Esus and Tarvos Trigaranus on the Pillar of the Boatman
Because only the other day the great cathedral of Notre Dame burned (4/15/2019), I happened to think back on some unfinished business of mine involving the Pillar of the Boatman, an ancient Parisian monument dating from the Roman period (see http://www.maryjones.us/jce/sailorspillar.html). While I had treated of the god Esus in the context of Myrddin (see https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2019/01/a-new-identification-of-north-british.html), I had not sought to explain the significance of his willow tree, nor why the former appears to have been associated with Tarvos Trigaranus, the Bull with Three Cranes.
After some reflection, I now think I know what these divine images represent.
Although facing the wrong way on a separate panel, the Bull with Three Cranes is the constellation sign Taurus, which is home to three remarkably bright stars. To quote from http://www.seasky.org/constellations/constellation-taurus.html:
"Taurus is famous for the bright stars Aldebaran, Elnath, and Alcyone. Aldebaran is the brightest star in the constellation with a visual magnitude of 0.86. it is also the thirteenth brightest star in the sky. It is an orange giant star located about 65 light years from Earth. The second brightest star in Taurus is Elnath with a magnitude of 1.68. It is a blue-white giant star that lies approximately 131 light years away. Alcyone is the third brightest star with a magnitude of 2.87. Alcyone is the third brightest star in Taurus and the brightest member of the Pleiades star cluster. It is a binary star system whose primary member is a blue-white giant star. The system is located some 370 light years from our solar system."
I would state that the Three Cranes are almost certainly these three stars.
And Esus and the willow tree?
Go to any sky map and you will see, to the left of Taurus, the mighty hunter Orion raising his club to the Milky Way. The Milky Way here is the willow tree, and for Orion's club we need only substitute the axe of Esus. The implied myth is that seasonally Esus "cuts down" the Milky Way, as sometimes the latter stands vertically in the sky, while at others it lies flat, like a felled tree. The seasonal aspects of the Orion and Scorpion (= the constellation Scorpius, which lies at the opposite "end" of the Milky Way) are well known. Essentially, the two opposing constellations divided the year in half.
Go to any sky map and you will see, to the left of Taurus, the mighty hunter Orion raising his club to the Milky Way. The Milky Way here is the willow tree, and for Orion's club we need only substitute the axe of Esus. The implied myth is that seasonally Esus "cuts down" the Milky Way, as sometimes the latter stands vertically in the sky, while at others it lies flat, like a felled tree. The seasonal aspects of the Orion and Scorpion (= the constellation Scorpius, which lies at the opposite "end" of the Milky Way) are well known. Essentially, the two opposing constellations divided the year in half.
A final note: the name of the Pleiades is Greek. It probably derives from plein ("to sail") because of the cluster's importance in delimiting the sailing season in the Mediterranean Sea: "the season of navigation began with their heliacal rising". [From Wikipedia, citing "Pleiad, n." OED Online. Oxford University Press, December 2014. Web. 20 January 2015.] Thus the fact that Parisian sailors would have chosen to honor the three cranes in sculpture is not surprising, as Alcyone of the Pleiades was one of the Three Cranes.
For a very good summary of the story of Orion the Hunter, see https://www.theoi.com/Gigante/GiganteOrion.html.
If I'm right about this, then it demonstrates an amazing synthesis between the Classical religion and that of the Celtic.
If I'm right about this, then it demonstrates an amazing synthesis between the Classical religion and that of the Celtic.
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