Astral Iconography, Star Deities and the Celtic "Otherworld" in the Roman West

Keywords: Iconography, astral, wheel, crescent

Abstract

In this paper, we study astral symbols such as wheels, swastikas, triskelions and lunar crescents when they appear in votive offerings dedicated to Celtic divinities in the Western regions of the Roman Empire. From the presence of these symbols in numerous funeral steles and in archaeological contexts related to death in areas of intense Celtic cultural presence, we formulate the hypothesis that the Celtic divinities related to these symbols throughout the Roman West have an astral character and, in addition, a mythological and ritual connection with the funerary world.

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Published
2019-12-11
How to Cite
Olivares Pedreño J. C. (2019). Astral Iconography, Star Deities and the Celtic "Otherworld" in the Roman West. ’Ilu. Revista de Ciencias de las Religiones, 24, 75-91. https://doi.org/10.5209/ilur.75204
Section
Articles