Myths & Legends of the Celtic RaceRolleston, T. W. (Thomas William)
Religion
Myths & Legends of the Celtic Race
Rolleston, T. W. (Thomas William)
Celts -- Religion; Mythology, Celtic
Another singular emblem, upon the meaning of which no light has yet been
thrown, occurs frequently in connexion with megalithic monuments. The
accompanying illustrations show examples of it. Cup-shaped hollows are
made in the surface of the stone, these are often surrounded with
concentric rings, and from the cup one or more radial lines are drawn to a
point outside the circumference of the rings. Occasionally a system of
cups are joined by these lines, but more frequently they end a little way
outside the widest of the rings. These strange markings are found in Great
Britain and Ireland, in Brittany, and at various places in India, where
they are called _mahadéos_.(42) I have also found a curious example—for
such it appears to be—in Dupaix’ “Monuments of New Spain.” It is
reproduced in Lord Kingsborough’s “Antiquities of Mexico,” vol. iv. On the
circular top of a cylindrical stone, known as the “Triumphal Stone,” is
carved a central cup, with nine concentric circles round it, and a duct or
channel cut straight from the cup through all the circles to the rim.
Except that the design here is richly decorated and accurately drawn, it
closely resembles a typical European cup-and-ring marking. That these
markings mean something, and that, wherever they are found, they mean the
same thing, can hardly be doubted, but what that meaning is remains yet a
puzzle to antiquarians. The guess may perhaps be hazarded that they are
diagrams or plans of a megalithic sepulchre. The central hollow represents
the actual burial-place. The circles are the standing stones, fosses, and
ramparts which often surrounded it; and the line or duct drawn from the
centre outwards represents the subterranean approach to the sepulchre. The
apparent “avenue” intention of the duct is clearly brought out in the
varieties given below, which I take from Simpson. As the sepulchre was
also a holy place or shrine, the occurrence of a representation of it
among other carvings of a sacred character is natural enough; it would
seem symbolically to indicate that the place was holy ground. How far this
suggestion might apply to the Mexican example I am unable to say.
[Varieties of Cup-and-ring Markings]
Varieties of Cup-and-ring Markings
*The Tumulus at New Grange*
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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