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1 The encyclopedia ofCELTIC MYTHOLOGYAND FOLKLOREP atricia Monaghan The encyclopedia of Celtic Mythology and FolkloreCopyright 2004 by Patricia MonaghanAll rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. For information contact:Facts On File, West 31st StreetNew York NY 10001 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication DataMonaghan, encyclopedia of Celtic mythology and folklore / Patricia bibliographical references and 0-8160-4524-0 (alk. paper)1. Mythology, Celtic Encyclopedias. 2. Celts Folklore Legends Europe Encyclopedias. I. 2003299'.16 dc21 2003044944 Facts On File books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk quantities for businesses, associations, institutions, or sales promotions.

2 Please call our Special Sales Department in New York at (212) 967-8800 or (800) can find Facts On File on the World Wide Web at design by Erika K. ArroyoCover design by Cathy RinconPrinted in the United States of AmericaVB Hermitage 10987654321 This book is printed on acid-free TO Z ENTRIES1 BIBLIOGRAPHY479 INDEX4866 Who Were the Celts?The terms Celtand Celticseem familiar today familiar enough that many people assume thatthey are ethnic descriptions, words that define apeople related by blood and culture. Such peo-ple are imagined as fair-skinned, possibly red-haired, often freckled. More important, it ispresumed they share an inborn mystical inclina-tion. They see in ways that others do not or can-not. They acknowledge a world beyond theworld of the senses. Some even have the secondsight, the ability to see fairies and other spiritsdancing through the soft evening.

3 For eveningalways gathers around the Celts, a misty twilightwhere things are never quite solid and image is a charming one; it has drawnmany to the study of Celtic culture. But it is alsoincorrect. The word Celtis not as exact as manypeople presume. It does not define a race or atribe; the alleged Celtic mysticism is not aninvariably inherited trait. Nor does Celtic describe a culture that was so centralized that allCelts everywhere felt the same way towardnature, worshiped the same gods, and per-formed rituals in the same ancient people called themselves theCelts. They called themselves Belgae, Cantii,Icini, Brigantes, Voconces, Arverni, or by anyone of scores of other tribal names. Where con-temporary imagination sees a single culture,these ancient people themselves knew dozens oflinguistically related groups, each bearing aname derived from an ancestor, a god or a god-dess, a totem animal, a sacred location.

4 Theword Celtmay originally have been one of thesetribal names, used by other Europeans as ageneric term for the whole the name itself is not exact, neither is whatit names. There is no one agreed-upon definitionof what constituted Celtic society and the Celticworldview. Indeed, some claim that Celtic peo-ples adapted themselves to and absorbed influ-ences from pre-Celtic cultures wherever theylived and that, therefore, the idea of a Celtic cul-ture is itself hopelessly flawed. Narrowly, a Celtcan be defined as someone who spoke or speaksa Celtic language. Beyond that, scholars andother experts disagree as much as they Celts in Classical LiteratureLiteracy is not a value shared by all Celts did not write down their myths andhistories, honoring instead the spoken word andthe human memory.

5 As a result, we have nowritten documents from early Celtic times,when they were settling central Europe. Instead,the earliest writings we have about the Celts arein the languages of their enemies: the Greeksand, later, the Celts were already a mature culturewhen they began to appear in the writings oftheir southern neighbors. Until then, they livedtoo far away to be of interest, and besides, theywere no threat to the wealth and power ofGreece and Rome. In the last several centuriesbefore the common era, however, the Celtsbegan to seek new territories. Whether this wasbecause they were being pushed out of tradi-tional homelands by other invaders, or because apopulation explosion put pressure on resources,INTRODUCTION6ivIntroductionVwe do not know. But within a few hundred yearsof their first appearance in historical documentsthe Celts posed a real threat to the safety and sta-bility of the Mediterranean world.

6 Simply put,the Greeks and Romans had land and resourcesthat the Celts needed. Conflict was earliest written reference to the Celtictribes is found in the late sixth century works of Hecataeus of Miletus, whodescribed Narbonne, in today s France, as a cityof the Celts. A hundred years later, the Greekgeographer Herodotus described a people, theKelto ,as the most westerly of the European peo-ple but also holding territories at the source ofthe Danube River. The fourth-century writer Ephoros described the Celts as oneof the four great barbarian races, the equal of thepowerful Libyans, Persians, and Scythians to thesouth, east, and north of the Greeks writers were reporting what they hadlearned from travelers; they had no firsthandexperience of Celtic two centuries, central and westernEurope was essentially under Celtic the Celts began to expand, moving southand west.

7 At the height of their expansion, Celtictribes occupied territory that stretched fromGalatia in Asia Minor today s Turkey west toIreland, and from northern Germany to were the first truly European were also aggressive in expanding theirterritories. Around 387 the Celts reachedthe steps of the Roman capital, where the cityleaders were hiding in terror. A siege ensued,broken when the sacred geese in the temple ofJuno called an alarm that roused the captivesagainst the last rush of the invasion. Had thegeese not squawked when they did, Europe maywell have been a Celtic continent. But the tidesof fortune turned against the Celts, and by thefirst century a Roman empire stretchedacross much of the ancient Celtic is from this period that we learn the mostabout Celtic traditions, religion, and ritual.

8 Butthe source is suspect: The writer was theirfiercest enemy, the Roman general who wouldbecome emperor, Julius Caesar, who fought theCeltic people and recorded what he knew ofthem in his Commentaries on the Gallic Celts, whom he called Gauls, Caesar facedthe most significant impediment to his imperialplans. As aggressive as the Celts had been intheir period of expansion, the Romans underCaesar were just as time, the Celts were fighting to main-tain their home territories, not to move into newones. Classical sources tell us of the fierceness ofGaulish and British warriors, but if the Celtswere a people to be feared, they also occupiedlands the Romans wished to conquer. Andbecause the Celtic warriors fought individually,for personal glory, while the trained Romanlegions were pawns in a larger economic game,the Celts were ultimately beaten back.

9 Classicalliterature tells of the carnage of battle and thehorror of massacre that, even from the point ofview of the victors, was unendurable. Romanhistorian Tacitus tells us of the rebellion of theBritish queen Boudicca against the invadingRomans who had raped her daughters; Polybiustells of the powerful Celtic warriors who worelittle clothing apart from their great gold neck-pieces and who sliced off the heads of their van-quished enemies, only to die as miserablecaptives after being paraded naked through thestreets of the Celtic people themselves left nowritten records, we only hear the voices of theirliterate enemies. Although Caesar, AmmianusMarcellinus, Tacitus, Diodorus Siculus, and oth-ers recorded many interesting details aboutCeltic culture, we cannot rely solely upon were writing, after all, for an audience thatcheered the extermination of this fierce foe.

10 Thetemptation was strong to portray the Celts asmore savage and brutal than they were in Roman material must be read with suspi-cion. When Marcellinus speaks of the greatpride and insolence of the Celtic warrior, forinstance, it is easy to dismiss the comment asintended to drive fear into the hearts of theRoman citizenry. But what of his claim thatVIThe encyclopedia of Celtic Mythology and FolkloreCeltic women helped their men in battle? Wasthis an observed fact, or a way of showing theCelts to be more barbaric than the Romans, wholeft their wives at home when they invadedCeltic lands? When Strabo says that the Celtsare war-mad and uncouth, we can recognizehis propagandizing tone, but what of his reportthat the Celts placed a premium on educationand eloquence?