Editing Esus

{{Short description|Celtic god}}
{{good article}}
{{Hatnote group|
{{Distinguish|Asus}}
{{Other uses}}
}}
[[File:Le Pilier des Nautes 01.JPG|thumb|Esus as depicted on the [[Pillar of the Boatmen]]]]

'''Esus'''{{efn|In ancient sources, variously '''Aesus''', '''Aisus''', '''Haesus''', '''Hesus'''.<ref name=Hofeneder3/>{{rp|372}} Earlier forms with the stem "-os" are also known.<ref name=deBernardoStempel/>{{rp|121}}}} is a [[Celtic god]] known from iconographic, [[epigraphic]], and literary sources.

The 1st-century CE Roman poet [[Lucan]]'s epic ''[[Pharsalia]]'' mentions Esus, [[Taranis]], and [[Teutates]] as gods to whom the [[Gauls]] sacrificed humans. This rare mention of Celtic gods under their native names in a Greco-Roman text has been the subject of much comment. Almost as often commented on are [[Commenta Bernensia and Adnotationes Super Lucanum|the scholia to Lucan's poem]] (early medieval, but relying on earlier sources) which tell us the nature of these sacrifices: in particular, that Esus's victims were suspended from a tree and bloodily dismembered. The nature of this ritual is obscure, but it has been compared with a wide range of sources, including [[Welsh mythology|Welsh]] and [[Germanic mythology]], as well as with the violent end of the [[Lindow Man]].

Esus has been connected (through an inscription which identifies him and an allied character, [[Tarvos Trigaranos]], by name) with a pictorial myth on the [[Pillar of the Boatmen]], a [[Gallo-Roman]] column from [[Paris]]. This myth associates Esus, felling or pruning a tree, with a bull and three [[crane (bird)|crane]]s. A similar monument to Esus and Tarvos Trigaranos from [[Trier]] confirms this association. The nature of this myth is little understood; it at least confirms the scholia's association of Esus with trees.

Esus appears rarely in inscriptions, with only two certain attestations of his name in the epigraphic record. His name appears more commonly [[Theophoric name|as an element of personal names]]. While Lucan only attributes the worship of Esus to unspecified Gauls, inscriptions place the worship of Esus in Gaul, [[Noricum]], and perhaps Roman North Africa; personal names may also place his worship in Britain. In inscriptions, Esus is attested as early as the 1st century BCE. In Latin literature, he may appear as late as the 5th century CE. 

==Etymology==
A large number of etymologies have been proposed for the name "Esus".<ref name=Evans>{{cite book |last=Evans |first=D. Ellis |title=Gaulish Personal Names: A Study of Some Continental Celtic Formations |location= Oxford |publisher= Clarendon Press |date=1967}}</ref>{{rp|201}} The nature of the god's name is not certain. {{ill|Wolfgang Meid|de}} has suggested it may be a euphemism, cover-name, or epithet of the god.<ref name=Meid/>{{rp|34–35}} {{ill|Claude Sterckx|fr}} has even questioned whether "Esus" was a name given to only one deity (though his view is a minority one).<ref name=deBernardoStempel>{{cite book |first=Patrizia |last=de Bernardo Stempel |chapter=Celtic Taboo-Theonyms, ''Góbanos''/''Gobánnos'' in Alesia and the Epigraphical Attestations of ''Aisos''/''Esus'' |editor1-first=Gaël |editor1-last=Hily |editor2-first=Patrice |editor2-last=Lajoye |editor3-first=Joël |editor3-last=Hascoët |editor4-first=Guillaume |editor4-last=Oudaer |editor5-first=Christian |editor5-last=Rose |title=Deuogdonion: Mélanges offerts en l'honneur du professeur Claude Sterckx |location=Rennes |publisher=Tir |date=2010 |pages=105–132 }}</ref>{{rp|119}}

The most widely adopted etymology derives Esus's name from the [[proto-Indo-European]] verbal root {{lang|ine-x-proto|h₁eis-}} ("to be reverent, to worship"), cognate with [[Italic languages|Italic]] {{lang|itc|aisos}} ("god").<ref name=Hofeneder2/>{{rp|323}} This etymology is supported by the fact that it makes the initial vowel of Esus's name [[Vowel length|long]], which agrees with both Lucan's [[scansion|poetic stress]] and the variant spellings which use "ae" for this vowel.<ref name=Meid/>{{rp|35}} However, [[D. Ellis Evans]] points out that the more common etymology for Italic {{lang|itc|aisos}} derives this word from an Etruscan word; since Etruscan is non-Indo-European and Celtic is Indo-European, this would rule out a relationship between ''Esus'' and {{lang|itc|aisos}}.<ref name=Evans/>{{rp|201}}

[[Joseph Vendryes]] linked the name with proto-Indo-European *{{wikt-lang|ine-x-proto|h₁su-|esu-}} ("good"). [[Jan de Vries (philologist)|Jan de Vries]] is sceptical of this, pointing out that this is difficult to reconcile with the fearful god described in Lucan and the scholia.<ref name=deVries/>{{rp|98}} Meid suggests the name would then be a [[euphemism]], comparing it with the Irish god-name [[Dagda]] ("the good god").<ref name=Meid/>{{rp|35}} [[Henri d'Arbois de Jubainville]] linked it to proto-Indo-European *{{wikt-lang|ine-x-proto|h₂eys-|is-}} ("to wish"). [[T. F. O'Rahilly]] linked it to proto-Indo-European *{{wikt-lang|ine-x-proto|h₂ey-|eis-}} ("vital force, life").<ref name=deVries/>{{rp|98}} [[Félix Guirand]] suggested the name was cognate with Latin {{lang|la|erus}} ("lord", "master"),<ref name=deVries/>{{rp|98}} which Meid notes is a common [[epiclesis]] given to deities ([[Freyr]], [[Ba'al]]).<ref name=Meid/>{{rp|35}} Other etymologies have variously connected the name with German {{lang|de|Ehre}} ("honour"), Ancient Greek {{lang|grc|αἰδέομαι}} ({{transliteration|grc|aidéomai}}, "to be ashamed"), [[Old Norse]] {{lang|non|eir}} ("brass, copper"), and [[Breton language|Breton]] {{lang|br|heuzuz}} ("terrible") <ref name=Evans/>{{rp|201}}<ref name=deVries/>{{rp|98}}

==Lucan and the scholia==
===Lucan===
Lucan's ''Pharsalia'' or ''De Bello Civili'' (''On the Civil War'') is an epic poem, begun about 61 CE, on the events of [[Caesar's civil war]] (49–48 BCE). The passage relevant to Esus occurs in "Gallic excursus", an [[epic catalogue]] detailing the rejoicing of the various Gaulish peoples after [[Julius Caesar]] removed his legions from Gaul (where they were intended to control the natives) to Italy. The passage thus brings out two themes of Lucan's work, the barbarity of the Gauls and the unpatriotism of [[Caesar]].<ref name=Hofeneder2>{{cite book |title=Die Religion der Kelten in den antiken literarischen Zeugnissen |volume=2 |last=Hofeneder |first=Andreas |date=2008 |location=Wien |publisher=Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften }}</ref>{{rp|296}}

{{verse translation
|lang1=la
|Tu quoque laetatus converti proelia, Trevir,
Et nunc tonse Ligur, quondam per colla decore
Crinibus effusis toti praelate Comatae; 
Et quibus inmitis placatur sanguine diro
Teutates horrensque feris altaribus Esus
Et Taranis Scythicae non mitior ara Dianae.<ref>Lucan, ''De Bello Civilo'', 1.441-446</ref>
|Transferral of the warfare pleased you too, [[Treviri]],
and you, [[Ligures]], now shorn of hair but once in all of Long-Haired
Gaul unrivalled for your tresses flowing gracefully over your necks;
and the people who with grim blood-offering placate
Teutates the merciless and Esus dread with savage altars
and the slab of Taranis, no kinder than Diana of the Scythians.<ref>Translation from {{cite book |last=Braund |first=Susan H. |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |series=Oxford World's Classics |title=Lucan: Civil War |date=1992 }}</ref>}}

The substance of the last few lines is this: unspecified Gauls, who made human sacrifices to their gods Teutates, Esus, and Taranis, were overjoyed by the exit of Caesar's troops from their territory.<ref name=Hofeneder2/>{{rp|298–299}} The reference to "Diana of the Scythians" refers to the human sacrifices demanded by [[Diana Nemorensis|Diana at her temple in Scythian Taurica]], well known in antiquity.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Green |first=C. M. C. |title=Lucan ''Bellum Civile'' 1.444-46: A Reconsideration |journal=Classical Philology |date=January 1994 |volume=89 |issue=1 |pages=64–69 |doi=10.1086/367392 |jstor=269754 }}</ref>{{rp|66–67}} That Lucan says little about these gods is not surprising. Lucan's aims were poetic, and not historical or ethnographic. The poet never travelled to Gaul and relied on secondary sources for his knowledge of Gaulish religion. When he neglects to add more, this may well reflect the limits of his knowledge.<ref name=Deonna/>{{rp|4}}<ref name=Hofeneder2/>{{rp|296}}

We have no literary sources prior to Lucan which mention these deities, and the few which mention them after Lucan (in the case of Esus, [[Lactantius]] and [[Petronius]]) seem to borrow directly from this passage.<ref name=Hofeneder2/>{{rp|299}} The secondary sources on Celtic religion which Lucan relied on in this passage (perhaps [[Posidonius]]) have not come down to us, so it is hard to date or contextualise his information.<ref name=Hofeneder2/>{{rp|297}} This passage is one of the very few in classical literature in which Celtic gods are mentioned under their native names,{{efn|For the most part, classical sources describe Celtic gods under Greek or Roman names without further comment. [[Georg Wissowa]] emphasises that Lucan "stands almost alone" ({{lang|de|steht nahezu allein}}) apart from this tradition. [[Epona]], the Gallo-Roman horse god, is a notable exception; she appears frequently in classical literature, and never under an ''interpretatio''.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Georg |last=Wissowa |title=Interpretatio Romana: Römische Götter im Barbarenlande |journal=Archiv für Religionswissenschaft |volume=19 |url=https://archive.org/details/archivfrreligi19reliuoft/page/1 |date=1916–1919 |pages=1–49 }}</ref>{{rp|9–11}} Other Celtic gods mentioned under their own name in later literature include [[Belenus]], [[Ogmios]], [[Grannus]], and [[Andraste]].<ref name=Hofeneder3/>{{rp|24}}}} rather than [[interpretatio graeca|identified with Greek or Roman gods]]. This departure from classical practice likely had poetic intent: emphasising the barbarity and exoticness the Gauls, whom Caesar had left to their own devices.<ref name=Hofeneder2/>{{rp|298}}

Some scholars, such as de Vries, have argued that the three gods mentioned together here (Esus, Teutates, and Taranis) formed a divine triad in ancient Gaulish religion. However, there is little other evidence associating these gods with each other. Other scholars, such as [[Graham Webster (archaeologist)|Graham Webster]], emphasise that Lucan may as well have chosen these deity-names for their poetic stress and harsh sound.<ref name=Hofeneder2/>{{rp|299}}

===Scholia===
Lucan's ''Pharsalia'' was a very popular school text in late antiquity and the medieval period. This created a demand for commentaries and [[scholia]] (explanatory notes) dealing with difficulties in the work, both in grammar and subject matter.<ref name=Hofeneder2/>{{rp|312}} The earliest Lucan scholia that have come down to us are the [[Commenta Bernensia and Adnotationes Super Lucanum|''Commenta Bernensia'' and ''Adnotationes Super Lucanum'']], both from manuscripts datable between the 9th and 11th centuries.<ref name=Esposito>{{cite book |last=Esposito |first=Paolo |chapter=Early and Medieval ''Scholia'' and ''Commentaria'' on Lucan |title= Brill's Companion to Lucan |pages=453–463 |doi=10.1163/9789004217096_025 |date=2011 |editor-last=Asso |editor-first=Paolo |location=Leiden / Boston |publisher=Brill  |isbn=978-90-04-21709-6 }}</ref>{{rp|453}} Also important are comments from a [[Cologne]] codex (the ''Glossen ad Lucan''), datable to the 11th and 12th centuries.<ref name=Hofeneder2/>{{rp|312}} In spite of their late date, these scholia are thought to incorporate very ancient material, some of it now lost. The ''Commenta'' and ''Adnotationes'' are known to contain material at least as old as [[Servius the Grammarian]] (4th century CE).<ref name=Esposito/>{{rp|453–454}} Below are excerpts from these scholia relevant to Esus:

{|class="wikitable"
|-
!Commentary
!Latin
!English
|-
|''Commenta Bernensia ad Lucan'', 1.445
|{{lang|la|Hesus Mars sic placatur: homo in arbore suspenditur usque donec per cruorem membra digesserit.}}
|Hesus [[Mars (mythology)|Mars]] is appeased in this way: a man is suspended from a tree until his limbs are divided as a result of the bloodshed (?).<ref name=HofenederCB/> 
|-
|''Commenta Bernensia ad Lucan'', 1.445
|{{lang|la|item aliter exinde in aliis invenimus. [...] Hesum Mercurium credunt, si quidem a mercatoribus colitur}}
|We also find it [depicted] differently by other [authors]. [...] They believe Hesus to be [[Mercury (mythology)|Mercury]], because he is worshipped by the merchants<ref name=HofenederCB>Translation after the German in {{cite book |title=Die Religion der Kelten in den antiken literarischen Zeugnissen |volume=2 |last=Hofeneder |first=Andreas |date=2008 |location=Wien |publisher=Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften |page=317}}</ref>
|-
|''Adnotationes super Lucanum'', 1.445.
|{{lang|la|Esus Mars sic dictus a Gallis, qui hominum cruore placatur.}}
|Esus is the name given by the Gauls to Mars, who is appeased with human blood.<ref name=HofenederAS>Translation after the German in {{cite book |title=Die Religion der Kelten in den antiken literarischen Zeugnissen |volume=2 |last=Hofeneder |first=Andreas |date=2008 |location=Wien |publisher=Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften |page=331 }}</ref>
|-
|''Glossen ad Lucan'', 1.445
|{{lang|la|Esus id est Mars.}}
|Esus, that is Mars.<ref name=HofenederG>Translation after the German in {{cite book |title=Die Religion der Kelten in den antiken literarischen Zeugnissen |volume=2 |last=Hofeneder |first=Andreas |date=2008 |location=Wien |publisher=Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften |page=334 }}</ref>
|}

The first excerpt, about the sacrifice to Esus, comes from a passage in the ''Commenta'' which details the human sacrifices offered to each of the three gods (persons were drowned in a barrel for Teutates, persons were burned in a wooden tub for Taranis). This passage, which is not paralleled anywhere else in classical literature, has been the subject of much commentary. It seems to have been preserved in the ''Commenta'' by virtue of its author's preference for factual (over grammatical) explanation.<ref name=Hofeneder2/>{{rp|318}} The ''Adnotationes'', by comparison, tell us nothing about the sacrifices to Esus, Teutates, and Taranis beyond that they were each murderous.<ref name=Hofeneder2/>{{rp|332}} The nature of the sacrifice to Esus described here is unclear; the Latin text is cramped and ambiguous. Early Celticists relied on drastic emendations to the text, which have not been sustained in later scholarship.<ref name=Hofeneder2/>{{rp|321}}{{efn|{{ill|Victor Tourneur|fr}} (1902) called the text "untranslatable" ({{lang|fr|intraduisible}}). He proposed to emend the bizarre {{lang|la|per cruorem}} ("as a result of bloodshed") to {{lang|la|percussor}} ("murderer, sacrificer") and to regard {{lang|la|membra digesserit}} as a poetic description, not literally referring to a separation of limbs. He thus arrived at the translation: "A man is hung on a tree until the sacrificer has killed him".<ref name=Tourneur>{{cite journal |last=Tourneur |first=Victor |title=Semicupium. Percussor |journal=Le musée belge: Revue de philologie classique |volume=6 |date=1902 |pages=77–81 }}</ref>{{rp|79–81}} [[Albert Bayet]] (1925) and [[Camille Jullian]] (1926) followed Tourneur's emendation of {{lang|la|per cruorem}}. Jullian went further to propose that {{lang|la|digesserit}} was a corruption of {{lang|la|disiecerit}} ("severed").<ref name=Hofeneder2/>{{rp|321}}}} To give a few difficulties: {{lang|la|digesserit}} here could refer to a process of decomposition or a violent severing of the limbs; {{lang|la|cruor}} means "blood" and "raw meat", but also metaphorically "murder";<ref name=Hofeneder2/>{{rp|322}} and {{lang|la|in arbore suspenditur}}, often read as suggesting that Esus's victims were [[hanging|hanged by the neck]] from a tree, is perhaps nearer in meaning to saying that his victims were "fixed to" or "suspended from a tree".<ref name=Deonna>{{cite journal |first=Waldemar |last=Deonna |title=Les Victimes d'Esus |journal=Ogam |volume=10 |date=1958 |pages=3–29 |url=https://bibliotheque.idbe.bzh/data/cle_76/OGAM_Tradition_Celtique_1958_nA55_.pdf#page=3 }}</ref>{{rp|9–10}}

As a result of this ambiguity, a very large number of interpretations of the sacrificial ritual to Esus have been given.<ref name=Hofeneder2/>{{rp|322}} It has been pointed out that hanging by the neck does not result in loss of blood; and that neither of these lead to a dislocation of the limbs. Suggestions include that the victim was tied to the tree in order to be dismembered; or dismembered by means of tree branches; or injured and then suspended from the tree, by their armpits or limbs.<ref name=Deonna/>{{rp|10–11}} This ritual has been compared with various legendary demises: the human sacrifices to [[Odin]],<ref name=Czarnowski>{{cite journal |first=Stefan |last=Czarnowski |title=L'arbre d'Esus, le taureau aux trois grues et le culte des voies fluviales en Gaule |journal=Revue Celtique |volume=42 |date=1925 |pages=1–57 |url=https://archive.org/details/revueceltiquejloth42/page/1 }}</ref>{{rp|16}}{{efn|[[Germanic mythology]] has it that Odin obtained knowledge of the [[runes]] by piercing himself with a javelin and suspending himself from a tree for nine days. This sacrifice was imitated by his devotees: King Wikar is thus sacrificed to Odin in ''[[Gautreks saga]]''; as are another king's nine sons in ''[[Ynglinga saga]]''; and [[Adam of Bremen]] tells us that men were hung from trees in the grove of the [[Temple at Uppsala]]. [[Stefan Czarnowski]] drew a parallel between these sacrifices and the sacrifice to Odin, suggesting that the "bloodshed" was a result of the injury by javelin.<ref name=Czarnowski/>{{rp|16}}<ref name=DuvalEsus/>{{rp|283}} {{ill|Françoise Le Roux|fr}} notes, as support for a relationship between the two rituals, that ritual hanging is almost unknown among the Celts, but very common within the cult of Odin.<ref name=LeRoux/>{{rp|50, 54}}}} the death of the mythological Welsh hero [[Lleu Llaw Gyffes]],<ref name=Sergent/>{{rp|395}} and the martyrdom of St [[Marcel de Chalon]].<ref name=Deonna/>{{rp|12}}{{efn|{{ill|Émile Thévenot|fr}} connected the ritual with the unusual torture of St Marcel de Chalon (d. 177/179) in an early medieval [[hagiography]]: after refusing to worship before Mars, Mercury, and [[Minerva]], the pagans tied the saint to two branches of a tree, forced together, which sprung back and detached the saints' limbs from his body. Thévenot suggested the hagiographer of St Marcel and scholiast of the ''Commenta'' drew from the same source for this pagan ritual.<ref name=Deonna/>{{rp|12}} {{ill|Waldemar Deonna|fr}} and {{ill|Paul-Marie Duval|fr}} are unconvinced by this parallel. Both argue that Thévenot's comparison does violence to the description in the ''Commenta'', and Deonna points out that the elements of this martyrdom are not unknown in other hagiographies.<ref name=DuvalEsus>{{cite book |last=Duval |first=Paul-Marie |chapter=Teutates, Esus, Taranis |orig-date=1958 |title=Travaux sur la Gaule (1946-1986), vol. II - Religion gauloise et gallo-romaine |location=Rome |publisher=École Française de Rome |date=1989 |pages=275–287 |series=Publications de l'École française de Rome |volume=116 |issue=1 |chapter-url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/efr_0000-0000_1989_ant_116_1_3668 }}</ref>{{rp|284}}<ref name=Deonna/>{{rp|21}}}} The violent end of the [[bog body]] known as the [[Lindow Man]]—throat slashed, strangled, bludgeoned, and drowned—has even been connected with this sacrificial ritual.<ref name=MacKillopEsus>{{cite encyclopedia |first=James |last=MacKillop |title=Esus, Hesus |encyclopedia=Dictionary of Celtic Mythology |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=2004 |edition=Online |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198609674.001.0001/acref-9780198609674-e-2001 }}</ref><ref name=MacKillopLindow>{{cite encyclopedia |last=MacKillop |first=James |date=2004 |edition=Online |title=Lindow Man |encyclopedia=A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology |publisher=Oxford University Press |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198609674.001.0001/acref-9780198609674-e-2996 }}</ref>

All three commentaries offer an ''[[interpretatio romana]]'' (i.e., the identification of a foreign god with a Roman god) which identifies Esus as [[Mars (mythology)|Mars]] (Roman god of war). The scholiast of the ''Commenta'', however, notes that other sources give an ''interpretatio'' of Esus as [[Mercury (mythology)|Mercury]],{{efn|1=The ''Commenta'' offers two sets of ''interpretatios'' of the three Celtic gods mentioned in Lucan. In the first set, Teutates is Mercury, Esus is Mars, and Taranis is [[Dis Pater]]. In the second set, Teutates is Mars, Esus is Mercury, and Taranis is [[Jupiter (god)|Jupiter]].<ref name=Hofeneder2/>{{rp|317}}}} for which they offer a rationale: Esus, like Mercury, was worshipped by merchants.<ref name=Hofeneder2/>{{rp|321}} It is not possible to demonstrate the authenticity of either of these equations, as we have no source outside these commentaries which pairs the name of Esus with that of a Roman god.<ref name=Deonna/>{{rp|13}} The evident confusion of the sources the scholiast had available to him has been taken to count against the evidentiary value of either of these ''interpretatios''.<ref name=DuvalDieux>{{cite book |title=Les Dieux de la Gaule |publisher=Payot |date=1976 |edition=2 |location=Paris |last=Duval |first=Paul-Marie }}</ref>{{rp|27}}<ref name=LeRoux/>{{rp|56}} {{ill|Max Ihm|de}} regards the equation of Esus with Mercury as unlikely, because the Trier monument depicts Esus and Mercury next to each other, as separate divinities.<ref name=Paulys>{{cite encyclopedia |title=[[wikisource:de:RE:Esus|Esus]] |encyclopedia=Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft |volume=VI, 1 |date=1907 |pages=694–696 |last=Ihm |first=Max |location=Stuttgart |publisher=Metzler }}</ref> On the other hand, a Mercury statue from Lezoux is sometimes believed to have a dedicatory inscription to Esus on its rear, which may count in favour of the existence of such an ''interpretatio''.<ref name=Meid>{{cite journal |last=Meid |first= Wolfgang |title=Keltische Religion im Zeugnis der Sprache |journal=Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie |volume=53 |issue=1 |date=2003 |pages=20–40 |doi=10.1515/ZCPH.2003.20 }}</ref>{{rp|35}}

==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>

==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}}
{{clear}}

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |first=Helmut |last=Birkhan |title=Kelten: Versuch einer Gesamtdarstellung ihrer Kultur |edition=2nd |publisher=Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften |location=Wien |date=1997 |pages=149, 643–647 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Guyonvarc'h |first=Christian-J. |title=Der Göttername Esus |journal=Die Sprache |volume=15 |date=1969 |pages=172–174 }}
* {{cite book |last=Ross |first=Anne |chapter=Lindow Man and the Celtic Tradition |date=1984 |title=Lindow Man: The Body in the Bog |publisher=British Museum |location=London |pages=162–168 |editor1-last=Stead |editor1-first=Ian M. |editor2-first=James |editor2-last=Bourke |editor3-first=Don |editor3-last=Brothwell }}
* {{cite book |last=Rubekeil |first=Ludwig |title=Diachrone Studien zur Kontaktzone zwischen Kelten und Germanen |publisher=Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften |location=Wien |date=2002 |page=191 }}
* {{cite book |last=Schwinden  |first=Lothar |chapter=Das Weihedenkmal des Indus für Merkur - ein frühkaiserzeitliches Pfeilermonument aus Trier |pages=81–88 |date=2003 |editor-first=Peter |editor-last=Noelke |title=Romanisation und Resistenz in Plastik, Architektur und Inschriften der Provinzen des Imperium Romanum. Neue Funde und Forschungen |location=Mainz |publisher=von Zabern }}
* {{cite book |last=Thévenot |first=Emile |chapter=La pendaison sanglante des victimes offertes à Esus-Mars |publisher=Latomas |title=Hommages à Waldemar Deonna |location=Bruxelles |date=1957 |pages=442–449 }}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Esus}}
* [http://www.chronarchy.com/esus/aboutesus.html Esus], including photographs and a capitulation of primary and secondary source material.

{{Celtic mythology (ancient)}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Celtic gods]]
[[Category:Gaulish gods]]
[[Category:Human sacrifice]]
[[Category:Lucan]]