1. Meaning of Name: All major authorities are agreed on “Good Striker”.1
2. Pronunciation: Su-KELL-us, with the “u” like in “put”.
3. Other Names and Epithets: None.
4. Interpretatio Romana: Dis Pater.2
5. Irish Equivalent: The Dahgda.3
6. Indo-European Equivalent: None suggested by scholars. .
7. Realm: Andernados/Underworld God par excellence.
8. Iconography: The long-shafted mallet and pot, wine and barrels, an olla, and a dog. Olmsted has noticed the striking resemblance of Sucellus’ iconography to that of the Etruscan underworld deity Charun. This resemblance forms one key to understanding Sucellus.4
9. Significance: Sucellus is the God of the Underworld, though not necessarily Lord of the Dead. His iconography, modeled on the Etruscan Charun, confirms this, as does his association with Dis Pater. He is also a deity of wealth, fertility and plenty, as shown by his pot, olla, and wine symbolism. That wine symbolism makes him the deity of grapes, vine growing, and of wine itself. Although an Underworld deity he is, unlike Charun, a basically benevolent figure associated with the pleasures of life, and the afterworld paradise. He is paired with Nantosueltâ.5
- Kondratiev, Basic Celtic Deity Types; Green, Dictionary, p. 200; Olmsted, Gods of the Celts and Into-Europeans, p. 42 ↩
- Olmsted, Gods of the Celts and Indo-Europeans, p. 42 ↩
- Kondratiev, Basic Celtic Deity Types ↩
- Green, Dictionary, pp. 110-11, 200; Olmsted, Gods of the Celts and Indo-Europeans, pp. 300-302 ↩
- Olmsted, Gods of the Celts and Indo-Europeans, pp. 300-302 ↩