1 PHOENICIAN TEMPLE AT CADIZ. 59 The temple of Saturn at Gadir (Cadiz) was believed to be coeval with the establishment of the Tyrian colony at that place, or about 1200 B.C. It is said by a Roman author who wrote about the middle of the first century of our era,1 that in this temple was retained to the latest times the primitive mode of Phoenician worship. There was no image of the god, but an ever-burning fire was maintained, and the priests who attended were barefooted and clad in linen. The sacred fires and the dress of the priests were characteristics also of the Druids of Britain, and both the Phoenician and Druid priesthood appear to have practised tonsure. 2 3 In another chapter will be found notices of Cyclopean monuments similar to the Celtic, extending at intervals from Phoenicia, on the northern shores of Africa, to the Straits of Gibraltar, and from these through Spain and Gaul to the British Islands. Under the head of "Inscriptions," also, some in Phœnician characters are traced in the same route with certainty to Gaul. Various ceremonies still practised in Sardinia, and which are believed to have descended to the present race in that island from their Phoenician ancestors, have an extraordinary resemblance to superstitious practices that were retained until a very recent period in Scotland, and are noticed under the heads of Baal and Beltane. In Sardinia, after certain ceremonies performed in connection with great fires lighted on St. John's Eve, the people go 1 Silius Italicus. 2 Kenrick's Phoenicia, p. 157, and authorities there quoted. in procession to a church, near which they seat themselves in a circle, and feast on eggs fried with herbs. This is said to be connected with the Phallic worship and rites of Hermes, derived from the Phoenicians. In the first days of spring the Sardinians have a practice of lighting fires in their squares and at cross-roads; then, as the flames begin to ascend, children leap through so rapidly as to escape burning. This, says Father Bresciani, is initiation through fire into the rites of Moloch. But the people are not aware of the heathen origin of these rites, which are believed to have descended to the present inhabitants from their Phoenician ancestors.2 In the chapter which treats of the sculptured stones of Scotland will be found arguments in favour of some of the exports from Britain being of a nature likely to tempt the Phoenician trader to visit the harbours that lay nearest to the Caledonian forest. Of the imports, brass, bronze (mentioned by Cæsar), and the articles characterised by Strabo as mean merchandise (viz., bracelets, necklaces, amber, glass, etc.), certainly found their way to the inhabitants of the northeastern districts of Scotland. This is proved by continual discoveries of these articles in sepulchral tumuli of a very early period. 3 The Nuraghes of Sardinia have considerable resemblance in details, as well as in general appearance, to the uncemented dome-shaped buildings variously called in Scotland Duns, Burghs, and Picts' houses, and in Ireland clochans, which, 1 Forester's Sardinia, p. 334. 2 Ibid. p. 342. 3 Strabo, Mon. Hist. Brit. p. vii. NURAGHES AND PICTS' HOUSES. 61 with some similar beehive-shaped houses in the Hebrides, are evidently modelled from the same original as the Picts' houses. One property the Nuraghés and Picts' houses possess in common, that their origin or erection is in no way elucidated by authentic history or rational tradition. This is the more remarkable as regards the Nuraghés when the position and history of Sardinia is considered, and that the remains of three thousand of these structures are reckoned in that island in various stages of decay, and some in good preservation.1 Under the head of "Customs and Superstitions common to the inhabitants of Asia and Britain," are detailed particulars of the belief in the miraculous formation by snakes of "the Serpent Gem." That superstition still lingers amongst the Celts of Cornwall and Scotland, and was lately heard by a modern traveller from an old native crone amidst the ruins of Tadmor. In conclusion, the opinion I have formed on this subject is, that the Phoenicians had a more extended and permanent influence on the population of Britain, even of Caledonia, than has lately been asserted, or has at any time been conceded. CHAPTER IV. RELIGION OF THE EARLY INHABITANTS OF BRITAIN AND CALEDONIA. The Druidical Religion general over Britain-Druids-Their Power and Organisation—Divitiacus the Druid -Tenets of the Druids-Mystery and Cruelty-Druid Sacrifices-Dress of the Druids-Tonsure of Druids and Phoenician Priests-Deisiol-The Misletoe, Salago, and VervainSerpent's Gem or Druid Beads-Superstitions concerning them of great Antiquity-Witchcraft a continuation of Heathenism—Sacrifice of one Man to Redeem the Life of another-Famous Trial in 1590 consequent on this Belief-Transferring Pain or Disease from a Human Being to a Dog or Cat-Trials consequent on this and other Superstitious Practices—Cruel Sacrifices, continued in the Present Century, of one Animal to Redeem the remainder of the Herd-The Hare, the Cock, and the Goose forbidden as Food to ancient Inhabitants of Britain-Existing Superstitions concerning these Animals-Cocks now or lately sacrificed in Britain— Druidesses were believed to have the Power of transforming themselves into the form of various Animals, had Power over the Winds, could foretell Events, and cure Diseases-The same Powers attributed to the Witches, the Gaelic Ban Druidh-Obscene heathen Practices in Brittany -Imprecations in certain Christian Churches and Wells against EnemiesGods of the Celts-Christianity introduced, but Paganism not discarded— Annait a heathen Object of Worship-Temples of Annait-Worship of Annait in Persia, India, and Carthage. THE religion of the early inhabitants of Britain is of course a subject of paramount importance in any inquiry regarding the primitive monuments and hieroglyphics of Caledonia. Unless, however, the extract from Hecatæus, elsewhere DRUIDICAL RELIGION. 63 mentioned,1 may be taken as applicable to Britain, and to prove the worship of a deity called by that author Apollo, the earliest notice of the religion of the Britons is to be found in Cæsar. At the period of his invasion in the first century B.C. the Druidical system was in full force, and it so continued until the Romans took Mona (Anglesea) in the year A.D. 61. From that time it probably declined in South Britain, and for the same reason became more intense in Caledonia. Prohibited and persecuted in Gaul and South Britain, it may naturally be concluded that the Druids retired to Caledonia to maintain their religion and stimulate the hatred of the unconquered portion of the Britons against the Romans. 3 The Emperor Tiberius attempted to put down the Druids of Gaul.2 But his edicts to that effect, although they may have increased, could not have diminished the power of the Druids in Ireland or Caledonia, and were only partially successful in Gaul, where the worst practices of the Druids prevailed hundreds of years after the edicts of Tiberius and Claudius. The religion of the Britons, we are distinctly told, was the Druidical in its most for those who assert that the perfect form. It is therefore Druid religion did not prevail Lampridius and Vopiscus mentioning them in their lives; and long since that, Procopius, writing under Justinian, about 500 years after Christ, affirms that then the Gauls used sacrifices of human flesh, which was a part of Druidian doctrine." (Selden's Notes to Drayton's Polyolbion, p. 154. See also the articles " Aper" and "Diocletian" in Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography). |