Kernunnos

The name of the Kernunnos project is inspired by the name of the most representative deity of the Celtic pantheon: Cernunnos.

He is associated with wild nature, sexuality, hunting, and the cycle of life. Although representations of the deity may vary, he is always depicted with two horns or antlered racks on his head, often as a theriocephalous figure (with a beast’s head), emphasizing the “union of the divine with the animal,” the latter also encompassing humanity.

Cernunnos is one of the oldest deities worshiped by ancient shamanic-pagan cults around the world. He is generally described as a dual god with a twofold aspect: light and shadow, night and day, summer and winter. In this dualistic vision, his two horns symbolize his dual nature..

He can also be represented as a triune god, with three different faces: goat, bull and deer, often related to three aspects that reflect those of the Triple goddess: the Youth (Warrior), the Father, and the Sage. People make offers to Kernunnos because he is the deity of fertility and has a strong connection with Mother Earth: in fact he represents the expression of male strength and rebirth.
People often make offerings to Kernunnos because he is also the god of fertility and has a strong connection with Mother Earth; in fact, he represents the expression of masculine strength and rebirth.

The name Cernunnos in this form appears in a single first-century A.D. Gallo-Roman inscription, the Pillar of the Nautae in Lutetia (Paris), dedicated by the local guild of navigators to Emperor Tiberius. On the pillar, in addition to the dedication to the emperor and to Jupiter Optimus Maximus, there are several depictions of deities with their names. The name Cernunnos appears next to a figure of which only the face has been preserved—bearded, with deer antlers threaded with two torques. The name of this deity may be linked to that found in the third-century B.C. inscription G224 from Montagnac, recorded in Volume 1 of the Recueil des inscriptions gauloises (RIG). It is engraved using Greek letters but in the Gaulish language, and it contains a dedication to the god Carnonos in the dative form Carnonu, suggesting that the name Cernunnos may be a Latin interpretation of the Gaulish Carnonos. A third possible epigraphic evidence is found in Luxembourg, part of ancient Gallia Belgica in the territory of the Treveri tribe, where on a tabula ansata a vow is inscribed and dedicated to the god Cerunincos.

Iconographic evidence, on the other hand, is more abundant. The oldest, dated between the 6th and 5th centuries B.C., was found in Italy in Val Camonica, inhabited by the Camunni people—a meeting point between Celtic and Rhaetian cultures. On rock no. 70 at the site of Nacquane, there is a gigantic human-like figure with deer antlers on its head, beside which stands a much smaller figure, likely a devotee in a praying position. Although stylized, the Nacquane Cernunnos shows elements that appear in later depictions of the god, namely the torc and possibly the serpent. These elements are even more explicit on the Gundestrup Cauldron from the 2nd century B.C., probably crafted by Thracian artisans but commissioned by a Celtic elite, possibly from the Scordisci people, and brought to Denmark following the movements of Germanic populations. On the Gundestrup Cauldron, Cernunnos is depicted seated cross-legged—a position that would become canonical for this deity—holding the torc and a serpent with a ram’s head, and surrounded by various animals.

There are also two first-century A.D. depictions of Cernunnos from Reims and Vandoeuvre. The first, bearded and seated cross-legged, is surrounded by Apollo and Mercury and holds a cornucopia-like bag from which a flow of coins or grains emerges. Beside him are three animals: a mouse, a stag, and a bull. The second, from Vandoeuvre, depicts a younger Cernunnos surrounded by a pair of putti and a pair of serpents, holding a closed bag in his hands. Many other Gallo-Roman or Britanno-Roman representations may be linked to Cernunnos, but due to the damaged and fragmentary condition in which they have reached us, they are difficult to identify.

Also within the Gallo-Roman context, two small statuettes dating from the 1st to the 3rd century A.D. have been found, representing female figures but displaying the typical characteristics and iconography of Cernunnos. It thus appears that there may have been a female counterpart to the deity, called Carvonia, mentioned in a Celtic-Roman inscription discovered in Slovenia—a name that literally means “doe” in the Celtic language.