Cernunnos is a Celtic god whose name is only clearly attested once, on the 1st-century CE Pillar of the Boatmen from Paris, where it is identified with an image of an aged, antlered figure with torcs around his horns.
Through this artefact, the name "Cernunnos" has been applied to the members of an iconographic cluster, consisting of depictions of an antlered god (often aged and with crossed legs) associated with torcs, ram-horned (or ram-headed) serpents, symbols of fertility, and wild beasts (especially deer). The use of the name this way is common, though not uncontroversial. As many as 25 depictions of the Cernunnos-type have been identified. Though this iconographic group is best attested in north-eastern Gaul, depictions of the god have been identified as far off as Italy (Val Camonica) and Denmark (Gundestrup).
Cernunnos has been variously interpreted as a god of fertility, of the underworld, and of bi-directionality. His cult, attested iconographically as early as the 4th century BCE, seems to have been largely unaffected by the Roman conquest of Gaul, during which he remained unassimilated to the Roman pantheon. Cernunnos has been tentatively linked with Conall Cernach, a hero of medieval Irish mythology, and some later depictions of cross-legged and horned figures in medieval art.
Name Pillar of the Boatmen
The Gallo-Roman Pillar of the Boatmen was discovered in 1711 under the choir of Notre-Dame de Paris. It is a religious monument, with depictions of Roman gods (Jupiter, Vulcan, and Castor and Pollux) alongside native Gaulish deities, such as Esus and Smertrios, dedicated by a corporation of boatmen from the city of Lutetia (Roman Paris). The dedication dates it to the reign of Tiberius (14-37 CE).RIG II.1 L-14 via Recueil informatisé des inscriptions gauloises. Accessed on 9 December 2024. Legends below the images identify the Roman and Gaulish deities by name. In fact, this is the only monument on which Celtic deities are identified by name with captions.
On one block from the pillar, a frowning, bearded figure is depicted from the shoulders up. His face is human, but his upper head is animal-like: hairless and bulging. Atop his head is a pair of bifid deer's antlers, with a torc hanging from each one, and between the antlers are two triangular extrusions (perhaps ears or bull's horns). The lower half of the block is lost; given its original height, the figure could not have been standing, so the panel is believed to have originally shown him cross-legged.
Above the antlered figure is a one-word legend. When information about the pillar was published in 1711, this legend was reported as "Cernunnos". However, the block is now badly damaged. Many of the letters are only partially visible; the letter "C" is entirely gone. Joshua Whatmough has gone as far as to say that in its present state "only 'nn' is certain". The reading from 1711 has sometimes been mistrusted. Joseph Vendryes and Whatmough argue (following the Dacia inscription) that it read "Cernennos". Françoise Le Roux was skeptical about the existence of the final "s".
Other possible attestations
A capital found in Aumes, France is inscribed with a short Gaulish text in Greek letters. Michel Lejeune has interpreted this inscription as a dedication to a god (translit. ; in English, "Carnonos"), whom he tentatively connects with the god Cernunnos. However, both Lejeune's reading and his interpretation of this inscription have been contested. Whatmough and D. Ellis Evans prefer the reading (translit. ); and Emmanuel Dupraz has argued that the inscription states that an object (translit. ) is being offered, rather than giving the name of a god.RIG I G-224 via Recueil informatisé des inscriptions gauloises. Accessed on 9 December 2024.
A wax tablet from Dacia records a decree of 167 CE dissolving one ("collegium of Jupiter Cernenus"), a funerary association. David Fickett-Wilbar identifies this as a reference to Cernunnos, though he comments that it "tells us nothing about the deity other than his name". Theodor Mommsen suggested the byname derived from the name of nearby Korna, a hypothesis that has been followed by Michael Altjohann. Le Roux is also sceptical that it is a reference to Cernunnos, as she thinks the interpretatio of Cernunnos as the Roman god Jupiter is unlikely.
A bronze tabula ansata from Steinsel, Luxembourg, dating between the late 2nd and early 3rd century CE, is dedicated to one ("god Cerunincus"). Though close in name to Cernunnos, the editors of L'Année épigraphique argue that the form of the name entails that it must be another (probably Treverian) god. =
Etymology The earliest etymology proposed for "Cernunnos" was put forward by Alfred Holder. He held that Cernunnos's name derived from a Celtic reflex of proto-Indo-European * ("horn, hoof"). This etymology has the advantage of a close link with Cernunnos's iconography. However, Ernst Windisch and Leo Weisgerber pointed out that ablaut form of the proto-Indo-European root in Celtic is rather than .
Weisgerber proposed that the theonym derived from proto-Celtic ("angle, excrescence"), a reflex of the same proto-Indo-European root. Le Roux concurred with Weisgerber; she associated proto-Celtic with the meaning "top of the head", and argued that Cernunnos's name should be interpreted as "the one who has the top of his head like a deer". Vendryes suggested that the name was cognate with the Old Irish word ("hero").
Iconography A large number of images of an antlered figure, similar to that depicted on the Pillar of the Boatmen, have been found. These depict a male figure, often aged, with crossed legs, with antlers atop his head, who is associated with ram-horned (or ram-headed) serpents, torcs, symbols of fertility, and wild beasts (especially deer). It is conventional to apply to the name of "Cernunnos" to images which fit within this cluster of attributes. At least twenty-five images have been connected with Cernunnos in this way. Some, such as William Sayers and T. G. E. Powell, have questioned whether the name given on the Pillar (which is so rare in epigraphy) is appropriate to apply to these images. Pierre Lambrechts and Michael Altjohann have even argued that no such well-defined cluster of attributes exists in the archaeological record.
Distribution and history The majority of the images identified as of Cernunnos have been found in Gaul, clustered around Paris and Reims. A rock drawing in Valcamonica (Lombardy, Italy) and the figure on Plate A of the Gundestrup cauldron (found in Himmerland, Denmark) are conspicuous geographic exceptions. Engraved onto a rock at the prehistoric site of Val Camonica is a tall figure with antlers atop his head, arms in orans position, and a torc around his right arm. Besides him, on his right, are a ram-horned serpent and a smaller man (ithyphallic, arms in orans position). The detailed scene on Plate A of the Gundestrup cauldron has Cernunnos cross-legged, wielding a torc in one hand and a ram-horned serpent in the other. Around him are many animals: two bulls, a stag, a dolphin with a rider, griffins, and a hyena. The provenance and date of the Gundestrup cauldron have been the subject of much debate. Cernunnos has been tentatively connected with images over a large geographical range, including Britain, Spain, Austria, Slovenia, and Romania.
The earliest datable representations of Cernunnos in Gaul date, like the Pillar of the Boatmen, to the reign of Tiberius (i.e., 14-37 CE); the latest to the 3rd century CE. The archaeological evidence for images of deities in Gaul is scant before the Roman conquest. The God of Bouray, a bronze statuette probably produced not long before the Roman conquest, depicts a Gaulish god with crossed legs and hooves. The relationship of this god with Cernunnos is uncertain.
Outside of Gaul, much earlier representations of Cernunnos are known. The drawing from Valcamonica dates to 4th century BCE. José Maria Blázquez has argued that a painted vase, dating to the 2nd century BCE, from the Celtiberian site of Numantia, gives another early representation of Cernunnos. The Gundestrup cauldron, of either Thracian or Celtic work, has been assigned to dates within a large range (from 200 BCE to 300 CE).
After Christianisation, images of Cernunnos were the subject of iconoclastic destruction. A statue of Cernunnos from Verteuil (Charente, France) was beheaded and the horns of Cernunnos on the Reims altar seem to have been purposefully chipped off.
Some scholars (such as Duval and Bober) have suggested that Cernunnos's distinctive iconography persisted into the medieval period. Cernunnos has been seen on Christian monuments from Ireland, such as the north cross at Clonmacnoise, the market cross at Kells, and a stele at Carndonagh. The figure identified as Cernunnos on the 9th-century Clonmacnoise north cross appears to have horns and crossed legs; Fickett-Wilbar argues that these are misidentified ornamental motifs. On the Continent, Cernunnos has been seen in the Stuttgart Psalter and on a capital of Parma Cathedral. A leaf from the Stuttgart Psalter depicts the Descent into Limbo, with a devil figure (perhaps Hades) whom Bober identifies as of the Cernunnos-type, "complete with cross-legged posture, antlers, and even a ram-headed serpent", though J. R. M. Galpern identifies the features on the devil's head as wings, and connects them with motifs from Late Antique and Roman funerary art.
Attributes and associations
The cross-legged pose of Cernunnos has occasioned much comment. Elaborate diffusionist theories have been proposed to explain the origin of this particular motif. A popular theory proposes that the pose represents the transmission of a Buddhist motif (the lotus pose) from India via Greco-Egyptian work. Against a diffusionist hypothesis, Robert Mowat argued that this pose reflected the normal sitting position of the Gauls; he cited the testimony of Strabo and Diodorus that the Gauls sat on the floor for meals. In religious iconography, the position does not seem to have been exclusively associated with Cernunnos. Statues from the pre-Roman Gaulish sanctuary of Roquepertuse assume the same pose; though clearly of religious significance, they are not representations of Cernunnos. Representations of Cernunnos standing are known (such as the early example from Val Camonica).
Cernunnos is often depicted with torcs adorning his body. Most commonly he grasps one, and wears another around his neck. Sometimes he holds another on his chest. The torc is a ubiquitous feature of Celtic art and garb. They seem to have been a symbol of religious significance in Celtic art and, after the Roman conquest, perhaps a symbol of native identity.
The ram-horned (or ram-headed) serpent is a hybrid beast peculiar to the Celts. The creature, which is associated with Cernunnos early as Val Camonica, appears to have had a significance independent of Cernunnos. In Gaul, ram-horned serpents are depicted alone or accompanying Mars or Mercury. Ram-horned serpents also feature on two other plates of the Gundestrup cauldron (C and E). Cernunnos is also sometimes accompanied by serpents without the attributes of a ram, as on the Vendœuvres relief. The ram-horned serpent has been suggested to have a chthonic significance.
Some scholars, such as Miranda Green, have connected Cernunnos with the Lord of the Animals motif through such depictions as the Gundestrup cauldron, where Cernunnos is placed centrally around a number of animals. The closest parallel to the Gundestrup scene is given on the Lyon cup, where Cernunnos is surrounded by a deer, a hound, and a (hornless) snake.