The Sego legend on coins of the Catuvellauni -- part five

Gold stater of Verica showing a vine-leaf

The use of a vine-leaf as a sole coin type as is seen on this coin of Verica of the British Atrebates has no precedent in the ancient world, appearing only on later Jewish coins. On Greek coins, it appears, sometimes, as a subsidiary element when a bunch of grapes is depicted. There seem to be no Roman coins where even a bunch of grapes is depicted as a main type. It seems most likely that the design had been borrowed from an intaglio gem where it might have been a pun on a name or, more likely, to have been considered to be suitable device for a wine-trader. On coins of the continental Averni, however, the wine trade seems to be represented by an amphora as a subsidiary element, and trade in commodities that would have been shipped in amphorae are similarly depicted on many Greek coins, usually as a main type. Other Greek coinage references to wine include the kantharos

As gold staters were used, by the Greeks, for the hire of troops and served as the main prototypes for the earliest Celtic coins (which had exactly the same function), it is no surprise to see warrior imagery as on the reverse of this coin and many others. However, in Britain around this time, we start seeing a proliferation of types just north and south of the Thames that speak of a growing market economy. In the case of  the Trinovantes/Catuvellauni and the Cantii, this is emphasized by the appearance of a copper alloy coinage in addition the gold and silver, and with the Atrebates, the use of very small silver coins ("minims") in addition to the standard "unit" (these are all names given to the denominations in modern times).

Verica uses the vine leaf on gold quarter staters and a silver coin, but he also has other types indicating the promotion of the new market economy, such as the cornucopia (for plenty), and the kantharos (wine cup). It has long been suggested that Verica's vine leaf is a response to Cunobeline's ear of barley (which was, afterward, brought to Atrebates coinage by Epaticcus). The association of cornucopiae with a sceptre on another coin of Verica suggests that the king was politically promoting this new economy, and all of these "commercial" types indicate that this was an important part of his image-making.

There still might be a few people around who think that the Celts mindlessly copied types for their coinage, and I find it interesting that whenever this is mentioned, it is a Roman influence that is stated rather than both Greek and Roman but a kantharos is certainly a Greek icon. We can see a number of coins that do seem to be borrowed from Roman coin types, but while we might think of Roman influence, I think that a more likely answer is that, within this new economy, gem cutters trained in the Roman world were finding available work in Britain among the new merchant and middle classes. Even here, though, the types were likely to have had local significance even if we cannot positively identify the details of this. It is also very likely that Roman Republican moneyers were obtaining some of their designs from their own gem-cutters -- which was a trend that started with Greek coins (some of which are signed by people known to have been gem cutters). Besides, it would be absurd to think that anyone could make a living in the Greek world by only cutting coin dies.

It should also be no surprise that metaphor and the use of political imagery was typical for the Celts because Diodorus (V.31) tells us that "... when they meet together they converse with few words and in riddles, hinting darkly at things for the most part and using one word when they mean another." In the last episode, the use of metaphor was explained to Lucian by a Celtic philosopher or bard to show how the power of speech was Herakles and not Hermes (Mercury). Caesar tells us that that Mercury was the god most reverenced by the Gauls, but does not mention how he was depicted.

Hermes/Mercury seems to be "the Swiss army knife" of Classical deities, being not just the popular "messenger of the gods", but concerned with poetry and oration, wealth, trade, the four seasons (which Macrobius says is represented by the four strings of his lyre), agriculture, and being a psychopomp etc.. His influence has stretched to the modern world through his importance in alchemy (Mercurius and the Vas Hermeticus) and through alchemy, to Jungian psychology -- Jung coming to his methods through his vast study of alchemy (Mysterium Coniunctionis) in which he shows that, instead of the popular "primitive chemistry", alchemy was not so much about the "transmutation of metals" as the transmutation of the alchemist, himself, to a higher state of being.

While Ogmios was the deity of the orator, his strength was that of Herakles, and it is strength that is the meaning of the Celtic sego-. So we can see the likelihood that the British Atrebates were using this aspect of Hercules Saegon, not just in the dedication to him at Silchester, but in their leaders' political emphases on trade and wealth. Of course, being so mercurial, the god is prime material for syncretism and the warrior based power is starting to yield to the more modern importance of trade and plenty for the masses.

Tomorrow, the geographical hunt for Sego in Britain.

The Sego legend on coins of the Catuvellauni -- part four

Gold stater of Epaticcus combining Cunobeline
and Tasciovanus iconography

Connections between the Sego coins of the Catuvellauni and the Atrebates at Silchester (Calleva Atrebatum) become stronger than a dedication at Silchester to Hercules Saegon with Epaticcus becoming the king of the Atrebates in about 35 AD.  On the coin to the right, Epaticcus has included the TASC.F legend with the ear of barley on Cunobeline's well-known staters. The TASC.F legends would thus indicate that Epaticcus and Cunobeline were brothers and the sons of Tasciovanus (if we assume F = "son of").

Hercules Saegon on an Epaticcus silver coin

The commonest coin of Epaticcus is shown on the left with the obverse bearing the unmistakable head of Herakles wearing his lion's skin headdress that we see on the silver coinage of Alexander the Great.

In Caesar's description of the Gallic deities, Hercules is curiously absent, and he gives Mercury as the deity of most importance to the Gauls, saying: "They worship Mercury most of all and have very many images of him, regarding him as the inventor of all crafts, their guide on all journeys, and they consider him to be especially important for the acquisition of money in trade." (VI, 17). Yet we see many Romano-Gallic bronze statuettes of Hercules, and they might even be commoner than similar statuettes of Mercury. Caesar has never been caught out in a lie, and besides, there would be little point for anyone to lie about this, and it does seem to have come from his own observation. The Greek orator Lucian of Samosata (sometimes given as Samothrace) resolves the dilemma in his piece on Herakles (which was written in order to promote the virtues of older orators).

While in Gaul, Lucian sees a painting of an extremely old Herakles (whom the Gauls there called Ogmios), made even weirder by the fact that Herakles "draws after him a great number of men bound by their ears, and the bonds are slender cords wrought of gold and amber, like necklaces of the most beautiful make."

Lucian goes on to say:

"Now I stood a long time looking at these things, and wondered, perplexed and indignant. But a certain Celt standing by, who knew something about our ways, as he showed by speaking good Greek — a man who was quite a philosopher, I take it, in local matters — said to me. Stranger, I will tell you the secret of the painting, for you seem very much troubled about it. "We Celts do not consider the power of speech to be Hermes, as you Greeks do, but we represent it by means of Heracles, because he is much stronger than Hermes. Nor should you wonder at his being represented as an old man, for the power of words is wont to show its perfection in the aged ; for your poets are no doubt right when they say that the thoughts of young men turn with every wind, and that age has something wiser to tell us than youth. And so it is that honey pours from the tongue of that Nestor of yours, and the Trojan orators speak -with a voice of the delicacy of the lily, a voice well covered, so to say, with bloom ;  for the bloom of flowers, if my memory does not fail me, has the term lilies applied to it. So if this old man Heracles, the power of speech, draws men after him, tied to his tongue by their ears, you have no reason to wonder, as you must be aware of  the close connection between the ears and the tongue. Nor is there any injury done him by this latter being pierced ; for I remember, said he, learning while among you some comic iambics, to the effect that all chattering fellows have the tongue bored at the tip. In a word, we Celts are of opinion that Heracles himself performed everything by the power of words, as he was a wise fellow, and that most of his compulsion was effected by persuasion. His weapons, I take it, are his utterances, which are sharp and well-aimed, swift to pierce the mind; and you too say that words have wings."

After Augustus, all western Celtic deities become associated, in their inscriptions, with Roman deities. This is because the local priests can then obtain income (and other perks) from their cults. The higher the status of the god by Augustus' classification, the greater the income . This results in quite a number of very different deities being given the same Roman name. The above passage reflects the  metaphors used by the Celts to create this transition. Eventually, after many generations, the Celtic names are dropped and the religion becomes fully Roman. This is one of the ways that the Celts Romanized themselves (although Augustus had this as his intention, he was a genius and knew that making something attractive was infinitely more effective than making it mandatory).

I would go so far as to say the the chief god of the British Atrebates at this time (and it need not be so for the continental Atrebates) was Segon. This idea is also reinforced by the vast number of the Epaticcus Herakles type that were found at the Wanborough sacred site. It also suggests that silver coins had an important role as votive offerings (and this is also supported with the evidence from some other sites)

We can safely assume, that the image and identity of Herakles was used for Segon, as with Ogmios, to emphasize strength, but strength in what? The answer to that question will have to wait until Monday -- have  a great weekend.

The Sego legend on coins of the Catuvellauni -- part three

Gold stater of Verica (ruled ca. 10-40 AD)
Image courtesy of
Classical Numismatic Group, Inc.

One of the problems in accepting the "F" (filius) legend on British Celtic coins as meaning, literally, "the son of" is demonstrated with the coin to the right. Verica came to power in about 10 AD and here he is called "the son of Commios" (COM.F). After Caesar defeated the continental Atrebates in 57 BC, he made Commios the king of that tribe. Subsequently, Commios acted as an emissary for Caesar as he was widely respected by other tribes or their rulers. It would seem most likely that Commios already had such a reputation among his peers, and that is why Caesar made such an affiliation. After Commios' falling out with the Romans, Commios went to Britain, joining the Atrebates there and starting his own dynasty. Considering that his successors, Tincomarus, Eppillus, and Verica styled themselves as "sons of Commios" and the last of these was Verica, we have to ponder Commios' longevity. Even if Commios was only twenty years old when Caesar had made him king, that would put his birth at 77 BC. Commios died, apparently, in about 30 BC so (if my estimate is right), then he could not have been older than 47 when his last son was born -- not impossible, but extremely unlikely for that time and place when men mostly died before the age of 40. Of course, that would also mean that Verica had to have been at least 70 years old at his own death, and this is even more unlikely.

It would seem far more likely that the filius designation (if that is what "F" means) would be more akin to "Mac" or "Mc" as an early clan description before the existence of surnames, so that VERICA COM.F would then indicate something like "Verica of the Commios dynasty". It is also possible that the usage could have extended to affiliations between kings, so that when Cunobeline styles himself TASCIOVANI.F (VA- 20891), it perhaps indicates a political affiliation. Another possibility is that the filius designation can refer to an adopted son or chosen successor.

We can thus allow for the possibility that SEGO and the TASC.F varieties that Sego becomes affiliated with Tasciovanus. Now, such affiliations are not just always between two people, and affiliations between a tribe or settlement and a powerful leader also took place. This is the very basis of the clan system. A Scottish friend of many years ago had the surname "Wilson" , but he was a member of the Clan Gunn. The clan leader would host a great feast in order to persuade others outside of his family to become part of his clan. I know of an Iron Age site in Worcestershire (Dean Crawford, pers. comm.), that has been scheduled, but I think still not fully excavated, where a large number of coins appear scattered over the original ground surface, and is clearly not a plough-scattered hoard. This could well be a demonstration of conspicuous wealth at such a clan event. Its situation near springs also allows for the possibility of a sacred site, but we know from Caesar that councils took place at such sites as well as them being just a place for votive deposits. Celtic sacrifices in Britain are mostly associated with "watery places" such as rivers, bogs, and springs -- and the presence of springs near the site would make for a more attractive place of deposit. Like one or two similar sites, there is also evidence of metalworking with small pellets and ingots of silver being present, as well as a cut denarius of Antoninus Pius which  marks the end of the sequence which appears to have started in pre-conquest times. Much of what we know about the distribution of Dobunnic coins is owed to the efforts of the metal-detectorist Dean Crawford and his reporting of finds which includes both single specimens and hoards. He has quite the knack for finding things that others have missed.

So let us now turn to the name element Sego, which could be part of a personal name like the attested Segomarus (Xavier Delamarre, p. 188), or a town name, e.g. Segobriga, or a tribe name (Segontiaci), which might make for a settlement or fort being called Segontium. Yesterday, I gave a quote from Evans about an inscription to Hercules Saegon found at Silchester. Later, in 1886, Sir John Rhys had the following to say:

"... not only,was there a people in the south of this island called Segontiaci, who were of those who sent ambassadors to Caesar; but an inscription which has been taken to connect them with Silchester has been found there and discovered to have been a dedication Deo • Her\culi •} Saegon .... It is not certain what the dative of the god's name was in full ; but probably Saegono, or Saegoni, possibly a participial Saegonti. The stone is no longer to be found ; but the way in which it has been described by those who saw it, makes it difficult to read Segontiaco or Segontiacorum, as though the god derived his name from that of the people called Segontiaci. This leaves the conjecture that would connect the Segontiaci of Caesar with the town of Silchester much as it was before, since it is natural to suppose, that the god in question would occupy a place of honour in the pantheon of a people calling itself or its chief city after him. The weakness of the assumption lies in the probable fact, that more than one town, more than one people, took its name from the god ; and the more popular and general his cult is found to have been, the more clearly that weakness is seen. But it is a question of no immediate interest here,, as the fact not to be lost sight of is rather the identification of Saegon-, or Seon, with Hercules. (Lectures on the Origin and Growth of Religion as Illustrated by Celtic Heathendom, p. 273)

Of course, we know that Silchester went by the name of Calleva Atrebatuum, and some Atrebates coins have REX CALLE as a legend. It would seem that, from the lost inscription, Hercules Segon was worshipped there, but did not give his name to the town.

All of this points to another problem with the SEGO coin legend, and that is how personal names incorporating a deity name are abbreviated on the coins: we have Cunobelinus (The hound of Belinus) abbreviated to CVNO, and not BELI.. with such a ubiquitous element as Sego- , if used as an abbreviation of a god's name, would really confuse. Also, we must wonder how enthused the population would be to see a king apparently taking on the name of a god which would date much earlier. Segomarus, which claims Sego as an ancestor is an entirely different matter. Cunobeline abbreviates his name to "hound", and perhaps the Irish Cúchulainn (the hound of Culann) points to a common mythological source that had been syncretized over a long period. It origins might indeed go as far back as the Neolithic, and the name later became Celticised.

Well, this is a convenient place to stop -- more tomorrow.

The Sego legend on coins of the Catuvellauni -- part two

My copy of Evans, The Coins
of the Ancient Britons, 1864,
an Ambiani stater on the cover

Sir John Evans was the father of British Celtic coin studies as well as being one of the originators of modern archaeology. Considering how little material he had to work with, compared to today, his insights are quite remarkable. Here are some excerpts with regard to the SEGO legend:

"...the name of TASCIO is found associated with the word EICON or RICONI, and also with the word SEGO. It would appear probable that both these words are intended to designate towns within his dominions, especially as SEGO occurs on the obverse of a silver coin, having precisely the same reverse as a coin of Verulam in the same metal, but with VER on the obverse. ... The word SEGO seems plainly to point to the tribe of the Segontiaci, whose chief city appears to have been known as Segontium, or by the Britons as Caer Segont. Henry of Huntingdon thus identifies the town, " Kair-Segent quæ fuit super Tamesin non longe à Redinge et vocatur Silcestre." As will be subsequently seen, there is some doubt as to this identification being correct. But wherever the town was situated, it seems pretty clear that the tribe was one of those which were under the rule of Tasciovanus." (p.225) 

"... so also the SEGO on this must have a geographical signification. Whether, as was the case on the coins of Verulam, it stood for the name of a town — Segontium — or whether merely for  the name of the tribe of the Segontiaci, like the ECEN for the Iceni on their coins, must, to a certain extent, remain an open question.

"The first, and indeed the only mention of the Segontiaci among the classical writers, is by Caesar, [V, 21] who records that they were one of the British tribes, who sent embassies and made submission to him. Their name appears to have been unknown to Ptolemy, but seems to have been preserved in a votive inscription found at Silchester, inscribed DEO HER[CVLI] SAEGON.  Camden locates the tribe on the north edge of Hampshire, in Holeshot hundred, and makes Vindonum to have been their chief city, but on what authority, is by no means clear. 

"It would seem probable that he did so, in consequence of having identified Silchester with Vindomum, and of having found, from Henry of Huntingdon, that that city was anciently called Kair Segent, or the city of the Segontiaci 

"There is, however, a preponderance of evidence in favour of identifying Silchester with Calleva, the chief town of the Atrebates, so that possibly Henry of Huntingdon, who wrote as late as about a.d. 1140 — 50, may have erred in fixing Kair Segent at Silchester, though he may have been correct in saying that it was "super Tamesim non longe a Redinge." Certainly, if the CALLE on the coins of Eppillus refers to Calleva, and that town was known long afterwards as Calleva Atrebatum, the SEGO on the coins of Tasciovanus does not refer to the same place. My own opinion is that the Segontiaci must have been settled farther north than they are placed by Camden, and that they probably had some chief town known by the name of Segontium, the site of which has still to be ascertained. The Segontium mentioned in the Itinerary of Antoninus must not in any way be confounded with this, its site being fixed on valid grounds at Caernarvon. It is not, however, of much importance whether we find on these coins the name of the tribe or that of their chief town. They certainly seem to establish the fact of the Segontiaci having been one of the tribes who were under the rule of Tasciovanus ; and, as will shortly be seen, it is probable that their territory fell, at his death, to the share of his son Epaticcus, while the eastern part of his dominions came under the dominion of Cunobeline." (274-5).

This text is copied from Google plain text version and then corrected from the original book.

Tomorrow, we look start with looking at SEGO as town/tribe name, which I believe is more likely than a personal name, and I might be able to shed some further light on the confusion about Silchester.

The Sego legend on coins of the Catuvellauni -- part one

Gold stater, Sego type, in association with
Tasciovanus, Catuvellauni, VA 1845-1.
This coin: wt. 5.42 g. CCI -680189. British Museum.

Found near Tring, Hertfordshire in 1919

Ornamented tablet containing TASCIO

Warrior on horse brandishing carnyx, SEGO

(For a complete online listing of Sego types, see Robert Van Arsdell, Celtic Coinage of Britain, Plate 76)

Most of the names appearing on British Celtic coins are unknown to history. Sego is such a name. It translates to "victory" or "strength" (Xavier Delamarre,  Dictionnaire langue gauloise) and is a very common element in Celtic inscriptions and place names -- for example, Segobriga (Segovia, Spain).

The coin on the right certainly does not invalidate the meaning with its depiction of a Celtic warrior on horseback brandishing the Celtic war trumpet or carnyx. Unfortunately, the same depiction appears on coins only bearing the name of Tasciovanus who first appears in history as "Tenvantius" in Geoffrey of Monmouth. Of course, Geoffrey's history has been notorious almost since it was written, and is satirized by Gerald of Wales. In any case, Geoffrey has very little to say about the period and about the only thing we have from him that is backed up with evidence is that Cunobeline was Tasciovanus' son. This evidence are coins bearing the legend TASCIOVANI . F. (The F. is taken to indicate filius (L). Even this might be questioned. Was Cunobeline a real son or some sort of adopted successor? There is a regional focus to the filius legends to around Harlow, Essex and we might thus expect the area to have both Catuvellauni and Trinovantes connections. In what appears (from alloy details) to be coins of what Van Arsdell calls "the Interregnum", and the Sego coins are part of this, there are other names appearing on coins also bearing Tasciovanus legends: Andoco, Dias, and Rues. These are assumed to be unsuccessful candidates for rule after Tascivanus, but with the coin legends being the only evidence, we can have little certainty. None of these also incorporate filius in the legend. The use of filius is also problematical as Tasciovanus uses Celtic in his legends and not Latin -- for example, RICON Which appears to refer to kingship (Rix, Rig) (perhaps great or divine king), instead of using the Latin REX.

With the SEGO element, we do not have to ponder much. Not only is it common in Celtic inscriptions etc. but Delamare and others also point to the Germanic Sieg (victory). It would appear to have a very early source. Being so common, though, it presents us with a number of possibilities of interpretation -- Sego can be, not only a personal or place name element, but also a tribe (Segontiaci) or a deity name (Hercules Segon). These are just some of the topics I will discuss in this series.

Part two tomorrow.

Digital Jung

C.G. Jung-Institut Zürich
photo: Parpan05

The Princeton University Press Blog has today announced the publication of the ebook version of The Collected Works of C. G. Jung.

As the post explains, its sale is restricted in a number of countries (including the U.K.) -- the same restrictions being in place for the print version. Happily for me, these restrictions do not apply to Canada.

While its $499 price tag might dissuade those who think of ebooks being in the $5 - $ 10 range, it is far cheaper than buying the print version.

I have been collecting works by Jung but unless one restricts such purchases to the Princeton University Press editions, some duplication occurs whenever a selection of his papers is published. One of the advantages to having a digital edition is being able to perform text searches throughout all of the volumes. It is also possible (through various methods) to copy and paste. As I like to quote Jung often in my own writing, this is definitely a bonus. However, certain restrictions might be in place for just how much you can copy, so check this feature for the available devices.

Horse brooch fragment -- addendum

Strap junction, Sudeley, Gloucestershire, 
early 1st cent AD                          photo: Nilfanion

This follows British Celtic horse brooch fragment.

I have been looking for an online photograph of the Sudeley strap junction for years. Although it appears in the literature, and is considered one of the masterpieces of the later British styles, as it is not in the British Museum it seemed that I would not be able to show it on this blog.

According to the literature, it is part of the collection of Cheltenham Museum, but it is not mentioned on their website. Yesterday, I came across this BBC article saying "An Iron Age harness fitting, originating from the Cotswolds, is to spend up to five years at the Corinium Museum in Cirencester. It is the first item to be loaned from the British Museum following a new partnership between the two museums." Puzzled by the mention of it being loaned by the British Museum, I wondered if someone might have photographed it at the Corinium Museum, and was delighted to find the photograph on Wikimedia Commons. That "strap junction" and "Sudeley" are not mentioned in its description explains why I had no luck Googling it. This morning, I checked the British Museum site and searched for "Sudeley" again -- still not there. Following the BBC lead, I searched for "Corinium" and there was the photo (but with no mention of "strap junction" or "Sudeley"). It is described both as a "strap-fitting" and (erroneously) a "terret".

British Museum photo of the Sudeley

strap junction

© Trustees of the British Museum

With such an embarrassment of photographic riches, I cannot resist including the BM photo as well. The same photograph (cropped) appears in the BBC article.

The matching lower linchpin terminal

For the first time in about two thousand years, the Sudeley strap junction is shown together with the companion lower linchpin terminal in my own collection. I would imagine that the top terminal of the linchpin would have been more like the strap junction showing four "enamel" inlays within its roundel. These four insets find a parallel in the arrangement on the horse brooch, as does the linear and stippled decoration (see previous blog on the subject).

Perhaps I will find more parts from this chariot rig -- I wonder what its terrets looked like.

Remembering Sally Rand

Sally Rand and myself at the
Summit Hotel, Calgary in 1975

Today would have been Sally Rand's 110th birthday. The original "fan dancer", she had performed at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair. Her performance there, and her "Lady Godiva" ride through the streets of Chicago had got her arrested four times in a single day. But any nudity was just an illusion -- she wore either a body stocking or full body makeup. In the photo to the right, she is her timeless self -- contrasting that, I appear to be a survivor from "That Seventies Show".

I went with some friends to see her dance at the Sheraton Summit Hotel in 1975. The hotel, once a Calgary landmark, is no more. The top floor was a circular restaurant which featured many notable acts. After her reprisal of her act at the Chicago World's Fair, she joined us at our table and entertained us greatly with stories from her fascinating career. It was the (later) casino boss Sam Switzer who booked Sally Rand at the Summit. He brought quite a number of earlier stars to Calgary to perform at the Summit in those days.

An American legend, she was a really no-nonsense sort of person and very real. One of her quotes about "exotic dancing" expresses her character delightfully:

"The dictionary defines `exotic` as that which is strange and foreign. I am not strange; I like boys. I am not foreign; I was born and raised in Hickory County, Missouri."

What I remember most about that evening was hearing about how Al Capone had taken a shine to Sally Rand and how she thought that the best response to that would be to leave Chicago for a while. The story stuck with me as, just over ten years earlier, I had been walking in the West End of London with my father when we saw a man who seemed to be covered in tattoos. This was not a common sight back then. My father knew the man's identity and told me that he had been a driver for Al Capone.

Sally Rand passed away four years later, in 1979. I cannot imagine that anyone who had ever met her could forget her.

British Celtic horse brooch fragment

Fragment of bronze horse brooch,

early 1st century AD, found near

Lowestoft, Suffolk.  4.5 X 2.2 CM

(click to enlarge)

This is the second recorded horse brooch of the type that Fox described as fitting to the crupper strap just above the crupper loop at the rump. It was a metal detector find from near Lowestoft in Suffolk. Its thickness (apart from the recesses for red glass) runs from about 1 to 3 mm with the thickest part just below the lower circular recess on the left. No other examples are listed by Jope or are in the PAS database. The dealer from whom I purchased it was issued an export permit for it under the description: "British Celtic La Tène style mount".

When I first saw it illustrated, the shape of the curve on the right side, and its stipple/linear decoration reminded me of the spoons "presumably from Ireland" (Jope Plate 233 b-f). Other than these spoons, which Raftery thought to have come from Westmeath, the use of stipple in-fill is known only on some of the bone trial pieces from Lough  Crew. In Britain, stipple in-fill is also rare -- far commoner is the "basket-hatching" seen, for example, in the "Mirror" and the "Snettisham" styles. Elsewhere, simple line in-fill is also fairly common. The only clear examples of stipple in-fill in Jope other than the spoons and the Lough Crew bone flakes are:

• Heavy bronze collar from Trenoweth, Cornwall (Pl. 259a)
• Strap junction from Sudeley, Glos. (Pl. 270)
• Terret from Cawston, Norfolk (PL.294f)
• Enamelled mounts from Polden Hill, London and Norton, Suffolk (Pl. 297 a, d, e.)

Lower linchpin terminal in my own collection

showing a similar stipple/linear composition.

This is a companion piece to the Studeley strap

junction.

The lower linchpin terminal to the left shows a very similar composition combined with "pressure tectonics". The Sudeley strap junction seems to be from the same rig and has a more complex design.

Miniature terret (strap end?) in my collection with

stipple/linear decoration,  2.5 X 2.1 cm.

The miniature terret (strap end?) to the right also has stipple in-fill with engraved or chased outlines.








Seeing that the object was flat, I knew that it could not be a fragment of a spoon. There were two features that told me that the fragment was of a horse brooch and specifically for attachment to the crupper strap above the tail: the "enamel" recesses looked as if they would have been mirrored on the opposite side of the entire object and the hook-like lower element finds a parallel in the other horse brooch of the type from the Polden Hill hoard (below):

Polden Hill horse brooch
© Trustees of the British Museum

The clearest difference between the Lowestoft and Polden Hill horse brooches is that the "hook" on the latter is truncated and the lower edge of that part of the brooch is a straight line instead of being curved as on the Lowestoft example. The decoration around the "enamel" recesses might be a roundel something like those on the Llyn Cerrig shield boss, or it might be a more elaborate composition as on the Polden Hill brooch. It is possible that four recesses filled with red "enamel" formed a trefoil pattern on each "wing" of the horse brooch. Any design details of the missing centre part cannot even be guessed at.

The enamelled mounts mentioned above seem to stretch from SW England to East Anglia (with only the one from London in between). I think that designs which might identify a certain workshop earlier in British Celtic art give way more to an "independent British style" that is more widespread in the first century AD. Besides the examples given here, the "pressure tectonics" of the Sudeley strap junction finds another expression in one of the strap junctions in my collection (ex Ringrose coll., Essex and similar to a fragment from Camulodunum, Essex). This possible move away from earlier workshops might also indicate a change in the status of Celtic artists from early patronage under a local lord to more independent commercial workshops sharing designs influenced by earlier regional artists. Perhaps such workshops were largely missing from the areas with a more Romanized population. British find spots of Celtic material rarely give a very clear picture of regional styles although Fox tried to look for such in the material available to him at the time. Sometimes, finding more evidence gives us more questions than answers!

Ancient Druids -- part twelve

A tiger pursues a boar in this Roman period mosaic from the

House of Dionysos, Paphos, Cyprus

Photo: Wolfgang Sauber

The tiger is the most unusual animal associated with Dionysos. It was one of the forms that he took in his shape-shifting battle with the Titans; He is sometimes seen riding a tiger on in a chariot drawn by tigers, and there is a story of him travelling to India. The origins of Dionysianism is obscure with Minoan Crete, Thrace and Phrygia all having evidence of early associations.

I see the tiger, in Dionysian imagery, as a link between eastern and western thought: eastern belief is inward-looking and deals with the contents of the unconscious -- the psyche is considered immortal, occupying successive bodies and, as is taught in Tibetan Buddhism, is not the "personality" (which also is the result of genetics and experience), but is the essence of the person once the mortal features are stripped away.

The middle east has been the birthplace of many religions -- Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all reflect the fact that  the middle east has been an important crossroad of cultures and thus a place subject to many changes. In western history, Mesopotamia is considered the birthplace of civilization. The eastern ideas about reincarnation and resurrection are adopted by Christianity with its leaning toward Dionysianism and the importance of the vine and in Egypt, the idea is absorbed into the myths of Osiris (who is also reborn). The eastern quest for self- realization is expressed by the hero's journey to the Underworld and his safe return. This is experienced by Dionysos, Orpheus, Theseus and even Christ (resurrection and appearance in the tomb). When a female follower of Dionysos dies, she becomes the "bride of Dionysos" just as Christian nuns become "the bride of Christ".

The Celtic appeal to this sort of world-view is fairly obvious and the ancient writers mention that a belief in successive lives was an impetus to them being brave in battle and fearless of death. The Celtic interest in the importation of wine and vessels for its consumption also links to Dionysos, but the element most adopted is not the vine of the grape, but the ivy vine with its mythological connection with the darker months and resurrection. Celtic coin iconography also incorporates earlier, megalithic imagery and this is often solar with an emphasis on the winter solstice -- the "lyre symbol" on Celtic coins is often a megalithic influenced depiction of a four stringed lyre which Macrobius identifies as being an invention of Mercury where each string represents a season.

We cannot know if the eastern inward looking beliefs are what has survived of the earliest myths of mankind and the split between eastern and western thought was a late development -- supporting this idea is the fact that all myths, from all times and all places share one important feature: they show that the processes of the universe are all reflected in the processes of human existence -- all mythologies are the source of psychology and not "a way to understand the physical world" as modern man (obsessed with Logos, reality and laws so frequently believes).

When the Celts set up their military bases in northern Italy, they were confronted with a cosmopolitan society where immigrant artists from the eastern Mediterranean were finding favor from the luxury-loving Etruscans -- themselves of ultimate eastern-origin. The Celts must have seen many reminders of their own ancient knowledge passed down to them from the descendents of megalithic believers in the endless cycles of nature that are expressed also in a human transmigration of souls. Also in Italy, Pythagoras had arrived and set up his school at Croton and his beliefs (after some troubles) found much support at Taras (which the Celts helped to defend).

The recognition of a foreign set of beliefs being so similar to ones own beliefs can be a "Eureka" moment for people -- it is as if a truth beyond human social structures becomes suddenly apparent. It makes for what the psychologist Abraham Maslow called "the peak experience" -- where religious and aesthetic experience meet. It is no small wonder that the Celt's exposure to these ideas, both strange and familiar at the same time, also gave birth to a new art style. Druidism undoubtedly changed over the centuries, but most of what we know about it from the ancient authors comes from a time well past the emergence of the La Téne style. That the style was not associated with a new religious philosophy at the same time is something that I cannot explain. We have seen how the connection with new ways of thinking have been reflected in the arts -- the Italian Renaissance and the Romantic Rebellion -- even Pop Art, have been reflections of changes in society, not isolated artistic styles. Archaeologist seem to have missed the boat in that one. Perhaps this, too, is a reflection of the dangerous shift toward the Logos where the human psyche is not considered an important part of what makes us human.

Tomorrow, another piece of early Celtic art makes its debut here.