A Brief History of the Celts
Page 23
CHADWICK, NORA K. The Celts, Pelican Books, London, 1970.
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CUNLIFFE, BARRY. The Celtic World, new ed., Constable, London, 1992.
CUNLIFFE, BARRY. The Ancient Celts, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1997.
CURCHIN, LEONARD A. Roman Spain: Conquest and Assimilation, Routledge, London, 1991.
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DILLON, MYLES. Celts and Aryans: Survivals of Indo-European Speech and Society, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Simla, Rashtrapati Nivas, Simla, 1975.
ELLIS, PETER BERRESFORD. Celtic Inheritance (first published, 1985), new ed., Constable, London, 1992.
ELLIS, PETER BERRESFORD. Dictionary of Celtic Mythology, Constable, London, 1992.
ELLIS, PETER BERRESFORD. The Celtic Empire, Constable, London, 1990.
ELLIS, PETER BERRESFORD. A Guide to Early Celtic Remains in Britain, Constable, London, 1991.
ELLIS, PETER BERRESFORD. The Druids, Constable, London, 1994.
ELLIS, PETER BERRESFORD. Celtic Women, Constable, London, 1995.
ELLIS, PETER BERRESFORD. Celt and Greek, Celts in the Hellenic World, Constable, London, 1997.
ELLIS PETER BERRESFORD. Celt and Roman, The Celts of Italy, Constable, London, 1998.
FILIP, JAN. Celtic Civilization and its Heritage, Publishing House of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, Prague, 1962.
GREEN, MIRANDA. The Gods of the Celts, Alan Sutton, Gloucester, 1986.
GREEN, MIRANDA. Symbol and Image in Celtic Religious Art, Routledge, London, 1989.
GREEN, MIRANDA. Animals in Celtic Life and Myth, Routledge, London, 1992.
GREEN, MIRANDA. Dictionary of Celtic Myth and Legend, Thames and Hudson, London, 1992.
GREEN, MIRANDA. The Celtic World, Routledge, London, 1995.
GREEN, MIRANDA. Celtic Goddesses, British Museum Press, London, 1995.
GREEN, MIRANDA. Celtic Art, Everyman Art Library, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1996.
GREEN, MIRANDA. Exploring the World of the Druids, Thames and Hudson, London, 1997.
HARBISON, PETER. Pre-Christian Ireland: From the First Settlers to the Early Celts, Thames and Hudson, London, 1988.
HUBERT, HENRI. The Rise of the Celts, new ed., Constable, London, 1987.
HUBERT, HENRI. The Greatness and Decline of the Celts, new ed., Constable, London, 1987.
JAMES, SIMON. Exploring the World of the Celts, Thames and Hudson, London, 1993.
LAING, LLOYD. Celtic Britain, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1979.
LAING, LLOYD and JENNIFER. Celtic Britain and Ireland: The Myth of the Dark Ages, Irish Academic Press, Dublin, 1990.
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MACCANA, PROINSIAS. Celtic Mythology, Hamlyn, London, 1970.
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MACCULLOCH, J.A. The Religion of the Ancient Celts, reprint, Constable, London, 1991.
MACKILLOP, JAMES. Dictionary of Celtic Mythology, Oxford Universtiy Press, Oxford, 1998.
MAIER, BERNHARD (trs Cyril Edwards). Dictionary of Celtic Religion and Culture, The Boydell Press, Suffolk, 1997.
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MEGAW, RUTH and VINCENT. Celtic Art: from its Beginnings to the Book of Kells, Thames and Hudson, London, 1989.
MOSCATI, SABATINO and OTHERS. I Celti, Bompiano, Milano, 1991. English trs. The Celts, Thames and Hudson, London, 1991.
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POWELL, T.G.E. The Celts, new ed., Thames and Hudson, London, 1980.
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As an Indo-European people, the Celts used a solar symbol of well-being, which in Sanskrit was called the swastika, a symbol perverted by Nazi Germany in the 1930s. The motif is seen here in a 2nd century BC embossed silver horse harness found at the Villa Vecchia Manerbio.
Generally regarded as ‘The Father of the Gods’ in Celtic terms, Cernunnos, the horned god, is equivalent to the Irish ‘The Dagda’. This is a panel from the Gundestrup cauldron.
A Celtic inscription from Gaul, written in Greek letters, from Vaison-la-Romaine. A Celt named Segomaros states he has dedicated a shrine to Belisma, a Celtic goddess whose name means ‘the shining one’. 2nd/1st century BC.
In the Hallstatt period the Celts stylized heads. This bearded head from the 5th century BC is from a bronze ornament on a wooden jug and may well have been that of a king or warrior.
In the Le Tène period, Celtic heads began to be more realistic and this may be a portrait of a prominent leader or chieftain from the 3rd century BC found in Aix-en-Provence.
In trying to denigrate Celtic society, Caesar claimed that the Celts conducted human sacrifices and put victims into a large man-like object made of wicker and burnt them alive. This reconstruction of the idea comes from Aylett Sammes’ Britannia Antiqua Illustrata, 1676. There was no evidence of such practices.
The Druidic teaching on Celtic afterlife is depicted on the Gundestrup cauldron showing a god dipping the dead bodies in the cauldron of life and restoring them to the world of the living.
From the 17th century, and particularly into the 18th and 19th centuries, Druids were ‘reinvented’ and seized popular imagination. This illustration from Costumes of the British Isles (1821), Meyrick and Smith, shows how people fondly imagined Druids. The reality was quite different.
One of the most spectacular pieces of Celtic military art, the bronze shield found at Battersea, in the Thames, dating from the 1st century BC. Note the swastika designs in the enamelling.
Celtic war helmets were highly decorated. This one, bearing horns, was found in the Thames and is thought to have been placed there as a votive offering. It is dated to the 1st century BC.
A female figure of the early Celtic period in the Po valley, found in Caldevigo.
A bucket found at Aylesford, Kent, made of bronze and wood and dated to the 1st century BC. An essential item for farming and domestic use.
While Celtic farmhouses on the Continent were generally built in rectangular fashion
, insular Celtic farm buildings were round. This is a reconstruction of a typical Celtic farm building of the 1st century BC at Castell Henllys, Newport, Dyfed.
In early Celtic society the wheel was an important cosmological symbol, often symbolizing the solar wheel. The ‘wheel of the sun’ was how the ancient Celts viewed the constellations of the stars. The Gundestrup cauldron depicts a horned helmeted figure holding a spoked wheel.
Because Celtic road builders constructed their roads with wood, Celtic roads have survived only by being preserved in bogland. The Corlea Road, a causeway across a bog in Co. Longford, is a magnificent example and has been radio carbon dated to 148 BC.
Celtic chariots were a popular motif on Celtic coins. This coin, which also shows human headed horses drawing the chariot, is attributed to the Namnetes, dated to the 1st century BC.
The Desborough Mirror, a British Celtic bronze mirror, one of several such decorated mirrors showing the curvilinear art style for which the Celts were famous.
The Snettisham Torc. Celtic nobility and elite warriors (males and females) from all parts of the Celtic world wore these gold neck pieces. This is one of the finest examples.
Celtic artists excelled in metalwork. This flagon, one of a pair from Basse-Yutz in the Moselle, dated to the 5th century, with its stylized animals and coral and red glass, depicts a pack of dogs chasing a duck which ‘swims’ into the pouring wine.
The remains of the broch of Carloway on the Isle of Lewis, Scotland, which is one of the 500 brochs that have survived and are visually some of the most exciting remains of early Celtic architecture.
Graggaunowen, Co. Clare, is a reconstruction of a ‘crannog’. These are circular, timber framed thatched houses built on an island in a lake or estuary or marsh. The island was often man-made with a man-made causeway for security. They were occupied from 1000 BC and provide a fascinating glimpse of Celtic architectural ingenuity.
The ‘Father of the Gods’, Cernunnos, equivalent to the Irish ‘The Dagda’, from the Gundestrup cauldron.
This section of the Gundestrup cauldron is thought to depict Danu, the mother goddess, incorporating the solar wheel symbol and various cult animals.
One of the most fascinating cult pieces from the ancient Celtic world, a 7th century BC bronze wheeled cauldron which is supported by a goddess (Danu?) while around her appear to be hunters or warriors with two stags.
This gold model ship from the 1st century, found in Broighter, Co. Derry, is argued by some to be a votive offering to the sea god Manannán Mac Lir, or to be the ship in which Donn gathers the dead for the voyage west to the Otherworld.
The Cerne Abbas Giant, Dorset, standing 55 metres high and 51 metres wide, carved on a hillside, steps directly out of the Celtic myth. ‘The Dagda’ of Irish myth is depicted in like manner and he is equated with Cernunnos. The Cerne Abbas figure is almost a replica of a carving found at Costopitum (Corbridge, Northumberland). He is the famous Dis Pater, the Father of the Celtic Gods.
The Uffington White Horse, one of the most spectacular hill carvings, 365 feet from nose to tail, dated from the 1st century BC, is thought to be a product of Belgae craftsmanship. The exact same stylization appears on many Celtic coins, including a gold coin of the Aulerci (1st century BC).
One of the spectacular plates from the Gundestrup cauldron which is replete in Celtic mythological and religious symbolism.
One of the most intriguing finds in recent years was the preserved body of a young man found in a peat bog near Winslow, Cheshire, England. The man had been hit on the back of the head, strangled and had his throat cut. His manicured fingernails pointed to him being of a high social caste. Known as Lindow Man, some have argued he was the victim of a ritual threefold death sacrifice.
INDEX
Acichorios ref 1, ref 2
Aedh Ruadh ref 1, ref 2
Aedo Sláine ref 1
Aedui ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7, ref 8, ref 9, ref 10, ref 11
Aegosages ref 1
Aethicus of Istra ref 1
Agricola ref 1, ref 2, ref 3
Agron, king ref 1, ref 2
Aibhistín ref 1
Ailill ref 1, ref 2
Airmid ref 1, ref 2
Alesia ref 1, ref 2, ref 3
Alexander the Great ref 1, ref 2, ref 3
Alexandrian school ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4
Allobriges ref 1, ref 2
Ambicatus, king ref 1, ref 2
Ammianus Marcellinus (c. AD 330) ref 2, ref 3
Amyntas, king ref 1
Aneirin ref 1
Aneroestes ref 1, ref 2, ref 3
Anglo-Saxons ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7
animals, domesticated ref 1, ref 2, ref 3
Antaros ref 1
Anthedius ref 1
Antiochus of Syria ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4
Antonius, king ref 1
Anu ref 1, ref 2, ref 3
Appian (Appianos of Alexandria) ref 1, ref 2
Aquitani ref 1, ref 2
Arabs ref 1, ref 2
Aran Islands ref 1
Arborius, Caecilius Argicius ref 1
Arganthonius, king ref 1, ref 2, ref 3
Argentocoxos ref 1
aristocracy ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5
Aristotle ref 1, ref 2
armour ref 1
Arrian (c. AD ref 1) ref 2
Arthur, king ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5
Arthurian sagas ref 1
Arverni ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4
Asia minor ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4
Asparn open air museum ref 1
astrology ref 1 passim
Atrebates ref 1, ref 2
Ausonius ref 1, ref 2
Austria ref 1, ref 2, ref 3
Avaros, king ref 1
Avienus ref 1
Babylonia ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4
Banshenchas ref 1, ref 2, ref 3
baths ref 1, ref 2
Belenus ref 1, ref 2, ref 3
Belgae ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6
Belisma ref 1
Bellovaci ref 1
Bellovesus ref 1
Bericus, king ref 1
Béroul ref 1
Bibracte (Mont Beuvray) ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4
Bíle ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5
birds ref 1
Bithynia ref 1, ref 2, ref 3
Bituitus, king ref 1
Bituriges ref 1, ref 2
Black Book of Carmarthen ref 1
Black Sea ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4
Blathmac ref 1
Boduognatus ref 1
Bohemia see also Boii ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4
Boii ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7, ref 8, ref 9, ref 10, ref 11, ref 12
Book of Invasions ref 1
Book of Leinster ref 1, ref 2, ref 3
Book of the Dun Cow ref 1
Boru, Brian ref 1
Botorrita, Spain ref 1
Boudicca (Boadicea) ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7, ref 8
boundary stones ref 1
Bran ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4
Brehon Laws ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7, ref 8, ref 9, ref 10, ref 11, ref 12, ref 13, ref 14, ref 15
Brendan of Clonfert, Saint ref 1
Brennus ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7
Breton language ref 1, ref 2, ref 3
bridges ref 1, ref 2
Brigantes ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7
Brigantia ref 1
Brigit (goddess) ref 1, ref 2
Brigit, (saint) ref 1, ref 2, ref 3
Britain ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7, ref 8, ref 9, ref 10, ref 11, ref 12, ref 13, ref 14, ref 15, ref 16, ref 17, ref 18, ref 19, ref 20, ref 21, ref 22, ref 23, ref 24, ref 25, ref 26, ref 27, ref 28, ref 29, ref 30, ref 31, ref 32, ref 33, ref 34, ref 35, ref 36, ref 37, ref 38, ref 39, ref 40, ref 41, re
f 42, ref 43, ref 44, ref 45, ref 46, ref 47, ref 48
coinage ref 1
houses ref 1, ref 2
kings of ref 1
mythology ref 1
Brittany ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7
brochs ref 1, ref 2
Bronze Age ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6
Bu round house ref 1
bull rituals ref 1, ref 2
burials see graves
Butser Celtic farm, Hampshire ref 1, ref 2, ref 3
Cabillonum ref 1
Caesar, Julius ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7, ref 8, ref 9, ref 10, ref 11, ref 12, ref 13, ref 14, ref 15, ref 16, ref 17, ref 18, ref 19, ref 20, ref 21, ref 22, ref 23, ref 24, ref 25, ref 26, ref 27, ref 28, ref 29, ref 30, ref 31, ref 32, ref 33, ref 34, ref 35, ref 36, ref 37, ref 38, ref 39, ref 40, ref 41, ref 42, ref 43, ref 44, ref 45, ref 46, ref 47, ref 48, ref 49, ref 50
calendar ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4
Calgacos, king ref 1
Cambaules, king ref 1
Camma ref 1
Camonica rock carvings ref 1, ref 2
Camulos ref 1
Cantii ref 1, ref 2, ref 3
Caractacus (Caradog) ref 1, ref 2, ref 3
Carnutes ref 1
Carthage ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7, ref 8, ref 9
Cartimandua, queen ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7, ref 8
Cassivelaunus, king ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4
cattle ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4
Catuvellauni ref 1