18 November 2008

Toutatis

Toutatis Cover
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 through the Gaulish 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.

Teutates is above all other things a teacher, the god who bestowed upon humanity all of its useful skills. He is the patron of crafts and sciences, a lover of knowledge and study and a staunch defender of the progress of society. The destruction of the Gaulish culture at the hands of Rome was an especially great blow for him, as he had helped to nurture and create much of said culture. Still, he stands as protector for all of his people and teaches those few remaining with infinite care and wisdom.

When Rome conquered Gaul and began absorbing the foreign religion into its own, they equated Teutates with Hermes and began determinedly destroying every reference to him that did not fit this interpretation. This was especially galling because, although Hermes is a patron of commerce and a teacher of mankind, he is also a trickster and a thief, neither qualities that Teutates espouses. The two gods seldom make contact, but there is little doubt that Teutates would love to punish the God of Thieves sorely for his part in destroying the culture he had so carefully built.

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