Tarvos Trigaranus - the Bull-God of Fertility in Gaul

Tarvos Trigaranus was a fairly obscure god of Gaul who was famously depicted as a bull on the Pillar of the Boatman dating to the first century AD. He was portrayed in the company of Esus, the god of war and fertility, on the Pillar of the Boatman and at Maiden Castle.. Bulls were widely venerated in the Celtic world as symbols of fertility, ferocity and strength.

The god, Tarvos Trigaranus was identified by an inscription on the Pillar of the Boatmen as “Tarvostrigaranos “, or “the bull with three cranes”. Tarvos Trigaranus was depicted as a bull standing near a willow tree with three egrets on his back.

The Romanised Celts of Gaul venerated Tarvos Trigaranus as a god of male virility, fertility, strength, death and rebirth. The egrets may represent the flight of the immortal soul after death.

The next panel of the Pillar of the Boatman shows Esus, the Celtic god of fertility, cutting the branches of a willow tree. The willow on the panel may represent a sacred tree beneath which the druids carried out sacrifices of white bulls as a fertility rite. There may also be a reference to ancestor worship as their souls were thought to reside in trees.

The Pillar of the Boatman was dedicated to Jupiter, the Roman god of the sky and thunder. An array of Celtic and Roman deities such as Cernunnos, the Celtic god of forests, and Fortuna, the Roman goddess of luck, were also carved on the monument.

The Pillar of the Boatman, or Pillar des Nautes, was a huge decorated column of a temple dating to the first century AD. The ruins of the temple were discovered beneath the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris.

The monument honoured Emperor Tiberius as an act of loyalty by the guild of mariners and merchants of the town of Lutetia or present-day Paris. Lutetia was the capital of the Parisii tribes who inhabited the area. The members of the guild prospered because of trade along the River Seine.

Esus and Tarvos Trigaranus appeared again on a sacred stone in Trier dating to the first century AD. The sacred stone was dedicated to Mercury, the Roman god of trade. The carving depicted Esus as a woodsman, who chops down a willow tree with an axe. Three egrets and the head of a bull are present among the branches of the willow tree.

The symbolism of the willow is the “Tree of Life”, which Esus cuts down so it may flourish and become fertile again. The vegetation on the tree may represent the wild unseen forces of the gods of nature which the druids wished to harness for the benefit of mankind.

A similar relief of Tarvos Trigaranus was discovered at Maiden Castle in Dorset, England. The god was portrayed as a three-horned bull with three goddesses standing on his back. Tarvos Trigaranus was venerated in Dorset as a god of fertility, life, death and rebirth.

Maiden Castle was an Iron Age hill fort in the territory of the tribe known as the Durotriges. The hill fort was abandoned after the Romans invaded Britain during the first century AD.

The three-horned bull aptly portrayed Tarvos Trigaranus as a divine supernatural being of the Otherworld. The great power of the god was enhanced by the number three which was thought to possess immense magical power in the Celtic world.

A healing shrine at Biere-le-Chapel in Burgundy was home to numerous motifs of three-horned bulls. The bulls may have been part of a cult dedicated to Tarvos Trigaranus. The presence of the three-horned bulls added strength, or potency, of the healing powers of the sanctuary.

Images of Apollo, the Roman god of healing, and Ianuaria, the Celtic goddess of music, were also found at Beire-le-Chapel.

Most of the depictions of the three-horned bull were found in the artwork of north-eastern Gaul during the years of the Roman occupation. Some were also found in England after the Claudian invasion of 43 AD.

Motifs of bulls often decorated items belonging to the Celtic tribes. A coin from Gaul depicted a bull with a bird on its back. Votive offerings of small figurines of bullS were discovered among the grave goods of the Celts in Austria dating to the seventh century BC. A man with dogs attacks a bull on the Gundestrup cauldron.

Miranda Green stated in her book “Symbol & Image in Celtic Art”, “It is certain that animals, whether wild or domesticated, played a crucial role in Celtic beliefs. They appear consistently in imagery from before the Roman period in Celtic lands, either with anthropomorphic divine representations or alone. ”.

For more information on Esus, the Celtic god of war and fertility, please visit
http://celtsandmyths.mzzhost.com/esus.html


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