Toutatis

Toutatis or Teutates was a Celtic god worshipped in ancient Gaul and Britain. On the basis of his name's etymology, he has been widely interpreted to be a tribal protector.

Today, he is best known under the name Toutatis (pronounced [towˈtaːtis] in Gaulish) through the Gaulish oath/catchphrase "By Toutatis!", invented for the Asterix comics by Goscinny and Uderzo. The spelling Toutatis, however, is authentic and attested by about ten ancient inscriptions. Under the spelling Teutates, the god is also known from a passage in Lucan.

The name "Teutates" is derived from the stem teutā-, meaning "people" or "tribe", cognate with the Germanic *þeudō.

Teutates was one of three Celtic gods mentioned by the Roman poet Lucan in the 1st century AD, the other two being Esus ("lord") and Taranis ("thunderer"). According to later commentators, victims sacrificed to Teutates were killed by being plunged headfirst into a vat filled with an unspecified liquid. Present-day scholars frequently speak of "the toutates" as plural, referring respectively to the patrons of the several tribes. Of two later commentators on Lucan's text, one identifies Teutates with Mercury, the other with Mars.

Toutatis was worshipped especially in Gaul and in Roman Britain. Inscriptions to him have been recovered in the United Kingdom, for example that at Cumberland Quarries (RIB 1017), dedicated to Jupiter Optimus Maximus and Mars Toutatis. Two dedications have also been found in Noricum and Rome.

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