Editing Esus (section)

==Other attestations==
===Geographic distribution===
Lucan is not clear about which Gauls worshipped Esus, Taranis, and Teutates. Early Celticists, forced to conjecture about the geographic extent of their worship, gave hypotheses ranging from pan-Celtic ([[Camille Jullian]]) to "between the [[Seine]] and the [[Loire]]" ([[Salomon Reinach]]).<ref name=Hofeneder2/>{{rp|299}} The epigraphic evidence places Esus in Gaul and [[Noricum]], and perhaps also Roman North Africa.<ref name=Hofeneder2/>{{rp|322–323}} Evidence for the worship of Esus in Britain may be provided by a small number of proper names, which perhaps incorporate the god's name (such as the place-name Aesica).<ref>{{cite book |title=The Brittonic Language in the Old North: A Guide to the Place-Name Evidence, Vol. 2: Guide to the Elements |date=2019 |publisher=Scottish Place-Name Society |last=James |first=Alan G. |url=https://spns.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Alan_James_Brittonic_Language_in_the_Old_North_BLITON_Volume_II_Dictionary_2019_Edition.pdf }}</ref>{{rp|133}}

===Epigraphy===
[[File:MAN - Statue de Mercure de Lezoux b - 46273.jpg|thumb|upright|Statue of Mercury from [[Lezoux]]]]
The epigraphic evidence for Esus is very limited. There are only two certain attestations of his name in epigraphy and a handful of conjectured ones.<ref name=Hofeneder2/>{{rp|322}} [[Philippe Leveau]] and Bernard Remy have suggested that this paucity of evidence may be explained by a Roman suppression of the cult of Esus, on the basis of its purported sacrificial practices.<ref name=LeveauRemy/>{{rp|89}}

The first of the two certain inscriptions to Esus is on the Pillar of the Boatmen, below the image of the god. The second was found in 1987 by a [[metal detectorist]], inscribed on a bronze statuette base{{efn|1= {{AE|1997|1210}}: {{lang|la|Adginnos / Vercombogi / {A}Eso v(otum) s(olvit) l(ibens) m(erito)}}. For more about this inscription, see {{cite journal |last=Piccottini |first=Gernot |title=Aesus |journal=Carinthia I |volume=186 |date=1996 |pages=97–103 }} = {{cite book |last=Piccottini |first=Gernot |title= Kult der Vorzeit in den Alpen |chapter=Eine neue Esus-lnschrift aus Kärnten  |editor-last= Zemmer-Plank |editor-first=L.  |location= Bolzano |date=2002 |pages=1285–1294 }}}} (the statuette missing). The base was found in [[Gurina]] (part of Roman [[Noricum]], now [[Austria]]), where there was once a Gallo-Roman religious centre. It is a [[votive offering]] to Esus (spelled Aeso, [[dative]] of Aesos) made by an individual with a Celtic name. It dates to the end of the 1st century BCE, which makes it the earliest attestation of the god Esus.<ref>{{cite journal |title=No. 1210 (Provinces danubiennes) |page=404 |date=2000 |journal=L'Année Épigraphique |volume=1997 |jstor=25607834}}</ref><ref name=Hofeneder2/>{{rp|322–323}}

An inscription on a fragment of a stele{{efn|{{AE|1985|934}}: {{lang|la|Peregrinus V[...] / quod Esus fuit iuben[s}}.}} from the necropolis of [[Caesarea in Mauretania]], a Roman city in [[Algeria]], appears to record a votive inscription to Esus from one Peregrinus. The intervention of a Gaulish god in Africa is surprising, and the incomplete preservation of the inscription frustrates interpretation.<ref name=LeveauRemy>{{cite journal |last1=Leveau |first1=Philippe |last2=Remy |first2=Bernard |title=Ésus en Afrique: à propos d'une inscription fragmentaire de Caesarea Mauretaniae commémorant l'exécution d'une injonction d'Ésus |doi=10.3406/antaf.2014.1561 |journal=Antiquités africaines |volume=50 |date=2014 |pages=85–92 }}</ref> Andreas Hofeneder withholds judgement as to whether it is an attestation of the Gaulish god.<ref name=Hofeneder2/>{{rp|323}} Leveau and Remy dedicate a study to this inscription, where they date it to the first half of the 1st century CE, and consider the possibility that Peregrinus was a Gaulish soldier in North Africa.<ref name=LeveauRemy/>

Two [[Gaulish language]] inscriptions have been conjectured to mention Esus. The well-known statue of Mercury from [[Lezoux]] has a badly weathered inscription on its rear.{{efn|1= {{CIL|13|1514}} = ''[[Recueil des inscriptions gauloises|RIG]]'' II.1 [https://riig.huma-num.fr/documents/PDD-01-01 L-8]}} The text has received several different readings. [[Michel Lejeune (linguist)|Michel Lejeune]]  will only allow {{lang|xtg|a[...] / ie[...] / eso[...]}} to be read.<ref name=L8>''RIG'' II.1 [https://riig.huma-num.fr/documents/PDD-01-01 L-8] via ''Recueil informatisé des inscriptions gauloises''.</ref> [[John Rhŷs]] proposed to read Gaulish {{lang|xtg|Apronios / ieuru sosi / Esu}} ("Apronios dedicated this object to Esus").<ref name=deVries/>{{rp|394}} This reading has been the subject of repeated doubt and was later abandoned by Rhŷs himself.<ref name=Sergent/>{{rp|394}}<ref name=L8/> Another Gaulish inscription, on a [[terrine (cookware)|terrine]] found near Lezoux,{{efn|''[[Recueil des inscriptions gauloises|RIG]]'' II.2 L-67:}} has an unclear initial word which [[Oswald Szemerényi]] proposed to read {{lang|xtg|Esus}}. [[Pierre-Yves Lambert]] and Lejeune prefer {{lang|xtg|eso}} ("this").<ref name=Hofeneder2/>{{rp|323}}

===As an element of proper names===
[[File:Ex Voto MAN St Germain.jpg|thumb|A [[votive]] bust dedicated by a man with the name "Esumopas Cnusticus"]]
Esus's name is an element in a handful of personal names. His name is more common in personal names than in inscriptions.<ref name=Meid/>{{rp|35}} {{ill|Karl Horst Schmidt|de}} lists Esugenus{{efn|1= {{CIL|13|4674}}, also on a coin legend in [[Alfred Holder|Holder]], ''Alt-celtischer Sprachschatz'' '''I''', p. [https://www.digitale-sammlungen.de/de/view/bsb10930326?page=782 1475].}} ("Fathered by Esus"), Esumagius{{efn|{{CIL|13|3071}}.}} ("Powerful through Esus"), Esumopas{{efn|{{CIL|13|3199}}.}} ("Slave to Esus"), and Esunertus{{efn|1= {{CIL|12|2623}}, ''[[Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum|CIL]]'' [https://db.edcs.eu/epigr/epi_url.php?s_sprache=en&p_publication=CIL+07%2C+01334,61&r_sortierung=Belegstelle VII, 1334,61], {{CIL|13|11644}}.}} ("Having the power of Esus").<ref name=Schmidt>{{cite book |last=Schmidt |first=Karl Horst |title=Die Komposition in gallischen Personennamen |location=Berlin / New York |publisher=De Gruyter |date=1957 |doi=10.1515/9783111673158  |isbn=978-3-11-128841-3 }}</ref>{{rp|211}} Other personal names connected with Esus include Aesugesli,{{efn|{{AE|2003|1218}}}} Esullus,{{efn|1={{cite book |last=Lochner von Hüttenbach |first=Fritz |date=1989 |title=Die römerzeitlichen Personennamen der Steiermark |location=Graz, Austria |publisher=Leykam |page=75 }}}} and (on a British coin) Æsus.<ref name=Hofeneder2/>{{rp|323}}<ref name=deVries>{{cite book |last=de Vries |first=Jan |title=Keltische Religion |date=1961 |url=https://archive.org/details/keltischereligio0000vrie |url-access=registration |location=Stuttgart |publisher=W. Kohlhammer }}</ref>{{rp|98}} [[Bernhard Maier]] is sceptical that the god's name is part of the etymologies of all of these names.<ref name=Maier>{{cite book |last=Maier |first=Bernhard |title=Die Religion der Kelten: Götter – Mythen – Weltbild |location=München |publisher=C. H. Beck |date=2001 }}</ref>{{rp|92}}

Other Celtic names perhaps incorporating Esus include the tribe-name [[Esuvii]] (perhaps "sons of Esus", from [[Sées]]);<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=Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften }}</ref>{{rp|172}} the river-name [[Esino]] (in Italy);<ref name=deBernardoStempel/>{{rp|120}} and the place-names [[Aesica]] (in [[Northumberland]]),<ref name=Hofeneder3/>{{rp|510}} Aeso (in [[Hispania Tarraconensis]]),<ref name=deBernardoStempel/>{{rp|119}} and [[Essé]] (in [[Brittany]]).<ref name=MacKillopEsus/>

===Literary sources===
The Roman author [[Petronius]] names a minor character "Hesus" in his [[picaresque]] Latin novel ''[[Satyricon]]'' ({{circa|54–68}} CE). There is nothing in what we know of Petronius that suggests he could have known about Gaulish religion first-hand. If this is a reference to the god Esus, it is probably (as Jean Gricourt suggests) Petronius using Lucan's text to make an obscure joke about the nature of this character.<ref name=Gricourt>{{cite journal |last=Gricourt |first=Jean |title=L'Esus de Pétrone |journal=Latomus |volume=17 |issue=1 |date=1958 |pages=102–109|jstor=41518785 }}</ref><ref name=Hofeneder2/>{{rp|345-346}}

[[Lactantius]]'s Christian [[apologia]] ''[[The Divine Institutes]]'' ({{circa|303-311 CE}}), in discussing human sacrifice among the pagans, very briefly mentions Esus and Teutates as pagan gods to whom the Gauls sacrificed humans. It is almost universally agreed that Lactantius borrows from Lucan here. He is known to have read Lucan's poem, and Lactantius's testimony does not go beyond Lucan's.<ref name=Hofeneder3>{{cite book |title=Die Religion der Kelten in den antiken literarischen Zeugnissen |volume=3 |last=Hofeneder |first=Andreas |date=2011 |location=Wien |publisher=Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften |url=https://archive.org/details/9783700169970-gesamt-2 }}</ref>{{rp|231–232}}

The Gaulish medical writer [[Marcellus Empiricus|Marcellus of Bordeaux]] may offer a textual reference to Esus not dependent on Lucan in his ''De medicamentis'', a compendium of pharmacological preparations written in Latin in the early 5th century which is the sole source for several Celtic words. The work contains a magico-medical charm, which {{ill|Gustav Must|et}} and [[Léon Fleuriot]] proposed was a [[Gaulish language]] invocation of the aid of Esus (spelled Aisus) in curing throat trouble.<ref name="marcel">''De medicamentis'' 15.106, p. 121 in [[Marcellus Empiricus#The text|Niedermann's edition]]; Gustav Must, “A Gaulish Incantation in [[Marcellus Empiricus|Marcellus of Bordeaux]],” ''Language'' 36 (1960) 193–197; Pierre-Yves Lambert, “Les formules de Marcellus de Bordeaux,” in ''La langue gauloise'' (Éditions Errance 2003), p.179, citing [[Léon Fleuriot]], “Sur quelques textes gaulois,” ''Études Celtiques'' 14 (1974) 57–66.</ref> The text, however, is quite corrupt and the number of possible interpretations of it have led Alderik H. Blom and Andreas Hofeneder to doubt that the god Esus is referenced here.<ref name=Hofeneder3/>{{rp|370–372}}
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