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In Celtic mythology Taranis was the god of thunder worshipped in Gaul and Britain 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.^[1] He was associated, as was the cyclops Brontes (‘thunder’) in Greek mythology, with the wheel and may have received human sacrifices. Many representations of a bearded god with a thunderbolt in one hand and a wheel in the other have been recovered from Gaul, where this deity apparently came to be syncretised with Jupiter.^[2] He is likely connected with the Anglo-Saxon god Þunor, the Norse Thor, Ambisagrus, the Irish Tuireann and the Culdee saint Taran. The name Taranis has not yet been recovered from Gaulish inscriptions, but similar variants have, such as Taranucno-, Taranuo-, and Taraino-.^[3]

The reconstructed lexis of the Proto-Celtic language as collated by the University of Wales [1] suggests that the name is likely to be ultimately derived from the Proto-Celtic *Toranos. This Proto-Celtic word means ‘thunder.’ In present day Welsh Taranu means 'to thunder'.

Taranis, as a personification of thunder, is often identified with similar deities found in other Indo-European pantheons. Of these, Thor and the Hittite god Tarhun (see also Teshub) contain a comparable *tor- element. The Thracian deity names Zbel-thurdos, Zbel-Thiurdos also contain this element (Thracian - thurd(a) "to push, to crash down"). Others have different etymologies, e.g. *Perkwunos, Brontes and Indra.

• Ellis, Peter Berresford, Dictionary of Celtic Mythology (Oxford Paperback Reference), Oxford University Press, (1994): ISBN 0-19-508961-8
• MacKillop, James. Dictionary of Celtic Mythology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. ISBN 0-19-280120-1.
• Wood, Juliette, The Celts: Life, Myth, and Art, Thorsons Publishers (2002): ISBN 0-00-764059-5

1. ^ M. Annaeus Lucanus. Pharsalia, Book I.
2. ^ Paul-Marie Duval. 2002. Les Dieux de la Gaule. Paris, Éditions Payot.
3. ^ Nicole Jufer & Thierry Luginbühl. 2001. Répertoire des dieux gaulois. Paris, Éditions Errance.

• Celtic Gods and Associates
• Celtic Gods
• Some Major Celtic Gods and Goddesses

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