Head hunting

The iconography of the human head is believed by many archaeologists and historians to have played a significant part in Celtic religion. The Greek historian Diodorus Siculus, writing in the 1st century BCE, described how Celtic warriors " cut off the heads of enemies slain in battle and attach them to the necks of their horses." ^[43] Strabo meanwhile commented in the same century that until the Roman authorities put a stop to it, among the Celts, " the heads of enemies held in high repute they used to embalm in cedar oil and exhibit to strangers." ^[44] Archaeological evidence indicating that the Celts did indeed behead humans and then display their heads, possibly for religious purposes, has been unearthed at a number of excavations; one notable example of this was found at the Gaulish site of Entremont near to Aix-en-Provence, where a fragment of a pillar carved with images of skulls was found, within which were niches where actual human skulls were kept, nailed into position, fifteen examples of which were found.^[45]

The archaeologist Barry Cunliffe believed that the Celts held " reverence for the power of the head" and that " to own and display a distinguished head was to retain and control the power of the dead person" ^[46] while the archaeologist Anne Ross asserted that " the Celts venerated the head as a symbol of divinity and the powers of the otherworld, and regarded it as the most important bodily member, the very seat of the soul." ^[47] The archaeologist Miranda Green meanwhile stated that " I refute any suggestion that the head itself was worshipped but it was clearly venerated as the most significant element in a human or divine image representing the whole." ^[48] The historian Ronald Hutton however criticised the idea of the " cult of the human head", believing that both the literary and archaeological evidence did not warrant this conclusion, noting that " the frequency with which human heads appears upon Celtic metalwork proves nothing more than they were a favourite decorative motif, among several, and one just as popular among non-Celtic peoples." ^[49]

Priesthood

Main articles: Druid, Fili and Bard

Druids

According to a number of Greco-Roman writers such as Julius Caesar, ^[50] Cicero, ^[51] Tacitus^[52] and Pliny the Elder, ^[53] Gaulish and British society held a group of magico-religious specialists known as the druids in high esteem. Their roles and responsibilities differed somewhat between the different accounts, but Caesar's, which was the " fullest" and " earliest original text" to describe the druids, ^[54] described them as being concerned with " divine worship, the due performance of sacrifices, private or public, and the interpretation of ritual questions." He also claimed that they were responsible for officiating at human sacrifices, such as the wicker man burnings.^[50] Nonetheless, a number of historians have criticised these such accounts, believing them to be biased or inaccurate.^[55][56] Vernacular Irish sources also referred to the druids, portraying them not only as priests but as sorcerers who had supernatural powers that they used for cursing and divination and who opposed the coming of Christianity.^[57] Various historians and archaeologists have interpreted the druids in different ways; Peter Berresford Ellis for instance believed them to be the equivalents of the Indian Brahmin caste, ^[58] while Anne Ross believed that they were essentially tribal priests, having more in common with the shamans of tribal societies than with the classical philosophers.^[59] Ronald Hutton meanwhile held a particularly sceptical attitude to many claims made about them, and he supported the view that the evidence available was of such a suspicious nature that " we can know virtually nothing of certainty about the ancient Druids, so that – although they certainly existed – they function more or less as legendary figures." ^[60]

Two druids, from an 1845 publication, based on a bas-relief found at Autun, France.

Poets

In Ireland the fili were visionary poets, associated with lorekeeping, versecraft, and the memorisation of vast numbers of poems. They were also magicians, as Irish magic is intrinsically connected to poetry, and the satire of a gifted poet was a serious curse upon the one being satirised. To run afoul of a poet was a dangerous thing indeed to a people who valued reputation and honor more than life itself.^{[ citation needed ]} In Ireland a " bard" was considered a lesser grade of poet than a fili – more of a minstrel and rote reciter than an inspired artist with magical powers. However, in Wales bardd was the word for their visionary poets, and used in the same manner fili was in Ireland and Scotland.^{[ citation needed ]}

The Celtic poets, of whatever grade, were composers of eulogy and satire, and a chief duty was that of composing and reciting verses on heroes and their deeds, and memorising the genealogies of their patrons. It was essential to their livelihood that they increase the fame of their patrons, via tales, poems and songs. As early as the 1st century CE, the Latin author Lucan referred to " bards" as the national poets or minstrels of Gaul and Britain. In Gaul the institution gradually disappeared, whereas in Ireland and Wales it survived. The Irish bard through chanting preserved a tradition of poetic eulogy. In Wales, where the word bardd has always been used for poet, the bardic order was codified into distinct grades in the 10th century. Despite a decline of the order toward the end of the European Middle Ages, the Welsh tradition has persisted and is celebrated in the annual eisteddfod, a national assembly of poets and musicians.^{[ citation needed ]}