Religion and mythology
The Celtic god Cernunnos on the Gundestrup cauldron.Ancient Celtic religion
Main articles: Ancient Celtic religion, Celtic mythology, and Proto-Celtic religion
The Celtic "Prince of Glauberg", Germany, with a leaf crown,
perhaps indicating a priest, c. 500 BC.
Like other European Iron Age societies, the Celts practised a polytheistic religion.[172] Celtic religion
varied by region and over time, but had "broad structural similarities",[172] and there was "a basic
religious homogeneity" among the Celtic peoples.[173] Because the ancient Celts did not have writing,
evidence about their religion is gleaned from archaeology, Greco-Roman accounts, and literature from
the early Christian period.[174]
The names of over two hundred Celtic deities have survived (see list of Celtic deities), although it is likely
that many of these were alternative names, regional names or titles for the same deity.[172] Some deities
were venerated only in one region, but others were more widely known.[172] According to Miranda
Aldhouse-Green, the Celts were also animists, believing that every part of the natural world had a
spirit.[174]
The Celts seem to have had a father god, who was often a god of the tribe and of the dead
(Toutatis probably being one name for him); and a mother goddess who was associated with the land,
earth and fertility[175] (Dea Matrona probably being one name for her). The mother goddess could also
take the form of a war goddess as protectress of her tribe and its land.[175] There also seems to have