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
Sacred groves were still used in Gallo-Roman times, and the Druids may
have had a preference for them, a preference which may underlie the
words of the scholiast on Lucan, that "the Druids worship the gods
without temples in woods." But probably more elaborate temples, great
tribal sanctuaries, existed side by side with these local groves,
especially in Cisalpine Gaul, where the Boii had a temple in which were
stored the spoils of war, while the Insubri had a similar temple.[958]
These were certainly buildings. The "consecrated place" in Transalpine
Gaul, which Cæsar mentions, and where at fixed periods judgments were
given, might be either a grove or a temple. Cæsar uses the same phrase
for sacred places where the spoils of war were heaped; these may have
been groves, but Diodorus speaks of treasure collected in "temples and
sacred places" ([Greek: en tois hierois chai temenesin]), and Plutarch
speaks of the "temple" where the Arverni hung Cæsar's sword.[959] The
"temple" of the Namnite women, unroofed and re-roofed in a day, must
have been a building. There is no evidence that the insular Celts had
temples. In Gallo-Roman times, elaborate temples, perhaps occupying
sites of earlier groves or temples, sprang up over the Romano-Celtic
area. They were built on Roman models, many of them were of great size,
and they were dedicated to Roman or Gallo-Roman divinities.[960] Smaller
shrines were built by grateful worshippers at sacred springs to their
presiding divinity, as many inscriptions show. In the temples stood
images of the gods, and here were stored sacred vessels, sometimes made
of the skulls of enemies, spoils of war dedicated to the gods, money
collected for sacred purposes, and war standards, especially those which
bore divine symbols.
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