Bibliography
Kruta, Venceslas, “La place et la signification du cheval dans l’imagerie celtique”, Études Celtiques 38 (2012): 43–59.
- journal article
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Article
“La place et la signification du cheval dans l’imagerie celtique”
Periodical
Études Celtiques 38 (2012)
Études Celtiques 38 (2012).
Persée – Études Celtiques, vol. 38, 2012: <link>
Volume
38
Pages
43–59
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Description
Abstract (cited)
[FR] Le cheval est l’animal le plus souvent représenté dans le répertoire de l’art celtique, de loin avant le sanglier, notamment sur les images monétaires. La raison de cette vogue a été cherchée dans des explications aussi variées et différentes que l’importance accordée à l’élevage ou l’expression d’un concept métaphysique. L’invention, purement celtique, de l’équidé monstrueux à tête humaine, documenté dès le Ve siècle av. J.-C. par la statuette de la cruche de Reinheim et très fréquent plus tard sur les monnaies, suggère qu’il pourrait s’agir de la représentation de la forme animale d’un personnage divin, probablement de nature solaire. Même l’image du cheval seul serait donc celle de l’avatar divin plutôt que celle d’un simple animal. Pour comprendre le rôle du cheval dans l’iconographie des Celtes, il convient non seulement de chercher des indices dans les équivalences et associations d’images de l’art celtique laténien des Ve-Ier siècles avant J.-C., mais aussi de remonter dans le temps, jusqu’à l’âge du bronze. Cet examen confirme pleinement le lien qui existe dès la seconde moitié du
IIe millénaire av. J.-C. entre un très grand nombre d’images de l’animal, des thèmes solaires et un personnage souvent dédoublé de nature dioscurique, dans une aire qui semble correspondre pour l’essentiel non seulement à des populations présumées celtiques, mais plus largement indo-européennes.
[EN] The place and meaning of the horse in the Celtic imagery.
The horse is the animal most often represented in the Celtic art repertoire, much more than the wild boar, particularly in monetary images. The reason for this vogue has been sought in explanations as varied and different as the importance attached to livestock farming or the expression of a metaphysical concept. The purely Celtic invention of an equine monster with a human head – documented as early as the fifth century BC with the figure of the Reinheim jug and very common later on currencies – suggests that this could be the representation of the animal form of a divine figure, probably solar. Even the image of the sole horse would be the one of the divine avatar rather than a simple animal. To understand the role of the horse in the iconography of the Celts, one should not only look for clues in the equivalences and in the associations of images of the Latenian Celtic art of Ve-Ist century BC, but also go back in time to the Bronze Age. This consideration fully confirms the link in the second half of the second millennium BC between a very large number of animal images, solar themes and an often doubled character of dioscuric nature, in an area which seems to correspond mainly not only to allegedly Celtic populations, but also more largely to Indo-European ones.
IIe millénaire av. J.-C. entre un très grand nombre d’images de l’animal, des thèmes solaires et un personnage souvent dédoublé de nature dioscurique, dans une aire qui semble correspondre pour l’essentiel non seulement à des populations présumées celtiques, mais plus largement indo-européennes.
[EN] The place and meaning of the horse in the Celtic imagery.
The horse is the animal most often represented in the Celtic art repertoire, much more than the wild boar, particularly in monetary images. The reason for this vogue has been sought in explanations as varied and different as the importance attached to livestock farming or the expression of a metaphysical concept. The purely Celtic invention of an equine monster with a human head – documented as early as the fifth century BC with the figure of the Reinheim jug and very common later on currencies – suggests that this could be the representation of the animal form of a divine figure, probably solar. Even the image of the sole horse would be the one of the divine avatar rather than a simple animal. To understand the role of the horse in the iconography of the Celts, one should not only look for clues in the equivalences and in the associations of images of the Latenian Celtic art of Ve-Ist century BC, but also go back in time to the Bronze Age. This consideration fully confirms the link in the second half of the second millennium BC between a very large number of animal images, solar themes and an often doubled character of dioscuric nature, in an area which seems to correspond mainly not only to allegedly Celtic populations, but also more largely to Indo-European ones.
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Contributors
Pierre Faure
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April 2020
