The Religion of the Ancient Celts

e arts, as the guide of travellers, and as possessing great influence over bargains and commerce. After him they worship Apollo and Mars, Juppiter and Minerva. About these they

they are descended from Di

Roman civilisation easily, and to have acquiesced in the process of assimilation of their divinities to those of their conquerors. Hence we have thousands of inscriptions in which a god is called by the name of the Roman deity to whom he was assimilated and by his own Celtic name-Jupiter Taranis, Apollo Grannus, etc. Or sometimes to the name of the Roman god is added a descriptive Celtic epithet or a word derived from a Celtic place-name. Again, since Augustus reinstated the cult of the Lares, with himself as chief Lar, the epithet Augustus was given to all gods to whom the character of the Lares could be ascribed, e.g. Belenos A

, Mars, and Mercuries. There may, however, have been a few great gods common to all Gaul, universally worshipped, besides the numerous local gods, some of whom may have been adopted from the aborigines. An examination of the divine names in Holder's Altceltischer Sprachschatz will show

prominent. The native names of the gods assimilated to Mercury are many in number; in some cases they are epithets, derived from the names of places where a local "Mercury" was worshipped, in others they are derived from some function of the gods.57 One of these titles is Artaios, perhaps cognate with Irish art, "god," or connected with artos, "bear." Professor Rh[^y]s, however, finds its cognate in Welsh ar, "ploughed land," as if one of the god's functions connected him with agriculture.58 This is supported by another inscription to Mercurius Cultor at Wurtemberg. Local gods of agriculture must thus ha

ts travelled, and boundaries where their transactions took place. Hence we have an inscription from Yorkshire, "T

acles, and is identical with the Goidelic Ogma.60 Eloquence and speech are important matters among primitive peoples, and this god has m

the Celtic Mercury was sometimes worshipped on hilltops, one of the epithets of the god, Dumias, b

gives words meaning "burning," "shining," etc., and from which comes also Irish grian, "sun." The god is still remembered in a chant sung round bonfires in Auvergne. A sheaf of corn is set on fire, and called "Granno mio," while the people sing, "Granno, my friend; Granno, my father; Granno, my moth

4 his cult must have extended into Britain from the Continent, and he is often mentioned by classical writers, while much later Ausonius speaks of his priest in Gaul.65 Many place and personal names point to the popularity of his cult, and inscriptions show that he, t

mself is called Bonus Puer in a Dacian inscription. Another god Mogons or Mogounos, whose name is derived from Mago, "to increase,"

," and every nineteenth year the god appeared dancing in the sky at the spring equinox.68 The identifications of the temple with Stonehenge and of the Boreads with the Bards are quite hypothetical. Apollonius says that the Celts regarded the wa

shippers to battle. Some of the names show that these gods were thought of as mighty warriors, e.g. Caturix, "battle-king," Belatu-Cadros-a common name in Britai

him, is regarded as one of three pan-Celtic gods.74 Had this been the case we should have expected to find many more inscriptions to them. The scholiast on Lucan identifies Teu

Nét. Another god, Camulos, known from British and continental inscriptions, and figured on British coins with warlike embl

nks, e.g. [Greek: chourmi], the Irish cuirm, and braccat, both made from malt (braich).76 These words, with the Gaulish brace, "spelt,"77 are connected with the name of this god, who was a divine perso

also gods of healing. In some cases the god with the wheel carries also a thunderbolt, and on some altars, dedicated to Juppiter, both a wheel and a thunderbolt are figured. Many races have symbolised the sun as a circle or wheel, and an old Roman god, Summanus, probably a sun-god, later assimilated to Juppiter, had

ouching god called Cernunnos, and a god called Esus or Silvanus. Possibly the native Dispater

iasts on Lucan identify him now with Juppiter, now with Dispater. This latter identification is supported by many who regard the god with the hammer as at once Taranis and Dispater, though it cannot be proved that the god with the

hieroglyph of Neter to the Egyptians, and a worshipful object to Polynesians and Chaldeans. The cult of axe or hammer may have been widespread, and to the Celts, as to many other peoples, it was a divine symbol. Thus it does not necessarily denote a thunder

and ancestor of the Celtic folk. In some cases, like Serapis, he carries a modius on his head, and this, like the cup, is an emblem of chthonian gods, and a symbol of the fertility of the soil. The god being benevolent, his hammer, like the tool with which man forms so many things, could only be a symbol of creative force.84 As an ancestor of the Celts, the god is naturally represented in Celtic dress. In one bas-relief he is called Sucellos, and has a consort, Nant

on an altar found at Paris.87 He is called Cernunnos, perhaps "the horned," from cerna, "horn," a

ram's-headed serpents. Fixed above his ears are two small heads.88 On a monument from Vandoeuvres is a squatt

aintes is a squatting but headless god with torque and purse. Beside him is a goddess with a cornucopia, and a smaller divinity with a cornucopia and an apple. A similar squatting figure, supported by male and female deities, is represented on the other side of the altar

a three-faced god, holding

faces. To be compared with these are seven steles from Reims, each with a triple face but only on

ch Cernunnos was associated with other gods. The three-headed god may be the same as the horned god, though on the Beaune altar they are distinct. The various representations are linked together, but it i

l god, like the wolf-skin of other gods. Hence also horned animals would be regarded as symbols of the god, and this may account for their presence on the Reims monument. Animals are sometimes represented beside the divinities who were their anthropomorphic forms.99 Similarly the ram's-headed serpent points to animal worship. But its presence with three-headed and horned gods is enigmatic, though, as will be seen later, it may have been connected with a cult of the dead, while the serpent was a chthonian a

and fixed them up on their houses in order to obtain the protection of the ghost. Bodies or heads of dead warriors had a protective influence on their land or tribe, and myth told how the head of the god Bran saved his country from invasion. In other my

uatting and horned goddesses with cornucopia occur.103 These may be consorts of Cernunnos, and perhaps preceded him in origin. We may also go further and see in this god of abundance and fertility at once an Earth and an Under-earth god, since earth and under-earth are much the same to primitive thought, and fertility springs from below the earth's surface. Thus Cernunnos would be another form of the Celtic Dispater. Generally speaking, the images of Cernunnos are not found

ic forms of earlier animal divinities, sometimes have the animals as symbols or attendants, or are regarded as hostile to them. In some cases Dispater may have outgrown the serpent symbolism,

ten assumed by writers on Celtic religion, he was ancestor of the living. This may merely have meant that, as in other mythologies, men came to the surface of the eart

the dead.107 The Roman god was also associated with the wolf. This might be regarded as one out of many examples of a mere superficial assimilation of Roman and Celtic divinities, but in this case they still kept certain symbols of the native Dispater-the cup and hammer. Of course, since the latter was also a god of fertility, there was here another link with Silvanus, a god of woods and vegetation. The cult of the god was widespread-in Spain, S. Gaul, the Rhine provinces, Cisalpine Gaul, Ce

consort or his mother. On a monument from Salzbach, Dispater is accompanied by a goddess called Aeracura, holding a basket of fruit, and on another monument from Ober-Seebach, the companion of Dispater holds a cornucopia. In the latter instance Dispater holds a hammer and cup, and the goddess may be Aeracu

bus for three-horned (trikeras), or more probably three-headed (trikarenos).112 In this case woodman, tree, and bull might all be representatives of a god of vegetation. In early ritual, human, animal, or arboreal representatives of the god were periodically destroyed to ensure fertility, but when the god became separated from these representatives, the destruction or slaying was regarded as a sacrifice to the god, and myths arose telling how he had once slain the animal. In this case, tree and bull, really identical, would be mythically regarded as destroyed by the god whom they had once represented. If Esus was a god of vegetation, once represented by a tree, this would explain why, as the scholiast on Lucan relates, human sacrifices to Esus were suspended from a tree. Esus was worshipped at Paris and at Trèves; a

ies were worshipped on hills, like the Puy de D?me. There is also evidence of mountain worship among them. One inscription runs, "To the Mountains"; a god of the Pen

"pleasant," and Cassi appears in personal and tribal names, and also in Cassiterides, an early name of Britain, perhaps signifying that the new lands were "more beautiful" than those the Celts had

, Nimes, and Vaison. Other places were called after Belenos, or a group of divinities, usually the Matres with a local epithet, watched over a certain district.118 The founding of a town was celebrated in an annual festival, with sacrifices and libations to the protecting deity, a practice combated by S. Eloi in the eighth century. But the custom of assoc

till more popular was the cult of grouped goddesses. Of these the Matres, like some individual goddesses, were probably early Earth-mothers, and since the primitive fertility-cults included all that might then be summed up as "civilisation," such goddesses had already many functions, and might th

period goddesses were chiefly worshipped, and though the Celts had long outgrown this primitive stage, such culture-goddesses still retained their importance. A goddess equated with Minerva in Southern France and Britain is Belisama, perhaps from qval, "to burn" or "shine."121 Hence she may have been a

ith the Irish war-goddess Badb-catha, "battle-crow," who tore the bodies of the slain.124 Another goddess Andrasta, "invincible," perhaps the s

chase.126 Other goddesses were equated with Diana, and one of her statues was destroyed in Christian times at Trèves.127 These goddesses may have been thought of as rushing through the forest with an attendant train, since in later times Diana, with whom they were completely assimilated, became, like Holda, the leader of the "furio

and thus may also have been Earth-goddess.132 Grannos was also associated with the local goddesses Vesunna and Aventia, who gave their names to Vesona and Avanche. His statue also stood in the temple of the goddess of the Seine, Sequana.133 With Bormo were associated Bormana in Southern Gaul, and Damona in Eastern Gaul-perhaps an animal goddess, since the root of her name occurs in Irish dam, "ox," and Welsh dafad, "sheep." Dea Brixia was the consort of Luxovius, god of the waters of Luxeuil. Names of other goddesses of the waters are found on ex votos and plaques

4 While some goddesses are known only by being associated with a god, e.g. Kosmerta with Mercury in Eastern Gaul, others have remained separate, like Epona, perhaps

men on an island near Britain.137 Such cults of a Mother-goddess lie behind many religions, but gradually her place was taken by an Earth-god, the Celtic Dispater or Dagda, whose consort the goddess became. She may therefore be the goddess with the cornucopia on monuments of the horned god, or Aeracura, consort of Dispater, or a goddess on a monument at Epinal holding a basket of fruit and a cornucopia, and accompanied by a ram's-headed serpent.138 These symbols show that this goddess was akin to the Matres. But she sometimes preserved her individuality, as in the case of Berecynthia and the Matres, though it is not quite c

rs whose functions have become specialised. The Matres are found as guardians of individuals, families, houses, of towns, a province, or a whole nation, as their epithets in inscriptions show. The Matres Domestic? are household goddesses; the Matres Trever?, or Gallaic?, or Vediant?, are the mothers of Trèves, of the Gallaec?, of the Vediantii; the Matres Nemetiales are guardians of

itful, or Aril who watched over meadows, or in beings like Melusine, Viviane, and others.143 In Gallo-Roman Britain the cult of the Matres is found, but how far it was indigenous there is uncertain. A Welsh name for fairies, Y Mamau, "the Mothers," and the phrase, "the blessing of the Mothers" used of a fairy benediction, may be a reminiscence of such goddesses.144 The presence of similar goddesses in Ireland will be considered later.145 Images of the Matres bearing a child

ly indicative of goddesses like the Matres.147 It is akin to that of many rivers, e.g. the Marne or Meyrone, and shows that the Mothers w

e Domin?, who watched over the home, perhaps the Dames of medi?val folk-lore; and the Virgines, perhaps an appellative of the Matres, and significant when we find

tive Vulcan the Celts vowed spoils of war.150 Again, many native gods are not equated with Roman deities on inscriptions. Apart from the divinities of Pyren?an inscriptions, who may not be Celtic, the names of over 400 native deities, whether equated with Roman gods or not, are known. Some of these names are mere

. Sometimes war-gods assumed great prominence, in time of war, or among the aristocracy, but with the development of commerce, gods associated with trade and the arts of peace came to the front.152 At the same time the popular cults of agricultural districts must have remained as of old. With the adoption of Roman civilisation, enlightened Celts separated themselves from the lower aspects of their religion, but this would have occurred with growing civilisation had no Roman ever entered Gaul. In rural

n) C?sar, de Bell.

Lavisse), Hist, de France, i

ans. Gaelic Soc. of Inv

, Les Dieux de la cité des All

merius, Canetonensis, Clavariatis, Cissonius, Cimbrianus, Dumiatis, Magniacus, Moecus, Toei

:(return) R

rn) Hübner, vii.

r heads. In one case the cords issue from the mouth (Blanchet, i. 308, 316-317). These may represent L

, Borvo, or Bormanus, Cobledulitavus, Cosmis (?), Grannos, Livicus, Maponos,

merol, Ball. de Soc. d'a

ived from Borvo, e.g. Bourbon l'Archambaut, which gave its nam

return) See p

im. 22; Herodian, viii. 3; Tert. A

ives belinuntia from beljo-, a

s.v.; Stokes, US 197; Rh[^y

return) Diod.

eturn) Apoll.

osus, Cociduis, Condatis, Cnabetius, Corotiacus, Dinomogetimarus, Divanno, Dunatis, Glarinus, Halamardus, Harmogius, Ieusdriuus, Lacavus, Latabius, Leucetius, Leucimalacus, Lenus, Mullo, Medociu

n) D'Arbois, ii. 2

return) So Rh

3:(return)

444 f. The opinions of writers who take this

name Camulogenus, "born of Cumel," represents

36; Dioscorides, ii. 110; Joyce,

return) Pliny

Dieu Gaulois de Soleil; Reinac

. i. 444. Another form, Tanaros,

:(return) L

chet, i. 160. The hammer is also associated with another Celtic Di

einach, BF 137 f.; Cou

eturn) Barthel

rn) See Flouest,

eturn) Reinach

g (RC xv. 236). M. Reinach regards Sucellos, Nantosvelta, and a bird which is figured with them, as the same trio, because pseudo-Plutarch (de Fluv. vi. 4) says that lougos means "crow" in Celtic. This is more than doubtful. In any case Ethne has no warlike traits in Irish story, and as Lug and Balor were

nunnos may be the Juppiter Cernenos of

turn) Reinach,

urn) Rev. Arch.

Bertrand, Rev. Arch.

return) Ibid.

:(return) I

(return) Ibi

urn) Bertrand, R

(return) Ibi

) Ibid. xv., xvi.;

l. Epig. i. 116; Strabo,

n) Diod. Sic. v. 3

return) See p

(return) See

Bull. Epig. i. 29; de Witte, Rev. Arch.

242, infra; Joyce, SH ii. 554; Cu

Dom Martin, ii. 185;

for another interpretation of this god as equivalent

(return) See

162, 184; Mowat, Bull. Epig. i.

identification was with an earlier chthonian Silvanus. Cf. Jullian, 17, note 3, who observes that the Gallo-Roman assimilatio

Stokes, US 302; MacB

l. Epig. i. 119; Courcelle-Seneuil, 80 f.; Pauly-Wissowa, Rea

rn) Lucan, i. 444;

(return) See

ion between this bas-relief and the myth of

s of the Ancient Britons,

these theories see Dom Mar

turn) Cf. Reinac

elli, 2107, 2072; Monnie

D'Arbois, Les Celtes, 20. Other grouped gods are the Bacucei, Casto

urn) For all thes

ned once, 2 twice, 3 thrice, 1 four times, 2 six times, 2 eleven times, 1 fourteen times (Sirona),

:(return) C?

ois, Les Celtes, 54; Rev. A

urn) Solinus, xxi

:(return) Pt

(return) See

Dio Cass. lxii. 7; A

utarch, de Vir. Mul. 20;

eturn) S. Greg.

imm, Teut. Myth. 283, 93

:(return) Re

n) Holder, i. 1286;

:(return) Rh

turn) Anwyl, Cel

rn) Holder, s.v.;

(return) Hold

rn) Holder, s.v.;

hey are very numerous in South-East Gaul

return) See pp

eturn) Courcell

le "Calendar" in Hastings' Encyclo

CIL v. 4208, 5771, vii

n) For all these ti

M?der Gottinem; Vallentin, Le Culte des Matr?; Daremberg-Saglio, Dict. s.v. Matres; Ihm

n, and Saxon, 286 f.; Vallentin, RC iv. 29. The Matres may already have had a sinister aspect in Roman ti

1906, 28. Cf. Y Foel Famau, "the hill

(return) See

tin, op. cit. iv. 29; Maury,

7:(return)

eturn) See pp.

ll these see Holder, s.v.;

:(return) Fl

ee the table of identif

hat there was one supreme god, now a war-god, now a god of p