8 Results Celtic Influences in the North of Spain and the Roots of Heresy. $ Kindle Edition. St. James' Rooster. $ Paperback. Pilgrimage to Heresy.
Table of contents
Ideas of Celtic Christianity were further influenced by the Romantic movement of the 18th century, in particular Romantic notions of the noble savage and the intrinsic qualities of the "Celtic race". Romantics idealised the Celts as a primitive, bucolic people who were far more poetic, spiritual, and freer of rationalism than their neighbours. The Celts were seen as having an inner spiritual nature that shone through even after their form of Christianity had been destroyed by the authoritarian and rational Rome. Attempts to associate the early Christians of Celtic-speaking Galatia purportedly recipients of Paul 's Epistle to the Galatians with later Christians of north-western Europe's Celtic fringe [20] appear fanciful.
In the 20th and 21st centuries, ideas about "Celtic Christians" combined with appeals by certain modern churches, modern pagan and New Age groups seeking to recover something of ancient spirituality that such groups identified as missing from the modern world. For these groups Celtic Christianity becomes a cipher for whatever is lost in the modern religious experience.
Corning notes that these notions say more about modern desires than about the reality of Christianity in the Early Middle Ages, however. According to medieval traditions, Christianity arrived in Britain in the 1st or 2nd century. The earliest certain historical evidence of Christianity among the Britons is found in the writings of such early Christian Fathers as Tertullian and Origen in the first years of the 3rd century , although the first Christian communities probably were established at least some decades earlier. Initially, Christianity was but one of a number of religions: At various times, the Christians risked persecution , although the earliest known Christian martyrs in Britain— Saint Alban and " Amphibalus "—probably lived in the early 4th century.
Christianization intensified with the legalisation of the Christian religion under Constantine the Great in the early 4th century and its promotion by subsequent Christian emperors. A number of references to the church in Roman Britain are also found in the writings of 4th-century Christian fathers. Around , the Great Conspiracy saw the troops along Hadrian's Wall mutiny, allowing the Picts to overrun the northern areas of Roman Britain in some cases joining in , in concert with Irish and Saxon attacks on the coast. The Roman provinces seem to have been retaken by Theodosius the Elder the next year, but many Romano-Britons had already been killed or taken as slaves.
The Byzantine historian Zosimus c. Medieval legend attributed widespread Saxon immigration to mercenaries hired by the British king Vortigern. The Saxon communities followed a form of Germanic paganism , driving Christian Britons back to Wales , Cornwall , and Brittany or subjugating them under kingdoms with no formal church presence. Unwilling or unable to missionize among the Saxons in England, Briton refugees and missionaries such as Saint Patrick [b] and Finnian of Clonard were then responsible for the Christianization of Ireland [31] and made up the Seven Founder Saints of Brittany.
Extreme weather as around and the attendant famines and disease, particularly the arrival of the Plague of Justinian in Wales around and Ireland around , may have contributed to these missionary efforts. The title of " saint " was used quite broadly by British, Irish, and English Christians. Extreme cases are Irish accounts of Gerald of Mayo 's presiding over 3, saints and Welsh claims that Bardsey Island held the remains of 20, Such communities were organized on tribal models: Similarly, the distance from Rome, hostility to native practices and cults, and relative unimportance of the local sees has left only two local Welsh saints in the General Roman Calendar: Saints David and Winifred.
Insular Christianity developed distinct traditions and practices, most pointedly concerning the computus of Easter , as it produced the most obvious signs of disunity: Although the clasau were rather modest affairs, great monasteries and monastic schools also developed at Llantwit Major Llanilltud Fawr , Bangor , and Iona. The tonsure differed from that elsewhere and also became a point of contention. A distinction that became increasingly important was the nature of church organisation: Prior to their conquest by England, most churches have records of bishops and priest but not an established parish system.
Pre-conquest, most Christians would not attend regular services but relied on members of the monastic communities who would occasionally make preaching tours through the area.
- Vatican Assassin (Vatican Assassin Trilogy Book 1).
- The Beaufort Diaries!
- Warum gibt es die Welt? (German Edition).
- Celtic Nation.
At the end of the 6th century, Pope Gregory I dispatched a mission under Augustine of Canterbury to convert the Anglo-Saxons , establish new sees and churches throughout their territories, and reassert papal authority over the native church. Gregory intended for Augustine to become the metropolitan bishop over all of southern Britain, including the existing dioceses under Welsh and Cornish control. Augustine met with British bishops in a series of conferences—known as the Synod of Chester —that attempted to assert his authority and to compel them to abandon aspects of their service that had fallen out of line with Roman practice.
The Northumbrian cleric Bede 's Ecclesiastical History of the English People is the only surviving account of these meetings: Augustine focused on seeking assistance for his work among the Saxons and reforming the Britons' obsolete method for calculating Easter ; the clerics responded that they would need to confer with their people and await a larger assembly.
He told them to respond based on Augustine's conduct: As it happened, Augustine did keep his seat, provoking outrage.
In the negotiations that followed, he offered to allow the Britons to maintain all their native customs but three: The British clerics rejected all of these, as well as Augustine's authority over them. The Norman invasion of Wales finally brought Welsh dioceses under England 's control. The development of legends about the mission of Fagan and Deruvian and Philip the Apostle 's dispatch of Joseph of Arimathea in part aimed to preserve the priority and authority of the native establishments at St David's , Llandaff , and Glastonbury. It was not until the death of Bishop Bernard c.
Such ideas were used by mediaeval anti-Roman movements such as the Lollards and followers of John Wycliffe , [45] as well as by English Catholics during the English Reformation. The legend that Jesus himself visited Britain is referred to in William Blake 's poem " And did those feet in ancient time ". The words of Blake's poem were set to music in by Hubert Parry as the well-known song "Jerusalem". According to Bede, Saint Ninian was born about , in what is present day Galloway, the son of a chief of the Novantae, apparently a Christian.
He studied under Martin of Tours before returning to his own land about He established himself at Whithorn where he built a church of stone, "Candida Casa". He converted the southern Picts to Christianity, [46] and died around Ninian's work was carried on by Palladius, who left Ireland to work among the Picts. The mission to the southern Picts apparently met with some setbacks, as Patrick charged Coroticus and the "apostate Picts" with conducting raids on the Irish coast and seizing Christians as slaves. Ternan and Saint Serf followed Palladius.
Serf was the teacher of Saint Mungo , [47] the apostle of Strathclyde, and patron saint of Glasgow. A Welshman of noble birth, Saint Petroc was educated in Ireland. He set out in a small boat with a few followers. In a type of peregrinatio , they let God determine their course. The winds and tides brought them to the Padstow estuary.
Saint Endelienta was the daughter of the Welsh king Brychan. She also travelled to Cornwall to evangelize the locals. Her brother Nectan of Hartland worked in Devon. Saint Piran is the patron saint of tin miners. An Irishman, he is said to have floated across to Cornwall after being thrown into the sea tied to a millstone. By the early fifth century the religion had spread to Ireland, which had never been part of the Roman Empire. There were Christians in Ireland before Palladius arrived in as the first missionary bishop sent by Rome. His mission does not seem to have been entirely successful.
The subsequent mission of Saint Patrick established churches in conjunction with civitates like his own in Armagh ; small enclosures in which groups of Christians, often of both sexes and including the married, lived together, served in various roles and ministered to the local population. During the late 5th and 6th centuries true monasteries became the most important centres: Besides Latin, Irish ecclesiastics developed a written form of Old Irish.
Connections with the greater Latin West brought the nations of Britain and Ireland into closer contact with the orthodoxy of the councils. The customs and traditions particular to Insular Christianity became a matter of dispute, especially the matter of the proper calculation of Easter. In addition to Easter dating, Irish scholars and cleric-scholars in continental Europe found themselves implicated in theological controversies but it is not always possible to distinguish when a controversy was based on matters of substance or on political grounds or xenophobic sentiments.
The Easter question was settled at various times in different places. The following dates are derived from Haddan and Stubbs: Cornwall held out the longest of any, perhaps even, in parts, to the time of Bishop Aedwulf of Crediton A uniquely Irish penitential system was eventually adopted as a universal practice of the Church by the Fourth Lateran Council of Caitlin Corning identifies four customs that were common to both the Irish and British churches but not used elsewhere in the Christian world.
Hispania - Wikipedia
Easter was originally dated according to Hebrew calendar , which tried to place Passover on the first full moon following the Spring equinox but did not always succeed. In his Life of Constantine , Eusebius records that the First Council of Nicaea decided that all Christians should observe a common date for Easter separate from the Jewish calculations, according to the practice of the bishops of Rome and Alexandria.
Various tables were drawn up, aiming to produce the necessary alignment between the solar year and the phases of the calendrical moon. The less exact 8-year cycle was replaced by or by the time of Augustalis 's treatise " On the measurement of Easter ", which includes an year cycle based on Meton. This was introduced to Britain, whose clerics at some point modified it to use the Julian calendar 's original equinox on 25 March instead of the Nicaean equinox, which had already drifted to 21 March.
This calendar was conserved by the Britons and Irish [57] while the Romans and French began to use the Victorian cycle of years. The Romans but not the French then adopted the still-better work of Dionysius in , which brought them into harmony with the Church of Alexandria. In the early s Christians in Ireland and Britain became aware of the divergence in dating between them and those in Europe.
The groups furthest away from the Gregorian mission were generally the readiest to acknowledge the superiority of the new tables: The abbey at Iona and its satellites held out until , [58] while the Welsh did not adopt the Roman and Saxon computus until induced to do so around by Elfodd , "archbishop" of Bangor. All monks of the period, and apparently most or all clergy, kept a distinct tonsure , or method of cutting one's hair, to distinguish their social identity as men of the cloth.
In Ireland men otherwise wore longish hair, and a shaved head was worn by slaves. The prevailing "Roman" custom was to shave a circle at the top of the head, leaving a halo of hair or corona ; this was eventually associated with the imagery of Christ's Crown of Thorns. The exact shape of the Irish tonsure is unclear from the early sources, although they agree that the hair was in some way shorn over the head from ear to ear.
Mabillon's version was widely accepted, but contradicts the early sources. In Christian Ireland — as well as Pictish and English peoples they Christianised — a distinctive form of penance developed, where confession was made privately to a priest, under the seal of secrecy, and where penance was given privately and ordinarily performed privately as well. In antiquity, penance had been a public ritual. Penitents were divided into a separate part of the church during liturgical worship, and they came to mass wearing sackcloth and ashes in a process known as exomologesis that often involved some form of general confession.
The Irish penitential practice spread throughout the continent, where the form of public penance had fallen into disuse. Saint Columbanus was credited with introducing the medicamenta paentitentiae , the "medicines of penance", to Gaul at a time when they had come to be neglected. A final distinctive tradition common across Britain and Ireland was the popularity of peregrinatio pro Christo "exile for Christ".
The term peregrinatio is Latin , and referred to the state of living or sojourning away from one's homeland in Roman law. It was later used by the Church Fathers , in particular Saint Augustine of Hippo , who wrote that Christians should live a life of peregrinatio in the present world while awaiting the Kingdom of God. Augustine's version of peregrinatio spread widely throughout the Christian church, but it took two additional unique meanings in Celtic countries.
In the first sense, the penitentials prescribed permanent or temporary peregrinatio as penance for certain infractions. Additionally, there was a tradition of undertaking a voluntary peregrinatio pro Christo , in which individuals permanently left their homes and put themselves entirely in God's hands. In the Irish tradition there were two types of such peregrinatio , the "lesser" peregrinatio, involving leaving one's home area but not the island, and the "superior" peregrinatio, which meant leaving Ireland for good.
This voluntary exile to spend one's life in a foreign land far from friends and family came to be termed the "white martyrdom". Most peregrini or exiles of this type were seeking personal spiritual fulfilment, but many became involved in missionary endeavours. The Briton Saint Patrick became the evangelist of Ireland during what he called his peregrinatio there, while Saint Samson left his home to ultimately become Bishop in Brittany.
The Irishmen Columba and Columbanus similarly founded highly important religious communities after leaving their homes. A number of other distinctive traditions and practices existed or are taken to have existed in Britain or Ireland, but are not known to have been in use across the entire region. Different writers and commenters have identified different traditions as representative of so-called Celtic Christianity. Its spirituality was heavily influenced by the Desert Fathers. According to Richard Woods, the familial, democratic, and decentralized aspects of Egyptian Christianity were better suited to structures and values of Celtic culture than was a legalistic diocesan form.
Some more austere ascetics became hermits living in remote locations in what came to be called the "green martyrdom". The claim is made that the true Ecclesiastical power in the Celtic world lay in the hands of abbots of monasteries , rather than the Bishop of Diocesess. Following the growth of the monastic movement in the 6th century, Abbots controlled not only individual monasteries, but also expansive estates and the secular communities that tended them.
They were usually descended from one of the many Irish royal families, and the founding regulations of the Abbey sometimes specified that the Abbotcy should if possible be kept within one family lineage. This focus on the monastery has led some scholars, most notably Kathleen Hughes , to argue that the monastic system came to be the dominant ecclesiastical structure in the Irish church, essentially replacing the earlier episcopal structure of the type found in most of the rest of the Christian world. The focus on powerful abbots and monasteries was limited to the Irish Church, however, and not in Britain.
The British church employed an episcopal structure corresponding closely to the model used elsewhere in the Christian world. Irish monasticism was notable for its permeability. In permeable monasticism, people were able to move freely in and out of the monastic system at different points of life. Young boys and girls would enter the system to pursue Latin scholarship. Students would sometimes travel from faraway lands to enter the Irish monasteries.
When these students became adults, they would leave the monastery to live out their lives. Eventually, these people would retire back to secure community provided by the monastery and stay until their death. However, some would stay within the monastery and become leaders. Since most of the clergy were Irish, native traditions were well-respected. Permeable monasticism popularised the use of vernacular and helped mesh the norms of secular and monastic element in Ireland, unlike other parts of Europe where monasteries were more isolated. Examples of these intertwining motifs can be seen in the hagiographies of St.
This willingness to learn, and also to teach, was a hallmark of the "permeable monasticism" that so characterised the Irish monastery. While a hermitage was still the highest form of dedication, the monasteries were very open to allowing students and children within the walls for an education, without requiring them to become monks. These students were then allowed to leave and live within the community, and were welcomed back in their old age to retire in peace.
This style of monasticism allowed for the monastery to connect with, and become a part of, the community at large. The availability of the monks to the people was instrumental in converting Ireland from paganism to Christianity, allowing a blend of the two cultures. According to hagiographies written some centuries later, Illtud and his pupils David , Gildas, and Deiniol were leading figures in 6th-century Britain.
Not far Llantwit Fawr stood Cadoc 's foundation of Llancarfan , founded in the latter part of the fifth century. The son of Gwynllyw , a prince of South Wales, who before his death renounced the world to lead an eremitical life. Cadoc followed his father's example and received the religious habit from St. Tathai, an Irish monk, superior of a small community at Swent near Chepstow, in Monmouthshire. Returning to his native county, Cadoc built a church and monastery, which was called Llancarfan, or the "Church of the Stags". Here he established a monastery, college and hospital.
The spot at first seemed an impossible one, and an almost inaccessible marsh, but he and his monks drained and cultivated it, transforming it into one of the most famous religious houses in South Wales. When thousands left the world and became monks, they very often did so as clansmen, dutifully following the example of their chief. Bishoprics, canonries, and parochial benefices passed from one to another member of the same family, and frequently from father to son. Their tribal character is a feature which Irish and Welsh monasteries had in common.
Illtud, said to have been an Armorican by descent, spent the first period of his religious life as a disciple of St. I was the best in terms of grace and generosity F3. I was the best in combat, battle and fighting F It was I who asked for a buying price that no other woman would have asked of an Irish man, that is to say, a man without avarice F3 , without jealousy F1 and without fear F2 ". She then clearly defines each quality, and ends up by repeating the three qualities she finds in Aillil, whom she takes as her husband.
Furthermore, in Diodorus, Cassius Dio and Florus, we find a biography that is really a moral portrait of Viriatus according to these three functions. This structure coincides with the biographies of other great founders of Indo-European tribes and royal houses, such as the Persian Cirus or the Roman Romulus. The text of Cassius Dio is equivalent, in the way it structures the trifunctional series, to the portrait of the "good king" of Ireland.
And so, although we may seek out a common literary source for the texts about Viriatus - for example, the Greek philosopher and scholar Poseidonius - the parallels found in ancient Roman, Persian and Irish texts suggest that Poseidonius knew about a portrayal of Viriatus from an indigenous local source, not only of Indo-European origin, but closely tied to the Celtic world, as the Irish parallel is the nearest to the Viriatus legend. There are also writings about our hero on the subject of the three sins of the warrior. Cassius Dio ends the previously quoted passage with a description of Viriatus the warrior as "without any desire for wealth, dynastic ambition and without rage In this way he refers to the three possible failings of the Indo-European warrior, consisting of sins against each function - the desire for wealth, to usurp reigning sovereigns and an excess of rage a sin opposed to that of the 'good war' - as being erased in Viriatus' personality.
These texts situate Viriatus in a category of royalty defined according to Indo-European principles. This is explained if the Classical texts that have come down to us were derived from Lusitanian sources. To this series also belongs an episode referring to Viriatus's wedding, as told by Diodorus. It is an episode narrated by Lusitanians - the rite is not Greek - which is transmitted via Hellenic language and expressions.
In general terms, Indo-European ideology considers three types of marriage. Some are of special religious importance, and require the acceptance of the guardian parents of the bride F1 ; others derive from the capture of the bride, or from the mutual consent of the couple to be married F2 ; finally, there are marriages with a circulation of goods, or with a representation of the bride being purchased F3. Firstly, Viriatus complains that Astoplas, his brother-in-law, had not offered him any kind of gift F3.
Tensions arise at the banquet, and the wedding continues when Viriatus orders his companions to bring him his wife, as if she were being captured F2. Finally, Viriatus carries out religious ceremonies and takes his wife to share his residence F1. And so the marriage is consummated when he takes the final step in a series of three, each defined by a precise and distinctly different ideological focus.
However, in a series of Irish texts, the hero consummates his marriage when he takes the final step in a series of three, as is the case with Viriatus. Two examples are isolated episodes from the Courtship of Etain , in which the sovereignty of Ireland is at stake. In both, the Dagda, supreme king of Ireland, attempts to find a wife for his son who will guarantee the royal lineage. The episode told in the metric Dindshenchas focuses on the Dagda handing over the sovereignty of one region, called Mag Fliuchrois, to Aedh.
However, in line with Irish ideology, sovereignty was always represented as a woman who transmitted it to the man who was with her at all times as in the episode of the 'pillow dispute' referred to previously. In the Dindshenchas , Aedh, in order to assume power, must marry the wife of the warrior Codhal, chieftain of Mag Fliuchrois. In the Dream of Oengus , the woman, only daughter of a king, appears before Oengus in a dream, arousing his passion. The subject of the tale is how this passion is consummated, although in the background is the problem of sovereignty in a region without a male heir.
In both cases a situation arises in which judicial aspects are key, and introduce the trifunctional theme. Aedh and Oengus seek stable unions, although complications arise as a result of an initial rejection. In both cases the aim is to seek the agreement of the woman metric Dindshenchas or of her father Dream of Oengus , characteristic of F1 marriages. The failure of this initiative leads to war F2. This ends with an agreement with the forms of F3. The first episode presents an economic compensation that has a meaning as the price of the bride, typical of Irish marriages, but which is absent in the Dream of Oengus , which ends with the couple sleeping together after taking on the appearance of swans.
In both cases, the marriage is only established after a third and final stage within the order of the three functions. However, the twelve sons of the king and their courtiers frequently came to stay at their home, and Buchet protested before the king about how they were impoverishing him. As he was not offered any form of compensation, he fled with his wife and Eithne to Kells. One day Cormac, who was not yet king, saw the young Eithne and was captivated by her. He then sent a message to Buchet, asking for her hand in marriage F1 , without success.
The following night she was taken by force to Cormac, and spent the night alone with him F2. Finally, Eithne did not accept Cormac until he paid the price for his bride to Buchet F3. We will end this section with review of comparable tales in Galicia. This marriage also culminates in a triple sequence: We therefore have four parallels to the structure of Viratus's marriage.
The rape of the Sabine women F2 is associated with the compromise to sacralize the unions F1. Open war continues between the Romans and the Sabines, but the women choose to remain together with their captors Titus Livius, I, 13, A peace agreement is then reached, integrating the Sabines in Rome and the Romans as a pacific group, adopting the name of Quirites F3. There is an essential similarity in the Lusitanian, Galician, Roman and Irish texts. Only in Lusitania is any express mention of sovereignty absent, a concept that is present in Rome through the constitution of a political community, and in Ireland through the union of the pretender to royalty with women who personify sovereignty.
We therefore suggest that these ideas are contained in Diodorus' text about the marriage of Viriatus. His wedding in three stages is as necessary for Viriatus as for the sons of Dagda who aspire to become royalty, or for the young bachelors of early Rome. Without this marriage, the social order cannot be maintained. The difference between the Lusitanian episode and the others occurs in F3.
In Rome, Ireland and Galicia, there is a final agreement that is lacking in Lusitania. Yet this divergence is consistent with the ethnographic and historical context: Viriatus does without the wealth in F3, but needs the fecundity. In sum, the parallels brought together to explain the most significant episodes of the life of Viriatus transmitted by Classical, particularly Greek, sources reflect an ideology associated with royalty that has Indo-European roots.
Yet it would mean twisting the facts if we limited ourselves to this conclusion, without recognising that the clearest, most significant and articulate parallels come from Irish mythology. This said, as it does not appear possible that there was a relationship between Greek ethnographers and medieval compilers of Irish mythology, the only plausible explanation is a common origin of the structures that articulate the tales we read, and that these structures are the Celtic adaptations of a more general Indo-European theme, the conception of royalty as a synthesis of the three functions described above.
- The Apartheid City and Beyond: Urbanization and Social Change in South Africa.
- When Darkness Falls (Jack Swyteck)?
- International Governance of War-Torn Territories: Rule and Reconstruction.
- The Smelliest Day at the Zoo.
- Post Camino Retreat: JUST WAITING FOR YOU! A Casa Do Raposito, Carantoña, Near Muxia;
- Christian Bride, Muslim Mosque.
There are other sources in the northwestern Iberian Peninsula that may be interpreted as a reflection of Celtic types of royalty. They differ in some ways from the previous examples, as on the one hand we have a peculiar form of Galician petroglyph, and on the other a folklore tradition whose significance for the interpretation of ancient motifs is only gradually being recognised. The carvings referred to above are quite clear. They are footprints, bare or shod, left or right feet, isolated or grouped together in different ways Figs.
Apart from the carvings themselves, we are interested in the fact that these footprints may be clearly identified and correspond to a normal adult, in contrast to those related to traditions based on other footprints, widespread and often attributed to saints or Christ, but which when examined only bear a vague resemblance to human footprints.
These are also situated in points in the landscape where visibility is an important feature, and are carved in such a way that in some cases it is possible to turn around towards the horizon, or least towards areas of greater visibility, if the observer successively places their feet in the different carved footprints. This is a large rock overlooking the Eume estuary that is mentioned in a small folkloric aition , collected at the end of the s.
According to these accounts, in ancient times mayors were inducted upon the stone and a bagpiper could be heard playing upon it on midsummer's eve. This information orients the interpretation of other carved footprints as places where local Celtic sovereigns were invested, while at the same time they offer a 'text' that may be compared to others that also refer to the investiture of sovereigns throughout Europe, which differ from the official methods sanctioned by the Church.
In effect, traditions from Ireland and Scotland, as in Galicia sometimes associated with the presence of carved footprints on rocks, indicate that these were places where local kings or chieftains were invested. Other forms of this rite have been observed in Brest and Auvergne in modern times. The person being invested must place their foot upon the carved footprint attributed to the founder of the royal lineage , in order to indicate that the tradition is to be continued. In other cases the person elected must take a series of steps that involve taking in the landscape as a whole, as is the case in Auvergne, and in a parallel ritual further afield, in part of an investiture ritual documented in India known as the digvyasthapanam or "ascension to the rooms of space", whereby the person being invested must take four steps towards the four cardinal points, representing the totality of the world and the social order.
A latent sense of all of these rituals is even present in the northwestern Iberian Peninsula, consisting of an imitation of sexual union between the sovereign and the land he is to rule over, explicit in the Celtic tradition in the Mabinogi of Math , when it presents the figure of the virgin charged with holding the king's feet on her lap as the person in whom the fecundity of the kingdom is deposited.
Therefore, two dissimilar types of sources, Greek ethnographic texts about Viriatus and a series of carvings in the shape of feet, have folkloric parallels in the twentieth century in Galicia. These parallels make it possible to insert them in a comparative series, which uses the resource of the Irish traditions as well as Celtic traditions more generally. Furthermore, in a totally different way, both testimonies refer to the Celtic ideology of royalty and its ritual manifestations, making it possible to suggest that this ideology was widespread in the pre-Roman northwestern Iberian Peninsula.
If the ideology of royalty presented here was the basis of social order for Indo-European peoples, an examination of Lusitanian sacrifices reveals the figure of the druid. However, this social category does not appear explicitly, and only the process of analysis can reveal his presence.
To do this we will first consider three basic texts about sacrifice that have the peculiarity of being written in three different languages see p. The first two texts reflect the presence in Lusitania of an animal species hierarchy common among the Indo-Europeans, which is found in Roman contexts as well. These animals are usually related to deities, making it possible to comprehend, in this case, the relative hierarchy of gods whose myths are otherwise unknown. The inscription shown in Figure 13 is bilingual, in Latin and Lusitanian. The epigraphs mention the inferior species of the Indo-European hierarchy of sacrificial animals.
Strabo describes the two most valuable species of the series, horses and men. Where sacrifices of horses and humans are seen in India and Rome , these are carried out using similar rituals. Strabo's text only explains the human sacrifice, although a testimony by Polybius XII 4b, 3 , probably describing Celtic populations, refers to the same procedure carried out with horses. This testimony is significant, because when Diodorus describes human sacrifices carried out by druids in Gaul, he outlines a similar procedure to that described by Strabo among the Lusitanians.
Le Roux 27 O mnia V ota? All of these offerings I consecrate to you, and by Danigo who brings the rains I sacrifice to Nabia Corona a cow and an ox, to Nabia a lamb, to Jupiter a lamb and a calf, to [ Made in the year and in the domus on the fifth day of the ides of April, under the consulate of Largo and Mes s alino, with the commanders Lucrecio Vitulino and Lucrecio Sabino Postumo Peregrino.
Greek, the sacrifices of the Lusitanians, in Strabo, III 3, The Lusitanians are given to offering sacrifices, and they inspect the vitals, without cutting them out. Besides, they also inspect the veins on the side of the victim; and the divine by the tokens of touch, too. They prophesy through means of the vitals of human beings also, prisioners of war, whom they first cover with coarse cloaks, and then, when the victim has been struck beneath the vitals by the diviner, they draw their first auguries from the fall of the victim.
And they cut off the right hands of their captives and set them up as an offering to the gods And to Ares they sacrifice a he-goat, and also the prisoners and horses. Thus, in the Celtic nations the druids carried out sacrifices for a number of reasons following procedures that wecan see in the sacrifices of the Lusitanians, although there is no specific mention of druids.
It is difficult, however, to consider that the main figure was anyone other than a druid. This absence may be explained if we consider that the dominant Classical ethnographies and historiographies avoided the topic of religious issues. This means that what we know about druids in Gaul is more significant, thanks to Poseidonius of Apamea and other authors, than what we do not know about the religion of many other peoples known to the Romans and Greeks.
Also, the unequivocal figurative association of sacrificial scenes with the representation of torques evokes, in a way that is difficult to argue against, a Celtic ideological and religious universe. If, in spite of the difficulties referred to, we consider it possible that druids were present among the Lusitanians, this hypothesis is also supported by texts whose Celtic tone would be difficult to explain without the presence of a common caste of priests, responsible for its maintenance and diffusion.
We will start with the passage in which Strabo offers an explanation of the population of Galicia: Titus Livius and Florus make a similar point when they describe the attempted revolt of the army of D. Junius Brutus during the campaign of BC as he led the first Roman expedition towards the northwestern Iberian Peninsula. Before commenting on that passage, however, let us examine how the Irish explained the arrival of St.
Patrick in their island:. Elsewhere, the Welsh legend entitled The Dream of Maxen Wledig tells of the adventures of a Roman emperor, Maxen Wledig, who dreamt of a marvellous princess whom he sought out and found in Britannia. But he had forgotten Rome, and so he continued with his conquest, providing Britannia with legions that never returned. This army populated the Llydaw , the land of the dead. But we do not have to rely on a single word to support this idea. Strabo's tale contains echoes of others. It is therefore very likely that the theme taken up by Strabo is a Hispanic version of a pan-Celtic myth explaining ideas about the afterlife.
This interpretation is further supported when considering the Diadem of Mones from Asturias, dated to around BC. In this image we see warriors armed in the same way as stone statues from this region, consistent with descriptions from literary texts. There are also characters bearing two cooking pots each. The scene is completed with marine animals filling in gaps in a type of horror vacui Fig. Marco 31 has argued that each of these elements belongs to the Celtic iconography of the afterlife, situated in islands beyond the sea. In this place social hierarchies disappeared, and those who reached their shores ate wonderful, abundant delicacies and drank heady beverages.
Warriors who went there would never return, living without any type of hierarchy there is a particular emphasis on chieftains or parents who had died or disappeared. And so the passage from Strabo about the river of Oblivion and the iconography of the Diadem of Mones may be understood within the framework of Celtic culture. Both bear witness in different ways to the presence of Celtic categories about the afterlife among the inhabitants of the hillforts.
Here we will pause and examine an episode in which the army of D.
History of Galicia
Junius Brutus ended its march northwards. This piece of information partially coincides with an ethnographic report about the Holy Promontory, the ancient name of Cape St. Vincent at the southwestern tip of the peninsula, and the home of the Celts of the Anas, as described by Strabo: An astronomical discussion follows, in which Strabo, following on from Poseidonius, rejects the observation of Artemidorus:. It would therefore appear that the more succinct version of Florus and Strabo's more prolific version are two ways of saying the same things in two extreme points of the Atlantic coast of the Peninsula.
In both places specific rituals were carried out, and unsettling observations were made about the behaviour of the sun, which 'feeds' or grows larger on coming into contact with the sea. The next information received about Cape St. Vincent is seen in the Muslim Geography and Chorography of Idrisi, who was active in the twelfth century, and called this place kanisat al gurab or "church of the crows".
Later on, the site was the base for the re-Christianization of Lisbon: Vincent was taken, followed by the crows, to become an essential relic in the newly constructed cathedral in Lisbon. This series of fantastic stories, both ancient and mediaeval, illustrates the difficulty of passing from one source to another in constructing an argument.
That is, while there may be continuity in the religious use of a given place, it may not be justifiable to draw parallels between the religious methods identified, and in those instances where the mediaeval sources differ from those indicated by the Classical tradition they should be seen as complementary rather than contradictory. The great divide between the two periods is reduced if we consider that St. Vincent was a Valencian martyr associated with crows, which were charged with protecting his body from other animals.
His body was lost at the time of the Moorish invasion of the peninsula, and different places have been attributed to having custody of the remains. Finally, thanks to the initiative of the Infante Afonso Henriques , founder of the kingdom of Portugal, Cape St. Vincent was chosen as the place where the saint was finally rescued from Moorish lands. Moorish sources mention a church of crows, which the Christian Portuguese related to Vincent, whose attributes were crows.
A CASA DO RAPOSITO: "THE LITTLE FOX HOUSE"
Nothing prevents us from believing that the crows were present, and that it was the association with Vincent that made the birds Christian, and by extension the area as a whole. That said, the supreme god of the Celts, Lug , is directly related to the sun in his epiphanies among mankind. He was described as very large and youthful, with blonde hair, a glowing face, and always following the course of the sun.
It is true that the considerations about heteroclitic reflections of the myth of Lug in the dislocated tales from ancient and mediaeval times, from Moors or Christians, are hypothetical. But this is not the case when considering that from Brittany to the mouth of the Guadalquivir River the coast is full of sites with important religious associations. In Brittany, Strabo mentions a sanctuary where white-winged crows offer divinations - the Welsh Bran 'the Blessed' 35 may also be Bran "the White", i. In Great Britain the head of Bran marks the eastern and western extremes of the island.
It should be remembered that this was the limit of Brutus's expedition Fig. Even further south, in Sintra in Portugal, there is another carving and a series of local elements used by ancient religions, with the layout of what was a sanctuary for worshipping the sun Fig. Later in the same text a city is mentioned that has the Celtic name Ebura after the name of the yew tree , the sanctuary of Lux Dubia , the light of sunset Strabo, III, 1, 9.
In sum, what Florus tells us about the circumstances that necessitated the return of Brutus, and the information given by Artemidorus about the rites of the 'Holy Promontory', evoke local traditions related to some aspects of the sun, and perhaps to crows. These themes appear either associated or separately in specific areas, particularly on the coast, and in the myth of the god Lug , whose association with crows and the sun is characteristic, and manifests an ambiguity proper to his definition as a deity, as he is at once young and old, male and female.
So far we have identified two remnants of Celtic myths in Strabo's text about the Iberian Peninsula. Both are situated geographically in a precise way at the extreme tips of the Atlantic coast. The episode of the River of Oblivion helps to explain the Celtic population of Cape Nerio 'of the heroes' at the northern tip, while rites involving the great sun are situated at the Holy Cape, the axis of the territory of the southern Celts. In the middle is the territory in which Strabo situates the barbarians.
The significant point here is that as a 'gateway' to his description he has used remnants of ancient knowledge about these sites, which was probably maintained and adapted by a caste of priests similar to the druids. The most recent investigations that aid us in the identification of Celtic remnants in the northwestern Iberian Peninsula are based on the study of sites that, for lack of a better name, we refer to as 'sanctuaries'. A decisive step in identifying these sites has been taken by M. Among the latter, M.
Coat of Arms
Santos argues that some should be dated to the Iron Age, the period of the hillfort culture when the northwestern Iberian Peninsula was settled by the Celts. The petroglyphs from this period appear in a structured manner at specific, significant points on the landscape: The most complex of these petroglyphs are the easiest to study thanks to their quality, and offer a significant number of common features.
Significantly, they are situated in 'non-natural limit' zones that correspond to old ecclesiastical divisions or current administrative boundaries. If a boundary between parishes, archbishoprics or local councils follows the course of a river, when it reaches the level of the 'sanctuary' it crosses through it, incorporating it, to then regain, on passing through the area of the sanctuary, the course of the river.
There are three different types of carving styles: The second type consists of more complex carvings, with normally abstract figures, except for the carvings of footprints that, as we have seen, occupy a central position. Finally, the third type represents carved crosses that appear more or less profusely in the access points of sanctuaries, with the peculiarity that they usually mark the path that joins the central area with a river or the sea Fig. These are the archaeological features that have been observed, together with the fact that in these areas there are no inhabited structures, which instead appear on the perimeter of such sites.
The interpretation of these sites is complex, and calls for the study of parallel examples. Due to its relevance for the subject under discussion here, we will examine the site of A Ferradura in the province of Ourense in greater detail. This area meets nearly all of the requirements of the general scheme, although we have not found crosses carved in circles along the access path at this site. The stone of A Ferradura is in the center of the plateau, and is 10 metres long, 3. Among the carvings there are eleven podomorphs, the foot carvings referred to above, carved into the rock in such a way that a person standing over them makes a complete turn towards the areas of greatest visibility over the valley, in which a series of hillforts are situated Fig.
These carved footprints, of left and right feet, both shod and barefoot, could have served as a mnemonic device to ensure that the person was correctly situated over the rock during an investiture ceremony. Excavations carried out by M. Here a wall can be seen that encloses the summit, occupying the highest, central part of the settlement. This may have been a sacred area, as revealed by a dedication to Jupiter, which simply reads IOVIA and is situated next to the western entrance to the site. The lower line of walls to the west is the perimeter of the actual settlement.
The carving on O Raposo is without parallel in Galicia. It is within a natural hollow in the rock, and lines up with a narrow natural opening, triangular in shape, that opens out towards the southeast. The carved rock was originally joined with another, from which it was separated in order to place the carving in front of the opening Fig. But apart from the location of the carvings, other observations are also relevant, which have made it possible to see how both rocks have significant solar associations that may only be understood within the context of Celtic culture.
The position of the carving on O Raposo in front of the natural opening implies that it is partially lit by the sun on the winter solstice, when it sets over the summit of San Trocado, on the other side of the valley Figs. Another of the openings in the rock means that the carving is lit up in the mid-afternoon at the equinoxes Figs. Finally, a third opening, the largest, is oriented towards the sunset at the summer solstice. But for the few minutes when the sun passes in front of it, shortly before sunset, its weak light does not illuminate the carving situated deep within the rock from this angle of vision.
It seems evident that the carving was made in this location due to its relation with the winter solstice, as in this moment the rock and its carving are in the center of a line that joins San Trocado with its hillfort, where the sun sets precisely on this day, and Coto do Castro, indicated by the rock's shadow, as if it were a sundial, therefore marking sunrise on the summer solstice Fig.
This function as an annual sundial is repeated, although to a lesser degree, at the equinoxes, as the shadow of the outcrop is projected at sunset towards a characteristic mound that encloses the horizon of the area to the east Fig. Furthermore, the crack that runs across the A Ferradura petroglyph also has solar associations. These are positions that are then reproduced in its transit across the landscape on 1 November and 1 August respectively, and therefore on the four main festivals of the Irish religious calendar.
That said, these dates from our present calendar, designed by Julius Caesar in 46 BC, are late medieval adaptations of the traditional Celtic festival calendar to the Julian calendar which, as demonstrated by S. McKluskey, took place at local levels more or less successfully.
There is nothing to suggest that this process took place at A Ferradura, although it may be significant that the local festival of the parish of Formigueiro, at the northern limit of A Ferradura, takes place at Candlemas on the second of February, and that an important relief from the hillfort period representing a scene with horses was integrated into the chapel of this village Fig.
We should also consider the phenomenon of the procession of the equinoxes, whereby current solar dates are not exactly the same as they were , or years ago, in indicating the possible use of this sanctuary to measure the passage of time. This is something still pending investigation, although on examining other studies that have been carried out, it appears that in the latitudes of southern Europe, this oscillation may be limited to only a few days.
To this are added the difficulties of defining with astronomical precision the dates of the solstices, as for several days the sun appears practically motionless, and it would have been virtually impossible to judge the equinoxes using methods available in ancient times. We should remember that the date for the winter solstice in the Julian calendar was the 25th of December, and for summer the 24th of June. This does not mean, on the contrary, that there was not an empirical awareness of the existence of these nodal points in the sun's route and an approximate estimation, using different resources, in different cultural traditions.
The 'sanctuary' of A Ferradura reveals the practical and empirical manner, without sophisticated knowledge of mathematical astronomy, in which these previous problems were resolved. Furthermore, as none of these hills or rocks is a precise instrument for observation, a margin of several days around the significant dates can be allowed without causing alterations to the general model. That this was observed and rationalized with reference to an unknown date in ancient times is revealed by the fact that a rock was carved in the sheltered hollow of O Raposo, underlining the relationship between elements of the local landscape related to the solstices.
Celtic festivals were also celebrated for around forty days after the solstices or equinoxes, at now unknown dates that were determined by the individuals who made the carvings of A Ferradura. However, the solar observations carried out at the rock of A Ferradura, which have the peculiarity of not being aligned with significant points of the natural landscape, but instead with the landscape transformed by human action, reveal that an approximate comprehension of this temporal relationship was focused on the local landscape, in the spatial relationship between the two rocks we are considering, O Raposo and A Ferradura.
This means that if we take the hill of Coto do Castro as a vertex that closes to the northwest all visibility of the plateau of A Ferradura where the two carved rocks are situated Fig. Put differently, present-day observations have had to make use of actual dates in order to discover the relationships described here. These temporal relationships, by establishing a stable relationship between the different elements of the landscape, are shown to be relevant, even if our initial observation had a margin of error with regard to the situation in ancient times, as the fixed spatial points are sufficient to correct any error of observation that may have been produced, either in ancient or modern times.
We will now explore other intriguing elements of this sanctuary. Firstly, the site appears to exhibit a dichotomy between an emphasis on the processes of nature marked by the solstitial axis that designates relevant points in the landscape, and an emphasis on certain aspects of religious culture present on the rock in 'A Ferradura', as both the liturgical dates indicated by solar relationships, as well as the investiture rites carried out over the podomorphs, correspond to human creations; furthermore, in this case the solar axis is not emphasized by relevant landmarks, but instead by areas where more or less important hillforts are situated.
Secondly, the site is suitable for the celebration of assemblies and festivals. These meetings were observed in ancient times by Strabo III, 3, 7 and are documented in an epithet associated with an indigenous deity, OENAECUS , the precise equivalent of the Irish oenach , which designates the celebration of assemblies and festivals in Ireland.
Thirdly, it seems logical to invoke Lug as the patron god of this sanctuary. In the Welsh legend, he receives his name after hunting a wren. This ritual of hunting wrens is seen in the period around Christmas, i. It also appears to be related to other Celtic festivals, although without doubt its closest relationship is with Lugnasad, on the first of August. Lug is also the god of meetings in general, at which his epiphany is naturally produced.
We should remember that rituals worshipping Lug were also observed in the northwestern Iberian Peninsula. Fourthly, the solar relationships present in A Ferradura may only be understood in the context of the presence of intellectuals able to carry out the necessary observations and designate the precise places where celebrations were to be carried out according to these observations.
This means that once again, although druids are not directly mentioned, their knowledge, present in monuments such as the remains of Gallic calendars, or in other European archaeological contexts, have also left their mark in Galicia in places such as the 'sanctuary' of A Ferradura. One of the most significant results of recent archaeological investigations into the hillfort culture in the northwestern Iberian Peninsula was the discovery of the existence of groups of hillforts exhibiting a certain degree of community organisation, either in their socio-economic use of the landscape, in religious practices, or, more difficult to observe, in political and institutional terms.
This period did not so much represent a break from previous tendencies but instead these were developed further within a new political and administrative framework. The radical transformation due to the process of Romanization occurred after the start of Roman political domination. This was the period dominated by groups of hillforts that, in socio-economic terms, were mainly situated in areas where the land was suitable for agriculture, as well as making use of nearby forests for wood, as areas for pasture, or for hunting.
The above-mentioned sanctuaries appear to be related to these groups of hillforts, with at least one sanctuary corresponding to each group. However, this is an issue that calls for further investigation. Finally, somewhat contradicting the model suggesting that each hillfort was located so as to maximize the possibilities for economic exploitation of its surroundings, there is usually one hillfort with relatively inferior conditions for economic exploitation that is often the largest in the region whose superior natural defences could be reinforced with specific monumental elements.
These would have been the political capitals of these groups of hillfort sites. This is a summary, albeit brief, of the archaeological information available. With regard to literary information, it is necessary to begin with a passage from Strabo in which he mentions how the Romans organised the territories in the northwestern Iberian Peninsula following the conquest, in the period of Augustus, although previously D. Here, Strabo states III, 3, 5 that they dissolved, or dismantled most of their poleis sing.
However, these are also referred to as ciuitas when referring to indigenous settlements in Gaul or other barbarian territories, which then appear in Greek sources labelled as poleis , although they were by no means the equivalent of Greek cities. Perhaps, if we are not seeking a high level of precision, it would be correct to translate these terms using the ethnographic concept 'tribe', while fully recognising the ambiguity of this term.
However, it is interesting to note that Strabo uses a precise Greek political term to refer to a form of Roman administrative action. He says that they divided most of the 'tribes' into 'villages', komai , the natural and normal subdivision of Greek cities. Conversely, when he states that they grouped others together, he uses the term synoikizo , normally used to designate the grouping of smaller entities that formed a Greek polis.
It may simply indicate a grouping under the same political authority, or in the same institutional grouping, of individuals or human groups situated within other relationship networks that had until then been under a different authority. This does not necessarily imply any modification of habitat, nor should we consider this an example of the founding of cities in the urban sense of the term. Among the numerous points of interest included in the so-called Bierzo Edict, discovered in the autumn of Fig.
In the same way the Susarri were 'amputated' from one of their components, castellum in Latin like the castellum Tyde described by Pliny , but without doubt a kome in the language of Strabo, which also received favorable treatment. However, the Susarri , having to pay in full their tribute to Rome, were allowed as compensation to pay this tribute with the castellani Aliobrigiaecini , who had previously belonged to the Gigurri gens.
Nothing requires us to believe that there was a change of residence or habitat in this case. The change took place in the administrative sphere and involved smaller components of a populus type of structure whose number is unknown. The Bierzo Edict presents in Latin a particular case described by Strabo in Greek as the result of a general policy. What Augustus did in this case was to force a process akin to the synoikizo of the Greeks, which involved gathering in a specific location a large group of people, obviously in line with the interests of Rome, to the benefit of some and against the interests of others.
The Paemeiobrigenses were outright winners, and the Gigurri outright losers, as they were separated from one of their components, while the Susarri continued without any variations, since the immunity granted to the Paemeiobrigenses was compensated for by the ascription of the Aliobrigiaecini to their 'tax office', so to speak. This means that the castellum was a subdivision of the populus in Latin terms, in the same way that the kome was a subdivision of the Greek polis , or ethnos.
If the populi were large enough to satisfy Roman tributes demands, they were sufficient for applying other normal measures after conquest as well, such as recruiting auxiliary forces for the army. We know, for example, of military units settled in different parts of the Empire identified with the names of the populi in the northwestern Iberian Peninsula, and the creation of censuses depended on the previous measures. Yet at the same time, the smaller entities, castella or komai depending on the language, at times demonstrated their autonomy, as in the case of the Paemeiobrigenses , who in a state of general warfare sided with Rome.
This implies that the political structure at the level of the populus was very lax, and that effective decisions could be taken, before and after the conquest, at a lower level. The next step, which requires new investigations to correctly measure its scope, involves relating the groups of hillforts, recently recognised by archaeologists, with the political and administrative descriptions referred to in the texts.
These groups of hillforts, each with its 'capital' and common 'sanctuary', were precisely situated in the landscape implying the definition of a territory and appear to clearly correspond to what we know of the castella or komai featured in the texts. Also, the places where these groups have been found are outside the present region of Galicia, meaning that in the Late Iron Age these sites commonly continued into the first decades of Roman administration, with the generalized use in funerary inscriptions of the mention of castella indicating places of origin.
Here it is important to do away with a possible misconception. The castellum mentioned in the texts may indeed be an archaeological 'hillfort', but it does not have to be so. It may also be the name of the 'capital' of the group that was used as a generic term for all of its inhabitants. Another problem is that we do not know whether the political and administrative system was imposed by the Romans or whether the Romans based it on the previously existing situation. Hegemonic research tendencies, more or less associated with those who deny the relevance of the Celtic question in interpreting the pre-Roman world in the northwestern Iberian Peninsula, tend to favor the first option.
Populi and castella appear to be pre-Roman structures, as is clearly indicated by Strabo and Pliny's hesitation to quote names that were cacophonic to them NH , III, 28; Strabo, III, 3, 7 , something that would be difficult to explain if these names had been introduced by the Romans. The comparative study corroborates this conclusion. Wherever there is sufficient documentation, from Galacia in Asia Minor to Ireland, the political structures of peoples who were less influenced by Mediterranean models, or predated the period when this influence was hegemonic, clearly suggest different types of socio-political entities, the largest of which were more lax and unstable, and the smaller of which were more permanent, such as the Gallic pagi or the Irish teutha.
In these situations a political and historical dialectic is significant that is resolved throughout time, in a constant process of weaving complex, 'imperial' political forms that break down into more simple structures to be reborn in new complex forms that may take on the appearance of other specific models. These 'empires' were created around successful military chieftains, such as Ortiagon or Deyotarus of the Galati who finally won the support of Rome , or the British chieftains Casivelaunus, Cunobelinus, or Cogidumnus, who also had the support of Rome.
The Helvetii were grouped under the control of Orgetorix, but some time before this one of the pagi , or subtribes, of the Helvetii , had caused war to break out. The unstable hierarchy of Irish kings may be seen as part of the same process. I will not enter here into the details of a subject about which I have recently written a book, 46 but it is sufficient to indicate that apart from the difficulties of distinguishing between the greater or lesser component parts of Celtic socio-political groups in different places and at different times, what does appear to be a stable and fundamental feature of their political life is a constant dialectic between centrifugal and centripetal tendencies that are presented in each source as a specific moment in a process of continual change.
This political instability has closely related economic and social foundations. The economic foundations are presented as a concept of value, determined in an ideological manner, which placed greater emphasis on goods rather than buildings. In this way, although Celtic societies clearly depended mainly on agriculture, precious metals, personal ornament, more or less skilfully crafted objects and livestock constantly reappear as the most widely treasured items.
Coherent testimonies from all parts of the ancient Celtic and Mediaeval world uphold this consideration, although it should be recognised that this is a subject barely touched upon by the available sources, due to their specific biases. Yet all this does is add value to the coherence of the affirmations made in this regard. The social correlate of this notion of value, assigning greater prestige to material goods than properties, is the existence of well differentiated warrior castes, either as companions or followers of specific chieftains, or, like the famous gaesati , as specialised warriors who were not always directly linked to a specific chieftain.
This therefore creates a socio-economic dialectic that can be associated with the political dialectic described above, in which warrior chieftains have to constantly engage in new campaigns to conquer new booty goods to share among their followers, who increase in number depending on the success of each leader. When the military chief achieves the consensus or strength necessary, he may become the head of one of the smaller entities and, if he continues to be successful, may eventually become the head of an 'empire', which is normally ephemeral.
This is due to the fact that the logic of the social and economic system leads to the constant appearance of new, ambitious military chieftains, who wish to strip the established chieftain of his wealth in order to demonstrate their bravery before new groups of warriors, or existing groups he intends to command.
At the same time, the chieftains who have already triumphed cannot be accommodated, as they have to provide constant demonstrations of their military bravery in new campaigns and expeditions, and continually provide new spoils of war to be shared out, and all of this, both in the case of warriors aspiring to be chieftains, as well as for established chieftains, with the subsequent risk of a premature death. The career of Vercingetorix, described in particular detail by Julius Caesar, may serve as a model, with his short-lived 'empire' falling before the Roman legions.
Constant murders and mutilations, marking the limits of kingdoms that are nearly always ephemeral, are a structural feature of late medieval Irish royal houses, and provide an example of the fluid and contentious nature of Celtic political systems. The Romans fought with all their might against these 'empires' when they felt them to be contrary to their political interests.
Ortiagon, who became king of the various Galatian tribes of Asia Minor, was annihilated by C. Manlius Vulsus in BC. Viriatus, who led a Lusitanian coalition, was killed in an act of treachery by his own people at the instigation of the Romans, and the coalition of the Helvetii , as well as the coalitions led by Cassivellaunus in Britain, and by Vercingetorix in Gaul, equally fell before Caesar. Yet the Romans themselves knew how to promote these chieftains when they fell in line with their plans. This was the case with Deyotarus in Galaica and Cogidumnus in Britain, who, in the garb of the Roman institutional figure of the rex amicus , had great local and internal power, providing they accepted the policies established by their Roman masters.
This appears to have been the model that operated in the northwestern Iberian Peninsula, although we do not have information as detailed as that which is found in other parts of the world. The importance and splendour of the metalwork produced by the hillfort culture, particularly gold torques, 47 contrasts with the monotony of the common living areas found in the hillforts, revealing that these treasures may have formed part of collections of goods indicating prestige and wealth, which kindled the avarice of other individuals.
It is also important to consider that few pieces have managed to survive the passage of time, particularly following the plundering that commonly occurred after any conquest in antiquity. Furthermore, numerous documents indicate the importance of livestock in the hillfort culture, and one testimony by Strabo III, 4, 18 may be interpreted as revealing a distinction between property, such as land, which was held by women, and goods and livestock, which were in the hands of men who did not pay enough attention to farming and were notorious for their predilection for pillage and plunder Strabo, III, 3, 5.
This dedication to warfare among the men folk appears continually. The warlike nature of the inhabitants of the northwestern Iberian Peninsula features strongly in the written sources, and it is a fundamental fact that not one hillfort is known that was not more or less fortified. Strabo also offers a detailed description of the weapons used and the celebration of festivals with a clearly military flavour.
The rough statues that exist of hillfort warriors and the frieze on the diadem of Mones show warriors armed in the same way described by Strabo. Following the conquest, the region became a regular source of soldiers for the Roman army. It was also in this new situation that men who were surely the final representatives of the ancient warrior elite were found bearing the heroic names we have already discussed.
Who were the leaders of these bands of warriors? Strabo distinguishes between the simple arms carried by the foot soldiers, and the splendid weapons carried by a small elite, who were undoubtedly their chieftains. The statues of warriors that have been found, either realistic or idealized, also represent this group. They were probably the privileged wearers of torques, frequently seen on statues of warriors. Viriatus undoubtedly provided a hypertrophied model - like Vercingetorix in Gaul - but the distinction made in different sources between his phase as a 'thief' and his phase as a 'leader' or 'chieftain' offer a good example of the head of a band of warriors who was crowned for his success and occupied an institutional rank at the head of an important confederacy.
All of them are referred to as principes , a Latin term, although their names and the contexts of their inscriptions are indigenous. This means, we suggest, that princeps is the term that they, or the people around them, used to indicate, in the language of the conquerors, their social position within the community. It is true that in Latin the term princeps is polysemic, although it is also true that the first years after the conquest of the northwest coincide with the first years of the Roman Empire, and that this means by antonomasia that the princeps is the emperor. For this reason we may consider that these individuals were the last indigenous chieftains, now under Roman control, occupying a similar position to the 'client kings' Cogidumnus in Britain or Deyotarus in Galatia.
In closing, it is important to note that the elements described here form an organic whole. The difference between lesser political structures castella or komai - the groups of hillforts documented archaeologically and larger structures populi or ethne - without any clear archaeological reference is in the social and political practice in the hands of warlords, and their successes or defeats in their ambitions to obtain spoils of war with which to satisfy the material aspirations of their followers.
This is a model that may be seen from Galatia to Ireland, particularly when it starts to break down as a result of the pressure of a new political model that originated in the Mediterranean and a new scale of values, which placed emphasis on land ownership. The castellani Pameiobrigensis of the Bierzo Edict, who, according to Strabo, saw their territories probably increased through the assigning of new tribute sources and, I suggest, new principes , belong to the group of those who were able to recognise in time the significance of these changes, and who benefited by the new situation.
However, and this is what I have attempted to show by indicating the general nature of these practices in different times and places, they did so following a series of guidelines that are simultaneously typical of Celtic populations, and antithetical to the Greek and Roman political methods that finally triumphed in the historical process. We have set out here in an academic context a review of the approaches customarily applied to discussions of the relevance of Celtic models to reconstructing the historical situation in the northwestern Iberian Peninsula prior to the Roman conquest.
In order to demonstrate that the opposite case is relevant, this article has been structured starting with the simplest aspects, and then passing on to more complex issues. Firstly, ancient literary, epigraphic and onomastic testimonies that mention the Celtic ethnic features of these inhabitants were explored. These references underscore a fact that critics trained in archaeology frequently do not consider something which linguists, obviously, cannot do: If we apply the comparative method to the study of Indo-European phenomena, as is usual in the fields of linguistics, archaeology, religion and history, then we must turn to the closest Indo-Europeans to the inhabitants of the region, who just happen to be Celts.