Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race - Knowledge Rush

CHAPTER II: THE RELIGION OF THE CELTS 69century B.C., tells us that human sacrifices were abolished byAmasis I. so late as the beginning of the XVIII Dynasty—about1600 B.C. But the complete silence of the other records showsus that even if we are to believe Manetho, the practice must inhistoric times have been very rare, and must have been lookedon with repugnance.The Names of Celtic DeitiesWhat were the names and the attributes of the Celtic deities?Here we are very much in the dark. The Megalithic Peopledid not imagine their deities under concrete personal form.Stones, rivers, wells, trees, and other natural objects were tothem the adequate symbols, or were half symbols, half actualembodiments, of the supernatural forces which they venerated.But the imaginative mind of the Aryan Celt was not contentwith this. The existence of personal gods with distinct titles andattributes is reported to us by Caesar, who equates them withvarious figures in the Roman pantheon—Mercury, Apollo, Mars,and so forth. Lucan mentions a triad of deities, Æsus, Teutates,and Taranus 69 ; and it is noteworthy that in these names we seemto be in presence of a true Celtic, i.e., Aryan, tradition. ThusÆsus is derived by Belloguet from the Aryan root as, meaning“to be”, which furnished the name of Asura-masda (l'Esprit Sage)to the Persians, Æsun to the Umbrians, Asa (Divine Being) tothe Scandinavians. Teutates comes from a Celtic root meaning“valiant”, “warlike”, and indicates a deity equivalent to Mars. [87]Taranus (? Thor), according to de Jubainville, is a god of theLightning (taran in Welsh, Cornish, and Breton is the wordfor “thunderbolt”). Votive inscriptions to these gods have beenfound in Gaul and Britain. Other inscriptions and sculptures bear69 “You [Celts] who by cruel blood outpoured think to appease the pitilessTeutates, the horrid Æsus with his barbarous altars, and Taranus whose worshipis no gentler than that of the Scythian Diana”, to whom captive were offered up.(Lucan, “Pharsalia”, i. 444.) An altar dedicated to Æsus has been discoveredin Paris.