Editing Taranis (section)

==Taranis and the wheel god{{anchor|Wheel god}}==
The wheel god ({{lang|de|Radgott}}) is a figure of Celtic religious iconography, a god wielding a spoked wheel. The wheel god is often depicted with the attributes of [[Jupiter]]: thunderbolt, sceptre, and eagle. The spoked wheel was an important religious motif for the Celts. Metal votive wheels (known as ''{{ill|rouelle (artifact)|fr|Rouelle (Antiquité)|lt=rouelles}}'') are known from Iron Age Europe.<ref name=GreenJupiter>{{cite book |date=1986 |title=Pagan Gods and Shrines of the Roman Empire |editor1-first=Martin |editor1-last=Henig |editor2-first=Anthony |editor2-last=King |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University School of Archaeology |last=Green |first=Miranda J. |chapter=Jupiter, Taranis and the Solar Wheel |pages=65–75 }}</ref>{{rp|68, 73}} The ''[[Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae]]'' lists 15 depictions of the wheel god. Some are statuettes of the god dressed in Gaulish garb, with a wheel in one hand and a thunderbolt in the other. A mosaic from [[Saint-Romain-en-Gal]] shows a woman and a man leaving sacrifices to such a statuette. An obscure scene on the [[Gundestrup cauldron]] perhaps shows a leaping devotee offering a wheel to the wheel god. The so-called [[Jupiter column]]s, religious monuments widespread in [[Germania]], are frequently crowned with an equestrian god, who sometimes wields a wheel.<ref name=Nagy/>{{rp|844}}

Because both were identified with Jupiter, Taranis has been repeatedly equated with the wheel god (for example, by [[Pierre Lambrechts]], {{ill|Jean-Jacques Hatt|fr}}, and [[Anne Ross (scholar)|Anne Ross]]).<ref name=GreenAltar/>{{rp|41}} However, nothing connects the gods directly. No inscription links Taranis with wheel iconography.<ref name=BN/>{{rp|81}} Some scholars have rejected this equation. Green rejects it, and argues that the wheel god was a solar deity; naturally identifiable with Jupiter, but distinct from the thunder god Taranis.<ref name=GreenAltar/>{{rp|41}} {{ill|Gerhard Bauchhenß|de}} and {{ill|Peter Noelke|de}} both express scepticism in their studies of Jupiter columns in Germany.<ref name=BN/>{{rp|81, 399}} Árpád M. Nagy described the equation as "probable, but not binding".<ref name=Nagy/>{{rp|844}}

In any case, the combination of the thunderbolt and wheel as attributes is not unique to one deity: [[Hercules]] is occasionally depicted with these attributes in the Latin West, and a female deity with a thunderbolt and wheel is known from a statue in [[Autun]].<ref name=Nagy>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Taranis |url=https://archive.org/details/limc_20210516/Lexicon%20Iconographicum%20Mythologiae%20Classicae/LIMC%20VII-1%20Oidipous-Theseus/page/n436 |first=Árpád M |last=Nagy |pages=843–845 |encyclopedia=Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae |volume=VII |date=1994 }}</ref>{{rp|845}}<ref>{{cite book |first=Émile |last=Espérandieu |date=1908 |volume=3 |title=Recueil général des bas-reliefs, statues et bustes de la Gaule romaine |url=https://archive.org/details/recueilgeneralde21espe |location=Paris |publisher=Imprimerie nationale }}</ref>{{rp|60}}

{{gallery
|File:Iupiter Taranis Obernburg.jpg
|Jupiter Column rider with a wheel from [[Obernburg]].
|File:Taranis Jupiter with wheel and thunderbolt Le Chatelet Gourzon Haute Marne.jpg
|Jupiter with a thunderbolt and a wheel from {{ill|Le Châtelet de Gourzon|fr}}.
|File:ChaudronDeGundestrup3.jpg
|A broken wheel held by a large bearded man and a leaping man on the [[Gundestrup cauldron]] (plate C).
|File:Mosaic depicting a rustic calendar, panel showing a scene of sacrifice (Summer), from Saint-Romain-en-Gal, first quarter of 3rd century AD, Musée d'Archéologie Nationale, Saint-Germain-en-Laye (34574925420).jpg
|Scene of two people offering sacrifices to the wheel god (wheel in one hand, thunderbolt in the other) on a mosaic from [[Saint-Romain-en-Gal]].
|File:Rouelle votive wheels.jpg
|Votive wheels ({{lang|fr|rouelles}}) at the [[Musée d'Archéologie Nationale]].
|File:Altar dedicated to Jupiter, Nimes (CIL XII 2972).jpg
|Altar to Jupiter with a relief of a wheel at the [[Musée de la Romanité]].
}}