Symbol and Image in Celtic Religious Art

296 Pages·1992·17.063 MB·English

by  Miranda Green

Symbol and Image in Celtic Religious Art
‘Tarvostrigaranus’: on Nautes Parisiacae monument, Nôtre Dame, Paris. Musée
de Cluny. Height 74 cm. Photograph: Réunion des Musées Nationaux.
Symbol and Image in Celtic
Religious Art
Miranda Green

London and New York
First published 1989
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
a division of Routledge, Chapman and Hall, Inc.
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001

First published in paperback 1992

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group

This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2004.

© 1989, 1992 Miranda Green
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known
or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Green, Miranda
Symbol and image in Celtic religious art.
1. Celtic, religious, visual, arts.
Symbolism
I. Title
708.9364
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Green, Miranda J.
Symbol and image in Celtic religious art.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Art, Celtic—Gaul—Roman influences. 2. Gods,
Celtic, in art. 3. Symbolism in art. I. Title.
N6842.G7 1989 730'.09364 88–35729
ISBN 0-203-41819-0 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN 0-203-72643-X (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0-415-03419-1 (Print Edition)
ISBN 0-415-08076-2 (pbk)
Cyflwynaf y gyfrol hon
i goffadwriaeth
John Legonna
I dedicate this book
to the memory of
John Legonna
and to John Ferguson
‘fortis vir sapiensque’
with love and gratitude

Contents
List of illustrations viii
Preface xiii
Acknowledgements xv
1 Prologue 1
2 The female image 9
3 The divine marriage 45
4 The male image 74
5 The symbolism of the natural world 131
6 Triplism and multiple images 169
7 Style and belief 206
8 Epilogue 224
Abbreviations 226
Notes 227
Bibliography 261
Index 271

vii
List of illustrations
Plates
Frontispiece: ‘Tarvostrigaranus’.
1 Gilt silver cult-cauldron, Gundestrup, Jutland.
2 Relief of Nehalennia with dog and fruit, Colijnsplaat.
3 Image of Nehalennia with her foot on a prow, Colijnsplaat.
4 Relief of Nehalennia on altar with cornucopiae on side-panel,
Colijnsplaat.
5 Detail of side-panel on Plate 4.
6 Carving of Epona, between Meursault and Puligny.
7 Image of Epona, Mellecey.
8 Epona with fruit, Kastel.
9 Epona with bread or fruit, Dalheim.
10 Bronze group of the goddess Artio with her bear, Muri, near Bern.
11 Pipe-clay figurine of goddess with two cornuacopiae, Köln.
12 Carving of mother-goddess, Alesia.
13 Carving of goddess in aedicula, Luxembourg.
14 Stone statuette of mother-goddess with fruit and palm-branch, or
conifer, Caerwent.
15 Pipe-clay goddess decorated with solar symbols, Toulon area.
16 Bronze figurine of Sequana on her duck-prowed boat, Fontes Sequanae.
17 Stone statue of Sirona, Hochscheid.
18 Relief of Sucellus and Nantosuelta, Sarrebourg.
19 Image of divine couple with hammer, Dijon.
20 Image of divine couple with hammer, Pagny-la-Ville, near Nuits St
Georges.
21 Carving of divine couple with ram-horned snake, Néris-les-Bains.
22 Relief of Mercury and Rosmerta, Shakespeare Inn, Gloucester.
23 Relief of Mercury and Rosmerta, Glanum.
viii
List of illustration
24 Bronze group of Sirona and Apollo, Mâlain.
25 Relief of healer-god with patient, Mavilly.
26 Relief of divine couple with ram-horned snake, Mavilly.
27 Carving of divine couple as warrior-deities, Alesia.
28 Carving of divine couple with spear, goat and cockerel, Reims.
29 Image of divine couple, Saintes.
30 Relief of hammer-god with dog and pot, Nîmes.
31 Relief of hammer-god with barrel, Monceau.
32 Bronze figurine of hammer-god, Glanum.
33 Altar with hammer-carving, Nîmes.
34 Bronze hammer-god, Prémeaux.
35 Cernunnos on fourth-century BC rock-carving, Val Camonica.
36 Image of Cernunnos, on Nautes Parisiacae monument, Paris.
37 Bronze hooved god, Bouray.
38 Stone group of Cernunnos with Apollo and Mercury, Reims.
39 Image of Cernunnos with ram-horned snakes, Cirencester.
40 Stone relief of Cernunnos, Vendoeuvres.
41 Stone horned head, Carvoran, Northumberland.
42 Stone hunter-god, Touget.
43 Carving of god with stag, Le Donon.
44 Relief of Esus, on Nautes Parisiacae monument, Nôtre Dame, Paris.
45 Image of god with birds, Moux.
46 Carving of ‘boar-god’, Euffigneix.
47 Stone warrior-god, Entremont.
48 Silver plate portraying wheel-god and bull-horned being, Gundestrup.
49 Bronze figurine of wheel-god, Le Châtelet.
50 Bronze figurine of wheel-god, Landouzy-la-Ville.
51 Reconstruction of Jupiter column at Hausen-an-der-Zaber.
52 Sculptured group of sky-horseman with giant, Merten.
53 Sculptured Jupiter-Giant group, Neschers.
54 Rock-carving depicting half-man, half-stag with huge antlers, Val
Camonica.
55 Bronze stag, Neuvy-en-Sullias.
56 Seventh-century BC bronze cult-wagon with stags, Strettweg, Austria.
57 Bronze group of warriors, boar and stag, Balzars, Liechtenstein.
58 Sixth-century BC gold bowl with stag and sun-symbols, Altstetten,
Zürich.
59 Bronze boar-figurine, Neuvy-en-Sullias.
60 Bronze boar, Luncani, Romania.
61 Stone image of baby with dog, Sainte-Sabine.
62 Stone carved with profiles of horse-heads, Roquepertuse.
63 Bronze horse dedicated to Rudiobus, Neuvy-en-Sullias.
64 Relief of mare and foal, Chorey.
65 Bronze bull, Býèískála, Czechoslovakia.
ix