103-528: In the localised Celtic polytheism practised in Great Britain, Sulis was a deity worshiped at the thermal spring of Bath . She was worshiped by the Romano-British as Sulis Minerva , whose votive objects and inscribed lead tablets suggest that she was conceived of both as a nourishing, life-giving mother goddess and as an effective agent of curses invoked by her votaries . The exact meaning of
206-471: A Romano-British culture . Particularly in the lowland zone, Latin became the language of most of the townspeople, of administration and the ruling class, the army and, following the introduction of Christianity, the church. Brittonic remained the language of the peasantry, which was the bulk of the population; members of the rural elite were probably bilingual. In the highland zone, there were only limited attempts at Romanisation, and Brittonic always remained
309-501: A diphthong that is absent from Sulis and they are not attested as a feminine form or with the -i- inflection . Pierre-Yves Lambert argues for a Proto-Celtic form *su-wli- , composed of the prefix su- ("good") attached to the Celtic verbal theme *wel- ("to see"). The medieval Welsh personal name Sulgen (< Sulien ; "born from Sulis") and the Breton personal name Sul , borne by
412-681: A horse sacrifice . He writes that a white mare was sacrificed and cooked into a broth, which the king bathed in and drank from. This has been seen as propaganda meant to paint the Irish as a barbaric people. However, there may be some truth in the account; there are rare mentions of similar horse sacrifices associated with kingship in Scandinavia and India (see ashvamedha ). There is some evidence that ancient Celtic peoples practised human sacrifice . Accounts of Celtic human sacrifice come from Roman and Greek sources. Julius Caesar and Strabo wrote that
515-527: A ceremonial last meal. The iconography of the human head is believed by many archaeologists and historians to have played a significant part in Celtic religion. It has been referred to as a "head cult" or "cult of the severed head". The Celts had a reputation as head hunters among the Romans and Greeks. Writing in the 1st century BC, the Greek historians Posidonius and Diodorus Siculus said Celtic warriors cut off
618-526: A colourful background by writers whose prime intention was to communicate other messages." The Roman general Julius Caesar , when leading the conquering armies of the Roman Republic against Celtic Gaul, made various descriptions of the inhabitants, though some of his claims, such as that the Druids practised human sacrifice by burning people in wicker men , have come under scrutiny by modern scholars. However,
721-402: A conservative, hypercorrect "school" Latin with a "sound-system [which] was very archaic by ordinary Continental standards". In recent years, research into British Latin has led to modification of Jackson's fundamental assumptions. In particular, his identification of 12 distinctive criteria for upper-class British Latin has been severely criticised. Nevertheless, although British Vulgar Latin
824-459: A gift" (RIB III, 3049). This is the only known instance of a haruspex , or professional diviner who interpreted sacrificed animals' entrails, from Britain. The original inscription used the abbreviation 'HAR' to distinguish Memor as a haruspex , but it appears there was a later addition of the letters 'VSP'. This may have been an attempt to clarify his position as more than an informal 'soothsayer', and suggests that Memor may not have been attached to
927-785: A god of the dead and underworld, whom he likened to Dīs Pater . According to other classical sources, the Celts worshipped the forces of nature and did not envisage deities in anthropomorphic terms. In the Irish and Welsh vernacular sources from the Middle Ages, various human mythological figures were featured who have been thought of by many scholars as being based upon earlier gods. The historian Ronald Hutton however cautioned against automatically characterizing all Irish and Welsh mythological figures as former deities, noting that while some characters "who appear to be human, such as Medb or St Brigit , probably were indeed once regarded as divine ...
1030-469: A life-force to the Otherworld pleased the gods and established a channel of communication between the worlds. Animal sacrifices could be acts of thanksgiving, appeasement, to ask for good health and fertility, or as a means of divination . It seems that some animals were offered wholly to the gods (by burying or burning), while some were shared between gods and humans (part eaten and part set aside). Pliny
1133-490: A local religious significance. There are also the coins of the Roman provinces in the Celtic lands of Gaul , Raetia , Noricum , and Britannia . Most of the surviving monuments and their accompanying inscriptions belong to the Roman period and reflect a considerable degree of syncretism between Celtic and Roman gods; even where figures and motifs appear to derive from pre-Roman tradition, they are difficult to interpret in
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#17328848132331236-455: A local saint, are also related. Sulis was the local goddess of the thermal springs that still feed the spa baths at Bath , which the Romans called Aquae Sulis ("the waters of Sulis"). Sulis was likely venerated as a healing divinity, whose sacred hot springs could cure physical or spiritual suffering and illness. According to scholar Miranda Green, the cult of Sulis at Bath was active until
1339-529: A number of other sites throughout southern England from the 1990s onwards. Kenneth Jackson argued for a form of British Vulgar Latin, distinctive from continental Vulgar Latin. In fact, he identified two forms of British Latin: a lower-class variety of the language not significantly different from Continental Vulgar Latin and a distinctive upper-class Vulgar Latin. This latter variety, Jackson believed, could be distinguished from Continental Vulgar Latin by 12 distinct criteria. In particular, he characterised it as
1442-510: A period when traditional Celtic religious practices had become extinct and had long been replaced by Christianity. The evidence from Ireland has been recognized as better than that from Wales, being viewed as "both older and less contaminated from foreign material." These sources, which are in the form of epic poems and tales, were written several centuries after Christianity became the dominant religion in these regions, and were written down by Christian monks, "who may not merely have been hostile to
1545-409: A religious importance. Barry Cunliffe believed that the Celts held "reverence for the power of the head" and that "to own and display a distinguished head was to retain and control the power of the dead person". Likewise, the archaeologist Anne Ross asserted that "the Celts venerated the head as a symbol of divinity and the powers of the otherworld, and regarded it as the most important bodily member,
1648-474: A religious significance, as on the Basse Yutz Flagons . The Strettweg Cult Wagon is probably associated with libations or sacrifices, and pairs of metal "spoons" probably used for divination have been found. Celtic coinage , from the late 4th century BC until conquest, clearly copies Greek and Roman examples, sometimes very closely, but the heads and horses that are the most popular motifs may have
1751-596: A ritual context. At Niederzier in the Rhineland for example, a post that excavators believed had religious significance had a bowl buried next to it in which was contained forty-five coins, two torcs and an armlet, all made of gold, and similar deposits have been uncovered elsewhere in Celtic Europe. There is evidence that ancient Celtic peoples sacrificed animals, which were almost always livestock or working animals . The idea seems to have been that ritually transferring
1854-508: A ritual cup. Archaeologists have found evidence that heads were embalmed and displayed by the southern Gauls. In another example, at the southern Gaulish site of Entremont , there was a pillar carved with skulls, within which were niches where human skulls were kept, nailed into position, fifteen of which have been found. Roquepertuse nearby has similar heads and skull niches. Many standalone carved stone heads have been found in Celtic regions, some with two or three faces. Examples include
1957-399: A small area or region, or by a particular tribe, but others whose worship had a wider geographical distribution. The names of over two hundred Celtic deities have survived (see list of Celtic deities ), although it is likely that many of these were alternative names, regional names or titles for the same deity. The various Celtic peoples seem to have had a father god, who was often a god of
2060-410: A variety of views as to when exactly it died out as a vernacular. The question has been described as "one of the most vexing problems of the languages of early Britain." In most of what was to become England , Anglo-Saxon settlement and the consequent introduction of Old English appear to have caused the extinction of Vulgar Latin as a vernacular. The Anglo-Saxons spread westward across Britain in
2163-700: A water god, due to similarities with other water gods from Britain. For example, the Roman Baths Museum points to a silver dish from Mindenhall depicting the god Oceanus. In a 2016 article, Eleri H. Cousins argued that much of the imagery on the pediment can be linked to imperial iconography, including the Victories, the oak wreath and the star at its apex. In addition, Cousins highlighted other examples of similar first- and second-century architectural features, particularly Gorgon imagery found in Gaul and Spain, to suggest that
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#17328848132332266-562: Is Greek and means 'De Luxe', and would have likely been her given name when she was a slave, before she was freed and married to her former owner, the priest Receptus. Sulis has captured the attention of multiple creative writers and storytellers. Sulis and the Roman Baths have been re-imagined in the following works of historical fiction: [REDACTED] Media related to Sulis at Wikimedia Commons Celtic polytheism Ancient Celtic religion , commonly known as Celtic paganism ,
2369-579: Is a common theme, with a number of deities seen as threefold , for example the Three Mothers . The druids were the priests of Celtic religion, but little is definitively known about them. Greco-Roman writers stated that the Celts held ceremonies in sacred groves and other natural shrines , called nemetons , while some Celtic peoples also built temples or ritual enclosures . Celtic peoples often made votive offerings which would be deposited in water and wetlands, or in ritual shafts and wells. There
2472-429: Is a descendant of Proto-Celtic paganism , itself derived from Proto-Indo-European paganism . Many deities in Celtic mythologies have cognates in other Indo-European mythologies, such as Celtic Brigantia with Roman Aurora , Vedic Ushas , and Norse Aurvandill ; Welsh Arianrhod with Greek Selene , Baltic Mėnuo , and Slavic Myesyats ; and Irish Danu with Hindu Danu and the namesake of multiple hydronyms such as
2575-498: Is evidence that ancient Celtic peoples sacrificed animals , almost always livestock or working animals . There is some evidence that ancient Celts sacrificed humans , and Caesar in his accounts of the Gallic wars claims that the Gauls sacrificed criminals by burning them in a wicker man , though this may have been imperial propaganda. Celtic paganism, as practised by the ancient Celts,
2678-520: Is found not only in the Celtic regions, but also in Late Bronze Age (and therefore pre-Celtic) societies and those outside of the Celtic area, namely Denmark. One of the most notable examples is the river Thames in southern England, where a number of items had been deposited, only to be discovered by archaeologists millennia later. Some of these, like the Battersea Shield , Wandsworth Shield and
2781-413: Is known about Celtic paganism because the evidence for it is fragmentary, due largely to the fact that the Celts who practised it wrote nothing down about their religion. Therefore, all there is to study their religion from is the literature from the early Christian period, commentaries from classical Greek and Roman scholars, and archaeological evidence. The archaeologist Barry Cunliffe summarised
2884-412: Is now southern Germany, Celtic peoples built rectangular ditched enclosures known as viereckschanzen ; in some cases, these were sacred spaces where votive offerings were buried in deep shafts. In Ireland, religious buildings and enclosures were circular. According to Barry Cunliffe, "the monumentality of the Irish religious sites sets them apart from their British and continental European counterparts",
2987-519: Is speculated that their ability to move on the air, water, and land gave them a special status or significance among the Celts. Examples include the Torrs Pony-cap and Horns (Scotland), Basse Yutz Flagons (France), Wandsworth Shield (England), and the Dunaverney flesh-hook (late Bronze Age Ireland). Celtic burial practices, which included burying grave goods of food, weapons, and ornaments with
3090-513: Is that as an extinct spoken language form, no source provides a direct account of it. Reliance is on indirect sources of evidence such as "errors" in written texts and regional inscriptions. They are held to be reflective of the everyday spoken language. Of particular linguistic value are private inscriptions made by ordinary people, such as epitaphs and votive offerings , and " curse tablets " (small metal sheets used in popular magic to curse people). In relation to Vulgar Latin specifically as it
3193-636: Is the most comprehensive example, datable by a dedication to the Emperor Tiberius (r. from 14 AD). Monumental stone sculptures from before conquest by the Romans are much more rare, and it is far from clear that deities are represented. The most significant are the Warrior of Hirschlanden and " Glauberg Prince" (respectively 6th and 5th-century BC, from Germany), the Mšecké Žehrovice Head (probably 2nd-century BC, Czech Republic), and sanctuaries of some sort at
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3296-589: The Brittonic language of the indigenous Britons . In recent years, scholars have debated the extent to which British Latin was distinguishable from its continental counterparts, which developed into the Romance languages . After the end of Roman rule , Latin was displaced as a spoken language by Old English in most of what became England during the Anglo-Saxon settlement of the fifth and sixth centuries. It survived in
3399-789: The Danube , Don , and Dnieper . After the Roman Empire 's conquest of Gaul (58–51 BCE) and southern Britain (43 CE), Celtic religion there underwent some Romanization , resulting in a syncretic Gallo-Roman religion with deities such as Lenus Mars , Apollo Grannus , and Telesphorus . The Gauls gradually converted to Christianity from the third century onward. After the end of Roman rule in Britain (c. 410 CE), Celtic paganism began to be replaced by Anglo-Saxon paganism over much of what became England . The Celtic populations of Britain and Ireland gradually converted to Christianity from
3502-465: The Mšecké Žehrovice and Corleck heads. Severed heads are a common motif in Insular Celtic myths, and there are many tales in which "living heads" preside over feasts and/or speak prophecies. The beheading game is a trope found in Irish myth and Arthurian legend. John T. Koch says that the efforts taken to preserve and display heads, and the frequency with which severed heads appear, point to
3605-528: The Roman occupation , to the accompaniment of revelry and sacrifices in the sacred groves of Andate . Historians note that these Greco-Roman accounts should be taken with caution, as it benefited them to make the Celts sound barbaric. There is some archaeological evidence of human sacrifice among Celtic peoples, although it is rare. Ritual beheading and headhunting was a major religious and cultural practice which has found copious support in archaeology, including
3708-566: The Waterloo Helmet , would have been prestige goods that would have been labour-intensive to make and thereby probably expensive. Another example is at Llyn Cerrig Bach in Anglesey , Wales, where offerings, primarily those related to battle, were thrown into the lake from a rocky outcrop in the late first century BC or early first century AD. At times, jewellery and other high prestige items that were not related to warfare were also deposited in
3811-446: The sacred spring at the Roman baths in Bath. Typically, the text on the tablets offered to Sulis relates to theft; for example, of small amounts of money or clothing from the bath-house. It is evident, from the localized style of Latin (" British Latin ") used, that a high proportion of the tablets came from the native population. In formulaic, often legalistic, language, the tablets appeal to
3914-412: The specific deities worshipped varied by region and over time, underlying this were broad similarities in both deities and "a basic religious homogeneity" among the Celtic peoples. Widely worshipped Celtic gods included Lugus , Toutatis , Taranis , Cernunnos , Epona , Maponos , Belenos , Ogmios , and Sucellos . Sacred springs were often associated with Celtic healing deities. Triplicity
4017-583: The 1980s, Colin Smith used stone inscriptions in particular in this way, although much of what Smith has written has become out of date as a result of the large number of Latin inscriptions found in Britain in recent years. The best known of these are the Vindolanda tablets , the last two volumes of which were published in 1994 and 2003, but also include the Bath curse tablets , published in 1988, and other curse tablets found at
4120-485: The 1st century AD, Roman writer Lucan mentioned human sacrifices to the Gaulish gods Esus , Toutatis and Taranis . In a 4th century commentary on Lucan, an unnamed author added that sacrifices to Esus were hanged from a tree, those to Toutatis were drowned , and those to Taranis were burned . According to the 2nd-century Roman writer Cassius Dio , Boudica 's forces impaled Roman captives during her rebellion against
4223-441: The 20th century. It is not known when Vulgar Latin ceased to be spoken in Britain, but it is likely that it continued to be widely spoken in various parts of Britain into the 5th century. In the lowland zone, Vulgar Latin was replaced by Old English during the course of the 5th and the 6th centuries, but in the highland zone, it gave way to Brittonic languages such as Primitive Welsh and Cornish . However, scholars have had
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4326-452: The 5th century to the 7th century, leaving only Cornwall and Wales in the southern part of the country and the Hen Ogledd in the north under British rule. The demise of Vulgar Latin in the face of Anglo-Saxon settlement is very different from the fate of the language in other areas of Western Europe that were subject to Germanic migration , like France, Italy and Spain, where Latin and
4429-545: The Anglo-Saxons. These refugees are traditionally characterised as being "upper class" and "upper middle class". Certainly, Vulgar Latin maintained a higher social status than Brittonic in the highland zone in the 6th century. Although Latin continued to be spoken by many of the British elite in western Britain, by about 700, it had died out. The incoming Latin-speakers from the lowland zone seem to have rapidly assimilated with
4532-418: The Celts were animists , believing that all aspects of the natural world contained spirits, and that communication was possible with these spirits. Places such as rocks, streams, mountains, and trees may all have had shrines or offerings devoted to a deity residing there. These would have been local deities, known and worshipped by inhabitants living near to the shrine itself, and not pan-Celtic like some of
4635-410: The Celts worshipping at sacred groves, with Tacitus describing how his men cut down "groves sacred to savage rites". By their very nature, such groves would not survive in the archaeological record, and so we have no direct evidence for them today. Certain springs were also seen as sacred and used as places of worship in the Celtic world. Notable Gaulish examples include the sanctuary of Sequana at
4738-609: The Cross Bath (RIB 146) and Hot Bath (RIB 150) sites respectively, which list 'Sulis Minerva' in full. The altar found at the Hot Bath reads "To the goddess Sulis Minerva Sulinus, son of Maturus, willingly and deservedly fulfilled his vow" (RIB 150). Sulis was not the only goddess exhibiting syncretism with Minerva . Senua 's name appears on votive plaques bearing Minerva's image, while Brigantia also shares many traits associated with Minerva. The identification of multiple Celtic gods with
4841-487: The Elder , a Roman author and military commander in the 1st century AD, wrote of druids performing a ritual whereby they sacrificed two white bulls, cut mistletoe from a sacred oak with a golden sickle, and used it to make an elixir to cure infertility and poison. Archaeologists found that at some Gaulish and British sanctuaries , horses and cattle were killed and their whole bodies carefully buried. At Gournay-sur-Aronde ,
4944-571: The Forum of Augustus in Rome was used as an overall archetype. According to Cousins, the pediment and its imagery are not just 'Roman' or 'Celtic', but result from a mixture of styles and concepts from "the local to the empire-wide". The altar-like statue base was found on the pavement nearby the steps of the Temple for Sulis Minerva. The base reads, "To the goddess Sulis, Lucius Marcius Memor, soothsayer, gave (this) as
5047-402: The Gauls burnt animal and human sacrifices in a large wickerwork figure, known as a wicker man , and that the human victims were usually criminals. Posidonius wrote that druids who oversaw human sacrifices foretold the future by watching the death throes of the victims. Caesar also wrote that slaves of Gaulish chiefs would be burnt along with the body of their master as part of his funeral. In
5150-514: The Roman Baths Museum suggests a possible connection between the Gorgon to the goddess Sulis Minerva (Minerva being the Roman equivalent of the Greek Athena). While the Gorgon on the pediment is male and the mythical Gorgon was female, it has been suggested that the pediment image was altered to reflect a combination of Celtic and classical styles. Another interpretation is that the central head reflects
5253-469: The Romance languages continued. One theory is that in Britain there was a greater collapse in Roman institutions and infrastructure, leading to a much greater reduction in the status and prestige of the indigenous romanised culture; and so the indigenous people were more likely to abandon their languages in favour of the higher-status language of the Anglo-Saxons. On the other hand, Richard Coates believes that
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#17328848132335356-424: The Three Mothers . Some Greco-Roman writers, such as Julius Caesar , did not record the native Celtic names of the deities, but instead referred to them by their apparent Roman or Greek equivalents. He declared that the most widely venerated Gaulish god was Mercury , the Roman god of trade, saying they also worshipped Apollo , Minerva , Mars and Jupiter . Caesar says the Gauls believed they all descended from
5459-463: The absence of a preserved literature on mythology. A notable example of this is the horned god that was called Cernunnos ; several depictions and inscriptions of him have been found, but very little is known about the myths that would have been associated with him or how he was worshipped. Literary evidence for Celtic religion also comes from sources written in Ireland and Wales during the Middle Ages,
5562-461: The animals were left to decompose before their bones were buried around the bounds of the sanctuary along with numerous broken weapons. This was repeated at regular intervals of about ten years. An avenue of animal pit-burials led to a sacred building at Cadbury . In southern Britain, some British tribes carefully buried animals, especially horses and dogs, in grain storage pits. It is believed these were thanksgiving sacrifices to underworld gods once
5665-506: The association with sight, civic law, and epithets relating to light, Sulis has been interpreted as a solar deity , at least in pre-Roman times. Some researchers have further suggested a role as the de facto Celtic solar deity, the associated Sulevia and similar names being the goddess's attestations elsewhere. Sulis has a number of modern-day worshipers among the Wiccan and pagan communities. As of 1998, some people still deposited offerings in
5768-427: The bias inherent in the literary sources. Nonetheless, the interpretation of this evidence can be coloured by the 21st century mindset. Various archaeological discoveries have aided understanding of the religion of the Celts. Most surviving Celtic art is not figurative; some art historians have suggested that the complex and compelling decorative motifs that characterize some periods have a religious significance, but
5871-412: The dead, suggest a belief in life after death . A common factor in later mythologies from Christianized Celtic nations was the otherworld . This was the realm of the fairy folk and other supernatural beings, who would entice humans into their realm. Sometimes this otherworld was claimed to exist underground, while at other times it was said to lie far to the west. Several scholars have suggested that
5974-567: The discovery of eighteen Celtic Iron Age coins at the lowest levels of the site, as documented by Barry Cunliffe in 1988. This is one of the reasons Sulis is named first in the syncretic Sulis Minerva. Through the Roman Minerva syncresis , later mythographers have inferred that Sulis was also a goddess of wisdom and decisions. Of the 17 dedicatory altars and bases found at the Roman temple at Bath, 9 evoke Sulis Minerva through her single or double name. In particular, there are two altars found at
6077-595: The dominant language. Throughout much of western Europe, from Late Antiquity , the Vulgar Latin of everyday speech developed into locally distinctive varieties which ultimately became the Romance languages . However, after the end of Roman rule in Britain in the early 5th century, Vulgar Latin died out as an everyday spoken language. The timing of its demise as a vernacular in Britain, its nature and its characteristics have been points of scholarly debate in recent years. An inherent difficulty in evidencing Vulgar Latin
6180-439: The earlier paganism but actually ignorant of it." Instead of treating the characters as deities, they are allocated the roles of being historical heroes who sometimes have supernatural or superhuman powers; for instance, in the Irish sources the gods are members of the mythological Tuatha Dé Danann tribe. While it is possible to single out specific texts that can be strongly argued to encapsulate genuine echoes or resonances of
6283-417: The earth or thrown into rivers or bogs. According to Barry Cunliffe, in most cases, deposits were placed in the same places on numerous occasions, indicating continual usage "over a period of time, perhaps on a seasonal basis or when a particular event, past or pending, demanded a propitiatory response." In particular, there was a trend to offer items associated with warfare in watery areas, evidence for which
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#17328848132336386-412: The fifth century onward. However, Celtic paganism left a legacy in many of the Celtic nations, influenced mythology and in the 20th century served as the basis for a new religious movement , Celtic neopaganism . Some figures from medieval Irish mythology are believed to be versions of earlier deities. According to Miranda Aldhouse-Green , the Celts were also animists , believing that every part of
6489-506: The fifth century, there are only occasional evidential hints of a continuing tradition of spoken Latin, and then only in Church contexts and among the educated. Alaric Hall has speculated that Bede ’s 8th century Ecclesiastical History of the English People may contain indications that spoken British Latin had survived as a vernacular in some form to Bede’s time. The evidence relied on is
6592-465: The finds at the spring consist of coins and curse tablets (see "Inscribed tablets" section next), with over 12,500 Roman coins and 18 Celtic coins having been found in the reservoir. In addition, items have also been retrieved that were likely private offerings, such as jewelry, gemstones, plates, bowls, military items, wooden and leather objects. Pewter vessels found in the spring reservoir have led some scholars to conclude that physical contact with
6695-427: The goddess Sulis to punish the known or unknown perpetrators of the crime until reparations are made. Sulis is typically requested to impair the physical and mental well-being of the perpetrator, by the denial of sleep, causing normal bodily functions to cease, or even by death. These afflictions are to cease only when the property is returned to the owner or disposed of as the owner wishes, often by its being dedicated to
6798-679: The goddess. One message found on a tablet in the Temple at Bath (once decoded) reads: "Docimedis has lost two gloves and asks that the thief responsible should lose their minds [ sic ] and eyes in the goddess' temple." The tablets were often written in code, by means of letters or words being written backwards; word order may be reversed and lines may be written in alternating directions, from left to right and then right to left ( boustrophedon ). While most texts from Roman Britain are in Latin, two scripts found here, written on pewter sheets, are in an unknown language which may be Brythonic . If so, they would be
6901-517: The heads of enemies slain in battle, hung them from the necks of their horses, then nailed them up outside their homes. Strabo wrote in the same century that Celts embalmed the heads of their most esteemed enemies in cedar oil and put them on display. The Roman historian Livy wrote that the Boii beheaded the defeated Roman general after the Battle of Silva Litana , covered his skull in gold, and used it as
7004-586: The inscriptions, those who recorded their visit with altars or tombstones would likely have been of higher status. The Temple to Sulis Minerva was known for burning coal in the altar-fire instead of wood. This coal would have been brought by slaves, who would also assist in cleaning and service for cult meals. The gilt bronze cult statue of Sulis Minerva "appears to have been deliberately damaged" sometime in later Antiquity , perhaps by barbarian raiders, Christian zealots, or some other forces. About 130 curse tablets , mostly addressed to Sulis, have been found in
7107-488: The key problem with the use of these sources is that they were often biased against the Celts, whom the classical peoples viewed as "barbarians". In the case of the Romans who conquered several Celtic realms, they would have likely been biased in favour of making the Celts look uncivilized, thereby giving the "civilised" Romans more reason to conquer them. Celtic religion was polytheistic , believing in many deities, both gods and goddesses, some of which were venerated only in
7210-406: The land, sea and sky; as in, "I swear by the gods by whom my people swear" and "If I break my oath, may the land open to swallow me, the sea rise to drown me, and the sky fall upon me", an example of Celtic Threefold death . Some scholars, such as Prudence Jones and Nigel Pennick, have speculated that the Celts venerated certain trees. Other scholars, such as Miranda Aldhouse-Green , believe that
7313-442: The late first-century CE. There are only two other known gilt bronze finds from Roman Britain. Discovered in 1790, this pediment from the Temple of Sulis Minerva features a large Gorgon's head in its centre. It was likely carved in the first century CE, by craftsmen from northern Gaul . Originally at a height of fifteen metres, the pediment would have been supported by four fluted columns. There are also several accompanying images on
7416-471: The linguistic evidence points to the now little supported traditional view that there was a mass replacement of the population of southern and eastern England with Anglo-Saxon settlers. His view, based on place name evidence and the lack of loan words in English from Latin "with a Brittonic accent", is that this is the most convincing explanation for the extinction of Latin (or Brittonic) in the lowland zone. From
7519-418: The male tribal god and the female deity of the land" while Anne Ross felt that they displayed that the gods were "on the whole intellectual, deeply versed in the native learning, poets and prophets, story-tellers and craftsmen, magicians, healers, warriors ... in short, equipped with every quality admired and desired by the Celtic peoples themselves." Insular Celts swore their oaths by their tribal gods, and
7622-492: The many skulls found in Londinium 's River Walbrook and the headless bodies at the Gaulish sanctuary of Gournay-sur-Aronde . Several ancient Irish bog bodies have been interpreted as kings who were ritually killed, presumably after serious crop failures or other disasters. Some were deposited in bogs on territorial boundaries (which were seen as liminal places) or near royal inauguration sites, and some were found to have eaten
7725-475: The mid-fourth century CE. Her name primarily appears on inscriptions discovered in an extensive temple area to her at Bath, with only a single instance outside of Britain at Alzey , Germany . At the Roman temple at Bath, several ancient additions to the altar area suggest that sacrifice there was a major part of worshipping the goddess. The open area surrounding the altar may have been used for processions and public offerings of meats and liquids. A majority of
7828-705: The most notable examples being the Hill of Tara ( Temair ) and Navan Fort ( Emain Macha ). In many cases, when the Roman Empire conquered Celtic lands, earlier Iron Age sacred sites were reused and Roman temples built on them. Romano-Celtic temples ( Latin : fanum ) are found only in the northwestern Celtic regions of the empire. They differ from classical Roman temples, and their layouts are believed to be hugely influenced by earlier Celtic wooden temples. The Celts made votive offerings to their deities, which were buried in
7931-438: The name Sulis has been a matter of debate, but an emerging consensus among linguists regards the name as cognate with Old Irish súil ("eye, sight"). A common Proto-Celtic root *sūli- , related to the various Indo-European words for "sun" (cf. Homeric Greek ἡέλιος, Sanskrit sūryah , from c *suh 2 lio- ) has also been proposed, although the Brittonic terms for "sun" ( Old Breton houl , Old Welsh heul ) feature
8034-462: The natural world had a spirit. Various Neopagan groups claim association with Celtic paganism. These groups range from the Reconstructionists , who work to practise ancient Celtic religion with as much accuracy as possible; to New Age , eclectic groups who take some of their inspiration from Celtic mythology and iconography, the most notable of which is Neo-Druidry . Comparatively little
8137-441: The only examples of writing in this language ever found. The only dated tablet of the collection is Bath tablet 94, though no year is given alongside the day and month. This can be inferred, however, by comparison to handwriting used on other tablets, which range from the 'Old Roman cursive' of the second and third centuries CE to the 'New Roman cursive' of the fourth century CE. As argued by Tomlin in his 2020 publication, this shows
8240-469: The otherworld was the Celtic afterlife, though there is no direct evidence to prove this. Evidence suggests that among the Celts, "offerings to the gods were made throughout the landscape – both the natural and the domestic". There were also sacred spaces known by the Gallo-Brittonic word nemeton (plural nemeta ), which typically meant a sacred grove or clearing. Greco-Roman accounts tell of
8343-431: The pediment, such as Tritons (the half-fish and half-men servants to Neptune), a face-helmet shaped like a dolphin's head, a small owl, and female Victories standing on globes. One interpretation of the central image, giving the piece its name, is that the head represents the mythical Gorgon . As Greek mythology has it, the hero Perseus killed the Gorgon and gave the head to Athena , who wore it on her breastplate. Thus,
8446-559: The polytheistic gods. The importance of trees in Celtic religion may be shown by the fact that the very name of the Eburonian tribe contains a reference to the yew tree , and that names like Mac Cuilinn (son of holly) and Mac Ibar (son of yew) appear in Irish myths . In Ireland, wisdom was symbolized by the salmon who feed on the hazelnuts from the trees that surround the well of wisdom ( Tobar Segais ). The relatively few animal figures in early Celtic art include many water-birds, and it
8549-450: The popularity of the inscriptions, and therefore the likely belief in their efficacy, for at least two centuries. At Bath, the Roman temple was dedicated to Sulis Minerva as the primary deity of the temple spa. It is likely that devotion to Sulis existed in Bath before the Roman presence in the area, by the local Celtic Dobunni tribe, who may have believed that Sulis had curative powers. Sulis' pre-Roman presence has also been suggested by
8652-473: The pre-Christian past, opinion is divided as to whether these texts contain substantive material derived from oral tradition as preserved by bards or whether they were the creation of the medieval monastic tradition . Various Greek and Roman writers of the ancient world commented on the Celts and their beliefs. Barry Cunliffe stated that "the Greek and Roman texts provide a number of pertinent observations, but these are at best anecdotal, offered largely as
8755-546: The remaining Celtic regions of western Britain. However, it also died out in those regions by about 700; it was replaced by the local Brittonic languages . At the inception of Roman rule in AD ;43, Great Britain was inhabited by the indigenous Britons , who spoke the Celtic language known as Brittonic . Roman Britain lasted for nearly four hundred years until the early fifth century. For most of its history, it encompassed what
8858-538: The same Roman god is not unusual (both Mars and Mercury were paired with a multiplicity of Celtic names). On the other hand, Celtic goddesses tended to resist syncretism; Sulis Minerva is one of the few attested pairings of a Celtic goddess with her Roman counterpart. Dedications to " Minerva " are common in both Great Britain and continental Europe , most often without any Celtic epithet or interpretation (cf. Belisama for one exception). Based on her name's etymology, as well as several other characteristics, such as
8961-607: The source of the Seine in Burgundy and Chamalieres near to Clermont-Ferrand . At both of these sites, a large array of votive offerings have been uncovered, most of which are wooden carvings, although some of which are embossed metal. During the Iron Age, the Celtic peoples of Gaul, Belgica and Britain built temples comprising square or circular timber buildings, usually set within a rectangular enclosure. Celtic peoples further east, in what
9064-424: The sources for Celtic religion as "fertile chaos" , borrowing the term from the Irish scholar Proinsias MacCana . Cunliffe went on to note that "there is more, varied, evidence for Celtic religion than for any other example of Celtic life. The only problem is to assemble it in a systematic form which does not too greatly oversimplify the intricate texture of its detail." The archaeological evidence does not contain
9167-505: The southern French oppida of Roquepertuse and Entremont . There are also a number of Celtiberian standing "warrior" figures, and several other stone heads from various areas. In general, even early monumental sculpture is found in areas with higher levels of contact with the classical world, through trade. It is possible that wooden monumental sculpture was more common. Small heads are more common, mainly surviving as ornament in metalwork, and there are also animals and birds that may have
9270-424: The stores reached the end of their use. Irish mythology describes the tarbfeis (bull feast), a shamanistic ritual in which a bull would be sacrificed and a seer would sleep in the bull's hide to have a vision of the future king. Following the 12th-century Norman invasion of Ireland , Norman writer Gerald of Wales wrote in his Topographia Hibernica that the Irish kings of Tyrconnell were inaugurated with
9373-507: The temple itself, but rather that he may have been a visiting member of the governor's staff. This tombstone resembling an altar (see top left) was found with two cinerary urns outside the city of Bath, in the parish of Bathwick, 800 metres north-east of the Roman Baths. The tombstone reads, "To the spirits of the departed; Gaius Calpurnius Receptus, priest of the goddess Sulis, lived 75 years; Calpurnia Trifosa, his freedwoman (and) wife, had this set up" (RIB 155). Receptus' widow's name, Trifosa,
9476-424: The tribe and of the dead ( Toutatis probably being one name for him); and a mother goddess who was associated with the land, earth and fertility ( Matrona probably being one name for her). The mother goddess could also take the form of a war goddess as protectress of her tribe and its land, for example Andraste . There also seems to have been a male celestial god—identified with Taranis —associated with thunder,
9579-483: The understanding of what that might be appears to be irretrievably lost. Surviving figurative monumental sculpture comes almost entirely from Romano-Celtic contexts, and broadly follows provincial Roman styles, though figures who are probably deities often wear torcs , and there may be inscriptions in Roman letters with what appear to be Romanized Celtic names. The Pillar of the Boatmen from Paris, with many deity figures,
9682-403: The use of a word with a possible preserved British vulgar Latin spelling ( Garmani for Germani ) as well as onomastic references. Before Roman rule ended, Brittonic had remained the dominant language in the highland zone. However, the speakers of Vulgar Latin were significantly but temporarily boosted in the 5th century by the influx of Romano-Britons from the lowland zone who were fleeing
9785-534: The very seat of the soul". British Latin British Latin or British Vulgar Latin was the Vulgar Latin spoken in Great Britain in the Roman and sub-Roman periods. While Britain formed part of the Roman Empire , Latin became the principal language of the elite and in the urban areas of the more romanised south and east of the island. In the less romanised north and west it never substantially replaced
9888-515: The warriors who are the main protagonists of the stories have the same status as those in the Greek myths, standing between the human and divine orders. To regard characters such as Cú Chulainn , Fergus Mac Roich or Conall Cernach as former gods turned into humans by a later storyteller is to misunderstand their literary and religious function ... Cú Chulainn is no more a former god than Superman is." Examining these Irish myths, Barry Cunliffe stated that he believed they displayed "a dualism between
9991-399: The water may have been important for transfer of healing properties, with these vessels being used to pour the water over visitors' bodies. From the evidence of funerary inscriptions discovered on the site, it appears that visitors to the sacred springs may have included retired soldiers, soldiers acting as tourists, and/or soldiers looking for relief from injury or illness. In order to afford
10094-408: The waters of the Roman baths. A gilt bronze head of the goddess Sulis Minerva was discovered in Bath in 1727 (see top right), which was probably from a cult statue that stood inside her temple, next to the sacred spring. It is possible that this statue was positioned across the temple courtyard from the sacrificial altar site. The statue may be a product of the foundation of the Roman site, dating from
10197-460: The wheel, and the bull. There were gods of skill and craft, such as the pan-regional god Lugus , and the smith god Gobannos . Celtic healing deities were often associated with sacred springs , such as Sirona and Borvo . Other pan-regional deities include the horned god Cernunnos , the horse and fertility goddess Epona , the divine son Maponos , as well as Belenos , Ogmios , and Sucellos . Some deities were seen as threefold , for example
10300-679: Was probably not substantially different from the Vulgar Latin of Gaul , over a period of 400 years of Roman rule, British Latin would almost certainly have developed distinctive traits. That and the likely impact of the Brittonic substrate both mean that a specific British Vulgar Latin variety most probably developed. However, if it did exist as a distinct dialect group, it has not survived extensively enough for diagnostic features to be detected, despite much new subliterary Latin being discovered in England in
10403-519: Was spoken in Britain, Kenneth H. Jackson put forward in the 1950s what became the established view, which has only relatively recently been challenged. Jackson drew conclusions about the nature of British Latin from examining Latin loanwords that had passed into the British Celtic languages. From the 1970s John Mann, Eric P. Hamp and others used what Mann called "the sub-literary tradition" in inscriptions to identify spoken British Latin usage. In
10506-421: Was the religion of the ancient Celtic peoples of Europe. Because there are no extant native records of their beliefs, evidence about their religion is gleaned from archaeology, Greco-Roman accounts (some of them hostile and probably not well-informed), and literature from the early Christian period. Celtic paganism was one of a larger group of polytheistic Indo-European religions of Iron Age Europe. While
10609-469: Was to become England and Wales as far north as Hadrian’s Wall , but with the addition, for shorter periods, of territories further north up to, but not including, the Scottish Highlands . Historians often refer to Roman Britain as comprising a "highland zone" to the north and west of the country and a "lowland zone" in the south and east, with the latter being more thoroughly romanised and having
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