Celtic mythology

The Celtic god Sucellus

Though the Celtic world at its height 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). Inscriptions of 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 worshiped. 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.

Celtic mythology is not 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)
• mythology in Goidelic languages, represented chiefly by Irish mythology[2] (also shared with Scottish mythology)
  • Mythological Cycle
  • Ulster Cycle
  • Fenian Cycle
  • Cycles of the Kings
• mythology in Brittonic languages
  • Welsh mythology
  • Cornish mythology
  • Breton mythology

Votive Celtic wheels thought to correspond to the cult of Taranis. Thousands of such wheels have been found in sanctuaries in Gallia Belgica, dating from 50 BCE to 50 CE. National Archaeological Museum, France

As a result of the scarcity of surviving materials bearing written Gaulish, it is surmised that the most of the Celtic writings were destroyed by the Romans, though a written form of Gaulish using Greek, Latin and North Italic alphabets was used (as evidenced by votive items bearing inscriptions in Gaulish and the Coligny calendar).[3] Julius 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[4] (Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico 6.14) 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 and Northern Italy), Britain and other formerly (or presently) Celtic-speaking areas post-date the Roman conquest.

Though early Gaels in Ireland and parts of Wales used 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.[5]

Cuchulainn carries Ferdiad across the river

The oldest body of myths stemming from the Heroic Age is found only from the early medieval period of Ireland.[6] As Christianity began to take over, the gods and goddesses were slowly eliminated as such from the culture. What survives includes material dealing with the Tuatha Dé Danann and the Fomorians, which forms the basis for the text Cath Maige Tuired, "The Battle of Mag Tuireadh", as well as portions of the history-focused Lebor Gabála Érenn (Book of Invasions). The Tuatha Dé represent the functions of human society such as kingship, crafts and war, while the Fomorians represent chaos and wild nature.

Lugh/Lug

Lugh's Magic Spear; illustration by H. R. Millar

The god appearing most frequently in the tales is Lugh. He is evidently a residual of the earlier, more widespread god Lugus, whose diffusion in Celtic religion is apparent from the number of place names in which his name appears, occurring across the Celtic world. The most famous of these are the cities of Lugdunum (the modern French city of Lyon), Lugdunum Batavorum (Brittenburg, 10 kilometers west of Leiden in the Netherlands) and Lucus Augusti (Greek: Λοuκος Λuγούστον, the modern Galician city of Lugo). Lug is described in the Celtic myths as the last to be added to the list of deities. In Ireland a festival called the Lughnasadh (Irish: Lúnasa "August") was held in his honor.

An illustration of Llŷr and the swans by H. R. Millar

Opening lines of one of the Mabinogi tales from the Red Book of Hergest:
Gereint vab Erbin. Arthur a deuodes dala llys yg Caerllion ar Wysc...
(Geraint the son of Erbin. Arthur was accustomed to hold his Court at Caerlleon upon Usk...)

Important reflexes of British mythology appear in the Four Branches of the Mabinogi, especially in the names of several characters, such as Rhiannon, Teyrnon, and Brân the Blessed (Bendigeidfran, "Bran [Crow] the Blessed"). 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 Proto-Indo-European mythology. The children of Llŷr ("Sea" = Irish Ler) 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.

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 ("Divine Son of the Divine Mother"), and in the collected Welsh Triads, not enough is known of the British mythological background to reconstruct either a narrative of creation or a coherent pantheon of British deities. 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.

Taranis (with Celtic wheel and thunderbolt), Le Chatelet, Gourzon, Haute-Marne, France

The Celts also worshiped a number of deities of which little more is known than their names. Classical writers preserve a few fragments of legends or myths that may possibly be Celtic.[10]

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.

The first-century Roman poet Lucan mentions the gods Taranis, Teutates and Esus, but there is little Celtic evidence that these were important deities.

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 the Anguiped (a snake-legged human-like figure). The Gundestrup cauldron has been also interpreted mythically.[11]

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.[12] Some of these images can be found in Late Bronze Age peat bogs in Britain,[13] indicating the symbols were both pre-Roman and widely spread across Celtic culture. 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 the kneeling giant is centered on either side of the Rhine. These examples seem to indicate regional preferences of a common image stock.[12]

Julius Caesar on Celtic gods and their significance

Golden Celtic wheel with symbols, Balesme, Haute-Marne. National Archaeological Museum

The classic entry about the Celtic gods of Gaul is by Julius Caesar's history of his war in Gaul.[14] In this he names the five principal gods worshiped in Gaul (according to the practice of his time, he gives the names of the closest equivalent Roman gods) and describes their roles:

Mercury was the most venerated of all the deities and numerous representations of him were to be discovered. 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.

Next the Gauls revered Apollo, Mars, Jupiter, and Minerva. Among these divinities Caesar described the Celts as holding roughly equal views as did other populations: Apollo dispels sickness, Minerva encourages skills, Jupiter governs the skies, and Mars influences warfare. MacBain argues that Apollo corresponds to Irish Lugh, Mercury to Manannan mac Lir, Jupiter to the Dagda, Mars to Neit, and Minerva to Brigit.[15]

In addition to these five, Caesar mentions that the Gauls traced their ancestry to Dīs Pater[16] (possibly Irish Donn).

• Banshee
• Cantabrian mythology
• Celtic Christianity
• Fisher King
• Niskai
• Triskelion

• de Vries, Jan, Keltische Religion (1961).
• Duval, Paul-Marie, Les Dieux de la Gaule, new ed. updated and enlarged (1976)
• Mac Cana, Proinsias. Celtic Mythology. New York: Hamlyn, 1970. ISBN 0-600-00647-6
• Mac Cana, Proinsias, The Learned Tales of Medieval Ireland (Irish Literature – Studies), Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (1980): ISBN 1-85500-120-9
• MacKillop, James, Dictionary of Celtic Mythology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. ISBN 0-19-280120-1
• Maier, Bernhard, Dictionary of Celtic religion and culture, Boydell & Brewer 1997 ISBN 978-0-85115-660-6
• O'Rahilly, Thomas F. Early Irish History and Mythology (1991, reissued 1971)
• Rolleston, T.W. Celtic Myths and Legends. Dover Publications Inc. (1911, 1990 reprint). ISBN 0486265072
• Rhys, John, Lectures on the Origin and Growth of Religion as Illustrated by Celtic Heathendom 3rd ed. (1898, reprinted 1979)
• Sjoestedt, M. L., Gods and Heroes of the Celts. 1949; translated by Myles Dillon. repr. Berkeley, CA: Turtle Press, 1990. ISBN 1-85182-179-1
• Squire, Charles. Celtic Myth and Legend. Newcastle Publishing Co. 1975. ISBN 0-87877-030-5
• Stercks, Claude, Éléments de cosmogonie celtique (1986)
• Vendryes, Joseph; Ernest Tonnelat & B.-O. Unbegaun Les Religions des Celtes, des Germains et des anciens Slaves (1948)

• Media related to Celtic mythology at Wikimedia Commons
• Celtic Art & Cultures: a detailed description of the Gundestrup cauldron
• Celtic Religion – What Information do we really have
• What We Don't Know About the Ancient Celts