# Sucellus > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Sucellus > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Sucellus.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sucellus > Source revision: 1321490733 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|God of agriculture, forests and alcoholic drinks of the Gauls}} [[File:Sucellus MAN St Germain.jpg|thumb|The Celtic god Sucellus with his characteristic hammer and ''olla''. [Musee d'Archéologie National](/source/National_Archaeological_Museum%2C_France).]] [[File:Roman - Sucellus - Walters 54998.jpg|thumb|This statue of Sucellus is the earliest known likeness of the god (ca. 1st century AD). It is from a Roman home in France and was found in a household shrine ([lararium](/source/lararium)). [Walters Art Museum](/source/Walters_Art_Museum), [Baltimore](/source/Baltimore).]] In [Gallo-Roman religion](/source/Gallo-Roman_religion), '''Sucellus''' or '''Sucellos''' ({{IPAc-en|s|uː|ˈ|k|ɛ|l|ə|s|}}) was a [god](/source/deity) shown carrying a large mallet (or hammer) and an ''[olla](/source/olla)'' (or barrel). Originally a [Celtic god](/source/Celtic_polytheism), his cult flourished not only among [Gallo-Romans](/source/Gallo-Roman_culture), but also to some extent among the neighbouring peoples of [Raetia](/source/Raetia) and [Britain](/source/Roman_Britain). He has been associated with agriculture and wine, particularly in the territory of the [Aedui](/source/Aedui).{{cite book|author=Miranda Green |author-link=Miranda Aldhouse-Green |title=Symbol and Image in Celtic Religious Art |date=2003 |publisher=Routledge |page=83}} ==Sculptures== [[File:Nantosuelta-Sucellus.jpg|180px|right|thumb|Relief of Nantosuelta and Sucellus from Sarrebourg. Now in the [Museums of Metz](/source/Museums_of_Metz).]] He is usually portrayed as a middle-aged bearded man wearing a wolf-skin, with a long-handled [hammer](/source/hammer), or perhaps a beer [barrel](/source/barrel_(storage)) suspended from a pole. His companion [Nantosuelta](/source/Nantosuelta) is sometimes depicted alongside him. When together, they are accompanied by symbols associated with prosperity and domesticity. In a well-known relief from [Sarrebourg](/source/Sarrebourg), near [Metz](/source/Metz), Nantosuelta, wearing a long gown, is standing to the left. In her left hand she holds a small house-shaped object with two circular holes and a peaked roof – perhaps a dovecote – on a long pole. Her right hand holds a [patera](/source/patera) which she is tipping onto a cylindrical altar. To the right Sucellus stands, bearded, in a tunic with a cloak over his right shoulder. He holds his mallet in his right hand and an ''[olla](/source/olla)'' in his left. Above the figures is a dedicatory inscription and below them in very low relief is a raven. This sculpture was dated by Reinach, from the form of the letters, to the end of the first century or start of the second century.{{sfnp|Reinach|1922|pages=217–232}} ==Inscriptions== At least eleven inscriptions to Sucellus are known,{{sfnp|Jufer|Luginbühl|2001|page=63}} mostly from [Gaul](/source/Roman_Gaul). One (''RIB'' II, 3/2422.21) is from [Eboracum](/source/Eboracum) (modern [York](/source/York)) in [Britain](/source/Roman_Britain). In an inscription from [Augusta Rauricorum](/source/Augusta_Raurica) (modern [Augst](/source/Augst)), Sucellus is identified with [Silvanus](/source/Silvanus_(mythology)):{{AE|1926|00040}} :''In honor(em) / '' :''d(omus) d(ivinae) deo Su/'' :''cello Silv(ano) / '' :''Spart(us) l(ocus) d(atus) d(ecreto) d(ecurionum)'' The [syncretism](/source/Syncretism) of Sucellus with [Silvanus](/source/Silvanus_(mythology)) can also be seen in artwork from [Narbonensis](/source/Narbonensis).{{sfnp|Duval|1993|page=78}} ==Roles and Duties== In Italy, [Silvanus](/source/Silvanus_(mythology)) was said to protect forests and fields. He presided over the boundaries of properties, together with a host of local silvani, three for each property. These were the silvanus of the home, the silvanus of the fields, and the silvanus of the boundaries.{{cite journal|last=Hyginus |title=De limitibus constituendi, preface }} Silvanus also takes care of flocks, guaranteeing their fertility and protecting them from wolves, which is why he often wears the skin of a wolf.{{cite book|title=Virgil, Æneid VIII.600-1; Nonnus II.324; Cato the Elder, De re rusticâ 83; Tibullus, I.v.27 }} When moving north into Gaul, Silvanus was syncretically merged with Sucellus to form the conflated Sucellus-Silvanus. It was Sucellus who carried the mallet and bowl. It has been suggested that the mallet was for construction and the erection of fence-posts (establishing boundaries), but this is far from certain.{{cite journal|last=Smith |first=William |title=A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. (1867) }}{{cite web |title=Deo Sucello Silvano |url=http://www.deomercurio.be/en/silvano.htm }}{{Dead link|date=March 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Green claims that Sucellus may also relate to a [chthonic](/source/chthonic) deity, especially in maintain boundaries between the living and dead.{{Cite book |last=Aldhouse-Green |first=Miranda J. |title=The gods of the Celts |date=2011 |publisher=The History Press |isbn=978-0-7524-6811-2 |location=Stroud, Gloucestershire |oclc=797966528}} Sucellus has been frequently identified as a candidate for [Gaulish Dis Pater](/source/Gaulish_Dis_Pater), the Gaulish god of the underworld and progenitor of the Gauls described by [Caesar](/source/Caesar).{{cite journal |last=Boucher |first=Stéphanie |title= Sucellus = Dispater? Remarques sur la typologie et les fonctiens du dieu gaulois |journal=Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire |volume=54 |issue=1 |date=1976 |pages=66–77 |doi=10.3406/rbph.1976.3077 }} ==Etymology== [[File:Sucellus BritMu022a.jpg|upright|thumb|Bronze statue of Sucellus from [Vienne](/source/Vienne%2C_Is%C3%A8re).]] In [Gaulish](/source/Gaulish_language), the root ''cellos'' can be interpreted as 'striker', derived from [Proto-Indo-European](/source/Proto-Indo-European_language) ''*-kel-do-s'' whence also come Latin ''per-cellere'' ('striker'), Greek ''klao'' ('to break') and Lithuanian ''kálti'' ('to hammer, to forge').{{sfnp|Delamarre|2003|page=113}} The prefix ''su-'' means 'good' or 'well' and is found in many Gaulish personal names.{{sfnp|Delamarre|2003|pages=283-284}} ''Sucellus'' is therefore commonly translated as 'the good striker.' An alternate etymology is offered by Celticist [Blanca María Prósper](/source/Blanca_Mar%C3%ADa_Pr%C3%B3sper), who posits a derivative of the Proto-Indo-European root ''*kel-'' ‘to protect’, i.e. ''*su-kel-mó(n)'' "having a good protection" or ''*su-kel-mṇ-'', an agentive formation meaning "protecting well, providing good protection", with a thematic derivative built on the oblique stem, ''*su-kel-mn-o-'' (and subsequent simplification and assimilation of the sonorant cluster and a secondary full grade of the root). Prósper suggests the name would then be comparable to the [Indic](/source/Indo-Aryan_languages) personal name ''Suśarman-'', found in [Hindu mythology](/source/Hindu_mythology).{{cite journal|last=Prósper |first=Blanca María |title=Celtic and Non-Celtic Divinities from Ancient Hispania: Power, Daylight, Fertility, Water Spirits and What They Can Tell Us about Indo-European Morphology |journal=The Journal of Indo-European Studies |volume=43 |number= 1 & 2 |date= 2015 |pages= 35–36}} ==See also== * [The Dagda](/source/The_Dagda), a similar figure from [Irish mythology](/source/Irish_mythology) ==References== {{Reflist|30em}} == Bibliography == {{wiktionary|Sucellus}} * {{cite book|last=Delamarre |first=Xavier |date=2003 |title=Dictionnaire de la Langue Gauloise |edition=2nd |location=Paris |publisher=Éditions Errance |isbn=2-87772-237-6 }} * {{cite book|editor1-last=Deyts |editor1-first= Simone |date=1998 |title=À la rencontre des Dieux gaulois, un défi à César |location=Paris |publisher=Réunion des Musées Nationaux |isbn=2-7118-3851-X}} * {{cite book|last=Duval |first=Paul-Marie |orig-year=1957 |date=1993 |title=Les dieux de la Gaule |location=Paris |publisher= Presses Universitaires de France / Éditions Payot }} * {{cite book|last1=Jufer |first1=Nicole |first2=Thierry |last2=Luginbühl |date=2001 |title=Répertoire des dieux gaulois |location=Paris |publisher= Éditions Errance |isbn=2-87772-200-7 }} * {{cite book|last=Reinach |first=Salomon |author-link=Salomon Reinach |date=1922 |title=Cultes, mythes et religions |publisher=Paris E. Leroux |url=https://archive.org/details/cultesmythesetre01reinuoft }} == Further reading == {{refbegin}} * Heichelheim F. M., Housman J. E. "Sucellus and Nantosuelta in Mediaeval Celtic Mythology". In: ''L'antiquité classique'', Tome 17, fasc. 1, 1948. Miscellanea Philologica Historica et archaelogia in honorem Hvberti Van De Weerd. pp. 305–316. [DOI: https://doi.org/10.3406/antiq.1948.2845] www.persee.fr/doc/antiq_0770-2817_1948_num_17_1_2845 * {{cite journal |last1=Béal |first1=Jean-Claude |last2=Peyre |first2=Pierre |title=Une statue antique de Silvain-Sucellus à Javols (Lozère) |journal=Revue archéologique de Narbonnaise |volume=20 |date=1987 |pages=349–368 |doi=10.3406/ran.1987.1313 |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/ran_0557-7705_1987_num_20_1_1313 |lang=FR}} * {{cite journal |last=Hatt |first=Jean-Jacques |title=Le Sucellus-Silvain-Liber Pater de Javols (Lozère): signification d'une œuvre de sculpture gallo-romaine |journal=Revue archéologique de Narbonnaise |volume=24 |date=1991 |pages=133–140 |doi=10.3406/ran.1991.1382 |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/ran_0557-7705_1991_num_24_1_1382 |lang=FR}} * {{cite journal |last=Baratta |first=Giulia |title=UNA DIVINITÀ GALLO-ROMANA: SUCELLUS. UN'IPOTESI INTERPRETATIVA |journal=Archeologia Classica |volume=45 |issue=1 |date=1993 |pages=233–47 |jstor=44366011 |lang=IT}} * {{cite journal |last=Sergent |first=Bernard |author-link=Bernard Sergent |title=Sucellus et Viśvakarman |journal=Études Celtiques |volume=38 |date=2012 |pages=175–195 |doi=10.3406/ecelt.2012.2353 |url=http://www.persee.fr/doc/ecelt_0373-1928_2012_num_38_1_2353 |lang=FR}} {{refend}} {{Celtic mythology (ancient)}} {{Authority control}} Category:Deities of wine and beer Category:Agricultural gods Category:Alcohol gods Category:Celtic gods Category:Roman gods Category:Wolf deities Category:Raven deities Category:Death deities --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Sucellus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sucellus) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sucellus?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). 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