Page:Origin and Growth of Religion (Rhys).djvu/81

Rh with the other on a hammer with a long handle, while the goblet stands at his feet.

The reasoning of M. Mowat leaves one in no doubt that the Gauls identified Esus with the Roman god Silvanus, who presided over woodlands, clearings and gardens, together with the shepherds' interests. But one group of this class of images has been the subject of another attribution, which has the weighty authority of M. Gaidoz and M. Cerquand: they see in the personage with the hammer and goblet the god of thunder, whose name they take Taranis to have been, and one of the best preserved specimens is a bronze image found at Prémeaulx in the Côte-d'Or. It is described as representing a bearded figure holding a cup in his right hand, while the other grasps the handle of a hammer which stands taller than his own person. His dress consists of a short tunic and some kind of closely fitting trousers: his waist is provided with a thick girdle, which one might be tempted to compare with Thor's so-called belt of strength. The Chester dedication to the German thunder-god shows no trace of the hammer, but only a goblet on one side of the inscription and what appears to have been a rose on the other: the monument is unfortunately in a very bad state of preservation. The museums of the Louvre, Saint-Germain, Lyons and Avignon, says M. Mowat, contain more than a score of images