Editing Lugus (section)

==Caesar and Gaulish Mercury{{anchor|Gaulish Mercury}}==
[[File:Autel de Cernunnos, sculpture, 1er siècle.jpg|thumb|Altar from [[Reims]] to [[Apollo]], [[Cernunnos]], and Mercury]]
''[[Commentaries on the Gallic War]]'' is [[Julius Caesar]]'s first-hand account of the [[Gallic Wars]] (58 to 50 BCE). In giving an account of the customs of the Gauls, Caesar wrote the following:
{{blockquote
|{{lang|la|Deum maxime Mercurium colunt. Huius sunt plurima simulacra: hunc omnium inventorem artium ferunt, hunc viarum atque itinerum ducem, hunc ad quaestus pecuniae mercaturasque habere vim maximam arbitrantur. Post hunc Apollinem et Martem et Iovem et Minervam. De his eandem fere, quam reliquae gentes, habent opinionem.}}<ref>{{Perseus|Hirt.|Gal.|6.17}}</ref>
The god they reverence most is Mercury. They have many images of him, and they regard him as the inventor of all arts, the god who directs men on their journeys, and the most powerful helper in trading and getting money. Next to him they reverence [[Apollo]], [[Mars (mythology)|Mars]], [[Jupiter (god)|Jupiter]], and [[Minerva]], about whom they have much the same ideas as other nations.<ref>{{cite book |title=Caesar: The Conquest of Gaul |url=https://archive.org/details/caesarconquestof00hand |url-access=registration |date=1981 |first=S. A. |last=Handford |publisher=Penguin Books }}
</ref>{{rp|33–34}}
}}

Caesar here employs the device of ''[[interpretatio romana]]'', in which foreign gods are equated with those of the Roman pantheon.{{efn|1=The equation of a Roman god with a foreign god was made on the basis of their perceived similarity, but, in practice, a clear equivalent was often absent, so one common trait or sphere of activity sufficed to justify the equivalence.<ref name=Hofeneder1/>{{rp|203}}}} With very few exceptions, Roman writings about Celtic and Germanic religion employ ''interpretatio romana'', but the equations they made varied from writer to writer. This makes identifying the native gods behind the Roman names very difficult.<ref name=Hofeneder1>{{cite book |title=Die Religion der Kelten in den antiken literarischen Zeugnissen |volume=1 |last=Hofeneder |first=Andreas |date=2005 |location=Wien |publisher=Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften }}</ref>{{rp|203–204}} Indeed, if their information was confused or their intention was propagandistic, reconstruction of native religion is next to impossible.<ref name=Hofeneder1/>{{rp|206–207}}

Caesar contrasts Gaulish Mercury with the other gods of the Gauls, insofar as he is the god about whom they do not have "much the same ideas" as the Romans. The Romans associated Mercury with trading and travel, but they did not think of him as "inventor of all arts".<ref name=MaierCaesar/>{{rp|132}} Another difference is suggested by the order in which the gods are presented: Mercury is given primacy, whereas the Romans considered [[Jupiter (god)|Jupiter]] the most important deity.<ref name=Hofeneder1/>{{rp|206}} Moreover, Mercury's role as guide of souls to the underworld (an important aspect of the god for the Romans) goes unmentioned in this passage. Caesar elsewhere ascribes to the Gauls a belief in [[metempsychosis]], which may have precluded Gaulish Mercury from this function.<ref name=MaierCaesar/>{{rp|134}}{{efn|1=Indeed, {{ill|Gerhard Bauchhenss|de|Gerhard Bauchhenß}} has pointed out that depictions of Mercury are very rare on Gallo-Roman tombs, suggesting that this aspect of Mercury was never assimilated into Gaulish religion.<ref name=Bauchhenss/>{{rp|547}}}}

The first Celtic god to be identified as Caesar's Gaulish Mercury was [[Teutates]].{{efn|1=[[Teutates]], one of the few Celtic gods known by his native name in Roman literature, has been a candidate for the identity of Gaulish Mercury since medieval commentators on [[Lucan]]. This identification was reasserted in the 17th century by [[Elias Schedius]] and was repeated through most of the 18th and 19th centuries. In modern times, this identification has received the support of {{ill|Jean-Louis Brunaux|fr}}.<ref>{{cite book |first=Jean-Louis |last=Brunaux |title=Les Gaulois |series=Guides Belles Lettres Des Civilisations |date=2005 |publisher=Les Belles Lettres |location=Paris }}</ref>{{rp|200–201}}<ref name=MaierCaesar/>{{rp|127}}}} This identification was widely accepted until the late 19th century, when Arbois de Jubainville proposed that Lugus lay behind Caesar's description. Arbois de Jubainville pointed to the prominence of "Lug(u)-" elements in Gaulish place-names, and a possible festival of Lugus at Lugdunum/Lyon (discussed below). He also drew comparison between Irish Lugh's epithet {{lang|mga|Samildánach}} ("master of all arts") and Caesar's description of Gaulish Mercury as "inventor of all arts".<ref name=MaierCaesar/>{{rp|127}} Maier has criticised this identification on the basis that "inventor of all arts", though not a Greco-Roman belief about the god Mercury, is a common [[literary topos]] in Roman descriptions of foreign religions. He also casts doubt on the possibility that an epithet like this, not otherwise attested in the epigraphic record, could have survived into medieval Irish literature.<ref name=MaierCaesar/>{{rp|132–134}}

A confusing aspect of Caesar's description of this cult is his reference to the "many images" of Gaulish Mercury; specifically he uses the word {{lang|la|simulacra}}, a word which had the connotation of [[cult image|worshipped idols]] for Roman authors.<ref name=Kiernan>{{cite book |title=Roman Cult Images: The Lives and Worship of Idols from the Iron Age to Late Antiquity |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=2020 |first=Philip |last=Kiernan |doi=10.1017/9781108766555 |isbn=978-1-108-76655-5 }}</ref>{{rp|40}} Archaeological evidence of anthropomorphic cult images is scant before the Roman conquest of Gaul.<ref name=Hofeneder1/>{{rp|205}} The testimony of some Roman authors suggests the Gauls did not produce images of their gods, though [[Lucan]] describes the Gauls as having wooden idols.<ref name=Kiernan/>{{rp|39–40}} [[Salomon Reinach]] suggested that Caesar meant to draw a comparison between [[aniconic]] monuments to Gaulish Mercury and the [[herm (sculpture)|herm]]s (aniconic monuments to [[Hermes]], Mercury's Greek equivalent) he knew from Rome, but this is an unlikely use of the word {{lang|la|simulacra}}.<ref name=Hofeneder1/>{{rp|205–206}}<ref name=Kiernan/>{{rp|42}}

[[File:Moccus inscription, CIL XIII, 05676.png|thumb|Inscription from [[Langres]] {{lang|la|deo [[Moccus|Mercur(io) Mocco]]}} ("to Mercury of the Swine")]]

Certainly, after Caesar's conquest of Gaul, depiction and worship of Mercury was widespread.{{efn|1={{ill|Paul-Marie Duval|fr}} estimated that two-thirds of all monuments in the Roman world dedicated to Mercury have been found in Gaul.<ref name=Tovar/>{{rp|593}}}} More images of Mercury have been found in Roman Gaul than those of any other God,<ref name=MaierCaesar/>{{rp|131}} but these representations of Mercury are conventional, and show no discernible Celtic influence.<ref name=Bauchhenss/>{{rp|537}} Epigraphic material does reveal some bynames of Mercury peculiar to Gaul, thought to be suggestive of native gods.<ref name=Bauchhenss>{{cite encyclopedia |first=Gerhard |last=Bauchhenss |title=Mercurius in den Nordwestprovinzen |url=https://archive.org/details/limc_20210516/Lexicon%20Iconographicum%20Mythologiae%20Classicae/LIMC%20VI-1%20Kentauroi%20et%20Kentaurides-O%C4%B1ax/page/n369 |encyclopedia=[[Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae]] |volume=6 |location=Zurich / Munich |publisher=Artemis |date=1992 |pages=537–54 }}</ref>{{rp|537}} An inscription from [[Langres]] attests to a ''[[Moccus|Mercur(io) Mocco]]'' ("Mercury of the Swine"), perhaps Lugus.<ref name=LeDuc/>{{rp|98}} Other epithets—connecting Mercury with heights, particular Gaulish tribes, and the emperor [[Augustus]]—have been thought to be suggestive of Lugus.<ref name=Ovist/>{{rp|101–102}}<ref name=Olmsted/>{{rp|316–318}} The epigraphic record has not produced any epithets portraying Mercury as inventor or master of arts.<ref name=MaierCaesar/>{{rp|134}}