Teutates (spelled variously Toutatis, Totatis, Totates) is a Celtic god attested in literary and epigraphic sources. His name, which is derived from a proto-Celtic word meaning "tribe", suggests he was a tribal deity.
The Roman poet Lucan's epic Pharsalia mentions Teutates, Esus, and Taranis as gods to whom the Gauls 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 are the 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 the Gundestrup cauldron, some motifs in Irish mythology, and the death of the bog body known as the Lindow 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 with Mars. 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's tutelary deity.
Teutates has been linked to Roman rings with inscribed on them (of which over 60 examples are known, concentrated in Lincolnshire, England) as these letters have been conjectured to be an abbreviation of "Totatis", a late variant of Teutates's name.
Name Etymology and development The name Teutates derives from proto-Celtic *teutā ("tribe"). This proto-Celtic word is otherwise attested by Old Irish ("tribe"), Middle Welsh ("people, country"), and Cornish ("people"). Sometimes, Teutates is explained as a reflex of proto-Celtic ("father of the tribe"). However, this explanation is problematic, insofar as it assumes haplology (omission of a syllable) in the development of the word and requires that the "a" be short (which conflicts with Lucan's scansion).
In line with general Celtic vowel changes, the first vowel in the deity's name developed from to to . Of the spellings attested in the epigraphic record, "Toutatis" attests to the second stage of this development, and "Totates" attests to the third. Given its date, the spelling "Teutates" in Lucan probably does not attest to the first stage. Latin lacked the diphthong of Gaulish, so Latin speakers approximated this diphthong with (the only u-diphthong in Latin). The epithet "Teutanos" (known from the Danube Valley) does, however, preserve this first stage. If it is an attestation of the god's name, the spelling "Tutate" on a 5th-century CE inscription from Poitiers may show a later vowel development from to .
Protector of the tribe It has been repeatedly suggested (for example, by and Patrizia de Bernardo Stempel) that the theonym Teutates was a general title applied to tribal tutelary deities. Each tribe would therefore have its own Teutates. 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. 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, , , or ).
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").
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 Teutates occurs in "Gallic excursus", an epic catalogue detailing the rejoicing of the various Gaulish peoples after Julius 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.
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. The reference to "Diana of the Scythians" refers to the human sacrifices demanded by Diana at her temple in Scythian Taurica, well known in antiquity. 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.
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 and Papias) rely on this passage. The secondary sources on Celtic religion which Lucan relied on in this passage (perhaps Posidonius) have not come down to us. This passage is one of the very few in classical literature in which Celtic gods are mentioned under their native names, rather than 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.
Some scholars, such as Jan 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, emphasise that Lucan may as well have chosen these deity-names for their scansion and harsh sound.
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. The earliest Lucan scholia that have come down to us are the Commenta Bernensia and Adnotationes Super Lucanum, both from manuscripts datable between the 9th and 11th centuries. In spite of their late date, the Commenta and Adnotationes are thought to incorporate very ancient material, some of it now lost; both are known to contain material at least as old as Servius the Grammarian (4th century CE). Also interesting, though less credible, are comments from a Cologne codex (the Glossen ad Lucan), dating to the 11th and 12th centuries. Below are excerpts from these scholia relevant to Teutates:
CommentaryLatinEnglishCommenta Bernensia ad Lucan, 1.445In 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 so that he suffocates there. Commenta Bernensia ad Lucan, 1.445We 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.Translation after the German in Adnotationes super Lucanum, 1.445Teutates is the name given to Mercury, who is appeased by the Gauls by killing people.Translation after the German in Glossen ad Lucan, 1.445Teutates, that is Mercury, whence the Teutons.Translation after the German in
The first excerpt, about the sacrifice to Teutates, comes from a passage in the Commenta 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 the Commenta by virtue of its author's preference for factual (over grammatical) explanation. The Adnotationes, by comparison, tell us nothing about the sacrifices to Esus, Teutates, and Taranis beyond that they were each murderous.
The sacrifice to Teutates described here has been repeatedly linked to the image on the Gundestrup 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. Françoise Le Roux investigated the sacrificial barrel of Teutates through the various occurrences of cauldrons in medieval Irish mythology (variously beneficent, malevolent, and resurrectory). Jan de Vries connected this ritual with the habit of Irish heroes of drowning themselves in vessels when locked in burning houses. The violent end of the bog body known as the Lindow Man—throat slashed, strangled, bludgeoned, and drowned—has also been connected with this sacrificial ritual.
All three commentaries offer the interpretatio romana of Teutates as Mercury, Roman god of commerce. This interpretatio was repeated by the Latin lexicographer Papias in the middle of the 11th century CE. The scholiast of the Commenta, however, notes that other sources give an interpretatio of Teutates as Mars, Roman god of war. The scholiast connects this second interpretatio 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.
The first interpretatio of Teutates as Mercury has caused a minority of scholars to identify Teutates with Caesar's Gaulish Mercury. However, the evident confusion of the sources the scholiast of the Commenta had available to him has been taken to count against the evidentiary value of either of these interpretatios. 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. The practice of interpretatio was fairly flexible when applied to Celtic gods. Roman gods could have many Celtic equivalents and Celtic gods could have many Roman equivalents. 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.
Epigraphy