From: CeiSerith@...
Message: 17509
Date: 2003-01-10
> True, but the composite animals may have been put together in order
> to create a fantastic monster without having to describe
> characteristics outside of cultural experience.
Does anyone have any thoughts about the ram-headed serpent found with the Gaulish god Cernunnos? It seems to me to be a theme from the steppes; I have found it as far away as China, as well as in Thrace. However, what may be the earliest case of it with Cernunnos comes from the Val Camonica in Italy, and is dated (off the top of my head) to 400 BCE, which seems early to me for a steppe motif to have penetrated so far.
David Fickett-Wilbar