Celtic Mythology and Religion

THE " DRUID " CIRCLES. 221,
The Celts buried their dead like the other Aryan
nations ;
they burnt the bodies, like the Greeks of
Homeric times, and built the tumulus over the ashes,
though it is just as likely that the common people
buried by inhumation as in Greece and Rome. The
tumuli, also, were erected only over chiefs and great
men, as among the pre-historic and contemporary
tribes. The Homeric burial existed, according to
Roman and Greek writers, in Gaul. Homer represents
Achilles as placing the fat of many sheep
and
oxen, whose carcases were heaped round the pyre,
about the body of Patroclus, from head to foot. He
set vessels with honey and oil slanting towards the
bier, and then threw horses, pet dogs, and captive
Trojans, after slaying them, on the pile, to be burnt
along with the body of his friend. Celtic burial
tumuli are not easy to identify.
Burials of the pre-
Roman and pre-Christian period of Celtic occupation
are very few indeed, and in archaeological
works are continually confused as " Anglo-Saxon,"
being, indeed, of a similar type. Like their houses
and temples, they were of no lasting character. One
thing is clear :
they had no rude stone circles around
them.
The Celts made use of iron ever since they appear
in history.
It is not likely on a priori grounds that
they would build rude stone circles for worship
or even for burial, nor can it be understood from
their religious beliefs what use they could make
of circles of rude stone. The Druids again were