Series on Celtic mythology

Celtic polytheism Celtic deities

Ancient Celtic religion

Druids · Bards · Vates British Iron Age religion Celtic religious patterns Gallo-Roman religion Romano-British religion

Brythonic mythology

Welsh mythology Breton mythology Mabinogion · Taliesin Cad Goddeu Trioedd Ynys Prydein Matter of Britain · King Arthur

Gaelic mythology

Irish mythology Scottish mythology Hebridean mythology Tuatha Dé Danann Mythological Cycle Ulster Cycle Fenian Cycle Immrama · Echtrae

See also

Celts · Gaul Galatia · Celtiberians Early history of Ireland Prehistoric Scotland Prehistoric Wales Index of related articles This box: view • talk • edit

Celtic mythology is the mythology of Celtic polytheism, apparently the religion of the Iron Age Celts. Celtic polytheism refers to the religious beliefs and practices of ancient Celts, prior to the Christianization of the Celtic-speaking lands The Gods and Goddesses or deities of the Celts are known from a variety of sources these include written Celtic mythology, ancient A druid was a member of the priestly and learned class in the ancient Celtic societies Etymology The word is a Loanword from descendant languages of Proto-Celtic *bardos, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gwerh2 The earliest Latin writers used vates to denote "prophets" and soothsayers in general the word fell into disuse in Latin until it was revived by Virgil In Britain and Ireland the Iron Age lasted from about the 7th century BC until the Roman conquest and until the 5th century in non- Romanised Celts (ˈkɛlts or /ˈsɛlts/, see Names of the Celts Gallo-Roman religion was a fusion of Roman religious forms and modes of worship with Gaulish deities from Celtic polytheism. Roman Britain refers to those parts of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire between AD 43 and 410 Welsh mythology, the remnants of the Mythology of the pre Christian Britons, has come down to us in much altered form in medieval Welsh manuscripts Breton mythology is the Mythology or corpus of explanatory and herioc tales originating in Brittany, now in France. Taliesin (c 534 – c 599 (spelled as Taliessin in Alfred Lord Tennyson 's Idylls of the King and in some subsequent works was a Brythonic Cad Goddeu ( English: The Battle of the Trees) is a poem from the Book of Taliesin in which the legendary enchanter Gwydion The Welsh Triads ( Welsh Trioedd Ynys Prydein, literally "Triads of the Island of Britain " are a group of related texts in Medieval The Matter of Britain is a name given collectively to the Legends that concern the Celtic and legendary History of Great Britain, especially those King Arthur is a legendary British leader who according to medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against the Saxon invaders The Mythology of pre-Christian Ireland did not entirely survive the conversion to Christianity, but much of it was preserved shorn of its religious meanings Scottish mythology may refer to any of the mythologies of Scotland. The Inner and Outer Hebrides off the western coast of Scotland are made up of a great number of large and small islands The Tuatha Dé Danann ("peoples of the Goddess Danu " Modern Irish pronunciation /t̪ˠuːəhə dʲeː d̪ˠan̪ˠən̪ˠ/ Old Irish /tuːaθa ðʲeː The Mythological Cycle is one of the four major cycles of Irish mythology, and is so called because it represents the remains of the pagan Mythology of Texts in translation Most of the important Ulster Cycle tales can be found in the following publications Thomas Kinsella, The Táin, Oxford University The Fenian Cycle or Fiannaidheacht (modern Irish Fiannaíocht) also known as the Fionn Cycle, Finn Cycle, Fianna Cycle, Finnian An Immram (plural Immrama; Modern Irish: iomramh) is one of a class of Old Irish tales concerning a hero's sea journey to the Otherworld An Echtra or Echtrae (pl Echtrai) is one of a category of Old Irish literature about a hero's adventures in the Otherworld (see Tír na Celts (ˈkɛlts or /ˈsɛlts/, see Names of the Celts Gaul (Gallia was the Roman name for the region of Western Europe comprising present day northern Italy, France, Belgium, western Ancient Galatia was an area in the highlands of central Anatolia in modern Turkey. The Celtiberians (or Celt-Iberians were a Celtic people of Hallstatt culture Prehistory Mesolithic (8000 BC - 4500 BC What little is known of pre- Christian Ireland comes from a few references in Roman writings Archaeology and Geology continue to reveal the secrets of prehistoric Scotland, uncovering a complex and dramatic past before the Romans brought Scotland Prehistoric Wales in terms of human settlements covers the period from about 230000 years ago the date attributed to the earliest human remains found in what is now Wales The word mythology (from the Greek grc μυθολογία mythología, meaning "a story-telling a legendary lore" Celtic polytheism refers to the religious beliefs and practices of ancient Celts, prior to the Christianization of the Celtic-speaking lands A religion is a set of Tenets and practices often centered upon specific Supernatural and moral claims about Reality, the Cosmos This article is about the archaeological period known as the Iron Age for the mythological Iron Age see Ages of Man. Celts (ˈkɛlts or /ˈsɛlts/, see Names of the Celts Like other Iron Age Europeans, the early Celts maintained a polytheistic mythology and religious structure. This article is about the archaeological period known as the Iron Age for the mythological Iron Age see Ages of Man. Polytheism is belief in or worship of multiple Gods (usually assembled in a pantheon) together with associated Mythology and Rituals Among Celtic peoples in close contact with Rome, such as the Gauls and Celtiberians, their mythology did not survive the Roman empire, their subsequent conversion to Christianity, and the loss of their Celtic languages. Gaul (Gallia was the Roman name for the region of Western Europe comprising present day northern Italy, France, Belgium, western The Celtiberians (or Celt-Iberians were a Celtic people of Hallstatt culture The Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial Christianity ( Greek Χριστιανισμός from the word Xριστός ( Christ)is a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings The Celtic languages are descended from Proto-Celtic, or "Common Celtic" a branch of the greater Indo-European Language family. Ironically, it is mostly through contemporary Roman and Christian sources that their mythology has been preserved. The Celtic peoples who maintained either their political or linguistic identities (such as the Gaels and Brythonic tribes of the British Isles) left vestigial remnants of their forebears' mythologies, put into written form during the Middle Ages. The Brythonic languages (or Brittonic languages or British languages) form one of the two branches of the Insular Celtic language family the other being The British Isles (Irish variously Na hOileáin Bhriotanacha, Oileáin Iarthair Eorpa, Éire agus an Bhreatain Mhór; Ellanyn Goaldagh Eileanan

Overview

Though the Celtic world at its apex covered much of western and central Europe, it was not politically unified nor was there any substantial central source of cultural influence or homogeneity; as a result, there was a great deal of variation in local practices of Celtic religion (although certain motifs—for example, the god Lugh—appear to have diffused throughout the Celtic world). Lugh (ˈluː modern Irish Lú, earlier Lug) is an Irish Deity represented in mythological texts as a hero and High King of the distant Inscriptions to more than three hundred deities, often equated with their Roman counterparts, have survived, but of these most appear to have been genii locorum, local or tribal gods, and few were widely worshipped. In Roman mythology a genius loci was the protective spirit of a place However, from what has survived of Celtic mythology, it is possible to discern commonalities which hint at a more unified pantheon than is often given credit.

The nature and functions of these ancient gods can be deduced from their names, the location of their inscriptions, their iconography, the Roman gods they are equated with, and similar figures from later bodies of Celtic mythology. Iconography is the branch of Art history which studies the identification description and the interpretation of the content of images Roman mythology, or more appropriately Latin mythology, refers to the mythological beliefs of the Italic people inhabiting the region of Latium and its

Celtic mythology is found in a number of distinct, if related, subgroups, largely corresponding to the branches of the Celtic languages:

• Ancient Celtic religion (known primarily through archaeological sources rather than through written mythology; cf. The Celtic languages are descended from Proto-Celtic, or "Common Celtic" a branch of the greater Indo-European Language family. Ancient Gaulish and British deities)
• mythology in Goidelic languages, represented chiefly by Gaelic mythology (cf. The Goidelic languages, (also sometimes called particularly in colloquial situations the Gaelic languages or collectively Gaelic) historically formed a Dialect The Mythology of pre-Christian Ireland did not entirely survive the conversion to Christianity, but much of it was preserved shorn of its religious meanings also Scottish mythology and Irish mythology)
  • Mythological Cycle
  • Ulster Cycle
  • Fenian cycle
  • Historical Cycle
• mythology in Brythonic languages, represented chiefly by Welsh mythology (cf. Scottish mythology may refer to any of the mythologies of Scotland. The Mythology of pre-Christian Ireland did not entirely survive the conversion to Christianity, but much of it was preserved shorn of its religious meanings The Mythological Cycle is one of the four major cycles of Irish mythology, and is so called because it represents the remains of the pagan Mythology of Texts in translation Most of the important Ulster Cycle tales can be found in the following publications Thomas Kinsella, The Táin, Oxford University The Fenian Cycle or Fiannaidheacht (modern Irish Fiannaíocht) also known as the Fionn Cycle, Finn Cycle, Fianna Cycle, Finnian Cycle of the Kings, also known as the King's Cycle or the Historical Cycle is a body of Old and Middle Irish literature. The Brythonic languages (or Brittonic languages or British languages) form one of the two branches of the Insular Celtic language family the other being Welsh mythology, the remnants of the Mythology of the pre Christian Britons, has come down to us in much altered form in medieval Welsh manuscripts also Breton mythology and folklore)

Historical sources

Because of the scarcity of surviving materials bearing written Gaulish, it is surmised that the pagan Celts were not widely literate— although a written form of Gaulish using the Greek, Latin and North Italic alphabets was used (as evidenced by votive items bearing inscriptions in Gaulish and the Coligny Calendar). Gaulish or Gallic is the name given to the Celtic language that was spoken in Gaul before the Vulgar Latin of the late Roman Empire became The Greek alphabet (Ελληνικό αλφάβητο is a set of twenty-four letters that has been used to write the Greek language since the late 9th or early Old Italic refers to several now extinct Alphabet systems used on the Italian Peninsula in ancient times for various Indo-European (predominantly Italic The Gaulish Coligny Calendar was found in Coligny, Ain, France ( near Lyon in 1897 along with the head of a bronze statue of Caesar attests to the literacy of the Gauls, but also wrote that their priests, the druids, were forbidden to use writing to record certain verses of religious significance (Caesar, De Bello Gallico 6. A druid was a member of the priestly and learned class in the ancient Celtic societies 14) while also noting that the Helvetii had a written census (Caesar, De Bello Gallico 1. 29).

Rome introduced a more widespread habit of public inscriptions, and broke the power of the druids in the areas it conquered; in fact, most inscriptions to deities discovered in Gaul (modern France), Britain and other formerly (or presently) Celtic-speaking areas post-date the Roman conquest. See also List of deities A deity is a Postulated Preternatural or Supernatural Being, who is always Gaul (Gallia was the Roman name for the region of Western Europe comprising present day northern Italy, France, Belgium, western This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Roman Britain refers to those parts of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire between AD 43 and 410

And although early Gaels in Ireland and parts of modern Wales used the Ogham script to record short inscriptions (largely personal names), more sophisticated literacy was not introduced to Celtic areas that had not been conquered by Rome until the advent of Christianity; indeed, many Gaelic myths were first recorded by Christian monks, albeit without most of their original religious meanings. Ogham (ogam ˈɔɣam Modern Irish or, English) is an Early Medieval Alphabet used primarily to represent the Old Irish language (and Christianity ( Greek Χριστιανισμός from the word Xριστός ( Christ)is a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings MONK is a Monte Carlo software package for simulating nuclear processes particularly for the purpose of determining the neutron multiplication factor or k-effective

The mythology of Ireland

Main article: Irish mythology

The oldest body of myths is found in early medieval manuscripts from Ireland. The Mythology of pre-Christian Ireland did not entirely survive the conversion to Christianity, but much of it was preserved shorn of its religious meanings The Early Middle Ages is a period in the History of Europe following the fall of the Western Roman Empire spanning roughly five centuries from AD 500 A manuscript is any Document that is Written by hand as opposed to being printed or reproduced in some other way Ireland (pronounced /ˈaɾlənd/ Éire) is the third largest island in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world These were written by Christians, so the formerly divine nature of the characters is obscured. The basic myth appears to be a war between two apparently divine races, the Tuatha Dé Danann and the Fomorians, which forms the basis for the text Cath Maige Tuireadh (the Battle of Mag Tuireadh), as well as portions of the history-focused Lebor Gabála Érenn (the Book of Invasions). The Tuatha Dé Danann ("peoples of the Goddess Danu " Modern Irish pronunciation /t̪ˠuːəhə dʲeː d̪ˠan̪ˠən̪ˠ/ Old Irish /tuːaθa ðʲeː In Irish mythology, the Fomorians, Fomors, or Fomori ( Irish Fomóiri, Fomóraig) were a semi-divine race who inhabited Cath Maige Tuired ("The Battle of Mag Tuired" is the name of two saga texts of the Mythological Cycle of Irish Mythology. Lebor Gabála Érenn ( The Book of the Taking of Ireland) is the Middle Irish title of a loose collection of Poems and Prose narratives The Tuatha Dé represent the functions of human society such as kingship, crafts and war, while the Fomorians represent chaos and wild nature.

The Dagda

The supreme god of the Irish pantheon appears to have been The Dagda. The name means the 'Good God', not good in a moral sense, but good at everything, or all-powerful. The Dagda is a father-figure, a protector of the tribe and the basic Celtic god of whom other male Celtic deities were variants. Celtic gods were largely unspecialised entities, and perhaps more like a clan rather than as a formal pantheon. In a sense, all the Celtic gods and goddesses were like the Greek Apollo, who could never be described as the god of any one thing.

Because the particular character of Dagda is a figure of burlesque lampoonery in Irish mythology, some authors conclude that he was trusted to be benevolent enough to tolerate a joke at his expense.

Irish tales depict the Dagda as a figure of power, armed with a spear and associated with a cauldron. A cauldron or caldron (from Latin Caldarium, hot bath is a large Metal pot ( Kettle) for cooking and/or boiling In Dorset there is a famous outline of an ithyphallic giant known as the Cerne Abbas Giant with a club cut into the chalky soil. Dorset ( (or archaically, Dorsetshire) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast For the album by Nile, see Ithyphallic (album Ithyphallic means "having an erect penis " especially in The Cerne Abbas giant, also referred to as the Rude Man or the Rude Giant, is a Hill figure of a giant naked man on a hillside near the village of While this was probably produced in relatively modern times (English Civil War era), it was long thought to be a representation of the Dagda. The English Civil War (1642-1651 was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists. This has been called into question by recent studies which show that there may have been a representation of what looks like a large drapery hanging from the horizontal arm of the figure, leading to suspicion that this figure actually represents Hercules(Heracles), with the skin of the Nemean Lion over his arm and carrying the club he used to kill it. Hercules is the Roman name for the Mythical Greek hero Heracles, son of Zeus and the mortal Alcmena. In Greek mythology, Heracles or Herakles ("glory of Hera " or The Nemean lion ( Modern Greek: Λέων της Νεμέας (Léōn tēs Neméas Latin: Leo Nemaeus was a vicious monster in Greek mythology that lived In Gaul, it is speculated that the Dagda is associated with Sucellos, the striker, equipped with a hammer and cup. Gaul (Gallia was the Roman name for the region of Western Europe comprising present day northern Italy, France, Belgium, western In Gaulish religion, Sucellus or Sucellos was the God of Agriculture, Forests and alcoholic drinks of the Gauls also part

The Morrígan

The Morrígan was a tripartite battle goddess of the ancient Irish Celts. The Morrígan ("terror" or "phantom queen" or Mórrígan ("great queen" (also known as Morrígu, Morríghan, Mor-Ríoghain Collectively she was known as the Morrígan, but her divisions were also referred to as Nemhain, Macha, and Badb (among other, less common names), with each representing different aspects of combat. In Irish mythology, Nemain (or Nemhain, Nemon or Neman) is the Fairy Spirit of the frenzied havoc of war and possibly Macha (/ˈmaxə/ is a presumed Goddess of ancient Ireland, associated with war horses sovereignty and the sites of Armagh and Emain Macha In Irish mythology, the Badb (/baðβ/ " Crow " in Old Irish; modern Irish Badhbh /bəiv/ means " Vulture " She is most commonly known for her involvement in the Táin Bó Cúailnge, where she is at various times a helper and a hindrance to the hero Cúchulainn, and in the Cath Maige Tuireadh (the Battle of Mag Tuired) where she also plays the role of a poet, magician and sovereignty figure, and gives the victory to the Tuatha Dé Danann. Cúchulainn /kuːˈxʊlɪnʲ/ ( ( Irish for "Hound of Culann " also spelled Cú Chulainn, Cú Chulaind, Cúchulain, or Cath Maige Tuired ("The Battle of Mag Tuired" is the name of two saga texts of the Mythological Cycle of Irish Mythology. She was most often represented as a crow or raven but could take many different forms, including a cow, wolf or eel. Raven is the common name given to the largest species of Passerine Birds in the Genus Corvus. True eels ( Anguilliformes) are an order of Fish, which consists of four suborders 19 families 110 Genera and approximately 600 The Morrígan can be compared to other Indo-European goddesses of death such as Kali in the Hindu pantheon and the Valkyries in Norse Mythology. Kali redirects here See Kali (disambiguation for other uses Not to be confused with Kali (demon, the personification of Kali Yuga A Hindu ( Devanagari: हिन्दू is an adherent of the philosophies and scriptures of Hinduism, a set of religious, Philosophical In Norse mythology the valkyries ( Old Norse Valkyrja "Choosers of the Slain" are Dísir, minor female deities Norse mythology comprises the indigenous pre-Christian religion, beliefs and Legends of the Scandinavian peoples including those who settled on Iceland

Lúgh/Lug

The widespread diffusion of the god Lugus (seemingly related to the mythological figure Lugh in Irish) in Celtic religion is apparent from the number of place names in which his name appears, occurring across the Celtic world from Ireland to Gaul. Lugus was a deity apparently worshipped widely in antiquity in the Celtic -speaking world Lugh (ˈluː modern Irish Lú, earlier Lug) is an Irish Deity represented in mythological texts as a hero and High King of the distant The most famous of these are the cities of Lugdunum (the modern French city of Lyon) and Lugdunum Batavorum (the modern city of Leiden). This article is about the city in Gaul for other uses of Lugdunum see Lugdunum (disambiguation Colonia Copia Claudia Augusta Lugdunum (modern ||-||} Lyon, also known as Lyons in English is a city in east-central France. "Leyden" redirects here For other uses see Leyden (disambiguation. Lug is described in the Celtic myths as a latecomer to the list of deities, and is usually described as having the appearance of a young man. He is often associated with light, the sun, and summer. His weapons were the throwing-spear and sling, and in Ireland a festival called the Lughnasa (Modern Irish lúnasa) was held in his honour. A sling is a projectile Weapon typically used to throw a blunt Projectile such as a stone Lughnasadh ( Old Irish, pronounced luɣnəsəð Modern Irish Lá Lúnasa; Modern Gaelic Lùnastal) is a Gaelic

Others

A statuette in the Museum of Brittany, Rennes, probably depicting Brigantia (Brigid): c2nd century BCE

Among these are the goddess Brigid (or Brigit), the Dagda's daughter; nature goddesses like Tailtiu and Macha; Epona, the horse goddess; and Ériu. This article refers to the Pagan Goddess Brigid For the Catholic/Orthodox Saint of that name see Saint Brigid. Tailtiu ( Old Irish pronunciation /ˈtalʲtʲu/ also written Tailltiu Tailte Teia Tephi Can we get a source for this odd variant? The only ones I Macha (/ˈmaxə/ is a presumed Goddess of ancient Ireland, associated with war horses sovereignty and the sites of Armagh and Emain Macha In Gallo-Roman religion Celtic mythology without citing a specific instance of Celtic mythology where Epona appears please --> Epona '''po''' nə In Irish mythology, Ériu (/ˈeːrʲu/ daughter of Ernmas of the Tuatha Dé Danann, was the eponymous matron Goddess of Ireland

Male gods included Goibniu, the smith god and immortal brewer of beer, as well as Angus Og, the god of love. In Irish mythology Goibniu or Goibhniu (pronounced /ˈgovʲnʲu/ or 'Goive-nu' was a son of Brigid and Tuireann and the smith of A smith, or metalsmith, is a person involved in the shaping of Metal objects Beer is the world's oldest and most widely consumed Alcoholic beverage and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea

The mythology of Wales

Main article: Welsh mythology

Less is known about the pre-Christian mythologies of Britain than those of Ireland. Welsh mythology, the remnants of the Mythology of the pre Christian Britons, has come down to us in much altered form in medieval Welsh manuscripts Prehistoric Britain was a period in the human occupation of Great Britain that was the later part of Prehistory, conventionally ending with the Roman invasion The last Ice Age came to an end in Ireland about 10000 BC. Human occupation of Ireland began about 7000 BC and the earliest humans are believed to have migrated from Important reflexes of British mythology appear in the Four Branches of The Mabinogi, especially in the names of several characters, such as Rhiannon (‘the Divine Queen’), Teyrnon (‘the Divine King’), and Bendigeidfran (‘Bran [Crow] the Blessed’). In the Mabinogion of Welsh mythology Rhiannon is the horse goddess reminiscent of Epona from Gaulish religion. In Welsh mythology, Teyrnon (sometimes Teirnon in Middle Welsh) was the foster father of Pryderi. Bran the Blessed ( Welsh: Bendigeidfran, literally "Blessed Crow" is a giant and king of Britain in Welsh mythology. Other characters, in all likelihood, derive from mythological sources, and various episodes, such as the appearance of Arawn, a king of the Otherworld seeking the aid of a mortal in his own feuds, and the tale of the hero who cannot be killed except under seemingly contradictory circumstances, can be traced throughout Indo-European myth and legend. In Welsh mythology, Arawn was the king of the Otherworld realm of Annwn. The children of Llŷr (‘Sea’ = Irish Lir) in the Second and Third Branches, and the children of Dôn (Danu in Irish and earlier Indo-European tradition) in the Fourth Branch are major figures, but the tales themselves are not primary mythology. Llŷr is a figure in Welsh mythology, the father of Bran, Branwen and Manawydan by Penarddun. In Irish mythology, Lir or Ler ("the sea" was the god of the sea father of Manannan mac Lir, and a son of Elatha. Dôn ( Welsh pronunciation /doːn/ was a Welsh mother Goddess.

While further mythological names and references appear elsewhere in Welsh narrative and tradition, especially in the tale of Culhwch and Olwen, where we find, for example, Mabon ap Modron (‘the Divine Son of the Divine Mother’), and in the collected Triads of the Island of Britain, not enough is known of the British mythological background to reconstruct either a narrative of creation or a coherent pantheon of British deities. Culhwch and Olwen ( Culhwch ac Olwen) is a Welsh tale about a hero connected with Arthur and his warriors that survives in only two manuscripts In Welsh mythology, Mabon ("divine son" was the son of Modron ("divine mother" The Welsh Triads ( Welsh Trioedd Ynys Prydein, literally "Triads of the Island of Britain " are a group of related texts in Medieval Indeed, though there is much in common with Irish myth, there may have been no unified British mythological tradition per se. Whatever its ultimate origins, the surviving material has been put to good use in the service of literary masterpieces that address the cultural concerns of Wales in the early and later Middle Ages.

Remnants of Gaulish and other mythology

The Celts also worshipped a number of deities of which we know little more than their names. The Gods and Goddesses or deities of the Celts are known from a variety of sources these include written Celtic mythology, ancient Classical writers preserve a few fragments of legends or myths that may possibly be Celtic. ^[1]

According to the Syrian rhetorician Lucian, Ogmios was supposed to lead a band of men chained by their ears to his tongue as a symbol of the strength of his eloquence. Lucian of Samosata (Λουκιανός ὁ Σαμοσατεύς Lucianus c Ogmios was a Gaulish Deity, who Lucian records was depicted as a bald old man with a bow and club leading an apparently happy band of men with chains attached

The Roman poet Lucan (1st century AD) mentions the gods Taranis, Teutates and Esus, but there is little Celtic evidence that these were important deities. Marcus Annaeus Lucanus ( November 3, 39 AD – April 30, 65 AD better known in English as Lucan, was a Roman In Celtic mythology Taranis was the god of Thunder worshipped in Gaul, Britain and Hispania and mentioned along with Esus Toutatis or Teutates was a Celtic god worshipped in ancient Gaul and Britain. Esus or Hesus ("lord" or "master" was a Gaulish god known from two monumental statues and a line in Lucan 's Bellum civile

A number of objets d'art, coins, and altars may depict scenes from lost myths, such as the representations of Tarvos Trigaranus or of an equestrian ‘Jupiter’ surmounting a snake-legged human-like figure. In ancient Gaul, Tarvos Trigaranus was a bull God. An alternative spelling is Taruos Trigaranos since the Latin script did not distinguish In Roman mythology, Jupiter was the king of the gods and the god of Sky and Thunder. The Gundestrup cauldron has been also interpreted mythically. The Gundestrup cauldron is a richly-decorated silver vessel thought to date from the La Tène Period in the first century to second century BC ^[2]

Along with dedications giving us god names, there are also deity representations to which no name has yet been attached. Among these are images of a three headed or three faced god, a squatting god, a god with a snake, a god with a wheel, and a horseman with a kneeling giant. ^[3] Some of these images can be found in Late Bronze Age peat bogs in Britain,^[4] indicating the symbols were both pre-Roman and widely spread across Celtic culture. The term Bronze Age refers to a period in human cultural development when the most advanced Metalworking (at least in systematic and widespread use included techniques for A bog or mire is a Wetland type that accumulates Acidic Peat, a deposit of dead plant material &ndash usually Mosses but also The distribution of some of the images has been mapped and shows a pattern of central concentration of an image along with a wide scatter indicating these images were most likely attached to specific tribes and were distributed from some central point of tribal concentration outward along lines of trade. The image of the three headed god has a central concentration among the Belgae, between the Oise, Marne and Moselle rivers. The horseman with kneeling giant is centered on either side of the Rhine. These examples seem to indicate regional preferences of a common image stock. ^[3]

Julius Caesar’s comments on Celtic religion and their significance

The classic entry about the Celtic gods of Gaul is the section in Julius Caesar's Commentarii de bello Gallico (52–51 BC; The Gallic War). Commentarii de Bello Gallico is Julius Caesar 's third-person account of his nine years of war in Gaul. In this he names the five principal gods worshipped in Gaul (according to the practice of his time, he gives the names of the closest equivalent Roman gods) and describes their roles. Interpretatio graeca is a Latin term for the common tendency of Ancient Greek writers to equate foreign divinities to members of their own pantheon Mercury was the most venerated of all the deities and numerous representations of him were to be discovered. "Alipes" redirects here For the Centipede Genus, see Alipes (centipede. Mercury was seen as the originator of all the arts (and is often taken to refer to Lugus for this reason), the supporter of adventurers and of traders, and the mightiest power concerning trade and profit. Lugus was a deity apparently worshipped widely in antiquity in the Celtic -speaking world Next the Gauls revered Apollo, Mars, Jupiter, and Minerva. Mars was the Roman Warrior god, the son of Juno and Jupiter, husband of Bellona, and the lover of Venus. In Roman mythology, Jupiter was the king of the gods and the god of Sky and Thunder. The MInisterial NEtwoRk for Valorising Activities in digitisation, or MINERVA, is a European Union organization concerned with the digitisation of cultural and Among these divinities the Celts are described as holding roughly equal views as did other populations: Apollo dispels sickness, Minerva encourages skills, Jupiter governs the skies, and Mars influences warfare. In addition to these five, he mentions that the Gauls traced their ancestry to Dis Pater. Dis Pater, or Dispater, was a Roman and Celtic god of the Underworld, later subsumed by Pluto or Hades.

The problem with Caesar’s ‘equivalent’ Roman gods

As typical of himself as a Roman of the day, though, Caesar does not write of these gods by their Celtic names but by the names of the Roman gods with which he equated them, a process that significantly confuses the chore of identifying these Gaulish gods with their native names in the insular mythologies. Interpretatio graeca is a Latin term for the common tendency of Ancient Greek writers to equate foreign divinities to members of their own pantheon He also portrays a tidy schema which equates deity and role in a manner that is quite unfamiliar to the colloquial literature handed down. Still, despite the restrictions, his short list is a helpful and fundamentally precise observation. In balancing his description with the oral tradition, or even with the Gaulish iconography, one is apt to recollect the distinct milieus and roles of these gods. Oral tradition, oral culture and oral lore is a way for a society to transmit history, literature, law and other Knowledges Caesar's remarks and the iconography allude to rather dissimilar phases in the history of Gaulish religion. The iconography of Roman times is part of a setting of great social and political developments, and the religion it depicts may actually have been less obviously ordered than that upheld by the druids (the priestly order) in the era of Gaulish autonomy from Rome. Conversely, the want of order is often more ostensible than factual. It has, for example, been noticed that out of the several hundred names including a Celtic aspect that can be found in Gaul the greater part crop up only once. This has led some scholars to conclude that the Celtic deities and the related cults were local and tribal as opposed to pan-Celtic. Proponents of this opinion quote Lucan's reference to a divinity called Teutates, which they translate as “tribal spirit” (*teuta is believed to have meant “tribe” in Proto-Celtic). Toutatis or Teutates was a Celtic god worshipped in ancient Gaul and Britain. The apparent array of divine names may, nonetheless, be justified differently: many may be mere epithets applied to key gods worshiped in extensive pan-Celtic cults. The concept of the Celtic pantheon as a large number of local deities is gainsaid by certain well-testified gods whose cults seem to have been followed across the Celtic world.

See also

• Triskele

References

External links

• Celtic Art & Cultures: a detailed description of the Gundestrup cauldron
• Celtic Religion - What Information do we really have
• Pretanic World - Celtic Pantheons
• What We Don't Know About the Ancient Celts
• Timeless Myths: Celtic Mythology Myths and legends from Celtic Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Brittany. The Gundestrup cauldron is a richly-decorated silver vessel thought to date from the La Tène Period in the first century to second century BC