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Celtic mythology

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Myths

   Series on
   Celtic mythology
   Coventina

   Celtic polytheism
   Celtic deities
   Ancient Celtic religion

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

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

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

   Celt · Gaul
   Galatia · Celtiberians
   Early history of Ireland
   Prehistoric Scotland
   Prehistoric Wales
   Index of related articles

   Celtic mythology is the mythology of Celtic polytheism, apparently the
   religion of the Iron Age Celts. Like other Iron Age Europeans, the
   early Celts maintained a polytheistic mythology and religious
   structure. 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. Ironically, it is through contemporary Roman
   and Christian sources that what we do know of their beliefs has come
   down to us. However, those Celtic peoples who maintained either their
   political or linguistic identities (such as the Gaels and Brythonic
   tribes of the British Isles) did transmit at least vestigial remnants
   of the mythologies of their Iron Age forebears, which were often
   recorded in written form during the Middle Ages.

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). 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. 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 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. Ancient Gaulish
       and British deities)
     * mythology in Goidelic languages, represented chiefly by Gaelic
       mythology (cf. also Scottish mythology and Irish mythology)
          + Mythological Cycle
          + Ulster Cycle
          + Fenian cycle
          + Historical Cycle
     * mythology in Brythonic languages, represented chiefly by Welsh
       mythology (cf. also Breton mythology and folklore)

The mythology of Ireland

   The oldest body of myths is found in early medieval manuscripts from
   Ireland. 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 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 (or ineffectual) 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. 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. While this was probably produced in relatively
   modern times (English Civil War era), it was long thought to be a
   representation of the Dagda. 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. In Gaul, it is speculated that
   the Dagda is associated with Sucellos, the striker, equipped with a
   hammer and cup.

The Morrígan

   The Morrígan was a tripartite battle goddess of the ancient Irish
   Celts. 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. 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. She was most
   often represented as a crow or raven but could take many different
   forms, including a cow, wolf or eel. 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.

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. The most famous of these are the
   cities of Lugdunum (the modern French city of Lyon) and Lugdunum
   Batavorum (the modern city of Leiden). 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.

Others

   Among these are the goddess Brigid (or Brigit), the Dagda's daughter;
   nature goddesses like Tailtiu and Macha; Epona, the horse goddess; and
   Ériu. Male gods included Goibniu, the smith god and immortal brewer of
   beer.

The mythology of Wales

   The gods of Britain, also obscured by centuries of Christianity, have
   come down to us in manuscripts from Wales. The two main groups are the
   children of Dôn and the Children of Llŷr. These two groups were in
   conflict, as portrayed in the Mabinogion, and each found allies in
   outside deities such as Rhiannon and Arawn. The famous celtic myth of
   Gelert is based in Wales.

Remnants of Gaulish and other mythology

   The Celts also worshipped a number of deities of which we know little
   more than their names. Classical writers preserve a few fragments of
   legends or myths that may possibly be Celtic.

   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 Roman poet Lucan (1st century AD) 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 a snake-legged human-like figure. The
   Gundestrup cauldron has been also interpreted mythically.

   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.
   Some of these images can be found in Late Bronze Age peat bogs in
   Britain, 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 kneeling giant is
   centered on either side of the Rhine. These examples seem to indicate
   regional preferences of a common image stock.

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). 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. 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 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.

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. 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. 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
   testified 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). 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.

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