10. Taranis: The Celtic Wheel-Rolling Thunderer
Often related with the wheel and the bull, Taranis is the deity of thunder in Celtic mythology. In Proto-Celtic, his name exactly means “thunder”. Taranis was supposed to roll his wheel over the heavens, generating thunder, shown carrying a lightning bolt and a wheel. In many ancient societies, the wheel—a symbol of the sun—links Taranis to both celestial and solar cults. Seeking Taranis’s protection or favourable weather for harvests, Celtic tribes would frequently burn wheels or toss them into rivers. Taranis’s relationship to fertility and agriculture as well as his raw force is underlined by his affiliation with the bull. Taranis’s multifarious character captures the complicated knowledge the Celts possessed of natural forces and their effects on daily life.