THE GODS OF GAUL AND THE CONTINENTAL CELTS.
The passage in which Cæsar sums up the Gaulish pantheon runs: "They
worship chiefly the god 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 worship 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 assert that they
are descended from Dispater, their progenitor."[53]
As will be seen in this chapter, the Gauls had many other gods than
these, while the Roman gods, by whose names Cæsar calls the Celtic
divinities, probably only approximately corresponded to them in
functions. As the Greeks called by the names of their own gods those of
Egypt, Persia, and Babylonia, so the Romans identified Greek, Teutonic,
and Celtic gods 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 assimilation of their divinities to those of their conquerors. Hence
we have thousands of inscriptions in which a god is called by the name
of the Roman deity to whom he was assimilated and by his own Celtic
name--Jupiter Taranis, Apollo Grannus, etc. Or sometimes to the name of
the Roman god 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 gods to whom the character of the Lares could be ascribed, e.g.
Belenos Augustus. Cults of local gods 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 gods
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
gods were worshipped 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 gods, 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 gods. Cæsar's Mercury, Mars, Minerva, etc., probably include many
local Minervas, Mars, and Mercuries. There may, however, have been a few
great gods common to all Gaul, universally worshipped, besides the
numerous local gods, 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 gods of
the continental Celts must have been. Professor Anwyl reckons that 270
gods 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 god or gods identified with Mercury were very popular in Gaul, as
Cæsar's words and the witness of place-names derived from the Roman name
of the god show. These had probably supplanted earlier names derived
from those of the corresponding native gods. Many temples of the god
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
god on the Puy de Dôme.[56] Mercury was not necessarily the chief god,
and at times, e.g. in war, the native war-gods would be prominent. The
native names of the gods assimilated to Mercury are many in number; in
some cases they are epithets, derived from the names of places where a
local "Mercury" was worshipped, in others they are derived from some
function of the gods.[57] One of these titles is Artaios, perhaps
cognate with Irish _art_, "god," or connected with _artos_, "bear."
Professor Rh[^y]s, however, finds its cognate in Welsh _âr_, "ploughed
land," as if one of the god's functions connected him with
agriculture.[58] This is supported by another inscription to Mercurius
Cultor at Wurtemberg. Local gods of agriculture must thus have been
assimilated to Mercury. A god 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 god of fertility, Moccus, assimilated to
Mercury, perhaps because the Greek Hermes caused fertility in flocks and
herds. Such a god was one of a class whose importance was great among
the Celts as an agricultural people.
Commerce, much developed among the settled Gauls, gave rise to a god or
gods who guarded roads over which merchants travelled, and boundaries
where their transactions took place. Hence we have an inscription from
Yorkshire, "To the god who invented roads and paths," while another
local god of roads, equated with Mercury, was Cimiacinus.[59]
Another god, Ogmíos, a native god 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 god has
more likeness to Mercury as a culture-god than to Heracles, Greek
writers speaking of eloquence as binding men with the chains of Hermes.
Several local gods, of agriculture, commerce, and culture, were thus
identified with Mercury, and the Celtic Mercury was sometimes worshipped
on hilltops, one of the epithets of the god, Dumias, being connected
with the Celtic word for hill or mound. Irish gods were also associated
with mounds.
Many local gods were identified with Apollo both in his capacity of god
of healing and also that of god of light.[61] The two functions are not
incompatible, and this is suggested by the name Grannos, god of thermal
springs both in Britain and on the Continent. The name is connected with
a root which gives words meaning "burning," "shining," etc., and from
which comes also Irish _grian_, "sun." The god 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 god of thermal
springs was Borvo, Bormo, or Bormanus, 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 shining one." It is thus
the name of a Celtic sun-god, 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 classical 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 god of health and of
healing-springs. The plant _Belinuntia_ was called after him and
venerated for its healing powers.[66] The sun-god's functions of light
and fertility easily passed over into those of health-giving, as our
study of Celtic festivals will show.
A god with the name Maponos, connected with words denoting
"youthfulness," is found in England and Gaul, equated with Apollo, who
himself is called _Bonus Puer_ in a Dacian inscription. Another god
Mogons or Mogounos, whose name is derived from _Mago_, "to increase,"
and suggests the idea of youthful strength, may be a form of the
sun-god, though some evidence points to his having been a sky-god.[67]
The Celtic Apollo is referred to by classical writers. Diodorus speaks
of his circular temple in an island of the Hyperboreans, adorned with
votive offerings. The kings of the city where the temple stood, and its
overseers, were called "Boreads," and every nineteenth year the god
appeared dancing in the sky at the spring equinox.[68] The
identifications of the temple with Stonehenge and of the Boreads with
the Bards are quite hypothetical. Apollonius says that the Celts
regarded the waters of Eridanus as due to the tears of Apollo--probably
a native myth attributing the creation of springs and rivers to the
tears of a god, equated by the Greeks with Apollo.[69] The Celtic
sun-god, as has been seen, was a god of healing springs.
Some sixty names or titles of Celtic war-gods are known, generally
equated with Mars.[70] These were probably local tribal divinities
regarded as leading their worshippers to battle. Some of the names show
that these gods were thought of as mighty warriors, e.g. Caturix,
"battle-king," Belatu-Cadros--a common name in Britain--perhaps meaning
"comely in slaughter,"[71] and Albiorix, "world-king."[72] Another name,
Rigisamus, from _rix_ and _samus_, "like to," gives the idea of
"king-like."[73]
Toutatis, Totatis, and Tutatis are found in inscriptions from Seckau,
York, and Old Carlisle, and may be identified with Lucan's Teutates, who
with Taranis and Esus mentioned by him, is regarded as one of three
pan-Celtic gods.[74] Had this been the case we should have expected to
find many more inscriptions to them. The scholiast on Lucan identifies
Teutates now with Mars, now with Mercury. His name is connected with
_teuta_, "tribe," and he is thus a tribal war-god, regarded as the
embodiment of the tribe in its warlike capacity.
Neton, a war-god of the Accetani, has a name connected with Irish _nia_,
"warrior," and may be equated with the Irish war-god Nét. Another god,
Camulos, known from British and continental inscriptions, and figured on
British coins with warlike emblems, has perhaps some connection with
Cumal, father of Fionn, though it is uncertain whether Cumal was an
Irish divinity.[75]
Another god equated with Mars is the Gaulish Braciaca, god of malt.
According to classical writers, the Celts were drunken race, and besides
importing quantities of wine, they made their own native drinks, e.g.
[Greek: chourmi], the Irish _cuirm_, and _braccat_, both made from malt
(_braich_).[76] These words, with the Gaulish _brace_, "spelt,"[77] are
connected with the name of this god, who was a divine personification of
the substance from which the drink was made which produced, according to
primitive ideas, the divine frenzy of intoxication. It is not clear why
Mars should have been equated with this god.
Cæsar says that the Celtic Juppiter governed heaven. A god who carries a
wheel, probably a sun-god, and another, a god of thunder, called
Taranis, seem to have been equated with Juppiter. The sun-god with the
wheel was not equated with Apollo, who seems to have represented Celtic
sun-gods only in so far as they were also gods of healing. In some cases
the god with the wheel carries also a thunderbolt, and on some altars,
dedicated to Juppiter, both a wheel and a thunderbolt are figured. Many
races have symbolised the sun as a circle or wheel, and an old Roman
god, Summanus, probably a sun-god, later assimilated to Juppiter, had as
his emblem a wheel. The Celts had the same symbolism, and used the wheel
symbol as an amulet,[78] while at the midsummer festivals blazing
wheels, symbolising the sun, were rolled down a slope. Possibly the god
carries a thunderbolt because the Celts, like other races, believed that
lightning was a spark from the sun.
Three divinities have claims to be the god whom Cæsar calls Dispater--a
god with a hammer, a crouching god called Cernunnos, and a god called
Esus or Silvanus. Possibly the native Dispater was differently envisaged
in different districts, so that these would be local forms of one god.
1. The god Taranis mentioned by Lucan is probably the Taranoos and
Taranucnos of inscriptions, sometimes equated with Juppiter.[79] These
names are connected with Celtic words for "thunder"; hence Taranis is a
thunder-god. The scholiasts on Lucan identify him now with Juppiter, now
with Dispater. This latter identification is supported by many who
regard the god with the hammer as at once Taranis and Dispater, though
it cannot be proved that the god with the hammer is Taranis. On one
inscription the hammer-god is called Sucellos; hence we may regard
Taranis as a distinct deity, a thunder-god, equated with Juppiter, and
possibly represented by the Taran of the Welsh tale of _Kulhwych_.[80]
Primitive men, whose only weapon and tool was a stone axe or hammer,
must have regarded it as a symbol of force, then of supernatural force,
hence of divinity. It is represented on remains of the Stone Age, and
the axe was a divine symbol to the Mycenæans, a hieroglyph of Neter to
the Egyptians, and a worshipful object to Polynesians and Chaldeans. The
cult of axe or hammer may have been widespread, and to the Celts, as to
many other peoples, it was a divine symbol. Thus it does not necessarily
denote a thunderbolt, but rather power and might, and possibly, as the
tool which shaped things, creative might. The Celts made _ex voto_
hammers of lead, or used axe-heads as amulets, or figured them on altars
and coins, and they also placed the hammer in the hand of a god.[81]
The god with the hammer is a gracious bearded figure, clad in Gaulish
dress, and he carries also a cup. His plastic type is derived from that
of the Alexandrian Serapis, ruler of the underworld, and that of
Hades-Pluto.[82] His emblems, especially that of the hammer, are also
those of the Pluto of the Etruscans, with whom the Celts had been in
contact.[83] He is thus a Celtic Dispater, an underworld god, possibly
at one time an Earth-god and certainly a god of fertility, and ancestor
of the Celtic folk. In some cases, like Serapis, he carries a _modius_
on his head, and this, like the cup, is an emblem of chthonian gods, and
a symbol of the fertility of the soil. The god being benevolent, his
hammer, like the tool with which man forms so many things, could only be
a symbol of creative force.[84] As an ancestor of the Celts, the god is
naturally represented in Celtic dress. In one bas-relief he is called
Sucellos, and has a consort, Nantosvelta.[85] Various meanings have been
assigned to "Sucellos," but it probably denotes the god's power of
striking with the hammer. M. D'Arbois hence regards him as a god of
blight and death, like Balor.[86] But though this Celtic Dispater was a
god of the dead who lived on in the underworld, he was not necessarily a
destructive god. The underworld god was the god from whom or from whose
kingdom men came forth, and he was also a god of fertility. To this we
shall return.
2. A bearded god, probably squatting, with horns from each of which
hangs a torque, is represented on an altar found at Paris.[87] He is
called Cernunnos, perhaps "the horned," from _cerna_, "horn," and a
whole group of nameless gods, with similar or additional attributes,
have affinities with him.
(a) A bronze statuette from Autun represents a similar figure, probably
horned, who presents a torque to two ram's-headed serpents. Fixed above
his ears are two small heads.[88] On a monument from Vandoeuvres is a
squatting horned god, pressing a sack. Two genii stand beside him on a
serpent, while one of them holds a torque.[89]
(b) Another squatting horned figure with a torque occurs on an altar
from Reims. He presses a bag, from which grain escapes, and on it an ox
and stag are feeding. A rat is represented on the pediment above, and on
either side stand Apollo and Mercury.[90] On the altar of Saintes is a
squatting but headless god with torque and purse. Beside him is a
goddess with a cornucopia, and a smaller divinity with a cornucopia and
an apple. A similar squatting figure, supported by male and female
deities, is represented on the other side of the altar.[91] On the altar
of Beaune are three figures, one horned with a cornucopia, another
three-headed, holding a basket.[92] Three figures, one female and two
male, are found on the Dennevy altar. One god is three-faced, the other
has a cornucopia, which he offers to a serpent.[93]
(c) Another image represents a three-faced god, holding a serpent with a
ram's head.[94]
(d) Above a seated god and goddess on an altar from Malmaison is a block
carved to represent three faces. To be compared with these are seven
steles from Reims, each with a triple face but only one pair of eyes.
Above some of these is a ram's head. On an eighth stele the heads are
separated.[95]
Cernunnos may thus have been regarded as a three-headed, horned,
squatting god, with a torque and ram's-headed serpent. But a horned god
is sometimes a member of a triad, perhaps representing myths in which
Cernunnos was associated with other gods. The three-headed god may be
the same as the horned god, though on the Beaune altar they are
distinct. The various representations are linked together, but it is not
certain that all are varying types of one god. Horns, torque, horned
snake, or even the triple head may have been symbols pertaining to more
than one god, though generally associated with Cernunnos.
The squatting attitude of the god has been differently explained, and
its affinities regarded now as Buddhist, now as Greco-Egyptian.[96] But
if the god is a Dispater, and the ancestral god of the Celts, it is
natural, as M. Mowat points out, to represent him in the typical
attitude of the Gauls when sitting, since they did not use seats.[97]
While the horns were probably symbols of power and worn also by chiefs
on their helmets,[98] they may also show that the god was an
anthropomorphic form of an earlier animal god, like the wolf-skin of
other gods. Hence also horned animals would be regarded as symbols of
the god, and this may account for their presence on the Reims monument.
Animals are sometimes represented beside the divinities who were their
anthropomorphic forms.[99] Similarly the ram's-headed serpent points to
animal worship. But its presence with three-headed and horned gods is
enigmatic, though, as will be seen later, it may have been connected
with a cult of the dead, while the serpent was a chthonian animal.[100]
These gods were gods of fertility and of the underworld of the dead.
While the bag or purse (interchangeable with the cornucopia) was a
symbol of Mercury, it was also a symbol of Pluto, and this may point to
the fact that the gods who bear it had the same character as Pluto. The
significance of the torque is also doubtful, but the Gauls offered
torques to the gods, and they may have been regarded as vehicles of the
warrior's strength which passed from him to the god to whom the victor
presented it.
Though many attempts have been made to prove the non-Celtic origin of
the three-headed divinities or of their images,[101] there is no reason
why the conception should not be Celtic, based on some myth now lost to
us. The Celts had a cult of human heads, and fixed them up on their
houses in order to obtain the protection of the ghost. Bodies or heads
of dead warriors had a protective influence on their land or tribe, and
myth told how the head of the god Bran saved his country from invasion.
In other myths human heads speak after being cut off.[102] It might thus
easily have been believed that the representation of a god's head had a
still more powerful protective influence, especially when it was
triplicated, thus looking in all directions, like Janus.
The significance of the triad on these monuments is uncertain but since
the supporting divinities are now male, now female, now male and female,
it probably represents myths of which the horned or three-headed god was
the central figure. Perhaps we shall not be far wrong in regarding such
gods, on the whole, as Cernunnos, a god of abundance to judge by his
emblems, and by the cornucopia held by his companions, probably
divinities of fertility. In certain cases figures of squatting and
horned goddesses with cornucopia occur.[103] These may be consorts of
Cernunnos, and perhaps preceded him in origin. We may also go further
and see in this god of abundance and fertility at once an Earth and an
Under-earth god, since earth and under-earth are much the same to
primitive thought, and fertility springs from below the earth's surface.
Thus Cernunnos would be another form of the Celtic Dispater. Generally
speaking, the images of Cernunnos are not found where those of the god
with the hammer (Dispater) are most numerous. These two types may thus
be different local forms of Dispater. The squatting attitude of
Cernunnos is natural in the image of the ancestor of a people who
squatted. As to the symbols of plenty, we know that Pluto was confounded
with Plutus, the god of riches, because corn and minerals came out of
the earth, and were thus the gifts of an Earth or Under-earth god.
Celtic myth may have had the same confusion.
On a Paris altar and on certain steles a god attacks a serpent with a
club. The serpent is a chthonian animal, and the god, called Smertullos,
may be a Dispater.[104] Gods who are anthropomorphic forms of earlier
animal divinities, sometimes have the animals as symbols or attendants,
or are regarded as hostile to them. In some cases Dispater may have
outgrown the serpent symbolism, the serpent being regarded locally as
his foe; this assumes that the god with the club is the same as the god
with the hammer. But in the case of Cernunnos the animal remained as his
symbol.
Dispater was a god of growth and fertility, and besides being lord of
the underworld of the dead, not necessarily a dark region or the abode
of "dark" gods as is so often assumed by writers on Celtic religion, he
was ancestor of the living. This may merely have meant that, as in other
mythologies, men came to the surface of the earth from an underground
region, like all things whose roots struck deep down into the earth. The
lord of the underworld would then easily be regarded as their
ancestor.[105]
3. The hammer and the cup are also the symbols of a god called Silvanus,
identified by M. Mowat with Esus,[106] a god represented cutting down a
tree with an axe. Axe and hammer, however, are not necessarily
identical, and the symbols are those of Dispater, as has been seen. A
purely superficial connection between the Roman Silvanus and the Celtic
Dispater may have been found by Gallo-Roman artists in the fact that
both wear a wolf-skin, while there may once have been a Celtic wolf
totem-god of the dead.[107] The Roman god was also associated with the
wolf. This might be regarded as one out of many examples of a mere
superficial assimilation of Roman and Celtic divinities, but in this
case they still kept certain symbols of the native Dispater--the cup and
hammer. Of course, since the latter was also a god of fertility, there
was here another link with Silvanus, a god of woods and vegetation. The
cult of the god was widespread--in Spain, S. Gaul, the Rhine provinces,
Cisalpine Gaul, Central Europe and Britain. But one inscription gives
the name Selvanos, and it is not impossible that there was a native god
Selvanus. If so, his name may have been derived from _selva_,
"possession," Irish _sealbh_, "possession," "cattle," and he may have
been a chthonian god of riches, which in primitive communities consisted
of cattle.[108] Domestic animals, in Celtic mythology, were believed to
have come from the god's land. Selvanus would thus be easily identified
with Silvanus, a god of flocks.
Thus the Celtic Dispater had various names and forms in different
regions, and could be assimilated to different foreign gods. Since Earth
and Under-earth are so nearly connected, this divinity may once have
been an Earth-god, and as such perhaps took the place of an earlier
Earth-mother, who now became his consort or his mother. On a monument
from Salzbach, Dispater is accompanied by a goddess called Aeracura,
holding a basket of fruit, and on another monument from Ober-Seebach,
the companion of Dispater holds a cornucopia. In the latter instance
Dispater holds a hammer and cup, and the goddess may be Aeracura.
Aeracura is also associated with Dispater in several inscriptions.[109]
It is not yet certain that she is a Celtic goddess, but her presence
with this evidently Celtic god is almost sufficient proof of the fact.
She may thus represent the old Earth-goddess, whose place the native
Dispater gradually usurped.
Lucan mentions a god Esus, who is represented on a Paris altar as a
woodman cutting down a tree, the branches of which are carried round to
the next side of the altar, on which is represented a bull with three
cranes--Tarvos Trigaranos. The same figure, unnamed, occurs on another
altar at Trèves, but in this case the bull's head appears in the
branches, and on them sit the birds. M. Reinach applies one formula to
the subjects of these altars--"The divine Woodman hews the Tree of the
Bull with Three Cranes."[110] The whole represents some myth unknown to
us, but M. D'Arbois finds in it some allusion to events in the
Cúchulainn saga. To this we shall return.[111] Bull and tree are perhaps
both divine, and if the animal, like the images of the divine bull, is
three-horned, then the three cranes (_garanus_, "crane") may be a rebus
for three-horned (_trikeras_), or more probably three-headed
(_trikarenos_).[112] In this case woodman, tree, and bull might all be
representatives of a god of vegetation. In early ritual, human, animal,
or arboreal representatives of the god were periodically destroyed to
ensure fertility, but when the god became separated from these
representatives, the destruction or slaying was regarded as a sacrifice
to the god, and myths arose telling how he had once slain the animal. In
this case, tree and bull, really identical, would be mythically regarded
as destroyed by the god whom they had once represented. If Esus was a
god of vegetation, once represented by a tree, this would explain why,
as the scholiast on Lucan relates, human sacrifices to Esus were
suspended from a tree. Esus was worshipped at Paris and at Trèves; a
coin with the name Æsus was found in England; and personal names like
Esugenos, "son of Esus," and Esunertus, "he who has the strength of
Esus," occur in England, France, and Switzerland.[113] Thus the cult of
this god may have been comparatively widespread. But there is no
evidence that he was a Celtic Jehovah or a member, with Teutates and
Taranis, of a pan-Celtic triad, or that this triad, introduced by Gauls,
was not accepted by the Druids.[114] Had such a great triad existed,
some instance of the occurrence of the three names on one inscription
would certainly have been found. Lucan does not refer to the gods as a
triad, nor as gods of all the Celts, or even of one tribe. He lays
stress merely on the fact that they were worshipped with human
sacrifice, and they were apparently more or less well-known local
gods.[115]
The insular Celts believed that some of their gods lived on or in hills.
We do not know whether such a belief was entertained by the Gauls,
though some of their deities were worshipped on hills, like the Puy de
Dôme. There is also evidence of mountain worship among them. One
inscription runs, "To the Mountains"; a god of the Pennine Alps,
Poeninus, was equated with Juppiter; and the god of the Vosges mountains
was called Vosegus, perhaps still surviving in the giant supposed to
haunt them.[116]
Certain grouped gods, _Dii Casses_, were worshipped by Celts on the
right bank of the Rhine, but nothing is known regarding their functions,
unless they were road gods. The name means "beautiful" or "pleasant,"
and _Cassi_ appears in personal and tribal names, and also in
_Cassiterides_, an early name of Britain, perhaps signifying that the
new lands were "more beautiful" than those the Celts had left. When tin
was discovered in Britain, the Mediterranean traders called it [Greek:
chassiteros], after the name of the place where it was found, as
_cupreus_, "copper," was so called from Cyprus.[117]
Many local tutelar divinities were also worshipped. When a new
settlement was founded, it was placed under the protection of a tribal
god, or the name of some divinised river on whose banks the village was
placed, passed to the village itself, and the divinity became its
protector. Thus Dea Bibracte, Nemausus, and Vasio were tutelar
divinities of Bibracte, Nimes, and Vaison. Other places were called
after Belenos, or a group of divinities, usually the _Matres_ with a
local epithet, watched over a certain district.[118] The founding of a
town was celebrated in an annual festival, with sacrifices and libations
to the protecting deity, a practice combated by S. Eloi in the eighth
century. But the custom of associating a divinity with a town or region
was a great help to patriotism. Those who fought for their homes felt
that they were fighting for their gods, who also fought on their side.
Several inscriptions, "To the genius of the place," occur in Britain,
and there are a few traces of tutelar gods in Irish texts, but generally
local saints had taken their place.
The Celtic cult of goddesses took two forms, that of individual and that
of grouped goddesses, the latter much more numerous than the grouped
gods. Individual goddesses were worshipped as consorts of gods, or as
separate personalities, and in the latter case the cult was sometimes
far extended. Still more popular was the cult of grouped goddesses. Of
these the _Matres_, like some individual goddesses, were probably early
Earth-mothers, and since the primitive fertility-cults included all that
might then be summed up as "civilisation," such goddesses had already
many functions, and might the more readily become divinities of special
crafts or even of war. Many individual goddesses are known only by their
names, and were of a purely local character.[119] Some local goddesses
with different names but similar functions are equated with the same
Roman goddess; others were never so equated.
The Celtic Minerva, or the goddesses equated with her, "taught the
elements of industry and the arts,"[120] and is thus the equivalent of
the Irish Brigit. Her functions are in keeping with the position of
woman as the first civiliser--discovering agriculture, spinning, the art
of pottery, etc. During this period goddesses were chiefly worshipped,
and though the Celts had long outgrown this primitive stage, such
culture-goddesses still retained their importance. A goddess equated
with Minerva in Southern France and Britain is Belisama, perhaps from
_qval_, "to burn" or "shine."[121] Hence she may have been associated
with a cult of fire, like Brigit and like another goddess Sul, equated
with Minerva at Bath and in Hesse, and in whose temple perpetual fires
burned.[122] She was also a goddess of hot springs. Belisama gave her
name to the Mersey,[123] and many goddesses in Celtic myth are
associated with rivers.
Some war-goddesses are associated with Mars--Nemetona (in Britain and
Germany), perhaps the same as the Irish Nemon, and Cathubodua, identical
with the Irish war-goddess Badb-catha, "battle-crow," who tore the
bodies of the slain.[124] Another goddess Andrasta, "invincible,"
perhaps the same as the Andarta of the Voconces, was worshipped by the
people of Boudicca with human sacrifices, like the native Bellona of the
Scordisci.[125]
A goddess of the chase was identified with Artemis in Galatia, where she
had a priestess Camma, and also in the west. At the feast of the
Galatian goddess dogs were crowned with flowers, her worshippers feasted
and a sacrifice was made to her, feast and sacrifice being provided out
of money laid aside for every animal taken in the chase.[126] Other
goddesses were equated with Diana, and one of her statues was destroyed
in Christian times at Trèves.[127] These goddesses may have been thought
of as rushing through the forest with an attendant train, since in later
times Diana, with whom they were completely assimilated, became, like
Holda, the leader of the "furious host" and also of witches'
revels.[128] The Life of Cæsarius of Arles speaks of a "demon" called
Diana by the rustics. A bronze statuette represents the goddess riding a
wild boar,[129] her symbol and, like herself, a creature of the forest,
but at an earlier time itself a divinity of whom the goddess became the
anthropomorphic form.
Goddesses, the earlier spirits of the waters, protected rivers and
springs, or were associated with gods of healing wells. Dirona or Sirona
is associated with Grannos mainly in Eastern Gaul and the Rhine
provinces, and is sometimes represented carrying grapes and grain.[130]
Thus this goddess may once have been connected with fertility, perhaps
an Earth-mother, and if her name means "the long-lived,"[131] this would
be an appropriate title for an Earth-goddess. Another goddess, Stanna,
mentioned in an inscription at Perigueux, is perhaps "the standing or
abiding one," and thus may also have been Earth-goddess.[132] Grannos
was also associated with the local goddesses Vesunna and Aventia, who
gave their names to Vesona and Avanche. His statue also stood in the
temple of the goddess of the Seine, Sequana.[133] With Bormo were
associated Bormana in Southern Gaul, and Damona in Eastern Gaul--perhaps
an animal goddess, since the root of her name occurs in Irish _dam_,
"ox," and Welsh _dafad_, "sheep." Dea Brixia was the consort of
Luxovius, god of the waters of Luxeuil. Names of other goddesses of the
waters are found on _ex votos_ and plaques which were placed in or near
them. The Roman Nymphæ, sometimes associated with Bormo, were the
equivalents of the Celtic water-goddesses, who survived in the
water-fairies of later folk-belief. Some river-goddesses gave their
names to many rivers in the Celtic area--the numerous Avons being named
from Abnoba, goddess of the sources of the Danube, and the many Dees and
Dives from Divona. Clota was goddess of the Clyde, Sabrina had her
throne "beneath the translucent wave" of the Severn, Icauna was goddess
of the Yonne, Sequana of the Seine, and Sinnan of the Shannon.
In some cases forests were ruled by goddesses--that of the Ardennes by
Dea Arduinna, and the Black Forest, perhaps because of the many waters
in it, by Dea Abnoba.[134] While some goddesses are known only by being
associated with a god, e.g. Kosmerta with Mercury in Eastern Gaul,
others have remained separate, like Epona, perhaps a river-goddess
merged with an animal divinity, and known from inscriptions as a
horse-goddess.[135] But the most striking instance is found in the
grouped goddesses.
Of these the _Deoe Matres_, whose name has taken a Latin form and whose
cult extended to the Teutons, are mentioned in many inscriptions all
over the Celtic area, save in East and North-West Gaul.[136] In art they
are usually represented as three in number, holding fruit, flowers, a
cornucopia, or an infant. They were thus goddesses of fertility, and
probably derived from a cult of a great Mother-goddess, the Earth
personified. She may have survived as a goddess Berecynthia; worshipped
at Autun, where her image was borne through the fields to promote
fertility, or as the goddesses equated with Demeter and Kore, worshipped
by women on an island near Britain.[137] Such cults of a Mother-goddess
lie behind many religions, but gradually her place was taken by an
Earth-god, the Celtic Dispater or Dagda, whose consort the goddess
became. She may therefore be the goddess with the cornucopia on
monuments of the horned god, or Aeracura, consort of Dispater, or a
goddess on a monument at Epinal holding a basket of fruit and a
cornucopia, and accompanied by a ram's-headed serpent.[138] These
symbols show that this goddess was akin to the _Matres_. But she
sometimes preserved her individuality, as in the case of Berecynthia and
the _Matres_, though it is not quite clear why she should have been thus
triply multiplied. A similar phenomenon is found in the close connection
of Demeter and Persephone, while the Celts regarded three as a sacred
number. The primitive division of the year into three seasons--spring,
summer, and winter--may have had its effect in triplicating a goddess of
fertility with which the course of the seasons was connected.[139] In
other mythologies groups of three goddesses are found, the Hathors in
Egypt, the Moirai, Gorgons, and Graiæ of Greece, the Roman Fates, and
the Norse Nornæ, and it is noticeable that the _Matres_ were sometimes
equated with the Parcæ and Fates.[140]
In the _Matres_, primarily goddesses of fertility and plenty, we have
one of the most popular and also primitive aspects of Celtic religion.
They originated in an age when women cultivated the ground, and the
Earth was a goddess whose cult was performed by priestesses. But in
course of time new functions were bestowed on the _Matres_. Possibly
river-goddesses and others are merely mothers whose functions have
become specialised. The _Matres_ are found as guardians of individuals,
families, houses, of towns, a province, or a whole nation, as their
epithets in inscriptions show. The _Matres Domesticæ_ are household
goddesses; the _Matres Treveræ_, or _Gallaicæ_, or _Vediantæ_, are the
mothers of Trèves, of the Gallaecæ, of the Vediantii; the _Matres
Nemetiales_ are guardians of groves. Besides presiding over the fields
as _Matres Campestræ_ they brought prosperity to towns and people.[141]
They guarded women, especially in childbirth, as _ex votos_ prove, and
in this aspect they are akin to the _Junones_ worshipped also in Gaul
and Britain. The name thus became generic for most goddesses, but all
alike were the lineal descendants of the primitive Earth-mother.[142]
Popular superstition has preserved the memory of these goddesses in the
three _bonnes dames_, _dames blanches_, and White Women, met by
wayfarers in forests, or in the three fairies or wise women of
folk-tales, who appear at the birth of children. But sometimes they have
become hateful hags. The _Matres_ and other goddesses probably survived
in the beneficent fairies of rocks and streams, in the fairy Abonde who
brought riches to houses, or Esterelle of Provence who made women
fruitful, or Aril who watched over meadows, or in beings like Melusine,
Viviane, and others.[143] In Gallo-Roman Britain the cult of the
_Matres_ is found, but how far it was indigenous there is uncertain. A
Welsh name for fairies, _Y Mamau_, "the Mothers," and the phrase, "the
blessing of the Mothers" used of a fairy benediction, may be a
reminiscence of such goddesses.[144] The presence of similar goddesses
in Ireland will be considered later.[145] Images of the _Matres_ bearing
a child have sometimes been taken for those of the Virgin, when found
accidentally, and as they are of wood blackened with age, they are known
as _Vierges Noires_, and occupy an honoured place in Christian
sanctuaries. Many churches of Nôtre Dame have been built on sites where
an image of the Virgin is said to have been miraculously found--the
image probably being that of a pagan Mother. Similarly, an altar to the
_Matres_ at Vaison is now dedicated to the Virgin as the "good
Mother."[146]
In inscriptions from Eastern and Cisalpine Gaul, and from the Rhine and
Danube region, the _Matronæ_ are mentioned, and this name is probably
indicative of goddesses like the _Matres_.[147] It is akin to that of
many rivers, e.g. the Marne or Meyrone, and shows that the Mothers were
associated with rivers. The Mother river fertilised a large district,
and exhibited the characteristic of the whole group of goddesses.
Akin also to the _Matres_ are the _Suleviæ_, guardian goddesses called
_Matres_ in a few inscriptions; the _Comedovæ_, whose name perhaps
denotes guardianship or power; the _Dominæ_, who watched over the home,
perhaps the _Dames_ of mediæval folk-lore; and the _Virgines_, perhaps
an appellative of the _Matres_, and significant when we find that virgin
priestesses existed in Gaul and Ireland.[148] The _Proxumæ_ were
worshipped in Southern Gaul, and the _Quadriviæ_, goddesses of
cross-roads, at Cherbourg.[149]
Some Roman gods are found on inscriptions without being equated with
native deities. They may have been accepted by the Gauls as new gods, or
they had perhaps completely ousted similar native gods. Others, not
mentioned by Cæsar, are equated with native deities, Juno with Clivana,
Saturn with Arvalus, and to a native Vulcan the Celts vowed spoils of
war.[150] Again, many native gods are not equated with Roman deities on
inscriptions. Apart from the divinities of Pyrenæan inscriptions, who
may not be Celtic, the names of over 400 native deities, whether equated
with Roman gods or not, are known. Some of these names are mere
epithets, and most of the gods are of a local character, known here by
one name, there by another. Only in a very few cases can it be asserted
that a god was worshipped over the whole Celtic area by one name, though
some gods in Gaul, Britain, and Ireland with different names have
certainly similar functions.[151]
The pantheon of the continental Celts was a varied one. Traces of the
primitive agricultural rites, and of the priority of goddesses to gods,
are found, and the vaguer aspects of primitive nature worship are seen
behind the cult of divinities of sky, sun, thunder, forests, rivers, or
in deities of animal origin. We come next to evidence of a higher stage,
in divinities of culture, healing, the chase, war, and the underworld.
We see divinities of Celtic groups--gods of individuals, the family, the
tribe. Sometimes war-gods assumed great prominence, in time of war, or
among the aristocracy, but with the development of commerce, gods
associated with trade and the arts of peace came to the front.[152] At
the same time the popular cults of agricultural districts must have
remained as of old. With the adoption of Roman civilisation, enlightened
Celts separated themselves from the lower aspects of their religion, but
this would have occurred with growing civilisation had no Roman ever
entered Gaul. In rural districts the more savage aspects of the cult
would still have remained, but that these were entirely due to an
aboriginal population is erroneous. The Celts must have brought such
cults with them or adopted cults similar to their own wherever they
came. The persistence of these cults is seen in the fact that though
Christianity modified them, it could not root them out, and in
out-of-the-way corners, survivals of the old ritual may still be found,
for everywhere the old religion of the soil dies hard.
FOOTNOTES:
[53] Cæsar, _de Bell. Gall._ vi. 17, 18.
[54] Bloch (Lavisse), _Hist, de France_, i. 2, 419; Reinaoh, _BF_ 13,
23.
[55] _Trans. Gaelic Soc. of Inverness_, xxvi. p. 411 f.
[56] Vallentin, _Les Dieux de la cité des Allobroges_, 15; Pliny, _HN_
xxxiv. 7.
[57] These names are Alaunius, Arcecius, Artaius, Arvernorix, Arvernus,
Adsmerius, Canetonensis, Clavariatis, Cissonius, Cimbrianus, Dumiatis,
Magniacus, Moecus, Toeirenus, Vassocaletus, Vellaunus, Visuoius,
Biausius, Cimiacinus, Naissatis. See Holder, _s.v._
[58] Rh[^y]s, _HL_ 6.
[59] Hübner, vii. 271; _CIL_ iii. 5773.
[60] Lucian, _Heracles_, 1 f. Some Gaulish coins figure a head to which
are bound smaller heads. In one case the cords issue from the mouth
(Blanchet, i. 308, 316-317). These may represent Lucian's Ogmíos, but
other interpretations have been put upon them. See Robert, _RC_ vii.
388; Jullian, 84.
[61] The epithets and names are Anextiomarus, Belenos, Bormo, Borvo, or
Bormanus, Cobledulitavus, Cosmis (?), Grannos, Livicus, Maponos, Mogo or
Mogounos, Sianus, Toutiorix, Viudonnus, Virotutis. See Holder, _s.v._
[62] Pommerol, _Ball. de Soc. d'ant. de Paris_, ii. fasc. 4.
[63] See Holder, _s.v._ Many place-names are derived from _Borvo, e.g._
Bourbon l'Archambaut, which gave its name to the Bourbon dynasty, thus
connected with an old Celtic god.
[64] See p. 102, _infra_.
[65] Jul. Cap. _Maxim._ 22; Herodian, viii. 3; Tert. _Apol._ xxiv. 70;
Auson. _Prof._ xi. 24.
[66] Stokes derives _belinuntia_ from _beljo_-, a tree or leaf, Irish
_bile_, _US_ 174.
[67] Holder, _s.v._; Stokes, _US_ 197; Rh[^y]s, _HL_ 23; see p. 180,
_infra_.
[68] Diod. Sic. ii. 47.
[69] Apoll. Rhod. iv. 609.
[70] Albiorix, Alator, Arixo, Beladonnis, Barrex, Belatucadros,
Bolvinnus, Braciaca, Britovis, Buxenus, Cabetius, Camulus, Cariocecius,
Caturix, Cemenelus, Cicollius, Carrus, Cocosus, Cociduis, Condatis,
Cnabetius, Corotiacus, Dinomogetimarus, Divanno, Dunatis, Glarinus,
Halamardus, Harmogius, Ieusdriuus, Lacavus, Latabius, Leucetius,
Leucimalacus, Lenus, Mullo, Medocius, Mogetius, Nabelcus, Neton, Ocelos,
Ollondios, Rudianus, Rigisamus, Randosatis, Riga, Segomo, Sinatis,
Smertatius, Toutates, Tritullus, Vesucius, Vincius, Vitucadros,
Vorocius. See Holder, _s.v._
[71] D'Arbois, ii. 215; Rh[^y]s, _HL_ 37.
[72] So Rh[^y]s, _HL_ 42.
[73] Hübner, 61.
[74] Holder, _s.v._; Lucan, i. 444 f. The opinions of writers who take
this view are collected by Reinach, _RC_ xviii. 137.
[75] Holder, _s.v._ The Gaulish name Camulogenus, "born of Cumel,"
represents the same idea as in Fionn's surname, MacCumall.
[76] Athen. iv. 36; Dioscorides, ii. 110; Joyce, _SH_ ii. 116, 120; _IT_
i. 437, 697.
[77] Pliny, _HN_ xviii. 7.
[78] Gaidoz, _Le Dieu Gaulois de Soleil_; Reinach, _CS_ 98, _BF_ 35;
Blanchet, i. 27.
[79] Lucan, _Phar._ i. 444. Another form, Tanaros, may be simply the
German Donar.
[80] Loth, i. 270.
[81] Gaidoz, _RC_ vi. 457; Reinach, _OS_ 65, 138; Blanchet, i. 160. The
hammer is also associated with another Celtic Dispater, equated with
Sylvanus, who was certainly not a thunder-god.
[82] Reinach, _BF_ 137 f.; Courcelle-Seneuil, 115 f.
[83] Barthelemy, _RC_ i. l f.
[84] See Flouest, _Rev. Arch._ v. 17.
[85] Reinach, _RC_ xvii. 45.
[86] D'Arbois, ii. 126. He explains Nantosvelta as meaning "She who is
brilliant in war." The goddess, however, has none of the attributes of a
war-goddess. M. D'Arbois also saw in a bas-relief of the hammer-god, a
female figure, and a child, the Gaulish equivalents of Balor, Ethne, and
Lug (_RC_ xv. 236). M. Reinach regards Sucellos, Nantosvelta, and a bird
which is figured with them, as the same trio, because pseudo-Plutarch
(_de Fluv._ vi. 4) says that _lougos_ means "crow" in Celtic. This is
more than doubtful. In any case Ethne has no warlike traits in Irish
story, and as Lug and Balor were deadly enemies, it remains to be
explained why they appear tranquilly side by side. See _RC_ xxvi. 129.
Perhaps Nantosvelta, like other Celtic goddesses, was a river nymph.
_Nanto_ Gaulish is "valley," and _nant_ in old Breton is "gorge" or
"brook." Her name might mean "shining river." See Stokes, _US_ 193, 324.
[87] _RC_ xviii. 254. Cernunnos may be the Juppiter Cernenos of an
inscription from Pesth, Holder, _s.v._
[88] Reinach, _BF_ 186, fig. 177.
[89] _Rev. Arch._ xix. 322, pl. 9.
[90] Bertrand, _Rev. Arch._ xv. 339, xvi. pl. 12.
[91] Ibid. xv. pl. 9, 10.
[92] Ibid. xvi. 9.
[93] Ibid. pl. 12 _bis_.
[94] Bertrand, _Rev. Arch._ xvi. 8.
[95] Ibid. xvi. 10 f.
[96] Ibid. xv., xvi.; Reinach, _BF_ 17, 191.
[97] _Bull. Epig._ i. 116; Strabo, iv. 3; Diod. Sic. v. 28.
[98] Diod. Sic. v. 30; Reinach, _BF_ 193.
[99] See p. 212, _infra_.
[100] See p. 166, _infra_.
[101] See, e.g., Mowat, _Bull. Epig._ i. 29; de Witte, _Rev. Arch._ ii.
387, xvi. 7; Bertrand, _ibid._ xvi. 3.
[102] See pp. 102, 242, _infra_; Joyce, _SH_ ii. 554; Curtin, 182; _RC_
xxii. 123, xxiv. 18.
[103] Dom Martin, ii. 185; Reinach, _BF_ 192, 199.
[104] See, however, p. 136, _infra_; and for another interpretation of
this god as equivalent of the Irish Lug slaying Balor, see D'Arbois, ii.
287.
[105] See p. 229, _infra_.
[106] Reinach, _BF_ 162, 184; Mowat, _Bull. Epig._ i. 62, _Rev. Epig._
1887, 319, 1891, 84.
[107] Reinach, _BF_ 141, 153, 175, 176, 181; see p. 218, _infra_.
Flouest, _Rev. Arch._ 1885, i. 21, thinks that the identification was
with an earlier chthonian Silvanus. Cf. Jullian, 17, note 3, who
observes that the Gallo-Roman assimilations were made "sur le doinaine
archaisant des faits populaires et rustiques de l'Italie." For the
inscriptions, see Holder, _s.v._
[108] Stokes, _US_ 302; MacBain, 274; _RC_ xxvi. 282.
[109] Gaidoz, _Rev. Arch._ ii. 1898; Mowat, _Bull. Epig._ i. 119;
Courcelle-Seneuil, 80 f.; Pauly-Wissowa, _Real. Lex._ i. 667;
Daremberg-Saglio, _Dict._ ii., _s.v._ "Dispater."
[110] Lucan, i. 444; _RC_ xviii. 254, 258.
[111] See p. 127, _infra_.
[112] For a supposed connection between this bas-relief and the myth of
Geryon, see Reinach, _BF_ 120; _RC_ xviii. 258 f.
[113] _Coins of the Ancient Britons_, 386; Holder, i. 1475, 1478.
[114] For these theories see Dom Martin, ii. 2; Bertrand, 335 f.
[115] Cf. Reinach, _RC_ xviii. 149.
[116] Orelli, 2107, 2072; Monnier, 532; Tacitus, xxi. 38.
[117] Holder, i. 824; Reinach, _Rev. Arch._ xx. 262; D'Arbois, _Les
Celtes_, 20. Other grouped gods are the Bacucei, Castoeci, Icotii,
Ifles, Lugoves, Nervini, and Silvani. See Holder, _s.v._
[118] For all these see Holder, _s.v._
[119] Professor Anwyl gives the following statistics: There are 35
goddesses mentioned once, 2 twice, 3 thrice, 1 four times, 2 six times,
2 eleven times, 1 fourteen times (Sirona), 1 twenty-one times
(Rosmerta), 1 twenty-six times (Epona) (_Trans. Gael. Soc. Inverness_,
xxvi. 413).
[120] Cæsar, vi. 17.
[121] D'Arbois, _Les Celtes_, 54; _Rev. Arch._ i. 201. See Holder,
_s.v._
[122] Solinus, xxii. 10; Holder, _s.v._
[123] Ptolemy, ii. 2.
[124] See p. 71, _infra_.
[125] Dio Cass. lxii. 7; Amm. Mare, xxvii. 4. 4.
[126] Plutarch, _de Vir. Mul._ 20; Arrian, _Cyneg._ xxxiv. 1.
[127] S. Greg. _Hist._ viii. 15.
[128] Grimm, _Teut. Myth._ 283, 933; Reinach, _RC_ xvi. 261.
[129] Reinach, _BF_ 50.
[130] Holder, i. 1286; Robert, _RC_ iv. 133.
[131] Rh[^y]s, _HL_ 27.
[132] Anwyl, _Celt. Rev._ 1906, 43.
[133] Holder, _s.v._; Bulliot, _RC_ ii. 22.
[134] Holder, i. 10, 89.
[135] Holder, _s.v._; see p. 213, _infra_.
[136] Holder, ii. 463. They are very numerous in South-East Gaul, where
also three-headed gods are found.
[137] See pp. 274-5, _infra_.
[138] Courcelle-Seneuil, 80-81.
[139] See my article "Calendar" in Hastings' _Encyclop. of Religion and
Ethics_, iii. 80.
[140] _CIL_ v. 4208, 5771, vii. 927; Holder, ii. 89.
[141] For all these titles see Holder, _s.v._
[142] There is a large literature devoted to the _Matres_. See De Wal,
_Die Mæder Gottinem_; Vallentin, _Le Culte des Matræ_; Daremberg-Saglio,
_Dict. s.v. Matres_; Ihm, _Jahrbuch. des Vereins von Alterth. in
Rheinlande_, No. 83; Roscher, _Lexicon_, ii. 2464 f.
[143] See Maury, _Fées du Moyen Age_; Sébillot, i. 262; Monnier, 439 f.;
Wright, _Celt, Roman, and Saxon_, 286 f.; Vallentin, _RC_ iv. 29. The
_Matres_ may already have had a sinister aspect in Roman times, as they
appear to be intended by an inscription _Lamiis Tribus_ on an altar at
Newcastle. Hübner, 507.
[144] Anwyl, _Celt. Rev._ 1906, 28. Cf. _Y Foel Famau_, "the hill of the
Mothers," in the Clwydian range.
[145] See p. 73, _infra_.
[146] Vallentin, _op. cit._ iv. 29; Maury, _Croyances du Moyen Age_,
382.
[147] Holder, _s.v._
[148] See pp. 69, 317, _infra_.
[149] For all these see Holder, _s.v._; Rh[^y]s, _HL_ 103; _RC_ iv. 34.
[150] Florus, ii. 4.
[151] See the table of identifications, p. 125, _infra_.
[152] We need not assume with Jullian, 18, that there was one supreme
god, now a war-god, now a god of peace. Any prominent god may have
become a war-god on occasion.