1. CONTINENTAL CELTS

3. ogham

4. Continental Celts archaeological social stratification (warrior aristocracy) loose tribal culture; lack of political centralization absence of permanent shrines/altars cult of warfare (fortifications, weapons) ritual violence (head-hunting, human sacrifice) local male deities pan-tribal female deities 3 rd -party accounts demonization assimilation (interpretatio Romana) Irish myths preserved by monks from 11 th century onward

5. Celtic Themes Religious animism theriomorphism shamanism transmigration head-hunting human sacrifice druidism Mythic triplism local (solar) male deities pan-tribal female deities cauldrons

6. animism : attribution of a life-force or “soul” to plants, inanimate objects, and natural phenomena; belief in a supernatural power that organizes and animates the material universe.

7. Celtic Themes Religious animism theriomorphism shamanism transmigration head-hunting human sacrifice druidism Mythic triplism local (solar) male deities pan-tribal female deities cauldrons

8. theriomorphism/shamanism

9. Celtic Themes Religious animism theriomorphism shamanism transmigration head-hunting human sacrifice druidism Mythic triplism local (solar) male deities pan-tribal female deities cauldrons

10. Transmigration As one of their leading tenets they teach that souls do not become extinct, but pass after death from one body to another, and they think that men are excited to valor by this belief, the fear of death being disregarded. Caesar, de Bello Gallico 14 They do not fear death, but subscribe to the doctrine... that the human spirit is immortal and will enter a new body after a fixed number of years. For this reason some will throw letters to their relatives on funeral pyres, believing that the dead will be able to read them. Diodorus Siculus, Biblioteca Historica 28

11. Celtic Themes Religious animism theriomorphism shamanism transmigration head-hunting human sacrifice druidism Mythic triplism local (solar) male deities pan-tribal female deities cauldrons

12. head-hunting La Tène Culture (2 nd cent. BCE)

13. [The Gauls] cut off the heads of enemies slain in battle and attach them to the necks of their horses. The blood-stained spoils they hand over to their attendants and carry off as booty, while striking up a paean and singing a song of victory, and they nail up these first fruits upon their houses just as those who lay low wild animals in certain kinds of hunting. They embalm in cedar oil the heads of the most distinguished enemies and preserve them carefully in a chest, and display them with pride to strangers... Diodorus Siculus, Biblioteca Historica 29

14. head-hunting

15. Celtic Themes Religious animism theriomorphism shamanism transmigration head-hunting human sacrifice druidism Mythic triplism local (solar) male deities pan-tribal female deities cauldrons

16. human sacrifice

17. Lindow Man (4 th cent. BCE)

18. Celtic Themes Religious animism theriomorphism shamanism transmigration head-hunting human sacrifice druidism Mythic triplism local (solar) male deities pan-tribal female deities cauldrons

19. druid Old Irish druí (Lat. druides) < *dru (oak) + *wids (see) high position in Celtic society tasked with maintenance of tradition, religious rites, divination, law, poetry, education belief in natural magic, reincarnation, transmigration

20. druids [The druids] judge all controversies, public and private; and also if any crime has been perpetrated, if murder has been committed, if there is any dispute about an inheritance or boundaries. They decree rewards and punishments, and if any one does not submit to their decision, they ban him from the sacrifices. This among them is the most heavy punishment… Over all these druids one presides, who possesses supreme authority among them. Upon his death, if any individual among the rest is pre-eminent in dignity, he succeeds in his place; but if there are many equal, the election is made by the druids; sometimes they even fight for the presidency. They assemble at a fixed period of the year in … the central region of the whole of Gaul. All who have disputes assemble from every part, and submit to their decrees and determinations. Caesar, De Bello Gallico 14

21. The druids do not go to war, nor pay tribute together with the rest. They are said to learn by heart a great number of verses; accordingly some remain in the course of druid training twenty years. Nor do they regard it lawful to commit these to writing… As one of their leading tenets they teach that souls do not become extinct, but pass after death from one body to another, and they think that men are excited to valor by this belief, the fear of death being disregarded. They likewise discuss and impart to the youth many things about the stars and their motion, the extent of the world and of our earth, the nature of things, and the power and the majesty of the immortal gods. Caesar, De Bello Gallico 14

22. Celtic Themes Religious animism theriomorphism shamanism transmigration head-hunting human sacrifice druidism Mythic triplism local (solar) male deities pan-tribal female deities cauldrons

23. triplism

27. triplism (triskele)

28. Celtic Themes Religious animism theriomorphism shamanism transmigration head-hunting human sacrifice druidism Mythic triplism local (solar) male deities pan-tribal female deities cauldrons

29. male solar deity

30. Continental Celtic Male Deities

31. Teutates (“God of the Folk”)

32. Continental Celtic Male Deities

33. Taranis (“Thunderer”)

35. The nation of all the Gauls is extremely devoted to superstitious rites; and on that account they who are troubled with unusually severe diseases, and they who are engaged in battles and dangers, either sacrifice men as victims, or vow that they will sacrifice them, and employ the druids as the performers of those sacrifices; because they think that unless the life of a man be offered for the life of a man, the mind of the immortal gods can not be rendered propitious, and they have sacrifices of that kind ordained for national purposes. Others have figures of vast size... which they fill with living men, which being set on fire, the men perish enveloped in the flames. Caesar, de Bello Gallico 16

37. Continental Celtic Male Deities

38. Esus (“Master”)

39. Tarvotrisgaranus (“Bull with Three Crows”)

40. Sucellus (“good striker”)

41. Giant of Cerne Abbas (Dorset, UK ca. 100 BCE)

42. Belenus (“Bright”?)

43. Cernunnos (“Horned One”)

45. Lugus

46. Celtic Themes Religious animism theriomorphism shamanism transmigration head-hunting human sacrifice druidism Mythic triplism local (solar) male deities pan-tribal female deities cauldrons

47. Matronae (“Mothers”)

49. Rosmerta

50. Epona (“Horse Rider”)

52. Continental Celtic Goddesses ContinentalSphere of Influence Rosmertafertility Matronaefertility Eponahorse; fertility war; sexuality

53. Celtic Themes Religious animism theriomorphism shamanism transmigration head-hunting human sacrifice druidism Mythic triplism local (solar) male deities pan-tribal female deities cauldrons

54. cauldron

55. Gundestrop Cauldron (2 nd cent. BCE)

57. Continental Celts archaeological social stratification (warrior aristocracy) loose tribal culture; lack of political centralization absence of permanent shrines/altars cult of warfare (fortifications, weapons) ritual violence (head-hunting, human sacrifice) local male deities pan-tribal female deities 3 rd -party accounts demonization assimilation (interpretatio Romana) Irish myths preserved by monks from 11 th century onward

58. Romano-Celtic Period (100 BCE – 250 CE) 60s BCERoman campaigns in Europe and Britain by J. Caesar 60 CEBritain a Roman province 122 CEHadrian’s Wall constructed to impede Scots Gaelic tribes

59. The men came on an ancient and sacred grove. Its interlacing branches enclosed a cool central space into which the sun never shone, but where an abundance of water spouted from dark springs…The barbaric gods worshipped here had their altars heaped with hideous offerings, and every tree was sprinkled with human blood. According to the local tradition, no birds ventured to perch upon these trees, and no wild beast made his lair beneath them... The images were stark, gloomy blocks of unworked timber, rotten with age, whose ghastly pallor terrified their devotees — quite another matter from our own rustic statues which are too familiar to cause alarm. Superstitious natives believed that the ground often shook, that groans rose from hidden caverns below, that yews were uprooted and miraculously replanted, and that sometimes serpents coiled about the oaks, which blazed with fire but did not burn. Lucan, Pharsalia

60. On the shore stood the opposing army with its dense array of armed warriors, while between the ranks dashed women, in black attire like the Furies, with hair disheveled, waving brands. All around, the druids, lifting up their hands to heaven, and pouring forth dreadful imprecations, scared our soldiers by the unfamiliar sight, so that, as if their limbs were paralyzed, they stood motionless, and exposed to wounds. Then urged by their general's appeals [the Romans] smote down all resistance and wrapped the foe in the flames of his own brands. A force was next set over the conquered, and their groves, devoted to inhuman superstitions, were destroyed. They [the Celts] deemed it indeed a duty to cover their altars with the blood of captives and to consult their deities through human entrails. Tacitus XIV.30

61. interpretatio Romana They worship Mercury in particular, and have many images of him, and regard him as the inventor of all arts. They consider him the guide of their journeys, and believe him to have great influence over the acquisition of wealth and business transactions. After him they worship Apollo, and Mars, and Jupiter, and Minerva; with regard to these deities they have for the most part the same belief as other nations: that Apollo averts diseases, that Minerva teaches the invention of implements, that Jupiter has sovereignty over the heavenly powers; that Mars presides over wars. Caesar, De Bello Gallico 17

62. Mercury

63. Mercury & Rosmerta

64. Mercury ~ Lugus ROMANCONTINENTAL Mercurius Omnium Artium (of All Crafts) Lugus

65. Continental Celts archaeological social stratification (warrior aristocracy) loose tribal culture; lack of political centralization absence of permanent shrines/altars cult of warfare (fortifications, weapons) ritual violence (head-hunting, human sacrifice) local male deities pan-tribal female deities 3 rd -party accounts demonization assimilation (interpretatio Romana) Irish myths preserved by monks from 11 th century onward

66. Lebhor Gabala Erenn (Book of Leinster, 11 th century CE)