Editing Esus (section)

==Iconography==
{{Further|Tarvos Trigaranus}}
[[File:Le Pilier des Nautes 02.JPG|thumb|upright|Esus and Tarvos on the Pillar of the Boatmen]]

The Pillar of the Boatmen is a Roman column erected in [[Lutetia]] (Roman Paris) in the time of [[Tiberius]] (i.e., 14–37 CE) by a company of sailors. It contains a number of depictions of Roman and Gaulish gods with legends identifying them. On one block of this pillar is an image identified as Esus (alongside Tarvos Trigaranus, and the Roman gods [[Jupiter (god)|Jupiter]] and [[Vulcan (mythology)|Vulcan]]). The image is of a bearded man in a tunic with a [[billhook]] in his left hand; he is aiming at a tree which he grasps with his right hand. The panel carrying the legend "Tarvos Trigaranus" (literally, "Bull with three cranes") has foliage which continues over from Esus's panel; it depicts a bull with two birds on its back and one between its horns.<ref name=L14>''RIG'' II.1 [https://riig.huma-num.fr/documents/PAR-01-01 L-14] via ''Recueil informatisé des inscriptions gauloises''.</ref><ref name=Deonna/>{{rp|5–6}}

[[File:Trier Esus.jpg|thumb|The Trier monument: Left, Mercury and [[Rosmerta]]; Right, Esus chopping a tree, which holds a bull and three birds.]]

A monument from Trier shows an arrangement very similar to the Paris monument. This monument, dedicated to Mercury by one Indus of the [[Mediomatrici]],{{efn|{{CIL|13|3656}}: {{lang|la|[I]ndus Mediom(atricus) / Mercurio v(otum) [l(ibens)] m(erito) s(olvit)}}.}} is a four-sided block with depictions of gods, much like the Paris monument. On one side is a depiction of Mercury and [[Rosmerta]]. On another side, a beardless man in a tunic strikes at a tree; within the tree's foliage, a bull's head and three birds are visible. The similarity of iconography allow the beardless man to be identified with Esus. The monument has been dated to the early [[Roman imperial period (chronology)|imperial period]].<ref name=Hofeneder2/>{{rp|322}}<ref name=Sergent>{{cite journal |last=Sergent |first=Bernard |title=L'arbre au pourri |journal= Études Celtiques|volume=29 |date=1992 |pages= 391–402 |doi=10.3406/ecelt.1992.2021 }}</ref>{{rp|394}}

These two monuments reveal a pictorial myth about Esus, involving a tree, a bull, and three cranes. The nature of this myth is unknown,<ref name=BNP>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Euskirchen |first=Marion |date=2006 |title=Esus |encyclopedia=Brill's New Pauly Online |publisher=Brill |doi=10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e402800 }}</ref> but has given rise to much "imaginative speculation".<ref name=MacKillopEsus/> It is not clear whether Esus is engaged in felling or pruning the tree.<ref name=deVries/>{{rp|98–99}} The cultic significance which the Gauls attached to bulls is well attested,<ref name=LeGlay/>{{rp|26}} and [[Anne Ross (archaeologist)|Anne Ross]] has argued that there was such a significance associated with cranes as well.<ref name=Ross>{{cite journal |last=Ross |first=Anne |title=Esus et les trois "grues" |journal=Études Celtiques |volume=9 |issue=2 |date=1961 |pages=405–438 |doi=10.3406/ecelt.1961.1475 }}</ref> De Vries conjectured that the panels represented a sacred enthronement ritual, with the felling of a sacred tree and slaughter of a bull.<ref name=deVriesOgam>{{cite journal |last=de Vries |first=Jan |title=A propos du dieu Esus |journal=Ogam |volume=5 |date=1953 |pages=16–21 |url=https://bibliotheque.idbe.bzh/data/cle_63/OGAM_Tradition_Celtique_1953_nA_27_.pdf#page=10 }}</ref>{{rp|20}} [[Henri d'Arbois de Jubainville]] connected these scenes with events in the mythology of the Irish warrior hero [[Cú Chulainn]],<ref name=Jubainville>{{cite journal |last=Arbois de Jubainville |first=Henry d' |title=Esus, Tarvos trigaranus: La légende de Cûchulainn en Gaule et en Grande-Bretagne |journal=Revue Celtique |volume=19 |date=1898 |pages=245–251 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044089606297&seq=257 }}</ref> however [[James MacKillop (author)|James MacKillop]] cautions that this suggestion "now seems ill-founded".<ref name=MacKillopEsus/>
 
Esus's iconography confirms the importance of trees to his cult, otherwise suggested by the Lucan scholia.<ref name=Hofeneder2/>{{rp|322}} {{ill|Émile Thévenot|fr}} suggested that the tree Esus chops down on these monuments is the sacrificial tree.<ref name=Deonna/>{{rp|9}} {{ill|Françoise Le Roux|fr}} suggested that the [[wikt:dendrolatry|dendolatry]] (tree worship) of Esus's cult may reflect the influence of [[Germanic paganism|Germanic religion]] (specifically the cult of [[Odin]]).<ref name=LeRoux>{{cite journal |last=Le Roux |first=Françoise |title=Des chaudrons celtiques à l'arbre d'Esus: Lucien et les Scholies Bernoises |journal=Ogam |volume=7 |date=1955 |pages=33–58 |url=https://archive.org/details/ogam_1955_7/page/33 }}</ref>{{rp|54}}

{{ill|Jean-Jacques Hatt|fr}} has identified eight other images as of Esus. [[Marcel Le Glay]] (writing for the ''[[Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae]]'') dismisses these identifications as "uncertain" and "very random".<ref name=LeGlay>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Le Glay |first=Marcel |date=1988 |title=Esus |volume=4 |encyclopedia=[[Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae]] |location=Zurich / Munich |publisher=Artemis |pages=25–26 |url=https://archive.org/details/limc_20210516/Lexicon%20Iconographicum%20Mythologiae%20Classicae/LIMC%20IV-1%20Eros-Herakles/page/n27 }}</ref>