Did the zodiacal system exist in Iron-Age Britain?
British Iron-Age coin showing back-to-back crescent moons
While the Picts, famous for their symbol stones, were fighting each other, and then the Romans, in Scotland, British Celts were fighting each other, and then the Romans, in the rest of Britain. Nearly all these people, and their culture, were imported from mainland Europe in the preceding few millennia - we now know this from genetic studies. This means the British and Scottish Celts represent the tail-end of the Indo-European migration from the Pontic Steppe.
Several millennia before that, the indigenous hunter-gather population was almost totally replaced by Anatolian farmers. So we have the sequence: European hunter-gatherers, Anatolian farmers, Indo-Europeans, in the British Isles. Most people in the UK now have DNA which is roughly an equal mix of these three lineages.
However, we now suspect all these different cultures used practically the same zodiacal system - only a some of the symbols seem to differ across this vast timescape. We suspect this because of the correlations in Palaeolithic cave art, Anatolian Gobekli Tepe and Catalhoyuk, and Celtic western Europe. It appears to have been in operation right from the time the first sapiens set foot in Europe. Quite possibly, it was developed elsewhere, over 40,000 years ago, and transported across the whole world.
We can therefore expect the rest of the British Isles to have used the same zodiacal system as the Picts to the North. The Picts were nothing special in this regard.
So which zodiacal symbols can we expect to find in the first few centuries of the 1st millennium, before the last iron-age culture in Britain was replaced by the Romans, and then the Christians. Obviously, we should see some of the same symbols used by the Picts. Specifically, taking 100 to 200 AD as the date, we should expect to find the following:
summer solstice = Gemini = ibex ( = Pictish beastie)
winter solstice = possibly the rear of Sagittarius = boar
spring equinox = Pisces = fish (or bending bird in older Anatolian system)
autumn equinox = Virgo = dog/wolf (or bear in older Anatolian system)
And what do we actually find? The evidence is less clear, but according to this non peer-reviewed article the most prevalent symbol found in archaeological remains at this time is the boar - which agrees with the zodiacal system. Boar symbols are found on coins as well as many figurines. In terms of coins, we apparently find the 'boar, wolf and horse'. But let's look at some examples of these from the article...
Now, the boar figurines are clear. And I can just make out a wolf's head on the top-right coin. But the other coins, said to resemble 'horses', 'dragons' or 'boar-horses' look to me rather like the symbol for Gemini - the charging narrow head is a give-away. So I suspect these 'dragons' or 'boar-horses' are actually symbols for Gemini, just like the Pictish beastie, i.e. they are stylised goats or ibexes. Maybe you can see something else in them?
Notice also some astronomical symbols on the 'wolf' coin - a circle and crescent likely represent the moon and sun. The crescent is an obvious symbol for the moon, and we have found a plain circle is normally used to represent the summer solstice - we see this on Pillar 43 at Gobekli Tepe and on bear shrines at Catalhoyuk (originally, the circle was thought to indicate the bear was a pregnant woman). Also notice the circular symbol beneath the 'Gemini' symbol on the top-left coin. Presumably, this is also indicating the summer solstice.
This is an interesting beginning, but more evidence is needed to make this a convincing case. Nevertheless, given that these are exactly the symbols we expect to find, according to the zodiacal system, we could be on the right track.
Found this in " Celtic astrology from The Druids to the Middle Ages" by M.G. Boutet:
ReplyDelete'In the Hittite Zodiac, Scorpio was represented by a wolf. For the Scandinavians, it were the stars of Sagittarius that were referred to as Fenrir the Wolf. This being that the constellation of the Wolf (Lupus) is now in Libra and Scorpio just west and east of the Centauri cluster. In Greeks myths, this animal was pierced by the spear of the centaur archer. In these cosmologies, the Wolf symbolically marks the revival period of the winter sun springing up in March. For the Greeks, the calendar month of Lukios, covered the period from February to March when not, from April to May
...Capricorn was formerly represented by a sea monster, probably a sturgeon and then later replaced by a dolphin, or a goat-fish, when not simply by a goat. According to the Vedanta, the seven Rishis or sages of the North ascended to the stars of Makara (Capricorn) while the Devas, the highest celestial deities (Rudras Kumaras Adithyas, Gandharvas or Asuras), made their descent from there to Earth in order to teach humanity wisdom and to establish right and order. And, from the North skies came the seven cosmic rays affecting the seven planets or the seven worlds. The Gallic Riuros11 months, for “freezing,” is also marked by these beams. The Romans called this winter constellation Capra, “goat,” same as with the Scandinavians who called it Heidrun, also for “goat.” Each evening, the udder of the goat Heidrun filled with mead a huge basin. By its horns, the goat is also the symbol for the heavenly waters of the moon, hence the pouring of Soma (Haoma in Indo-Iranian). The Hittite designation for Sagittarius was the “graceful Antelope,” and “messenger,” for Capricorn. On the Gundestrup Cauldron is featured a boy riding a sturgeon or dolphin. In Greek myths, Taras, was rescued from a shipwreck by a dolphin sent by his father the sea god Poseidon. The dolphin boy somewhat brings us closer to the god sent messenger of Hittite myth.
...But for the Celts, this asterism was represented by pigs or piglets. In the Book of Ballymote the sign for Gemini is marked by the word: Ruidzûig (ruidh sûig < roudos succoi, “the red pigs”). The Old Irish word for “pig,” sug, also can be taken for “joy, laughter or happiness.” On the Gundestrup Cauldron is shown a figure of a god clutching two young boars or holding small piglets. And on the Coligny calendar, is engraved the Gallic name Simiuisonios meaning “capricious breezes,” or connoting Simiuesses/Semiuesses, “little flighty pigs, or frisky, piglets.” '
More from the book.. M.G. Boutet's interpretation supposedly:
ReplyDeleteThe Gundestrup Cauldron and the Celtic Astral Tradition I—Libra and Scorpio: Caruos/Sidos, “deer”; opposite to Taurus on the zodiacal circle. Representation of a god grabbing two deer by the hind legs; that is, Cernunnos, the horned god or Natronouiros for Ophiuchus, “the serpent bearer.” 1 Libra: Cantalon, “the (memorial) pillar.” 2 Scorpion: Samonios/Semonios, “the sower.” 3 Sagittarius: a wolf (uolcos in OClt); Duniomannos, the centaur. 4 Capricorn: Moritasgos, the child riding a sea monster (a sturgeon or dolphin) opposing a Lion; Riuones, “the rays.” 5 Aquarius: Medua, “intoxication,” the goddess of ritual drunkenness surrounded by her two male companions, one bearded and one beardless while holding her left breast or nipple; Anaxs, “the pot, the tumbler.” 6 Fish: Snake on the head of a ram; a god grabbing two dragons as two monstrous wolves devour two men; Ogronios, a cold-blooded animal, or a reptile. 7 Aries: A young warrior with his sword jabs at a wolf; the chariot-driver goddess is flanked by two elephants (seen as giant boars), two griffins (winds) and a wolf; Cutios, Aries. 8 Taurus: Taruos a bull lying on a bobcat or a lynx; three bulls attacked by men armed with swords; Taruos Trigarannianom, “the bull with three cranes”; Gammos, “ox.” 9 Gemini: A god grabbing two youths holding small boar piglets with a dog to his right shoulder and a winged horse by his left shoulder; Semiuesses, “the small springy pigs.” 10 Cancer: A winged horse; Equoredioi, four riders on the run; each wearing a helmet with the effigies of: a feathered crest, bull horns, a wild boar and a bird (crow, hawk or eagle?); Equos, “the horse.” 11 Lion: A god waving his arms flanked by two boxers and a rider on the run; an opposing lion with a child straddling a sea monster; two leaping lions; Elembos, “the fawn.” 12 Virgo: Dexsiutera, “the righteousness”; the goddess holding a wren in her right hand and a young man lying in her left arm; a dog or wolf lies further; the hair of the goddess is combed by a lady; another maiden is sitting next to her right with a wolf leaping over it; two eagles fly over on both sides.
Only tangentially related. At least I can throw in Saint George as a hook...
ReplyDeleteI probably got this from you, Hancock and/or others, but it suddenly bubbled to the surface.
1. Fire-breathing dragons are ubiquitous in mythology worldwide, usually as destructive beings.
2. A dragon is a representation of a serpent.
3. Serpents, in your system, represent comets.
4. An impacting comet would certainly cause huge and highly obvious fires.
5. So dragons are a remembrance of cometary impacts.
You probably wrote this somewhere and I forgot it.
Thanks for your great work!
I would love to hear of any observations you may have on the Nebra Sky Disk.
ReplyDeletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebra_sky_disk?wprov=sfla1
Not much to add to what's on Wikipedia, as there's mot much there. However, the arc at the bottom might represent a comet, rather than a 'sun boat', considering the other symbols are thought to represent real astronomical bodies.
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