Homepage Ralph Häussler |
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Introduction | Einführung
This page aims to provide a short critical introduction to Celtic religion(s). We need to jetisson that 'romantic' view that some people have of Celtic religion(s).
What do we really know about Celtic religion? We need to start as far back as possible: Who are the Celts that Greek and Roman authors talk about and what religious activities can we identify from our ancient evidence. What are the main features of Celtic religion? Is it the same across Europe, from Portugal to the Danube and from north Italy to the British Isles, wherever we find 'Celtic' people? What is our evidence? And how have Celtic religions been evolving over the past three millenia...? If we want to know more, we need to forget about fantastic accounts on druids and human sacrifice, and instead focus on the evidence! Evidence is everything! What do we really know about Celtic deities, sanctuaries, temples, cult practises, sacrifices, and so on. What is our evidence to reconstruct ancient Celtic religion(s)? | Quelles sont nos preuves pour reconstruire la ou les religions celtiques antiques? | Was sind unsere Belege zur Rekonstruktion der antiken keltischen Religion(en)?
An important source for the study of 'Celtic' religious believes are archaeological discoveries, notably those dating to the pre-Roman Iron Age and the Roman period, i.e. roughly between the 5th century BCE and the 5th century CE (see chronology). The evidence is very diverse and consists, among others, of:
Celtic Religion Quiz
Here a little quiz for you...
Check location and date of each of the objects in the two 'slide shows' above and below. All these objects are important for our understanding of 'Celtic religions' and have been used over and over again to reconstruct 'Celtic religion(s)'. What do you think the problem is...? |
A pan-European culture(?) | Une culture culture paneuropéenne(?) | Eine paneuropäische Kultur(?)
A pan-European culture prior to the Roman conquest. General map showing the area considered to be 'Celtic' in antiquity. The main areas of occupation are in modern-day France, S Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, North Italy, Hungary,Bohemia and along the Danube; also. the Galatians in Asia Minor (Turkey) and at least parts of the British Isles. Please ignore the information on this map regarding any 'Celtic expansion'... a topic we need to discuss more critically!
Table of Contents | Table des matières | Inhaltsverzeichnis
The Celtic religions website is work-in-progress. After all, Celtic religions constitute a huge and complex subject.
So far, you can access the following pages printed below in bold [please click on a link below or use the drop-down menu above]:
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For my own studies on ancient Celtic religions, see my list of publications [LINK]. And here is one recent publication that contains a series of fascinating papers by scholars from across Europe and beyond who aim to provide up-to-date studies and approaches on ancient Celtic religions between Iron Age and late Antiquity in a multi-disciplinary approach. The volume was edited by Tony King (University of Winchester) and myself and came out in 2017
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see also articles discussing some general methodological problems regarding 'Celtic religions'
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