Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race - Knowledge Rush

48 Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race[63]suppressed the Druids and all the herd of prophets and medicinemen.But what is the use of launching prohibitions against an artwhich has thus traversed the ocean and penetrated even to theconfines of Nature?” (Hist. Nat. xxx.)Pliny adds that the first person whom he can ascertain to havewritten on this subject was Osthanes, who accompanied Xerxesin his war against the Greeks, and who propagated the “germs ofhis monstrous art” wherever he went in Europe.Magic was not—so Pliny believed—indigenous either inGreece or in Italy, but was so much at home in Britain andconducted with such elaborate ritual that Pliny says it wouldalmost seem as if it was they who had taught it to the Persians,not the Persians to them.Traces of Magic in Megalithic MonumentsThe imposing relics of their cult which the Megalithic Peoplehave left us are full of indications of their religion. Take,for instance, the remarkable tumulus of Mané-er-H'oeck, inBrittany. This monument was explored in 1864 by M. RenéGalles, who describes it as absolutely intact—the surface ofthe earth unbroken, and everything as the builders left it. 38 Atthe entrance to the rectangular chamber was a sculptured slab,on which was graven a mysterious sign, perhaps the totem of achief. Immediately on entering the chamber was found a beautifulpendant in green jasper about the size of an egg. On the floorin the centre of the chamber was a most singular arrangement,consisting of a large ring of jadite, slightly oval in shape, witha magnificent axe-head, also of jadite, its point resting on thering. The axe was a well-known symbol of power or godhead,and is frequently found in rock-carvings of the Bronze Age, aswell as in Egyptian hieroglyphs, Minoan carvings, &c. At alittle distance from these there lay two large pendants of jasper,then an axe-head in white jade, 39 then another jasper pendant.38 See “Revue Archeologique,” t. xii., 1865, “Fouilles de René Galles.”39 Jade is not found in the native state in Europe, nor nearer than China.