The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum

I was wondering if there are any good sources about how Roman and Celtic religions interacted historically. Specifically, I'm curious about a few things:

1) What elements of Celtic religion entered the empire? I know they adopted Epona as a goddess, but did any other Celtic elements spread throughout the empire as a whole?

2) How did Romans in Celtic lands practice their religion? I know that they would often conflate certain Celtic gods with Roman ones, but I'm just wondering what the average practice of a Roman in Gaul or Britain would look like.

3) How did the native Celts react to the infusion of new ideas? Would a Roman and a Celt in Gaul practice the same basic religion, or were the Celts mostly still practicing their native religions unchanged?

4) I know that Rome never conquered Ireland, but did they have any contact? I've never heard anything about the matter and I'm curious.


I'm personally interested in these questions because I was practicing Irish Reconstructionism for a while, but I found that I really didn't fit into the community or the philosophy. I'm finding myself more drawn toward an eclectic or syncretic philosophy, but I still want to do it in some kind of structured way. I'm currently enamored with the way the the Greeks and Romans were able to encounter other cultures and synthesize fascinating new ideas and practices.

I was wondering if there are any good sources about how Roman and Celtic religions interacted historically.

 
Oh dear, just read Religion in Roman Britain by Martin Henig, or Gods with Thunderbolts: Religion in Roman Britain, by Guy de la Bedoyere, or both, those will answer all your questions.

1. deities definitely were exchanged back and forth, the physical remains of ritual, though, are so similar I don't  think it's possible to determine who invented what.

2. pretty much identical to what was done in Italy.

3. Pagans didn't have religions, they had belief systems, different per tribe, per community, per individual. Ideas don't leave physical remains, so we don't know what they believed about anything. All we have our rituals-so, ritually speaking, there was not much difference between what Britons and Romans were doing.

4. Ireland has had trade networks with Europe and Africa since the Stone Age.

Oh dear, just read Religion in Roman Britain by Martin Henig, or Gods with Thunderbolts: Religion in Roman Britain, by Guy de la Bedoyere, or both, those will answer all your questions.

Thanks. I'll have to find some time in my reading schedule to fit these in.

3. Pagans didn't have religions, they had belief systems, different per tribe, per community, per individual. Ideas don't leave physical remains, so we don't know what they believed about anything. All we have our rituals-so, ritually speaking, there was not much difference between what Britons and Romans were doing.

Well, I did know this, but I suppose I phrased my question poorly. It's more the practices that I'm more looking for, though if the practices reflect anything about the beliefs, that would be interesting too. I'm hoping to find some ritual practices that better reflect my own belief system.

4. Ireland has had trade networks with Europe and Africa since the Stone Age.

 
Do you happen to know if there were any contemporary Roman sources on ancient Ireland? I've never heard of them having any like they did on the continental Celts or the Germanic tribes and it would be interesting to see Ireland from their perspective.

Do you happen to know if there were any contemporary Roman sources on ancient Ireland? I've never heard of them having any like they did on the continental Celts or the Germanic tribes and it would be interesting to see Ireland from their perspective.

There's a great book called "The Philosopher and the Druids" by Philip Freeman that discusses Posidonius's (I probably butchered that spelling) time with some Celtic tribes.  I can't remember if it talks about Ireland or just the Continent, but it's a really great book and worth the read either way.

There's a great book called "The Philosopher and the Druids" by Philip Freeman that discusses Posidonius's (I probably butchered that spelling) time with some Celtic tribes.  I can't remember if it talks about Ireland or just the Continent, but it's a really great book and worth the read either way.

 
Sounds great! My reading list never seems to shrink