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THE GORS OF THE CELTS

erworid creałures associated with Rhiannon. but their magico-divine function in Irish legend is usuałly concemed with war and destruction. War-goddesses like Badb and the Mórrfgan constantly cbange to ravens or crows, and the Irish raven-goddesses were able to foretell disastrous battle-outcomes. In relationships with the Ulster Cycle hero Cu Chulainn. ravens were generally malevolent otherworld birds. Their prognostic ąualities are further demonstrated by their Druidical use in Irish augury. Iconographically. ravens occur in La Tene art, and may there possess a war/death symbolism. Several Gaulish deities appear with birds which may be ravens, and their association with Nantosuelta (consort of Sucellus) may signify chthonicism. Ravens appear freąuently as smali bronzes in British contexts and at Willingham, Cambs and Felmingham, Norfolk they occur in hoards associated with the Celtic sky-god (Chapter Two) and where they may represent the underworld aspect of his cult.

Other Birds

Of these the most important are eagles. Their vast wing-span and powerful, high flight epitomize the huge span of the sky and, as Jupiter’s bird, their appearance in Romano-Celtic contexts may be due to Roman influence. But they appear in so many instances alone in Britain - morę thań half-a-dozen at the shrine of Woodeaton, Oxon - that they may possess sky-symbolism not necessarily linked with Jupiter only. A bird of prey is represented at the pre-Roman Provenęal shrine of Roąuepertuse where a huge curved beak holds two human heads. Similar imagery occurs in Britain where a bucket-omament from the Ribble (Lancs) is composed of a buli, human and eagle head; and this is partially repeated at Thealby, Lines (Fig. 75) where two mounts depict eagles’ heads surmounting those of bulls.

The problem with bird-imagery is that it is freąuently difficult to tell which species is represented. Unidentifiable birds occur in a great deal of Celtic iconography, and it may be that sometimes bird-symbolism is of itself the important element. Many Gaulish deities appear with birds, and Thevenot suggests that they may be oracular. Several times. divinities appear with birds on their heads or shoulders. at Alesia, a god stands with an oak, birds in the branches, and a three-headed dog. Certain deities liked birds as offerings young people healed by Lenus at Trier are depicted holding birds, and votive birds (probably doves) were offered in th*-thermal shrines of Cóte d’Or.

ANIMAI.S AND ANIM1SM

82 Bronze eagle; Woodeaton, oxon. Photograph: Betty Naggar.

Ashmoiean Museum, Oxford.

Whatever the precise significance of Celtic bird-symbolism, it is fair to say that the ąualities of free flight and the ability to escape from the earth were seen as attributes suitable to zoomorphic companions of the gods. Birds were regarded, too, as prophetic, as having links with the oth-erworld, and as representative of the spirit when freed from the body. But they possessed also a multifarious symbolism ranging from war, destruction and death to rebirth, healing, light and the sun.

ZOOMORPHIC MONSTERS

Two main types of monster are known in the Celtic world: the first is where an animal has something added, the second where a deity is depicted as a human image but with either antlers, buli, goat or ram-horns. The first group contains, notably, the triple-horned buli and ram-horned snake. The second may be divided into stag-horned por-trayals - the so-called ‘Cernunnos’ form - and miscellaneous horned beings. In the case of the buli and snake, it could be argued that these are variants of the

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