Part 2 (1/2)

[42] Isidore, _Etymol._ ix. 2, 103; Rh[^y]s, _CB_ 242-243; Caesar, v. 14; Nicholson, _ZCP_ in. 332.

[43] Tacitus, _Agric._ ii.

[44] If _Celtae_ is from _qelo_, ”to raise,” it may mean ”the lofty,”

just as many savages call themselves ”the men,” _par excellence_.

Rh[^y]s derives it from _qel_, ”to slay,” and gives it the sense of ”warriors.” See Holder, _s.v._; Stokes, _US_ 83. _Galatae_ is from _gala_ (Irish _gal_), ”bravery.” Hence perhaps ”warriors.”

[45] ”Galli” may be connected with ”Galatae,” but D'Arbois denies this.

For all these t.i.tles see his _PH_ ii. 396 ff.

[46] Livy, v. 31 f.; D'Arbois, _PH_ ii. 304, 391.

[47] Strabo, iv. 10. 3; Caesar, i. 31, vii. 4; _Frag. Hist. Graec._ i.

437.

[48] Caesar, ii. 4.

[49] Strabo, xii. 5. 1.

[50] Polybius, ii. 22.

[51] Caesar, i. 2, 1-3.

[52] On the subject of Celtic unity see Jullian, ”Du patriotisme gaulois,” _RC_ xxiii. 373.

CHAPTER III.

THE G.o.dS OF GAUL AND THE CONTINENTAL CELTS.

The pa.s.sage in which Caesar sums up the Gaulish pantheon runs: ”They wors.h.i.+p chiefly the G.o.d Mercury; of him there are many symbols, and they regard him as the inventor of all the arts, as the guide of travellers, and as possessing great influence over bargains and commerce. After him they wors.h.i.+p Apollo and Mars, Juppiter and Minerva. About these they hold much the same beliefs as other nations. Apollo heals diseases, Minerva teaches the elements of industry and the arts, Juppiter rules over the heavens, Mars directs war.... All the Gauls a.s.sert that they are descended from Dispater, their progenitor.”[53]

As will be seen in this chapter, the Gauls had many other G.o.ds than these, while the Roman G.o.ds, by whose names Caesar calls the Celtic divinities, probably only approximately corresponded to them in functions. As the Greeks called by the names of their own G.o.ds those of Egypt, Persia, and Babylonia, so the Romans identified Greek, Teutonic, and Celtic G.o.ds with theirs. The identification was seldom complete, and often extended only to one particular function or attribute. But, as in Gaul, it was often part of a state policy, and there the fusion of cults was intended to break the power of the Druids. The Gauls seem to have adopted Roman civilisation easily, and to have acquiesced in the process of a.s.similation of their divinities to those of their conquerors. Hence we have thousands of inscriptions in which a G.o.d is called by the name of the Roman deity to whom he was a.s.similated and by his own Celtic name--Jupiter Taranis, Apollo Grannus, etc. Or sometimes to the name of the Roman G.o.d 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 G.o.ds to whom the character of the Lares could be ascribed, e.g.

Belenos Augustus. Cults of local G.o.ds became cults of the genius of the place, coupled with the genius of the emperor. In some cases, however, the native name stands alone. The process was aided by art. Celtic G.o.ds are represented after Greco-Roman or Greco-Egyptian models. Sometimes these carry a native divine symbol, or, in a few cases, the type is purely native, e.g. that of Cernunnos. Thus the native paganism was largely transformed before Christianity appeared in Gaul. Many Roman G.o.ds were wors.h.i.+pped as such, not only by the Romans in Gaul, but by the Gauls, and we find there also traces of the Oriental cults affected by the Romans.[54]

There were probably in Gaul many local G.o.ds, tribal or otherwise, of roads and commerce, of the arts, of healing, etc., who, bearing different names, might easily be identified with each other or with Roman G.o.ds. Caesar's Mercury, Mars, Minerva, etc., probably include many local Minervas, Mars, and Mercuries. There may, however, have been a few great G.o.ds common to all Gaul, universally wors.h.i.+pped, besides the numerous local G.o.ds, some of whom may have been adopted from the aborigines. An examination of the divine names in Holder's _Altceltischer Sprachschatz_ will show how numerous the local G.o.ds of the continental Celts must have been. Professor Anwyl reckons that 270 G.o.ds are mentioned once on inscriptions, 24 twice, 11 thrice, 10 four times, 3 five times, 2 seven times, 4 fifteen times, 1 nineteen times (Grannos), and 1 thirty-nine times (Belenos).[55]

The G.o.d or G.o.ds identified with Mercury were very popular in Gaul, as Caesar's words and the witness of place-names derived from the Roman name of the G.o.d show. These had probably supplanted earlier names derived from those of the corresponding native G.o.ds. Many temples of the G.o.d existed, especially in the region of the Allobrogi, and bronze statuettes of him have been found in abundance. Pliny also describes a colossal statue designed for the Arverni who had a great temple of the G.o.d on the Puy de Dome.[56] Mercury was not necessarily the chief G.o.d, and at times, e.g. in war, the native war-G.o.ds would be prominent. The native names of the G.o.ds a.s.similated to Mercury are many in number; in some cases they are epithets, derived from the names of places where a local ”Mercury” was wors.h.i.+pped, in others they are derived from some function of the G.o.ds.[57] One of these t.i.tles is Artaios, perhaps cognate with Irish _art_, ”G.o.d,” or connected with _artos_, ”bear.”

Professor Rh[^y]s, however, finds its cognate in Welsh _ar_, ”ploughed land,” as if one of the G.o.d's functions connected him with agriculture.[58] This is supported by another inscription to Mercurius Cultor at Wurtemberg. Local G.o.ds of agriculture must thus have been a.s.similated to Mercury. A G.o.d Moccus, ”swine,” was also identified with Mercury, and the swine was a frequent representative of the corn-spirit or of vegetation divinities in Europe. The flesh of the animal was often mixed with the seed corn or buried in the fields to promote fertility.

The swine had been a sacred animal among the Celts, but had apparently become an anthropomorphic G.o.d of fertility, Moccus, a.s.similated to Mercury, perhaps because the Greek Hermes caused fertility in flocks and herds. Such a G.o.d was one of a cla.s.s whose importance was great among the Celts as an agricultural people.

Commerce, much developed among the settled Gauls, gave rise to a G.o.d or G.o.ds who guarded roads over which merchants travelled, and boundaries where their transactions took place. Hence we have an inscription from Yorks.h.i.+re, ”To the G.o.d who invented roads and paths,” while another local G.o.d of roads, equated with Mercury, was Cimiacinus.[59]

Another G.o.d, Ogmios, a native G.o.d of speech, who draws men by chains fastened to the tip of his tongue, is identified in Lucian with Heracles, and is identical with the Goidelic Ogma.[60] Eloquence and speech are important matters among primitive peoples, and this G.o.d has more likeness to Mercury as a culture-G.o.d than to Heracles, Greek writers speaking of eloquence as binding men with the chains of Hermes.

Several local G.o.ds, of agriculture, commerce, and culture, were thus identified with Mercury, and the Celtic Mercury was sometimes wors.h.i.+pped on hilltops, one of the epithets of the G.o.d, Dumias, being connected with the Celtic word for hill or mound. Irish G.o.ds were also a.s.sociated with mounds.

Many local G.o.ds were identified with Apollo both in his capacity of G.o.d of healing and also that of G.o.d of light.[61] The two functions are not incompatible, and this is suggested by the name Grannos, G.o.d of thermal springs both in Britain and on the Continent. The name is connected with a root which gives words meaning ”burning,” ”s.h.i.+ning,” etc., and from which comes also Irish _grian_, ”sun.” The G.o.d 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 mother.”[62] Another G.o.d of thermal springs was Borvo, Bormo, or Borma.n.u.s, whose name is derived from _borvo_, whence Welsh _berw_, ”boiling,” and is evidently connected with the bubbling of the springs.[63] Votive tablets inscribed Grannos or Borvo show that the offerers desired healing for themselves or others.

The name Belenos found over a wide area, but mainly in Aquileia, comes from _belo-s_, bright, and probably means ”the s.h.i.+ning one.” It is thus the name of a Celtic sun-G.o.d, equated with Apollo in that character. If he is the Belinus referred to by Geoffrey of Monmouth,[64] his cult must have extended into Britain from the Continent, and he is often mentioned by cla.s.sical 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, too, was a G.o.d of health and of healing-springs. The plant _Belinuntia_ was called after him and venerated for its healing powers.[66] The sun-G.o.d's functions of light and fertility easily pa.s.sed over into those of health-giving, as our study of Celtic festivals will show.