The Open Court, magazine 1887, divinità celtiche.

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s. The trinitarian god of Gaul has been preserved in several monu-ments, of which perhaps the oldest is the altar of Beaune, wherehe sits between two other gods of whom the one is horned while theother, a plain human figure, is assumed to be the Gallic Apollo.Another monument to the old trinitarian deity is a short pillar foundat Rheims representing him with three faces looking in three dififer- THE RELIGION OF ANCIENT GAUL AND CAESAR WORSHIP. 729 ent directions. The least archaic form of this same deity has been foundat Autun which minimizes the two heads. It seems to be a concessionto the more artistic and cultured taste that spread after the Romanconquest, for it shows one face in front which is normal, while theother faces on either side are not made prominent, which arrange-ment takes away the ugliness of a three-faced monstrosity. An interesting account of the Gallic Hercules so called, is pre-served by Lucian who under this name describes a Celtic divinityof eloquence. He says:

ALTAR OF BEAUNE. TRICEPHALUS AT RHEIMS. The Gauls call Hercules in their own language Ogmios, butthey picture him quite different than the Greeks and indeed strangeenough. I have seen his portraiture once where he is represented asan old bald-headed man, his hair gray as much as there is left of it,his face full of wrinkles and of as swarthy a complexion as that ofold sailors. One might have taken him for Charon or lapetus orsome other inhabitant of Tartarus, indeed for anything but for Her-cules. But his dress was quite Herculian, for he carried the lion 730 THE OPEN COURT. skin on his back, a club in his right hand, a bow in his left and aquiver over his shoulder. In this respect he was a true Hercules.My first thought was that this burlesque figure had been drawn forthe purpose of ridiculing the Greek gods, perhaps in revenge for therobberies which Hercules had committed in Gaul, when he wassearching for the oxen of Geryon. The most peculiar feature of this picture I have not yet t