The Obscure Gods of Europe Trivia Quiz

Answer: Etruscan

Tinia is the Etruscan god of thunder. He bears certain similarities to the Greek Zeus, whose attributes he shared. It was said by the Roman antiquarian Varro that Tinia was not the original leader of the Etruscan pantheon, but rather it was the chthonic goddess Veltha. Therefore, it is possible that Tinia's evolution shows the results of extensive contacts between Etruscans and Greeks.

Answer: Etruscan

Laran is the Etruscan god of warfare, analogous to the Greek Ares. However, his domain extends to preserving peace and stability and he also appears to have some chthonic functions. His festival was celebrated in May.

Answer: Etruscan

Fufluns is a deity personifying growth and the vegetative cycle. He appears to be much similar to the Greek gods Dionysus and Pan. An alternative spelling of his name is Puphluns. It is suggested that the name of the city of Populonia and also the Latin word populus (meaning "the people", as in "populus Romanus", "the Roman people") are etymoloogically connected to his name.

Answer: Celtic

Taranis is a Celtic god of thunder, worshipped mainly in continental Gaul (modern-day France and Belgium). He is mentioned in a number of inscriptions, but also in Lucan's epic poem "Pharsalia" about the Roman civil war between Caesar and Pompey. A slightly modified or misspelled form of his name, Tanaris, appears in a Latin inscription in Dalmatia as an epithet of Jupiter.

Answer: Celtic

Sucellus is a Celtic god associated with growth and beer, but also with some chthonic connotations. Although most of the inscriptions mentioning him are found in Gaul, we have evidence he was worshipped in Britain and in Rhaetia, in modern-day Switzerland and Austria. Sucellus is usually depicted holding a mallet or large hammer in one hand and a pot-like vessel (olla) in the other.

Answer: Baltic

Perkunas is a Baltic (Lithuanian, Latvian, Old Prussian) god of thunder. Although most of the material available about him is from folklore post-dating the Christianization of Europe, we have entries in medieval chronicles attesting to the existence of idols of Perkunas in many locations of the Baltic littoral.

Answer: Baltic

Potrimpo is the god of the crops and fertility in Baltic mythology. Late medieval chronicler Simon Grunau depicted him as a youth crowned with a wreath of grain ears. A 1418 document states that Potrimpo, alongside the thunder god Perkunas and the underowld god Peckols, formed a kind of trinity.

Answer: Baltic

Peckols is the Baltic god of the underworld. His name has several variants, like Patollo and Pockols. A similar deity or perhaps an epithet of Peckols attested in Lithuanian folklore is Velnias. His worship persisted for a substantial period of time after the Baltic people were Christianized, with 17th-century documents informing us of rural people there worshipping "Pykullis" and "Picolli".

Answer: Estonian

Pikne is a deity to whom bulls were sacrificed in the Middle Ages and even in the early modern era in Estonia. A prayer and bull sacrifice to him was described in 1644 by a pastor named Johann Gutslaff. The name Pikne means "the long one", and it is mentioned that he was a god of lightning. A close parallel is the Finnish word Pitkainen, which is used to denote lightning.

Answer: Estonian

The name Tharapita is sometimes connected to the Norse god Thor, in the slightly modified form Taara. Therefore, Tharapita is a thunder god. Medieval chronicles placed the epicenter of his cult in the island of Saaremaa, but apparently he was also revered in Tavastia, a region of Finland.

The priest and author Henry of Livonia closes his chronicle with the triumphal declaration that where Tharapita was once revered, now the name of Jesus is proclaimed.