Iconography

When an invading group of Celts overran and plundered the sacred Greek site of Delphi in the early third century BC their leader, Brennus, laughed at the anthropomorphic images of the Greek divinities which adorned the great sanctuary (Diodorus XXll.9.4). He was apparently scoffing at the naivety of Mediterranean perceptions of the divine. But whilst it is undoubtedly true that religious iconography is comparatively scarce in Celtic lands before the intrusion of GraecoRoman artistic traditions, images of Celtic divinities were nonetheless present in small numbers in the last few centuries before Christ.

Stone sculpture falls into two main distributional clusters: one in central Europe; the other in the area of southern Gaul known later by the Romans as The Province (Provence), because of their early conquest of the region (late second century BC). The central European group Includes large stone male statues, dating between the sixth and third centuries BC, which are presumed to represent gods or dead heroes. One of the earliest such figures is a huge sandstone image from a late Hallstatt burial-mound at Hirschlanden near Stuttgart. He is naked but for a conical helmet, a torque, belt and dagger (Woodward 1992; fig. 45; Megaw 1970: no. 12). His original position may have been at the top of the mound, and he may represent the dead warrior himself or perhaps a war-god, patron of the deceased. The image at Holzer-lingen, also in Germany and of similar date, almost certainly represents a god: a rough sandstone block was crudely hewn into a human torso, featureless except for a belt at the waist (Megaw 1970: no. 14). But the statue is janiform, surmounted by a dual head bearing horns, perhaps the earliest representation of a Celtic horned god. The carved head from Heidelberg comes from a statue or pillar-stone: dating to the fifth-fourth century BC, it bears a leaf crown consisting of two swelling lobes which meet above the head, and on the forehead is carved a motif which has been interpreted by some as a lotus bud, a Greek symbol of eternity (Megaw and Megaw 1989: 74). The two features of crown and lotus may signify divinity: both recur on the pillar-stone at Pfalzfeld in the Rhineland which dates to the same period, and which bears curvilinear foliate Celtic designs out of which peer four leaf-crowned human heads {ibid.: 74, fig. 83, left; Megaw 1970: no. 75). Further east is the third-century BC ritual site of Msecke Zehrovice near Prague, which produced a carved stone head, originally from a life-size statue: the face is that of the typical Celt as stereotyped by classical writers (and more recently by the creators of Asterix): hair en brosse, staring eyes and flowing moustache (Megaw and Megaw 1989: 124, pi. XVll). The image bears a heavy buffer-torque, probably a symbol of divinity or, at least, high status. It is difficult to interpret the Msecke Zehrovice head as representative of anything other than a god.

The Provencal group of sculptures dates to between the fifth and second centuries BC, and their presence may be due in part to the stimulus of mimetic representation provided by the nearby Greek (Phocean) colony of Marseilles. Such sanctuaries as those at Entremont and Roquepertuse in the lower Rhone valley have produced a rich iconography (Figure 25.1) (Benoit 1955, 1981), including sculptures of crosslegged male figures, some of whom wear armour, and who may be war-gods. The severed human head is a prominent iconographic theme at these shrines, and some of these ‘warrior-gods’ hold severed heads in their hands, as if reflective of the divine dominance over humans in life and death. Entremont produced a carved pillar of incised human heads; both this sanctuary and that at Roquepertuse had niches, filled with the human skulls of young men killed in battle, built into the structure of the temple. The sanctuary at Roquepertuse was guarded by a janiform head, perhaps that of the presiding deity, who gazed inwards and outwards from the gateway of his sacred place.

Other stone sculptures, presumed to represent divinities, come from elsewhere in the Celtic heartland: an important example is the boar-god at Euffigneix (Haute-Marne), an image which dates to the second or first century BC. The carving takes the form of a roughly hewn pillar depicting a beardless god wearing a heavy torque, with a boar in low relief striding up his torso. On the side of the pillar is an immense human eye, perhaps indicative of protection or omnipotence. The boar’s dorsal crest is erect, as if to reflect aggression: for the Celts, the image of the boar was an important war

Figure 2j. i Stone frieze of horse-heads, from the Cehie sanetuary of Roqucpertusc near Marseilles. Fifth-fourth eentury BC. Ht ji cm. (Photo: author.)

Symbol. The Euffigneix deity may himself be a god of war, or perhaps of hunting and wild nature (Esperandieu no. 770a; Pobe and Roubier 1961: no. 6; Green 1989:

Fig - 46).

Imagery in metal - usually bronze - also bears witness to the representation of divinities in the last few centuries BC. Small figures of warrior - or hunter-gods dome from St Maur-en-Chaussee (Oise) (Rapin 1991:330), Balzars in Liechtenstein (Green 1992a: 125) and Dineault in Brittany (Abbaye de Daoulais 1982: no. 80.01), the last-mentioned a warrior-goddess with a goose-crested helmet. Images of animals are more common than are anthropomorphic depictions: bulls, like those from Byciskala (Czechoslovakia) (Figure 25.2) and Hallstatt (Austria), which date to the sixth century BC (Megaw 1970: no. 33), may symbolize the sacrifice of an animal which was central to the early Celtic economy. Boar figurines may reflect war symbolism: some, like those at Hounslow (Middlesex), Gacr Fawr (Powys) and Luncani in Romania, were probably helmet crests (Foster 1977; Green 1992b; fig. 4.19). But the bronze boars from Neuvy-cn-Sullias (Loiret) are nearly life-size and almost certainly came from a shrine. The Neuvy hoard dates to the very end of the Gaulish Iron Age (Esperandieu nos. 2978, 2984; Megaw 1970: no. 238; Green 1989: fig. 39).

The Gundestrup Cauldron is one of the most important pieces of pre-Roman Celtic religious art. It is a large silver-gilt vessel made up of individual plates which bear a complex iconography, including depictions of divinities. The cauldron was found dismantled in a Danish peat-bog at Raevemosc (Jutland), and was probably

Figure 25.2 Bronze figurine of a bull, Byciskala Cave, Czechoslovakia. Sixth century BC.

Ht 11.4 cm. (Illustrator: Paul Jenkins.)

Made in the second or first century BC. The circumstances of its manufacture, use and subsequent deposition have long been the subject of controversy. It was probably made in south-east Europe by Thracian or Dacian silversmiths. Many of the iconographic themes are exotic: lions, elephants and griffons adorn the plates. However, there are a number of unequivocally Celtic motifs: the weapons and armour belong to the Celtic world, and the deities represented may be paralleled in the later Romano-Celtic imagery of Gaul and Britain. These include the antlered god, sometimes identified as ‘Cernunnos’ because of a first century AD Parisian monument linking this name with a similar antlered figure (Esperandieu nos. 3132, 3133; CIL XIII: 3026). On the cauldron, the god is accompanied by a ram-headed snake, an idiosyncratic cult-animal which occurs consistently with the antlered god in Romano-Celtic Gaul. This serpent appears a total of three times on the cauldron. The antlered figure appears with two torques on the vessel, and he is thus represented on a number of later Romano-Gaulish depictions. Interestingly, as early as the fourth century BC, an antlered figure with torques and horned snakes is portrayed in the rock art of Camonica valley in north Italy (Anati 1965). Another undoubtedly Celtic divine representation on the Gundestrup vessel is the wheel-god, depicted on an outer plate. Once again, there is good evidence for this deity in Romano-Celtic imagery (Green 1984).

The mystery of the Gundestrup Cauldron may never fully be solved. It is possible that south-east European craftsmen were commissioned to make a great cult-vessel for a Celtic clientele. The cauldron could have been looted from Gaul by Teutonic raiders, perhaps the Cimbri, and later buried by them for safety or as an offering to their own gods (Green 1992a: 108-10; Olmsted 1979).

Vincent Megaw has pointed out (1989: 160) that the Euffigneix stone boar-god was perhaps carved by a craftsman who was more familiar with working in wood than in stone. There is no doubt that images of gods were made in wood, which usually does not survive. That they may have been common during the Iron Age is suggested by the chance preservation of these figures in waterlogged contexts (Coles 1990: 315-33). Five pinewood images of naked warriors with shields and detachable phalli, set in a simple boat model, were found at Roos Carr in the Humber estuary: they may date from as early as the seventh century BC. A wooden female image dating to the first century BC comes from a wicker structure at Ballachulish, Argyll (Green 1986a: fig. 5; Megaw and Simpson 1979: 477); and there are other stray British figures. Oak carvings of animals, dendro-dated to 123 BC, come from a shaft at the Viereckschanze of Fellbach-Schmiden in southern Germany (Figure 25.3) (Webster 1986a: 95; Planck 1982; Green 1992a: 96-7).

The first phase of the great healing sanctuary dedicated to Sequana, goddess of the source of the Seine at Fontes Sequanae near Dijon, dates to the interface between the free Celtic and Romano-Celtic periods. This primary, first century BC, phase is represented by more than 200 wooden votives, depictions of pilgrims and the parts of their bodies requiring a cure, which were offered to the power of the sacred spring. Of similar date (first century BC to first century ad) are the more numerous wooden images at Chamalieres (Puy-de-D6me), a holy place where two springs met (Deyts 1983, 1985; Vatin 1969: 103-14). We are reminded of Lucan’s statement concerning a sacred grove near Marseilles, encountered by Julius Caesar’s army:

The images were stark, gloomy blocks of unworked timber, rotten with age, whose ghastly pallor terrified their devotees.

(Pharsalia III.412-17)

We are unable positively to name or identify these pre-Roman gods whose images were carved in stone, wood or bronze because this iconography is unsupported by inscriptions or documents, although their accompanying symbolism may sometimes suggest their possible function.

Ritual Behaviour

It is clear that iconography is by no means the sole evidence for religious expression in the pre-Roman period. Discussion of ritual practices is properly the remit of Chapter 23 but here it is useful to allude briefly to recurrent cult activity which implies a relationship with specific elements of the supernatural world. Perhaps the most prominent iron age ritual behaviour concerns the deposition of prestigious objects, often of a martial nature, which were frequently buried on dry land or in watery contexts. These implements and weapons were often deliberately bent or

Figure 25.3 Wooden carving of a stag, from the Viereckschanze at Fellbach-Schmiden, Germany. Second century BC. Ht 77 cm. (Illustrator: Paul Jenkins.)

Broken in order ritually to ‘kill’ them and thus render them appropriate as sacrifices to the spirits of the supernatural world. Examples of this practice are numerous: in Britain we may cite the deposit of metalwork, including swords and chariot fittings, in the marshy lake at Llyn Cerrig Bach on the island of Anglesey, which spans a period between the second century BC and the first century AD (Fox 1946). Broken weapons formed a substantial element of the offerings made at later pre-Roman iron age temples, such as Hayling Island (Hampshire) (Downey, King and Soffe 1980: 289-304; Woodward 1992: 66-7). This occurrence may be closely paralleled at Gournay (Oise) (Brunaux 1986). Deposits in Switzerland are particularly prolific: that at La Tene, on the shore of Lake Neuchatel, is well known (Vouga 1923; Dunning 1991: 366-8), but the equally important deposit of weapons and chariot equipment at Tiefenau, in the oppidum of Bern-Engehalbinsel, is less familiar (Muller 1991: 526-7). This evidence of recurrent ritual behaviour may be interpreted as ‘conspicuous consumption’, but equally it may express behaviour associated with a warrior-cult.