The Celtic World (Routledge Worlds)

• Sanctuaries and Sacred Places -

Table 24.1 Classical references employing standard vocabulary

Author Reference Location Vocabulary

Polybius 11.32, 55 N. Italy (Insubres) tEp6v
Posidonius Strabo IV. I. 13 Provincia (Tolosa) tEp6v
Cicero Pro Fonteio 13.30 Gaul arae ac templa
Diodorus v.27·4 Provincia tEpa Kat
1£IlEVEa
1£IlEVW
Strabo Iv+6 Loire tEp6v
XIl.5·3 Asia Minor 1£IlEvocr
Livy XXII.28·9 Poenine Alps sacritum
XXII1.24. I I N. Italy (Boii) templum

Table 24.2 Classical references employing non-standard vocabulary

Author Reference Location Vocabulary

Posidonius Strabo IV. I. I 3 Provincia (Tolosa) <TI)KU

Athenaeus IV. 152 Central Gaul O(J)oEKucr1aOtOV

(Arverni) 1E1PUY(J)vov

Caesar V1.I3 N. Gaul (Carnutes) locus consecratus

VI. 17 N. Gaul locus consecratus

Strabo XII·5· 1 Asia Minor ~P\)VEIlE10V

excavators of the weapon-rich sites discussed below, almost the only texts for which

enclosure remains an uncertainty are Caesar's references to loci consecrati (sacred

spots). Caesar uses the term for the druidic meeting-place among the Carnutes

of Gaul (VI.I3) and for heaps of battle spoil dedicated to 'Mercury' (VI.r7). In the

latter case, Caesar simply says that booty was piled up in heaps; enclosure need not

be implied. Elsewhere, Diodorus (Bibliotheke v.32) referred to booty being taken off

the battlefield, without specifying its fate. Livy (Historia v.39) suggested spoils

were heaped on the battlefield, apparently ruling out formal structure, but wrote

with reference to the Celtic sack of Rome in 390 Be. As Brunaux (1988: 127)

suggested, battlefield booty heaps may have been used in foreign territory, when

spoils could not be moved to existing loci. Whatever the case, it is clear from Caesar's

account (VI. I 3) that in later iron age Gaul booty heaps were conceptually bounded

by their taboo status.

Interpretatio and the almost total absence of any detail on construction and use

make it difficult to determine the nature of Celtic cult sites. But the formalized struc-

turing of space, incorporating enclosing works, is suggested by most texts.

447