Hooded Spirits on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
The Hooded Spirits or ''Genii Cucullati'' are figures found in religious sculpture across the Romano-Celtic region from
The hooded cape was especially associated with
Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands
* Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
to Pannonia
Pannonia (, ) was a province of the Roman Empire bounded on the north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia. Pannonia was located in the territory that is now wes ...
, depicted as "cloaked scurrying figures carved in an almost abstract manner". They are found with a particular concentration in the Rhineland
The Rhineland (german: Rheinland; french: Rhénanie; nl, Rijnland; ksh, Rhingland; Latinised name: ''Rhenania'') is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly its middle section.
Term
Historically, the Rhinelands ...
(Hutton). In Britain they tend to be found in a triple deity
A triple deity is a deity with three apparent forms that function as a singular whole. Such deities may sometimes be referred to as threefold, tripled, triplicate, tripartite, triune, triadic, or as a trinity. The number three has a long history ...
form, which seems to be specific to the British representations.
Name
The name ''CucuIlātus'' is a derivative ofGaulish
Gaulish was an ancient Celtic languages, Celtic language spoken in parts of Continental Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire. In the narrow sense, Gaulish was the language of the Celts of Gaul (now France, Luxembourg, Belgium ...
''cucullos'', meaning 'hood' (cf. ''bardo-cucullus'' 'bard's hood'), whose etymology remains uncertain. ''Cucullos'' is the source of Latin ''cucullus'' and Old French ''cogole'' (via the Latin feminine form ''cuculla''; cf. modern ''cagoule''). The Old Irish ''cochaIl'' ('monk's hood'), Cornish ''cugol'', Breton ''cougoul'', and Welsh ''kwcwIl'' are loanwords from Latin.
Cult
The hooded cape was especially associated with Gauls
The Gauls ( la, Galli; grc, Γαλάται, ''Galátai'') were a group of Celtic peoples of mainland Europe in the Iron Age and the Roman period (roughly 5th century BC to 5th century AD). Their homeland was known as Gaul (''Gallia''). They s ...
or Celts
The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancien ...
during the Roman period. The hooded health god was known as Telesphorus Telesphorus can refer to:
* Telesphorus (general), 4th century BC general in ancient Greece
* Pope Telesphorus (died c. 137), Catholic pope and Catholic and Orthodox saint
* Telesphorus of Cosenza, a name assumed by a 14th century pseudo-prophet du ...
specifically and may have originated as a Greco-Gallic syncretism with the Galatia
Galatia (; grc, Γαλατία, ''Galatía'', "Gaul") was an ancient area in the highlands of central Anatolia, roughly corresponding to the provinces of Ankara and Eskişehir, in modern Turkey. Galatia was named after the Gauls from Thrace (c ...
ns in Anatolia in the 3rd century BC.
The religious significance of these figures is still somewhat unclear, since no inscriptions have been found with them in this British context. There are, however, indications that they may be fertility spirits of some kind. Ronald Hutton
Ronald Edmund Hutton (born 19 December 1953) is an English historian who specialises in Early Modern Britain, British folklore, pre-Christian religion and Contemporary Paganism. He is a professor at the University of Bristol, has written 14 bo ...
argues that in some cases they are carrying shapes that can be seen as eggs, symbolizing life and rebirth, while Graham Webster has argued that the curved hoods are similar in many ways to contemporary Roman curved phallus stones. However, several of these figures also seem to carry swords or daggers, and Henig discusses them in the context of warrior cults.
Guy de la Bédoyère
Guy Martyn Thorold Huchet de la Bédoyère (born November 1957) is a British historian who has published widely on Roman Britain and other subjects; and has appeared regularly on the Channel 4 archaeological television series ''Time Team'', ...
also warns against reading too much in to size differences or natures in the figures, which have been used to promote theories of different roles for the three figures, arguing that at the skill level of most of the carvings, small differences in size are more likely to be hit-or-miss consequences, and pointing out that experimental archaeology
Experimental archaeology (also called experiment archaeology) is a field of study which attempts to generate and test archaeological hypotheses, usually by replicating or approximating the feasibility of ancient cultures performing various tasks ...
has shown hooded figures to be one of the easiest sets of figures to carve.
See also
*Priapus
In Greek mythology, Priapus (; grc, Πρίαπος, ) is a minor rustic fertility god, protector of livestock, fruit plants, gardens and male genitalia. Priapus is marked by his oversized, permanent erection, which gave rise to the medical term ...
* Pisky
* Telesphorus (mythology)
In ancient Greek religion, Telesphorus (Greek: Τελεσφόρος ''Telesphoros'') was a minor child-god of healing. He was a possible son of Asclepius and frequently accompanied his sister Hygieia. He was depicted as a dwarf whose head was a ...
Footnotes
Bibliography
*External links
* Gods of the ancient Britons Gaulish gods Fertility gods Health gods Priapists Triple gods {{celt-myth-stub