No one knows why the celts used it and in what association. I didn't claim it was a religious usage but celtic imagery on their coins was rarely just idle decoration though it was used in decorative ways, often both subtle and balanced in composition, more so in Britain.
That was just an example of its use on celtic coins (and i've seen dozens of the coins in question)
I doubt it had anything to do with witchcraft... Gardner borrowed *everything* from everywhere in his version of "witchcraft"
My answer was a defense of celtic art, esp on the later coinage, *still* being seen as only borrowing from greek art in debased form in some circles, even this late, (the book you quoted... in 2002 yet, raised my hackles) despite massive studies*** showing it was a unique art form, not easily understood by people mostly familiar with only ancient greek and roman art on coins.
The viewpoint of Celtic art as debased Greek art is very outdated now with all the numismatic and other research that's been done.
***Borrow a copy of Coins and Power in Late Iron Age Britain by John Creighton, Cambridge University Press, 2000 for just one book which studies these issues on celtic coin art.
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Date: 2006-12-07 07:59 pm (UTC)was rarely just idle decoration though it was used in decorative ways, often both subtle and balanced in composition, more so in Britain.
That was just an example of its use on celtic coins (and i've seen dozens of the coins in question)
I doubt it had anything to do with witchcraft...
Gardner borrowed *everything* from everywhere in his version of "witchcraft"
My answer was a defense of celtic art, esp on the later coinage, *still*
being seen as only borrowing from greek art in debased form in some circles,
even this late, (the book you quoted... in 2002 yet, raised my hackles) despite massive studies*** showing it was a unique art form, not easily understood by people mostly familiar with only ancient greek and roman art on coins.
The viewpoint of Celtic art as debased Greek art is very outdated now with all the numismatic and other research that's been done.
***Borrow a copy of Coins and Power in Late Iron Age Britain by
John Creighton, Cambridge University Press, 2000
for just one book which studies these issues on celtic coin art.