The Religion of the Ancient CeltsMacCulloch, J. A. (John Arnott)
Religion
The Religion of the Ancient Celts
MacCulloch, J. A. (John Arnott)
Celts -- Religion; Mythology, Celtic
The divinity of the serpent is proved by the occurrence of a horned
serpent with twelve Roman gods on a Gallo-Roman altar.[711] In other
cases a horned or ram's-headed serpent appears as the attribute of a
god, and we have seen that the ram's-headed serpent may be a fusion of
the serpent as a chthonian animal with the ram, sacrificed to the dead.
In Greece Dionysus had the form both of a bull and a horned serpent, the
horn being perhaps derived from the bull symbol. M. Reinach claims that
the primitive elements of the Orphic myth of the Thracian
Dionysos-Zagreus--divine serpents producing an egg whence came the
horned snake Zagreus, occur in dislocated form in Gaul. There enlacing
serpents were believed to produce a magic egg, and there a horned
serpent was worshipped, but was not connected with the egg. But they may
once have been connected, and if so, there may be a common foundation
both for the Greek and the Celtic conceptions in a Celtic element in
Thrace.[712] The resemblances, however, may be mere coincidences, and
horned serpents are known in other mythologies--the horn being perhaps a
symbol of divinity. The horned serpent sometimes accompanies a god who
has horns, possibly Cernunnos, the underworld god, in accordance with
the chthonian character of the serpent.[713] In the Cùchulainn cycle
Loeg on his visit to the Other-world saw two-headed serpents--perhaps a
further hint of this aspect of the animal.[714]
In all these instances of animal cults examples of the tendency to make
the divine animal anthropomorphic have been seen. We have now to
consider some instances of the complete anthropomorphic process.
2.
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