Celtic Religion: Did you mean...?

The polytheistic religion of the ancient Celts in Iron Age Europe remains obscure for lack of written records, but archaeology and accounts by classical authors help us to piece together a number of the key gods, sacred sites, and cult practices...

The La Tène culture (c. 450 - c. 50 BCE) is named after the site of that name on the northern shores of Lake Neuchâtel in Switzerland. It replaced the earlier Hallstatt culture (c. 1200 - c. 450 BCE) as the dominant culture of central Europe...

The ancient Celts produced magnificent bronze shields in Iron Age Britain which were most likely for ceremonial purposes and display. Several fine examples have miraculously survived as evidence of the imagination, skill, and artistry of...

The Gundestrup Cauldron is a gilded silver bowl found in Gundestrup in Denmark in 1891 CE. It was likely made in the Balkans, perhaps in the 1st century BCE, and shows a clear influence from Celtic art and mythology, even if other motifs...

Druids were a class of individuals in ancient Celtic cultures known for their great wisdom and knowledge of traditions. Not only priests who managed all religious rituals such as sacrifices (including humans), druids were able to give practical...

The ancient Celtic pantheon consisted of over 400 gods and goddesses who represented everything from rivers to warfare. With perhaps the exception of Lugh, the Celtic gods were not universally worshipped across Iron Age Europe but were very...

The Lindow Man (officially Lindow III) is the top half of a male body, found preserved in a peat bog in Cheshire, England. The peat bogs at Lindow Moss date back to the last ice age and were formed by holes of melting ice; they are now...

Epona was a Celtic goddess. Her name contains an allusion to the horse: in Celtic, "epos" means “horse” and the suffix “-ona” affixed simply means “on”. Epona is the patron goddess of mares and foals. The oldest information about the Gallic...

In ancient Celtic cultures, torcs were a common form of jewellery and were made from bronze, copper, silver, and gold. Torcs were not just exquisite works of Celtic art but also identified the wearer’s status and perhaps were believed to...

The ancient Celts who occupied large parts of Europe from 700 BCE to 400 CE displayed a clear belief in an afterlife as evidenced in their treatment of the dead. In the absence of extensive written records by the Celts themselves, we are...