CERNUNNOS

ORIGIN Celtic (mainly Gallic). Fertility and chthonic god.

KNOWN PERIOD OF WORSHIP prehistoric times until circa AD 1000.

SYNONYMS none.

CENTER(S) OF CULT none.

ART REFERENCES Gundestrup Bowl; monumental stone work and relief carvings.

LITERARY SOURCES votive inscriptions.

Cernunnos appears to have been recognized in the region of Gaul which is now central France.

He is typically drawn as a man bearing the antlers of a stag, not necessarily representing an animal spirit but a deity closely involved with animals and one which can transform instantly into animal shape. In the Celtic world, horns and antlers were generally regarded as symbols of virility and fertility. On the Celtic Gundestrup Bowl from Denmark, Cernunnos is attended by a boar—an animal revered by the Celts for its speed, pugnacity and magical connotations—and on the same vessel he seems to be associated with a bull. This latter link reappears on a stone relief from Reims.

Cernunnos is also depicted in association with snakes, sometimes bearing rams’ horns, as on a stone relief found at Cirencester in England. His legs may be replaced by snakes, and at Sommerecourt [Haute Marne] a relief was found depicting the god in company with an unnamed goddess holding a basket and feeding a snake. The snake symbolism is generally associated with rejuvenation.

Other reliefs show him holding purses of money.