Cernunnos

Cernunnos is a Celtic god whose name is only clearly attested once, on the 1st-century CE Pillar of the Boatmen from Paris, where it is associated with an image of an aged, antlered figure with torcs around his horns.

Through the Pillar of the Boatmen, the name "Cernunnos" has been used to identify the members of an iconographic cluster, consisting of depictions of an antlered god (often aged and with crossed legs) associated with torcs, ram-horned (or ram-headed) serpents, symbols of fertility, and wild beasts (especially deer). The use of the name this way is common, though not uncontroversial. As many as 25 depictions of the Cernunnos-type have been identified. Though this iconographic group is best attested in north-eastern Gaul, depictions of the god have been identified as far off as Italy (Val Camonica) and Denmark (Gundestrup).

Cernunnos has been variously interpreted as a god of fertility, of the underworld, and of bi-directionality. His cult (attested iconographically as early as the 4th century BCE) seems to have been largely unaffected by the Roman conquest of Gaul, during which he remained unassimilated to the Roman pantheon. Cernunnos has been tentatively linked with Conall Cernach, a hero of medieval Irish mythology, and some later depictions of cross-legged and horned figures in medieval art.

The Pillar of the Boatmen is a Gallo-Roman carved pillar discovered in 1711 under the choir of Notre-Dame de Paris. It is a religious monument, with depictions of Roman gods (Jupiter, Vulcan, and Castor and Pollux) alongside native Gaulish deities (such as Esus and Smertrios), dedicated by a corporation of boatmen from the city of Lutetia (Roman Paris). The dedication dates it to the reign of Tiberius (14-37 CE). Legends below the images identify the Roman and Gaulish deities by name. In fact, this is the only monument on which Celtic deities are identified by name with captions.

On one block from the pillar, a frowning, bearded figure is depicted from the shoulder up. His face is human, but his upper head is animal-like: hairless and bulging. Atop his head is a pair of bifid deer's antlers, with two short, pointed extrusions (perhaps ears or bull's horns) between them. A torc hangs on each of his antlers. The lower half of the block is lost, but given its original height, the figure could not have been standing. Therefore (in line with other figures identified as Cernunnos) the panel is often believed to have originally shown him cross-legged.

Above the antlered figure is a one-word legend. When information about the pillar was published in 1711, this legend was reported as "Cernunnos". However, the block is now badly damaged. Many of the letters are only partially visible; the letter "C" is entirely gone. Joshua Whatmough has gone as far as to say that in its present state "only 'nn' is certain". The reading from 1711 has sometimes been mistrusted. Joseph Vendryes and Whatmough argue (following the Dacia inscription) that it read "Cernennos". Françoise Le Roux [fr] was sceptical about the existence of the final "s".

A capital found in Aumes, France is inscribed with a short Gaulish text in Greek letters. Michel Lejeune has interpreted this inscription as a dedication to a god καρνονου (translit. karnonou; in English, "Carnonos"), whom he tentatively connects with the god Cernunnos. However, both Lejeune's reading and his interpretation of this inscription have been contested. Whatmough and D. Ellis Evans prefer the reading καρνομου (translit. karnomou); and Emmanuel Dupraz has argued that the inscription states that an object καρνον (translit. karnon) is being offered, rather than giving the name of a god.

A wax tablet from Dacia records a decree of 167 CE dissolving one collegi(i) Iovi Cerneni ("collegium of Jupiter Cernenus"), a funerary association. David Fickett-Wilbar identifies this as a reference to Cernunnos, though he comments that it "tells us nothing about the deity other than his name". Theodor Mommsen suggested the byname Cerneni derived from the name of nearby Korna, a hypothesis that has been followed my Michael Altjohann. Le Roux is also sceptical that it is a reference to Cernunnos, as she thinks the interpretatio of Cernunnos as the Roman god Jupiter is unlikely.