Mythic Understanding of the Relationship of Esus and Tarvos Trigaranos

This writing piece explores the myth I have come to see of Esus and Tarvos Trigaranos. The myth is the relationship seen on the ‘Pillar of the Boatmen’ and in a pillar from Trier. I now see Esus acting out/mirroring the first cosmic sacrifice, with Tarvos taking the place of the first cosmic bovine and Drus (the world tree) taking the place of ‘Twin’ the first king. Below I will explain my understanding and what these things mean, and then explain the myth.

In Proto-Indo-European (PIE) myth, the first sacrifice was of one of the first beings, ‘Twin’, who was also the first king, and the first bovine, by ‘Twin’s brother ‘Man’, who was the first priest (Lincoln 1975). This first cosmic sacrifice created the world and humans out of the body of ‘Twin’ and the plants and animals out of the flesh of the first bovine. This sacrifice created everything we know and showed us how to be in the right and proper relationship with the Deuoi, spirits, ancestors, and community. It tells us how society should be structured, with leaders sacrificing themselves for the greater good of the community and the role of priests in facilitating this and maintaining cosmic and community order (Lincoln 1975). This does not mean that leaders should ‘off’ themselves or priests should literally sacrifice them, but it is a communitarian mindset that places the whole above the few. The sacrifice of the first bovine shows the importance of cows and animals more broadly in society as being equal members themselves. The bovine’s flesh was constituted of plants and food. Within its macrocosm, it contained a multitude of microcosms and vice versa. When the cow was sacrificed, out of its flesh and liquid came our very food, plants and the other animals, and so they are equal progenitors of life to mankind (Lincoln 1986). The importance of cows can also be seen in the constellation Taurus, which is older than history and familiar to us now. Many cave paintings depict the constellation Taurus as an Aurochs, and the constellation was used to tell time and seasons. For example, the Lascaux cave painting dated 16,500 BCE (Dobrosavljevic-Grujic and Grujic, 2017). 

A further point on constellations, both the constellations Taurus and Orion appear together in the night sky during Winter (in the Northern Hemisphere). This leads me to believe that Tarvos is represented by the constellation Taurus and Esus by Orion. We know that Taurus is an ancient constellation (Dobrosavljevic-Grujic and Grujic, 2017), but not whether Orion was a constellation used by the Gauls. The Druits likely knew of the Graeco-Roman constellations, but whether they used them is probably unlikely. At this point, we need to innovate and find something that works for our understanding, and for me, this does. A point on Esus and Orion is that ancient Romanian astronomy saw the constellation Orion as different agricultural tools, a Plough, Rake, Sickle etc. (Maxim and Csillik, 2003). I am not suggesting that this goes back to the Gauls or that they had a similar understanding, only that it is possible. The agricultural tools relate to Esus in his depiction who, we see with a scythe and an axe or woodworking tool. Any sacrifice of a bull and pollarding of a tree makes the most sense during Winter. Therefore, I believe that the depictions on pillars likely relate to the constellations visible at this time.

On my understandings of Tarvos and Esus:

Tarvos and Esus are both Deuoi with little attested information. However, there is a wealth of symbology from the statues of them to create understanding. Tarvos Trigaranos mean the Bull with Three Cranes and is sometimes seen with three horns, with cranes having a symbolic relationship to bulls and possibly suggesting a cyclicality (Green, 2002). Bulls are seen as symbols of strength, fertility, defence and would therefore be a perfect guardian of the World Tree (Green, 1992). Green (1992) herself suggests that the pillars may depict a myth of seasonal death in Winter, with Esus cutting the tree for sacrificial purposes and the cranes representing the flight of the trees soul and the bull representing new life and virility. I expand on this below.

One final point before the myth is that of the relationship between people and trees. People and trees are often related to each other in IE myth; for example, Ask and Embla, the first people in Norse mythology, were fashioned by trees. The phrase ‘family tree’ also points to the close connection between trees and humans (Cusack, 2011). For this reason, I believe that the pollarding of Drus is a mythic mirroring of the sacrifice of the first King ‘twin’.

With the context explained, we continue onto the myth of Esus and Tarvos Triagarannos. The myth of Esus and Tarvos is a mirroring of the PIE creation myth and occurs cyclically. As the constellation we know as Orion, Esus fights, and upon winning sacrifices Tarvos, who submits willingly every year. This occurs when the constellation Orion (Esus) and Taurus (Tarvos) appear in the night sky together, Winter in the Northern Hemisphere. Tarvos' sacrifice calls to mind the first bovine's flesh and blood creating all plants. Therefore Tarvos' sacrifice fertilises the pollarded Drus so it can be reborn in Spring. Esus performs the role of 'man', the first priest. He maintains the cycles and creates the world out of Drus, who acts as 'Twin', and maintains civilisation going into winter by providing food and firewood through the dark and cold season. In this way, the îuos or holiday of Giamolitus is given in honour of Tarvos, Esus and Drus.

This is my mythic understanding of the relationship between Esus and Tarvos. I see Esus as a maintainer of the cycles of life and death, winter and summer, and Drus and Tarvos being the sacrifices needed to maintain the cycles. This myth is in no way 'historical'. Although I have tried to back up my UPG with archaeological sources, this is my personal Unverified Gnosis and people are in no way obligated to believe it and use it. But this myth works for me.

Bibliography:

Aldhouse-Green, M.J., 2004. An archaeology of images: iconology and cosmology in Iron Age and Roman Europe. Routledge.

Cusack, C.M., 2011. The Sacred Tree: Ancient and Medieval Manifestations. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Dobrosavljevic-Grujic, L. and Grujic, P., 2017. The language of sky. Publications de l'Observatoire Astronomique de Beograd, 96, pp.407-412.

Green, M., 2002. Animals in Celtic life and myth. Routledge.

Green, M., 2003. Symbol and image in Celtic religious art. Routledge.

Lincoln, B., 1975. The Indo-European myth of creation. History of Religions, 15(2), pp.121-145.

Lincoln, B., 2013. Myth, cosmos, and society. Harvard University Press.

Maxim, Z. and Csillik, I., 2003. Agricultural constellations. In Annals of the Tiberiu Popoviciu Seminar of functional equations, Approximation and Convexity (pp. 5-10).