Celtic Gods: The Gaulish and Brythonic God, Tanarus (The Seething)

Tanarus
A Gaulish God: The Seething

Tanarus is a Gaulish and Brythonic hypothetical god derived from the river Tanaro in Italy and a possible dedication found at Chester, England. He is a river deity of high places.



Synonyms:
Gaul: The Seething

Tanarus is a hypothetical deity known from a river in Cisalpine Gaul and a possible dedication on an altarstone recovered from Deva Victrix (Legionary Fortress, Chester, Cheshire). The dedication reads: I O M TANARO L ELVFRIVS GALER PRAESENS CLVNIA PRI LEG XX V V COMMODO ET LATERANO COS VSLM (the first part of this inscription has been interpreted in two ways: [to Jupiter Tanarus Best and Greatest] or [to Jupiter Best and Greatest of Tanarus] Lucius Elufrius Praesens, of the Galerian voting tribe from Clunia, first spear of the Valiant and Victorious Twentieth Legion, when Commodus and Lateranus were consuls). Regardless of whether the dedication is to Jupiter Tanarus or to Jupiter of Tanarus, the reference to the Tanarus river still stands (this being the modern-day Tanaro river in the Piedmonte district of north-western Itali originally the home of the Bagienni tribe). In common with most waterways this river probably had a patron deity which may originally have been feminie (ie Tanara) though, as seeems to have happened to other rivers in cis-Alpine Gaul the patron deity was masculinized to Tanaros and then Latinized to Tanarus.

Tanarus' name can be derived from the reconstructed proto-Celtic elements *tanaro- (seething) along with the Latinized masculine ending -us. Thus Tanarus is 'The Seething [one]'. An apposite name for a river deity. The association with Jupiter may derived from the source of river Tanarus high in the Maritime Alps, with Jupiter beign a god of high places as well as a weather deity and the paterfamilias of the Olympian gods.



Couldn't find what you were looking for? Search the web:



stefan and zogo small One Million People Campaign
If you can spare $1 then help support this site and change someone's life forever? Learn how and why on the One Million People campaign page. Or donate $10 and get my Guide to Spices or The Recipes of Africa eBooks as a gift for your donation!