Celtic Deities in Archaeology

The archaeological remains of deities throughout the world have been many, and classical deities from Greece and Rome have always captured the minds and imaginations of archaeologists, historians, writers, poets, actors etc. However, the deities of Celtic Britain have often been overlooked since there is less information regarding them. It is my aim to look, discuss and evaluate the archaeological remains from temples, shrines and other artefacts, of native Celtic deities in order to understand more about how, when and why they were worshipped.

Once the Romans invaded and conquered Britannia, it can be somewhat difficult to find evidence of the native Celtic deities before the Roman occupation within the archaeological record. The Celtic British had an oral traditional, in which stories, legends and myths were told instead of written down. In fact, because of this, there is little evidence to find. We only become aware of these deities due to the Roman soldiers making dedications and having inscriptions copied onto them. Because of this, some deities were intertwined or associated with gods and goddesses from all around the Roman Empire.

The first Celtic deity that I wish to look at are the Genii Cucullati, otherwise known as the Hooded Spirits, since they are usually depicted as three figures (sometimes unclear to whether these figures are male or female) wearing hooded cloaks. Throughout Britain, stone reliefs have depicted these figures who are believed to be lesser deities of fertility and the afterlife.

Excavations in 1989 at the town of Sandy in Bedfordshire in the UK, revealed a large stone relief depicting, what could be, the Genii Cucullati “even though they are dressed in everyday clothes” (Appleton & Dawson, p.306). We can identify that these figures are of divine origin, since Roman art often portrays female figures with billowing veils (Appleton & Dawson, p. 305). Although this relief can be seen as Roman in origin, we can clearly see native characteristics through the large oval face and the large rounded eyes.

The next deity that is of significance is the god Cocidius. Cocidius was the Celtic god who was associated by the Romans with Mars, the Roman god of war, and Sylvanus, the god of hunting, groves and wild fields. It could be argued that Cocidius was only worshipped in northern Britain since archaeological evidence has only yielded information regarding this deity in that region.

In 1980, excavations by the Field Research Group of the Society of Antiquities of Newcastle Upon Tyne uncovered a shrine at Yardhope, which appears to have been dedicated to this deity.”Carved on the face of the rock on the north side of the entrance, and framed in a mushroom-shaped niche, is the full frontal figure of the god, 32 inches high” (Charlton & Mitcheson, p.143). From the nude figure, we can identify that this was a Celtic god, since it was Celtic deities that were portrayed as nude, not Roman. One argument for Roman association with this site is that the Celts “neither needed nor desired houses for their gods or images of them...” (Charlton & Mitcheson, p. 147). In pre-Roman times, the Celts worshipped at natural features – groves, pools, springs etc, although there is evidence in the archaeological record that there may have been structures made of wood placed over sacred areas in which ceremonies were held (Charlton & Mitcheson, p.147). So from this, we can see that a native Celtic god was worshipped by Roman soldiers, probably lower racking soldiers. Unfortunately, archaeologists have not been able to positively date this site as the site was lacking in artefacts (Charlton & Mitcheson, p.145).

There are examples were only a single inscription, or other piece of archaeological evidence, is all that has been found to identify a deity. The goddess Verbeia is one example. At the site of Ilkey in Yorkshire in 1921, excavations yielded an inscription on an altar to the goddess of the Wharfe. The inscription reads as,

VERBEIAE SACRVM CLODIVS FRONTO PRAEF COH II LINGON

Which translates as “To holy Verbia, Clodius Fronto, prefect of the Second Cohort of Lingones (dedicated this)” (Taylor & Collingwood, p.202). The coin and pottery evidence dates this inscription to the reign of Trajan and Pius. Again, we can see archaeological evidence for the deity only because of Roman interaction.

It has been suggested in the past that the Roman soldiers worshipped and dedicated altars, reliefs and other items to these native, non-Roman deities, since the Britons formed part of the Roman army within Britain. However, we have evidence that the few British soldiers, who joined the Roman army, were stationed in other parts of the Empire. Indeed, only two Legions were stationed in Britain (Legions were composed of Roman citizens, not people from the Roman Empire). So what we can clearly see is that these non-Roman, but Roman, soldiers were able to preserve the identities of native deities for future generations instead of being completely erased by time.

Bibliography

Appleton, Graham & Dawson, Michael (1995) A Large Stone Relief from the Roman Small Town of Sandy, Bedfordshire, Britannia, Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies.

Charlton, D. Beryl & Mitcheson, Margaret M. (1983) Yardhope. A Shrine to Cocidius, Britannia, Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies.

Taylor, M.V & Collingwood, R.G (1921) Roman Britain in 1921 and 1922, The Journal of Roman Studies, Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies.