Pyrenees
The Pyrenees is a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between Spain and France. Reaching a height of 3,404 metres altitude at the peak of Aneto, the range separates the Iberian Peninsula from the rest of continental Europe, extends for about 491 km from the Bay of Biscay to the Mediterranean Sea. For the most part, the main crest forms a divide between Spain and France, with the microstate of Andorra sandwiched in between; the Principality of Catalonia alongside with the Kingdom of Aragon in the Crown of Aragon and the Kingdom of Navarre have extended on both sides of the mountain range, with smaller northern portions now in France and larger southern parts now in Spain. In Greek mythology, Pyrene is a princess; the Greek historian Herodotus says. According to Silius Italicus, she was the virgin daughter of Bebryx, a king in Mediterranean Gaul by whom the hero Hercules was given hospitality during his quest to steal the cattle of Geryon during his famous Labours.
Hercules, characteristically drunk and lustful, violates the sacred code of hospitality and rapes his host's daughter. Pyrene runs away to the woods, afraid that her father will be angry. Alone, she pours out her story to the trees, attracting the attention of wild beasts who tear her to pieces. After his victory over Geryon, Hercules passes through the kingdom of Bebryx again, finding the girl's lacerated remains; as is the case in stories of this hero, the sober Hercules responds with heartbroken grief and remorse at the actions of his darker self, lays Pyrene to rest tenderly, demanding that the surrounding geography join in mourning and preserve her name: "struck by Herculean voice, the mountaintops shudder at the ridges. … The mountains hold on to the wept-over name through the ages." Pliny the Elder connects the story of Hercules and Pyrene to Lusitania, but rejects it as fabulosa fictional. Other classical sources derived the name from the Greek word for fire, Ancient Greek: πῦρ. According to Greek historian Diodorus Siculus "..in ancient times, we are told, certain herdsmen left a fire and the whole area of the mountains was consumed.
The Spanish Pyrenees are part of the following provinces, from east to west: Girona, Lleida, Huesca and Gipuzkoa. The French Pyrenees are part of the following départements, from east to west: Pyrénées-Orientales, Ariège, Haute-Garonne, Hautes-Pyrénées, Pyrénées-Atlantiques; the independent principality of Andorra is sandwiched in the eastern portion of the mountain range between the Spanish Pyrenees and French Pyrenees. Physiographically, the Pyrenees may be divided into three sections: the Atlantic, the Central, the Eastern Pyrenees. Together, they form a distinct physiographic province of the larger Alpine System division. In the Western Pyrenees, from the Basque mountains near the Bay of Biscay of the Atlantic Ocean, the average elevation increases from west to east; the Central Pyrenees extend eastward from the Somport pass to the Aran Valley, they include the highest summits of this range: Pico d'Aneto 3,404 metres in the Maladeta ridge, Pico Posets 3,375 metres, Monte Perdido 3,355 metres.
In the Eastern Pyrenees, with the exception of one break at the eastern extremity of the Pyrénées Ariègeoises in the Ariège area, the mean elevation is remarkably uniform until a sudden decline occurs in the easternmost portion of the chain known as the Albères. Most foothills of the Pyrenees are on the Spanish side, where there is a large and complex system of ranges stretching from Spanish Navarre, across northern Aragon and into Catalonia reaching the Mediterranean coast with summits reaching 2,600 m. At the eastern end on the southern side lies a distinct area known as the Sub-Pyrenees. On the French side the slopes of the main range descend abruptly and there are no foothills except in the Corbières Massif in the northeastern corner of the mountain system; the Pyrenees are older than the Alps: their sediments were first deposited in coastal basins during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras. Between 100 and 150 million years ago, during the Lower Cretaceous Period, the Bay of Biscay fanned out, pushing present-day Spain against France and applying intense compressional pressure to large layers of sedimentary rock.
The intense pressure and uplifting of the Earth's crust first affected the eastern part and moved progressively to the entire chain, culminating in the Eocene Epoch. The eastern part of the Pyrenees consists of granite and gneissose rocks, while in the western part the granite peaks are flanked by layers of limestone; the massive and unworn character of the chain comes from its abundance of granite, resistant to erosion, as well as weak glacial development. The upper parts of the Pyrenees contain low-relief surfaces forming a peneplain; this peneplain originated no earlier than in Late Miocene times. It formed at height as extensive sedimentation raised the local base
Gallaecia
Gallaecia known as Hispania Gallaecia, was the name of a Roman province in the north-west of Hispania present-day Galicia, northern Portugal and Leon and the Suebic Kingdom of Gallaecia. The Roman cities included the port Cale, the governing centers Bracara Augusta, Lucus Augusti and Asturica Augusta and their administrative areas Conventus bracarensis, Conventus lucensis and Conventus asturicensis; the Romans gave the name Gallaecia to the northwest part of the Iberian peninsula after the tribes of the area, the Gallaeci or Gallaecians. The Gallaic Celts make their entry in written history in the first-century epic Punica of Silius Italicus on the First Punic War: Fibrarum et pennae divinarumque sagacem flammarum misit dives Callaecia pubem, barbara nunc patriis ululantem carmina linguis, nunc pedis alterno percussa verbere terra, ad numerum resonas gaudentem plaudere caetras."Rich Gallaecia sent its youths, wise in the knowledge of divination by the entrails of beasts, by feathers and flames— who, now crying out the barbarian song of their native tongue, now alternately stamping the ground in their rhythmic dances until the ground rang, accompanying the playing with sonorous caetrae".
Gallaecia, as a region, was thus marked for the Romans as much for its Celtic culture, the culture of the castros—hillforts of Celtic origin—as it was for the lure of its gold mines. This civilization extended over present day Galicia, the north of Portugal, the western part of Asturias, the Berço, Sanabria and was distinctive from the neighbouring Lusitanian civilization to the south, according to the classical authors Pomponius Mela and Pliny the Elder. At a far date, the mythic history, encapsulated in Lebor Gabála Érenn credited Gallaecia as the point from which the Gaels sailed to conquer Ireland, as they had Gallaecia, by force of arms. Strabo in his Geography lists the people of the northwestern Atlantic coast of Iberia as follows:...then the Vettonians and the Vaccaeans, through whose territory the Durius River flows, which affords a crossing at Acutia, a city of the Vaccaeans. For this reason, since they were hard to fight with, the Callaicans themselves have not only furnished the surname for the man who defeated the Lusitanians but they have brought it about that now the most of the Lusitanians are called Callaicans.
After the Punic Wars, the Romans turned their attention to conquering Hispania. The tribe of the Gallaeci 60,000 strong, according to Paulus Orosius, faced the Roman forces in 137 BC in a battle at the river Douro, which resulted in a great Roman victory, by virtue of which the Roman proconsul Decimus Junius Brutus returned a hero, receiving the agnomen Gallaicus. From this time, Gallaic fighters joined the Roman legions, to serve as far away as Dacia and Britain; the final extinction of Celtic resistance was the aim of the violent and ruthless Cantabrian Wars fought under the Emperor Augustus from 26 to 19 BC. The resistance was appalling: collective suicide rather than surrender, mothers who killed their children before committing suicide, crucified prisoners of war who sang triumphant hymns, rebellions of captives who killed their guards and returned home from Gaul. For Rome Gallaecia was a region formed by two conventus—the Lucensis and the Bracarensis—and was distinguished from other zones like the Asturica, according to written sources: Legatus iuridici to per ASTURIAE ET GALLAECIAE.
Procurator ASTURIAE ET GALLAECIAE. Cohors ASTURUM ET GALLAECORUM. Pliny: ASTURIA ET GALLAECIAIn the 3rd century, Diocletian created an administrative division which included the conventus of Gallaecia and Cluniense; this province took the name of Gallaecia since Gallaecia was the most populous and important zone within the province. In 409, as Roman control collapsed, the Suebi conquests transformed Roman Gallaecia into the kingdom of Galicia. Fabius Aconius Catullinus Philomathius, praeses before 338 On the night of 31 December 406 AD, several Germanic barbarian tribes, the Vandals and Suebi, swept over the Roman frontier on the Rhine, they advanced south, pillaging Gaul, crossed the Pyrenees. They set about dividing up the Roman provinces of Carthaginiensis, Tarraconensis and Baetica; the Suebi took part of Gallaecia, where they established a kingdom. After the Vandals and Alans left for North Africa, the Suevi took control of much of the Iberian Peninsula. However, Visigothic campaigns took much of this territory back.
The Visigoths emerged victorious in the wars that followed, annexed Gallaecia. After the Visigothic defeat and the annexation of much of Hispania by the Moors, a group of Visigothic states survived in the northern mountains, including Gallaecia. In Beatus of Liébana, Gallaecia became used to refer to the Christian part of the Iberian peninsula, whereas Hispania was used for the Muslim one; the emirs found it not worth their while to conquer these mountains filled with warlike tribes and lacking oil or wine. In Charlemagne's time, bishops of Gallaecia attended the Council of Frankfurt in 794. During his residence in Aachen, he received embassies from Alfonso II of Asturias, according to the Frankish chronicles. Sancho III of Navarre in 1029 refers to Vermudo III. Gallaecian lang
Leonhard Schmitz
Dr Leonhard Schmitz FRSE LLD was a Prussian-born classical scholar and educational author active in the United Kingdom. He is sometimes referred to in the Anglicised version of his name Leonard Schmitz. Schmitz was born in Eupen in what was Prussia close to the Belgium/Germany border, he attended gymnasium in Aix-la-Chappelle to the east. He nonetheless excelled academically, he studied at the University of Bonn, where he earned a PhD, was in particular influenced by Barthold Georg Niebuhr. He became associated with a number of scholars there, writing many of the mythological entries for classicist William Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, serving as "a key figure in the transmission of German classical scholarship to Victorian Britain". Schmitz moved to Scotland in 1846 to serve as rector of the Royal High School in Edinburgh from that year until 1866, he lived at 11 Carlton Terrace on Calton Hill close to the school. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1846 his proposer being James Pillans.
In his induction speech he expressed the hope that his appointment would be "the means of strengthening and increasing the intellectual sympathy which has so long existed between this country and Germany". In that office in 1859 he tutored HRH The Prince of Wales in Roman history. Schmitz moved back to England in 1866, serving as Principal of London International College from 1866 to 1874, Classical Examiner at the University of London from 1874 to 1884, he was granted a civil list pension of £50 in 1881, doubled in 1886. He married an English woman, Eliza Mary Machell, moved to England in 1837. A Grammar of the Latin Language with Karl Zumpt The History of Rome co-author Lectures on Ancient History Lectures on the History of Rome Elementary Latin Grammar and Exercise Lectures on Ancient Ethnography and Geography A Manual of Ancient Geography The Ancient History of Herodotus Biographies of Eminent Soldiers of the Last Four Centuries A History of England for Junior Classes A History of Latin Literature A Practical Grammar of the German Language Putnam's Short School Histories: England + Germany + Greece + Rome Works by Leonhard Schmitz at Project Gutenberg Works by or about Leonhard Schmitz at Internet Archive
Apollo
Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in classical Greek and Roman religion and Greek and Roman mythology. The national divinity of the Greeks, Apollo has been variously recognized as a god of music and prophecy, the sun and light, plague and more. Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto, has a twin sister, the chaste huntress Artemis. Seen as the most beautiful god and the ideal of the kouros, Apollo is considered to be the most Greek of all gods. Apollo is known in Greek-influenced Etruscan mythology as Apulu; as the patron of Delphi, Apollo was an oracular god—the prophetic deity of the Delphic Oracle. Medicine and healing are associated with Apollo, whether through the god himself or mediated through his son Asclepius, yet Apollo was seen as a god who could bring ill-health and deadly plague. Apollo is the god of archery and the invention of archery is credited to him and his sister Artemis, he had a quiver of golden arrows. He is said to have never missed his aim, his arrows could inflict harm by causing sudden deaths or deadly plague.
As the leader of the Muses and director of their choir, Apollo functions as the patron god of music and poetry. He is the inventor of string-music; the Cithara and the lyre are said to be his inventions. The lyre is a common attribute of Apollo. Hymns sung to Apollo were called paeans. Apollo delights in the foundation of towns and the establishment of civil constitution. Hence is associated with dominion over colonists. Additionally, he is the god of the protector of fugitives and refugees. Apollo is the interpreter of laws, he presides over the divine law and custom along with Zeus and Themis. As the protector of young, Apollo is concerned with the health of children, he brings them out of their adolescence. Boys in Ancient Greece, upon reaching their adulthood, dedicated it to Apollo. Apollo is the patron of protector of herds and flocks, he is causes abundance in the milk produced by cattle, is connected with their fertility. As an agricultural deity, Apollo protects the crops from diseases the rust in corns and grains.
He is the controller and destroyer of pests that infect plants and plant harvests. Apollo is the god who wards off evil, he delivered men from the epidemics. Various epithets call him the "averter of evil". In Hellenistic times during the 5th century BCE, as Apollo Helios he became identified among Greeks with Helios, Titan god of the sun. In Latin texts, there was no conflation of Apollo with Sol among the classical Latin poets until 1st century AD. Apollo and Helios/Sol remained separate beings in literary and mythological texts until the 5th century CE. Apollo The name Apollo—unlike the related older name Paean—is not found in the Linear B texts, although there is a possible attestation in the lacunose form ]pe-rjo--[) on the KN E 842 tablet; the etymology of the name is uncertain. The spelling Ἀπόλλων had superseded all other forms by the beginning of the common era, but the Doric form, Apellon, is more archaic, as it is derived from an earlier *Ἀπέλjων, it is a cognate to the Doric month Apellaios, the offerings apellaia at the initiation of the young men during the family-festival apellai.
According to some scholars, the words are derived from the Doric word apella, which meant "wall," "fence for animals" and "assembly within the limits of the square." Apella is the name of the popular assembly in corresponding to the ecclesia. R. S. P. Beekes rejected the connection of the theonym with the noun apellai and suggested a Pre-Greek proto-form *Apalyun. Several instances of popular etymology are attested from ancient authors. Thus, the Greeks most associated Apollo's name with the Greek verb ἀπόλλυμι, "to destroy". Plato in Cratylus connects the name with ἀπόλυσις, "redemption", with ἀπόλουσις, "purification", with ἁπλοῦν, "simple", in particular in reference to the Thessalian form of the name, Ἄπλουν, with Ἀειβάλλων, "ever-shooting". Hesychius connects the name Apollo with the Doric ἀπέλλα, which means "assembly", so that Apollo would be the god of political life, he gives the explanation σηκός, "fold", in which case Apollo would be the god of flocks and herds. In the ancient Macedonian language πέλλα means "stone," and some toponyms may be derived from this word: Πέλλα and Πελλήνη.
A number of non-Greek etymologies have been suggested for the name, The Hittite form Apaliunas is attested in the Manapa-Tarhunta letter related to Hurrian Aplu, a god of plague, in turn from Akkadian Aplu Enlil meaning "the son of Enlil", a title, given to the god Nergal, linked to Shamash, Babylonian god of the sun. The role of Apollo as god of plague is evident in the invocation of Apollo Smintheus by Chryses, the Trojan priest of Apollo, with the purpose of sending a plague against the Greeks (the reasoning behind a god of the plague becoming a god of healing is
Garonne
The Garonne is a river in southwest France and northern Spain, with a length of 602 kilometres. It flows into the Atlantic Ocean at Bordeaux; the name derives from Garumna, a Latinized version of the Aquitanian name meaning "stony river". The Garonne's headwaters are to be found in the Aran Valley in the Spanish Pyrenees, though three different locations have been proposed as the true source: the Uelh deth Garona at Plan de Beret, the Ratera-Saboredo cirque 42°36′26″N 0°57′56″E), or the slopes of Pic Aneto; the Uelh deth Garona at 1,862 metres above sea level has been traditionally considered as the source of the Garonne. From this point a brook runs for 2.5 kilometres until the bed of the main upper Garonne valley. The river runs for another 38 kilometres until the French border at Pont de Rei, 40.5 kilometres in total. The Ratera-Saboredo cirque is the head of the upper Garonne valley, its upper lake at 2,600 metres above sea level is the origin of the Ruda-Garona river, running for 16 kilometres until the confluence with the Beret-Garona brook, another 38 kilometres until the French border at Pont del Rei, 54 kilometres in total.
At the confluence, the Ruda-Garona carries 2.6 cubic metres per second of water. The Ratera-Saboredo cirque has been pointed by many researchers as the origin of the Garonne; the third thesis holds that the river rises on the slopes of Pic Aneto at 2,300 metres above sea level and flows by way of a sinkhole known as the Forau de Aigualluts through the limestone of the Tuca Blanca de Pomèro and a resurgence in the Val dera Artiga above the Aran Valley in the Spanish Pyrenees. This underground route was suggested by the geologist Ramond de Carbonnières in 1787, but there was no confirmation until 1931, when caver Norbert Casteret poured fluorescein dye into the flow and noted its emergence a few hours 4 kilometres away at Uelhs deth Joèu in the Artiga de Lin on the other side of the mountain. From Aigualluts to the confluence with the main river at the bed of the upper Garonne valley at 800 metres above sea level, the Joèu has run for 12.4 kilometres, carrying 2.16 cubic metres per second of water, while the main river is carrying 17.7 cubic metres per second.
Despite the lack of universal agreement upon definition for determining a stream's source, the United States Geological Survey, the National Geographic Society, the Smithsonian Institution agree that a stream's source should be considered as the most distant point in the drainage basin from which water runs. The Ratera-Saboredo cirque is the "most distant point in the drainage basin from which water runs", the source of the Garonne, according to the United States Geological Survey, the National Geographic Society, the Smithsonian Institution convention upon determining a stream's source; the Garonne follows the Aran Valley northwards into France, flowing via Toulouse and Agen towards Bordeaux, where it meets the Gironde estuary. The Gironde flows into the Atlantic Ocean. Along its course, the Garonne is joined by three other major rivers: the Ariège, the Tarn, the Lot. Just after Bordeaux, the Garonne meets the Dordogne at the Bec d'Ambès, forming the Gironde estuary, which after 100 kilometres empties into the Atlantic Ocean.
Other tributaries include the Gers. The Garonne is one of the few rivers in the world. Surfers and jet skiers could ride the tidal bore at least as far as the village of Cambes, 120 kilometres or 75 miles from the Atlantic, further upstream to Cadillac, although the tidal bore appears and disappears in response to changes in the channel bathymetry. In 2010 and 2012, some detailed field studies were conducted in the Garonne's Arcins channel between Arcins Island and the right bank close to Lastrene township. A striking feature of the field data sets was the large and rapid fluctuations in turbulent velocities and turbulent stresses during the tidal bore and flood flow; the European sea sturgeon known as the Atlantic sturgeon or common sturgeon, is now a Critically Endangered species status. This species of sturgeon that can reach a length of 6 m and weigh 400 kg and can reach an age of 100 year Previously found on most coasts of Europe, it has now become so rare that they ONLY breed in the Garonne river basin in France.
Conservation projects are under way to save this fish from extinction with species reintroduction from aquaculture with the first releases being made in 1995. Aran Valley: Vielha, Bossòst Haute-Garonne: Saint-Gaudens, Toulouse Tarn-et-Garonne: Castelsarrasin Lot-et-Garonne: Agen, Aiguillon Gironde: Langon, Bordeaux Following the flow of the river: The Garonne plays an important role in inland shipping; the river not only allows seagoing vessels to reach the port of Bordeaux but forms part of the Canal des Deux Mers, linking the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. From the ocean, ships pass through the Gironde estuary up to the mouth of the Garonne. Ships continue on the tidal river Garonne up to the Pont de Pierre in Bordeaux. Inland vessels continue upstream to Castets-en-Dor
Abellio (transport company)
Abellio operates public transport services in Europe, with both bus and rail networks. It was founded as NedRailways in 2001, before being renamed Abellio in October 2009. Abellio is wholly owned by the Dutch national rail operator Nederlandse Spoorwegen. Abellio bought Probo Bus and ran its network in the Czech Republic in 2009, it consisted of regional bus transport in the Beroun District and surroundings and some long-distance bus lines between Prague and South and West Bohemia. Abellio CZ founded in July 2011. In spring 2012, Abellio CZ lodged an extensive complaint about wrong assignment of the tender to running of fast train line Ostrava – Krnov – Olomouc; the complaints were rejected. In November 2013, Abellio sold Abellio Probo Bus to Arriva with 110 buses. Abellio Deutschland was formed by the Essen public transit company in 2004. In December 2005, British investment company Star Capital Partners purchased a 75% share in Abellio from the City of Essen. In December 2008, both sold their shares to NedRailways.
The Abellio brand was rolled out to replace the NedRailways brand internationally. In April 2013, Abellio Deutschland announced it would focus on rail transport and sell its three bus companies. In November 2013 VM and Werner were sold to Transport Capital with 220 buses; the remaining KVG business was sold to Rhenus Veniro and the District of Bautzen in October 2014 with 84 buses. As at December 2016, Abellio Deutschland operated 18 lines over 978 kilometres with a fleet of 86 trains. Abellio Deutschland owned a 25% share in WestfalenBahn, founded in 2005. In July 2017 this was increased to 100%. Qbuzz was founded in 2008 by two former Connexxion directors with Abellio having a 49% shareholding. Abellio purchased the remaining 51% in April 2013. In March 2015, Qbuzz was awarded a 15-year concession to operate services in the province of Limburg from December 2016. However, after the discovery of irregularities during the tender process, the contract was awarded to Arriva. In July 2016, Nederlandse Spoorwegen announced its intention to sell Qbuzz.
In July 2017 it was sold to Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane subsidiary Busitalia. In May 2009, Abellio purchased the Travel London and Travel Surrey businesses from National Express and rebranded them Abellio London and Abellio Surrey in October 2009; the latter closed in September 2018. Abellio has a 50 % shareholding in Serco-Abellio; the joint venture has operated the Merseyrail franchise since July 2003. Serco-Abellio operated the Northern Rail franchise from December 2004 until March 2016. Serco-Abellio lodged unsuccessful bids for the Wales & Borders, West Midlands and Tyne & Wear Metro franchises. Abellio has bid for a number of franchises in its own right, lodging bids for the South Western franchise, London Overground, South Central, InterCity West Coast, Essex Thameside, Thameslink and Great Northern and Northern franchises. In February 2012, Abellio Greater Anglia commenced operating the Greater Anglia franchise. In 2016, Abellio bid to retain the renamed East Anglia franchise until 2025.
In January 2017, Abellio sold a 40% stake in the business to Mitsui. In April 2015, Abellio ScotRail commenced operating the ScotRail franchise. In December 2017, West Midlands Trains, a joint venture with East Japan Railway Company and Mitsui in which Abellio owns 70%, commenced operating the West Midlands franchise. In February 2018, Abellio withdrew from a bid for the Borders franchise; this bid had been undertaken in partnership with Carillion, but the liquidation of the latter left it without an infrastructure partner. In August 2019, Abellio will commence operating the East Midlands Railway franchise. Media related to Abellio at Wikimedia Commons Official website
Cernunnos
Cernunnos is the conventional name given in Celtic studies to depictions of the "horned god" of Celtic polytheism. Cernunnos was a Celtic god of fertility, animals and the underworld; the name itself is only attested once, on the 1st-century Pillar of the Boatmen, but he appears all over Gaul, among the Celtiberians. Cernunnos is depicted with the antlers of a stag, seated cross-legged, associated with animals, holding or wearing torcs; this deity is known from over 50 examples in the Gallo-Roman period in north-eastern Gaul. Not much is known about the god from literary sources, details about his name, his followers or his significance in Celtic religion are unknown. Speculative interpretations identify him as a god of life or fertility; the theonym ernunnos appears on the Pillar of the Boatmen, a Gallo-Roman monument dating to the early 1st century CE, to label a god depicted with stag's antlers in their early stage of annual growth. Both antlers have torcs hanging from them; the name has been compared to a divine epithet Carnonos in a Celtic inscription written in Greek characters at Montagnac, Hérault.
A Gallo-Latin adjective carnuātus, "horned," is found. The Proto-Celtic form of the theonym is reconstructed as either *Cerno-on-os or *Carno-on-os; the augmentative -on- is characteristic of theonyms, as in Maponos, Epona and Sirona. Maier states. Gaulish karnon "horn"is cognate with Latin cornu and Germanic *hurnaz, English horn from Proto-Indo-European *k̑r̥no-; the etymon karn- "horn" appears in both Gaulish and Galatian branches of Continental Celtic. Hesychius of Alexandria glosses the Galatian word karnon as "Gallic trumpet", that is, the Celtic military horn listed as the carnyx by Eustathius of Thessalonica, who notes the instrument's animal-shaped bell; the root appears in the names of Celtic polities, most prominent among them the Carnutes, meaning something like "the Horned Ones," and in several personal names found in inscriptions. The name Cernunnos occurs only on the "Pillar of the Boatmen", now displayed in the Musée National du Moyen Age in Paris. Constructed by Gaulish sailors in 14 CE, it was discovered in 1710 within the foundations of the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris, site of ancient Lutetia, the civitas capital of the Celtic Parisii.
The distinctive stone pillar is an important monument of Gallo-Roman religion. Its low reliefs depict and label by name several Roman deities such as Jupiter and Castor and Pollux, along with Gallic deities such as Esus and Tarvos Trigaranus; the name Cernunnos can be read on 18th century drawings of the inscriptions, but the initial letter has been obscured since, so that today only a reading ernunnos can be verifiedAdditional evidence is given by one inscription on a metal plaque from Steinsel-Rëlent in Luxembourg, in the territory of the Celtic Treveri. This inscription read; the Gaulish inscription from Montagnac reads αλλετνος καρνονου αλσοεας, with the last word a place name based on Alisia, "service-tree" or "rock". The god labelled ernunnos on the Pillar of the Boatmen is depicted with stag's antlers in their early stage of annual growth. Both antlers have torcs hanging from them; the lower part of the relief is lost, but the dimensions suggest that the god was sitting cross-legged, providing a direct parallel to the antlered figure on the Gundestrup cauldron.
In spite of the name Cernunnos being attested nowhere else, it is used in Celtological literature as describing all comparable depictions of horned/antlered deities. This "Cernunnos" type in Celtic iconography is portrayed with animals, in particular the stag, frequently associated with the ram-horned serpent, less bulls and rats; because of his frequent association with creatures, scholars describe Cernunnos as the "Lord of the Animals" or the "Lord of Wild Things", Miranda Green describes him as a "peaceful god of nature and fruitfulness". The Pilier des nautes links him with sailors and with commerce, suggesting that he was associated with material wealth as does the coin pouch from the Cernunnos of Rheims —in antiquity, the civitas capital of the Remi tribe—and the stag vomiting coins from Niedercorn-Turbelslach in the lands of the Treveri; the god may have symbolized the fecundity of the stag-inhabited forest. Other examples of "Cernunnos" images include a petroglyph in Val Camonica in Cisalpine Gaul.
The antlered human figure has been dated as late as the 4th. An antlered child appears on a relief from Vendeuvres, flanked by serpents and holding a purse and a torc; the best known image appears on the Gundestrup cauldron found on Jutland, dating to the 1st century BCE, thought to depict Celtic subject matter though regarded as of Thracian workmanship. Among the Celtiberians, horned or antlered figures of the Cernunnos type include a "Janus-like" god from Candelario with two faces and two small horns; the horns are taken to represent "aggressive power, genetic vigor and fecundity."Divine representations of the Cernunnos type are exceptions to the often-expressed view that the Celts only began to picture their gods in human form after the Roman conquest of Gaul. Th
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "Abellio". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.
