CHAPTER THREE
CELTIC RELIGIONS, HORNED WARRIORS, AND GRAECO-ROMAN HEROES
The horned warrior cults, as the Roman soldiers observed them, pose certain problems: extreme localization and class stratification, both aspects reflective of Celtic, rather than Roman, practices. The localization, and to a lesser extent class stratification, arc reminis• cent of Greek hero cults, which provide a better model for the inter• pretation of our Celtic gods than do the deities of Graeco-Roman civic rites.
Sources and Problems
The Romano-Celtic religions owe their survival almost exclusively to the epigraphic record. The literary record is sparse, and all accounts stem from the lost works of Posidonius. Caesar's discussion merely underscored the Roman attitude that all men, Roman and foreign, worship the same gods, albeit under different names (BC VI. l 6-- 17, cf. Tacitus, Germania, 9). The Celts, so the Roman believed, wor• shipped Mercury foremost, they venerated Mars and Hercules with animal sacrifice, they also recognized Isis, and they did not gener• ally construct permanent, roofed temples on loci consecrati. The promi• nence of the Druid class and the Celtic practice of human sacrifice were the only differences of substance between Roman and Celtic ritual, according to the prejudiced Roman. 1 Lucan (1.445-6) cites three divine names, Teutates, Esus, and Taranis, respectively equated with Mars, Mercury, and Jupiter. Other sources include Strabo (4.4.4-5), Athenaeus, and Diodorus Siculus (5.28.6), as well as Pomponius Mela (3.2.18-19), Pliny (NH 16.249-51, 30.13), Dio Cassius (60.20.6-8), and Ammianus Marccllinus (15.9.4,8), all of whom follow Posidonius. There is only an occasional passing refer-
1 For the Druids, see Piggot, Druids, especially 13-33, where the author discusses the problems connected with archaeological and written sources. lvlore recently, Lonigan, Druids. HORNED WARRIORS AND GRAECO-ROMAc"J HEROES 99 ence to Celtic and Germanic deities by Christian writers who, for the most part, reserved their invective for the state religion and East• ern cults. Nor is the epigraphic record helpful. In most cases, Celtic gods of the Roman era are attested by a single inscription, and little more can be said other than what the stone itself tells us; but the find spot (within the camp, outside the camp, or in the civilian vicus) and accompanying votive offerings, if any, provide further clues. Virtually all of our evidence comes from military contexts. Since the material is erratically preserved, gaps in the record constitute another prob• lem with the source material. The Christian sweep of non-Christian religious sites in the fourth century, in particular, caused great archae• ological loss and destruction. vVe shall never know what has van• ished or how much.
Celtic Religion
The Celtic pantheon differed from the Roman in several important aspects. Since there was no unified Celtic state, there was, conse• quently, no organized Celtic religion, which was ordered instead at the local tribal level rather than regionally or "nationally." Second, whereas the Roman Jupiter was universally recognized in the Latin speaking world, Celtic gods were mostly localized. Some Celtic gods were recognized widely: Lug, corresponding to Caesar's Mercury, was commemorated in place names throughout Europe (especially Lugdunum) and survived as the Irish Lugh and Welsh Lleu; Epona the goddess of horses was likewise attested throughout the Celtic ethnic areas (pp. 154-155). The cultic range of a god could be rather large, extending along Hadrian's \Vall (Belatucadrus to the west, Veteris towards the east), common throughout a region (the Matres in Gloucestershire), or quite small-a single spring or well (Mars Nodens at Lydney and Cockersand Moss, Lane., Coventina at Carrawburgh, or Sulis at Bath). Each tribe likely had its own sky or war god, yet these tribal Celtic gods shared a number of characteristics which makes it possible to discuss them according to typc.2 For example,
2 Ross, "Horned God," 63, 65. Ross sees patterns of worship. The tribal god is a multi-functional deity who protects his tribe in war, provides for the fertility of humans, stock, and fields, who oversees law, religion, and the administration of