by Brooke Wolfe

Created on: April 14, 2009   Last Updated: April 21, 2009

Roots of English Literature

"The Influence of Religion in Celtic and Norse Literature
Euhemerus (4th century BCE): Greek mythographer known for rationalizing method of interpretation known as "euhemerism," which treats mythological accounts as a reflection of actual historical events shaped by retelling, traditional values, and cultural mores.

Every culture contains literature derived from themes found in basic religion. The two Germanic groups of Ireland and Scandanavia shared somewhat the same culture in 400 BC and were distinct by 1500. The similarities between the two reflect both societies' limited toleration of centralized power in high barbarian culture, and are not a reflection of common inheritance. Characters of Norse literature worship an almost innumerable quantity of gods, the greatest of them being Odin. The Icelandic historian Snorri Sturlson writes Norse myths that parallel books of the bible. We also see modern authors such as Tolkien and CS Lewis incorporate religious themes into their fantasy worlds. While each civilization transforms religion in a different manner to meet goals, they all derive from two of the same concepts, being either Christianity (including Catholicism) or the great chain of being.

Caesar seems to indicate a Roman influence when he mentions a Gaulic pantheon filled with likenesses of his own Jupiter, Mercury, etc. However, Celtic inscriptions evidence that the Irish worshipped many localized deities each with specific functions so they needed not borrow deities from other cultures. Just as in politics, the Celts feared centralized power in their religious spectrum. Caesar says that he saw this pantheon, but the Gauls never mention Roman gods in their stories. Gantz points out that the Celtic gods alone are "literally too much to mention," (Gantz 15).
To even further stray from centralized power, the Celts rarely make any god fully divine. Most of them float between the spectrum of mortal and god in a euhemerized state. These demi-gods are often associated with animals such as the love affair between Boand and Dagdae, or Echu (meaning horse). This indicates more of a Neolithic or Bronze age influence than a Roman. A perfect example of half-gods is the druids. Druids are "highly-honored philosophers and theologians [those who speak about the gods]" (Koch and Carey 13). Druids are among two classes of men who have rank; their opposing class consists of warriors with horses. Other classes of men who are lower in the ranks of

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