The Celtic World (Routledge Worlds)

• Chapter Four -

altar from Nimes, both in southern France, as well as on the Gundestrup Cauldron;
a few fragments have survived, most notably the boar-shaped trumpet-mouth from
Deskford in Banffshire (Piggott 1959) and a bronze duck-shaped carnyx from
Castiglione delle Stiviere, Mantua (de Marinis I977).

HEAD-TAKING

'The consul Gaius fell fighting desperately ... and his head was brought back to the
Celtic kings.' Polybius mentions very briefly the custom of decapitation (Histories
11.28). After a battle between the Senones and the Romans near Clusium, the consul
had no news of the battle until some Gallic horsemen came in sight with heads
hanging from their horses' breasts or fixed on spears. The riders were singing their
customary song of triumph (Livy, History x.26). Once when the Boii had caught a
Roman army in an ambush, they cut off the head of the leader and carried it to their
most hallowed temple. There the head was cleaned out, and the skull gilded and used
as a sacred vessel (Livy, History XXIII.24). The taking of an adversary's head is
described by Diodorus Siculus:

When the enemies fall, the Gauls cut off their heads and fasten them to the

necks of their horses .... They nail up the heads in their houses. They embalm

in cedar-oil the heads of the most distinguished of their enemies and keep them

carefully in a chest: they display them with pride to strangers. They refuse to

accept for them a large sum of money or even the weight of the head in gold.

(Diodorus Siculus, History V.29.4-5)

The religious significance of the practice is not explored by classical authors, and to

the Romans it was a sign of barbarism. They put an end to it, says Strabo, and to the

acts of divination and to the sacrifices which were contrary to Roman customs. There

is no mention of the practice of head-taking in Caesar's Commentaries.

SINGLE COMBAT

Several tales mention the Celtic custom of single combat. 'It was their custom,' says

Diodorus Siculus,

when drawn up for battle to come forward before the front line and challenge

the bravest of their enemies drawn up opposite them to single combat.

Whenever one accepts the challenge, they praise in song the manly virtues of

their ancestors and also their own brave deeds .... Then reviling and belittling

their opponents they try to rob them by their words of their boldness of spirit

before the contest.

(History v.29.3)

The exploits of Roman leaders and Celtic giants became famous. Titus Manlius

killed the leader of the Senones in a battle near the river Anio (36I BC). Marcus Valerius

overcame the Gallic champion with the help of a raven (349 BC). Marcus Claudius

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