Tarvos Trigaranus: a Gaulish God (Bull with Three Cranes)

Celtic Gods: The Gaulish God, Tarvos Trigaranus (Bull with Three Cranes)

Tarvos Trigaranus

A Gaulish God: Bull with Three Cranes

Tarvos Trigaranus is a Gaulish god known from a single inscription and an associated relief found upon the Pillar of the Boatmen from Paris, France. Tarvos Trigaranus is the bull shown with three cranes perched near him from the column. The same figure may also be shown in a carving found at Maiden Castle, England. Tarvos seems to be a deity of the cycle of life, birth, death and re-birth.

Synonyms:
Gaul: Bull with Three Cranes

Bull behind a tree with three cranes upon the bull's back

The Tarvos Trigaranus is known from a dedication and an accompanying relief carved upon the famous Pillar des Nautes (Pillar of the Boatmen) unearthed beneath the cathedral of Notre-Dame, Paris in 1711 (CIL XIII 03026). One facet of the pillar (shown above) represents a bull standing behind a tree. Upon the bull's back stand three cranes or egrets. The accompanying inscription Tarvos Trigaranus describes, in Gaulish, the scene perfectly for it gives us 'Bull with Three Cranes' being derived from the reconstructed proto-Celtic elements: *tarwo- (bull), *trīs (three) and *garanu- (crane) along with the Latinied masculine ending -us. Interestingly the obverse of this stone has an image of the woodcutter deity Esus. This directly links the Paris pillar representation with a carving found at Trier, Germany (see the page on Esus for an image and more details) which shows Esus cutting down a willow tree, in the branches of which reside a bull and three 'cranes'. In this respect the symbolism of the Trier stone is virtually identical to that of the Paris column.

A further iconographic link to the Tarvos Trigaranus may come in the form of the small statue of a three-horned bull found in the Romano-Celtic shrine at Maiden Castle in Dorset. This bull sculpture has the faces of three women on its back. In Irish mythos at least cranes are seen as the embodiment of women thus the women on the bull's back may represent cranes and the cranes on the Tarvos Trigaranus' back may represent the feminine aspect. The three-horned bull statue found at Autun (Bourgogne, France) may also be part of the same cult, but as there are no associated cranes/femal figures it is impossible to be certain whether this is the case or not.

The image of bull, cranes and willow tree is a powerful one, connecting multiple separate concepts into an unified whole. With a little effort it may even be possible to decipher the iconography and discover what the sculptor intended to portray. In Celtic literature and iconography little distinction is made between any of the long-legged wading brids. Thus the name 'crane' may equally be applied to egrets or herons. Egrets have a natural affinity with water and with cattle and are often seen picking ticks from a cow's hide. Cranes are birds of ill-omen, associated with death and dying and avatars of the death deity Creÿr whilst cranes can represent the spirits of women. A willow is a tree of water, a bull is a land animal and the crane is a creatue of the air. Thus the three elements are represented. In addition, the tree represents life. Cut down by the lumberjack, Esus, the tree is dead. But in common with all willows the stump will re-generate the following spring. Thus we have life, death and re-birth. Just as Esus, the woodcutter represents the forces of winter and death the bull is a potent symbol of fertility and the promise of spring. Within the imagerey therefore we have tales of the seasons and the cycles of life and death.

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