in historic times they had advanced well beyond this stage to that of
named and individualised gods. As in all countries where the gods were
individualised, the men of Celtic lands, whether aborigines or invaders,
had toiled along the steep ascent from the primitive vague sense of being
haunted to a belief in gods who, like Esus, Teutates, Grannos, Bormanus,
Litavis, had names of a definite character.

Among the prohibitions which had established themselves among the races
of Celtic lands, as elsewhere, was that directed against the shedding of
the blood of one's own kin. There are indications, too, that some at any
rate of the tribes inhabiting these countries reckoned kinship through
the mother, as in fact continued to be the case among the Picts of
Scotland into historic times. It does not follow, as we know from other
countries, that the pre-Aryan tribes of Gaul and Britain, or indeed the
Aryan tribes themselves in their earliest stage, regarded their original
ancestors as human. Certain names of deities such as Tarvos (the bull),
Moccos (the pig), Epona (the goddess of horses), Damona (the goddess of
cattle), Mullo (the ass), as well as the fact that the ancient Britons,
according to Caesar, preserved the hen, the goose, and the hare, but did
not kill and eat them, all point to the fact that in these countries as
elsewhere certain animals were held in supreme respect and were carefully
guarded from harm. Judging from the analogy of kindred phenomena in
other countries, the practice of respecting certain animals was often
associated with the belief that all the members of certain clans were
descended from one or other of them, but how far this system was
elaborated in the Celtic world it is hard to say. This phenomenon, which
is widely known as totemism, appears to be suggested by the prominence
given to the wild boar on Celtic coins and ensigns, and by the place
assigned on some inscriptions and bas-reliefs to the figure of a horned
snake as well as by the effigies of other animals that have been