phrases thatTOT could abbreviate.[49]: 129 Henig and Ogden entertained the possibility that the letters "may be avox magica", i.e., a meaningless set of letters supposed to have magical properties.[48]
Henig and Ogden have pointed out that thisTOT motif may appear on some 7th-century Saxonsceats.[48]
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