Il
122 CRANIA BRITANNICA. [CHAP. V.
probable that this was a mere appendage of the hieron, a casula or small building for the
use of the priestesses, or for a treasury *.
The sacred places of the Gauls and Britons were evidently something more than mere
groves. Their Kmits must, ia some way, have been marked, and the part appropriated to
religious rites separated from that devoted to the administration of justice and the celebration
of festivals. In four words from a lost drama, Cratiuus of Athena aUudes to the " Hyperboreans,
honom-ing (with gifts?) open-air crowns," or circlesf, upon which Hesychius observes, "for the
sacred things of the Hyperboreans, according to the custom of their country, are not kept
under a roof, but under the open sky." The reference here is clearly to the custom, which
obtained among the Gauls and perhaps other barbarian nations, of dedicating treasures in the
consecrated places, here shown to have been both hypaithral and circular; whilst the word
arefpoc or crown is peculiarly appKcable to the circles of erect stones wliich must, we think, be
regarded as the sacred places of the Druids J. Similar is the inference from the notice, by
Hecatffius §, of the " magnificent sacred enclosure, refievoc, and remarkable temple, vaoc, in an
island of the Hyperboreans in the ocean over against Celtica, which temple was round in
form and adorned with many votive gifts." That megalithic circles were in use in early times,
both as places of assembly and for sacred rites, before the construction of temples, is probable
from the early historical books of the Bible ||, and appears certain as respects Greece. Pausanias
says that at GKsas near Thebes was " a spot surrounded by picked stones, to which the Thebans
gave the name of the head of the serpent ^ ; " and that at old Hermione were " circular enclosures,
periboli, of great picked stones, within which were performed the mysterious rites of
Demeter **." Circles of stones were also used for the administration of justice and other civU
and political purposes. In the Homeric age, as shown on the shield of Achilles, the judges met
in the open air seated "in a sacred circle on polished stones t f . " In the North, as is thought by
* The fourth head of the Indiculus, He Casulis, id est
Funis, probably refers to small buildings of this sort.
t 'Yirep/3opeios iudpia ri/xairas trretpT). Cratinus, Iliades
{Beliades, corrects Meineke) Hesychius, s. v., Aidpia, Cratinus,
writing in the fifth century B .C. , may perhaps refer to that
people living to the north of Greece to whom Abaris belonged.
The Thraciau temple of Sabazius is described as circular and
open at the roof (Macrob. hb. i. c. 18).
J Aubrey, who, of later antiquaries, first claimed these circles
for Druidical temples, used this very word in describing
the stones in the great circle at Abuiy : " they stood round
about hke a crowne."—" Their ruins are not unlike Ariadne's
crowne."
§ Diodorus, hb. ii. c. 47. See note at page 126posi.
[I The patriarchal worship was conducted in the open air
on high places, nnder trees or in groves (Gen. xxi. 33). The
altars, according to the Mosaic Law, were of stone wliich was
to be unhewn (Ex. xx. 25. Josh. viii. 31). Twelve stones were
erected near such an altar by Moses at Sinai (Ex. xxiv. 4),
and by Joshua at Gilgal (Josh. iv. 3-8, 20-24), pitched
perhaps in a circular form. Gilgal, Mizpeh and Bethel, the
three sacred places of the Hebrews before the temple worship
was established (1 Kings, iii. 3-4), were each visited by
Samuel in his annual circuit for the administration of the law
(1 Sam. vii. 16). Each had its altar for sacriiice and standing
stones of memorial, or h(styli. Luz received its name of
Bethel, hmse of God, when Jacob set up a stone and poured
oil and a drink-offering upon it (Gen. ssvii. 18-22; xxxv. 7,
14-15), The valley at Bethel is now "covered with stones
and rocks, some standing up like the cromlechs of Druidical
monuments" (Stanley, "Sinai and Palestine," 1856, p. 214).
The altars, pillars, and groves of the Canaanites and surrounding
pagan tribes which the Jews were to destroy (Deut.
xii. 2, 3), were probably very similar to those of their own
sacred places. Kude stone avenues and remains, compared
by De Saulcey to Celtic dolmens, still exist among the hills of
Moab (Dead Sea, 1835, p. 546). Mr. Stanley (p. 272) describes
a circle of rough upright stones, a few miles to the north
of Tyre, of which the people have a tradition, reminding us of
similar tales at home, that they are " men turned into stone for
scoffing at ' Nabi Zur.' "
If Paus. lib. ix. c. 19. It was connected with the traditions
as to the serpents slain by Tiresias.
** lb. lib. ii. c. 34. Compare c. 35, where other circles
appear to be described; also the peribolus of stones near the
Cheimarrhus, with which the my th of Proserpine was connected
(lib. ii. c. 36) ; and the erect square stones, about thirty in
number, near the statue of Mercury at Pharse, each of which
was venerated under the name of some deity (lib. vii. c. 22).
" t " ! ' II. xviii. V . 504. ^etrroitTi Xtdats lep^ evL kvkX^, Though
the circular arrangement was departed from, the Areiopagus
sat on stone seats in the open air down to the latest times.
HISTORICAL ETHNOLOGY OE BRITAIN. 123
CHAP. V.]
the most judicious antiquaries, the oldest places of worsliip, the Iwrgr of the Sagas, consisted of
stone circles, which are stiU fbund in many parts of Scandinavia. Similar circles also served for
the things, where the principal men met for the discussion of affairs and administration of the
law. These were the doom-rings always found near the temples of later times, in the centre of
which was the blot-steim, on which were broken the backs of the victims before they were
sacrificed*. Notwithstanding the remarkable absence of contemporary evidence, it is hardly to
be doubted that the large stone circles f of these islands were the places of assembly and hypsethral
temples of the ancient Britons. In Scotland there appears to have been a general tradition
that they were places of sacrifice in heathen times, and this tradition is embodied by Hector
Boece in his history of that country J. It is confirmed by the fact that their GaeUc name of
olachan (stones) is equally applicable to a church. They have also the name of law-stones, and
there is documentary evidence that as late as the fourteenth century they were used for the
holding of courts of justice §. In the east and south of Britain there are extensive districts
yielding no stones, in which a simple ditch and vallum of earth must have formed the sole
peribolus of the sacred enclosures. Several circular earthworks of this kind still exist on the
downs of Wiltshire 1|. In Brittany there are many similar remains IT- Groves or forests would be
frequent but not essential adjuncts of the sacred places. Among the Greeks and Romans, wild
and desert regions, tesca, were consecrated to the gods, no less than woods and groves, and
this may likewise have been the practice of the barbarous peoples of the west. Such, probably,
was the sacred mountain in Gallaicia, on which it was unlawful to plough or dig **. Open spot.?
of this description, where aU might come and go without fear of treachery, seem especiaUy
suited for the site of central consecrated places, which were the resort of confederate tribes f t -
The remains of stone circles are much more common in Britain than in Erance, chiefly,
perhaps, because in that country they were more sedulously destroyed, on account of the
idolatrous practices which they perpetuated J J. In Gaul also these sacred areas appear often to
* Keyser, Religion of Northmen, ed. 1854, p. 205. MaUet,
Northern Antiquities, by Blackwell, pp. 108, 291-4 ; where
see the curious description of the great Thing-stead or Doomring
of Iceland, formed of huge stones, and within these three
rows of seats for the godar or judges, and their assessors or
doonw-men, in all 144 persons. The spectators were kept
without the circle by cords attached to the stones.
t The lesser circles have generally formed the periboh of
cairns or barrows with or without cists, chambers or sepulchral
cromlechs in the centre. They are aptly termed peristaliths
by Dr. Lukis. Archseologia, vol. xxxv. p. 233.
t Archffiologia, vol. i. p. 315. Boece, who published his
' History of Scotland' in 1526, attributes the first erection of
stone circles for sacrifice, to the apocryphal kmg Maynus,
and to the epoch of about 300 B .C. Stewart, " Metrical Version
of History of Boece," by Turnbull, 1858, p. 56.
§ See Chartularies of Aberdeen and Moray, quoted by "Wilson,
" Prehistoric Annals of Scotland," p. 113. Archieologia,
vol. xxii. pp. 198, 409. In the Chartulary of Aberdeen, is a
notice of a Court of Eegality held in 1349, " apud stantes lapidcs
de Bane en le Garuiach."
II That at Codford may be particularized. Hoare, "Ancient
Wilts," vol. i. pp. 18, 50, 80, &c.; vol. ii. p. 108. See also, for
the North of England, the circles at Thornborough near Ripon.
Phillips, "Rivers, Mountains, &c. of Yorkshire," pp. 63, 219.
^ Mahé (Antiquités du Morbihan, 1825, p. 36) calls them
"enceintes sacrées," or, adopting the Greek temenos, "témènes."
He describes one at Mendon with a dolmen or
altar in the centre, exactly hke that called the Giant's Ring
near Belfast.
** Justin, lib. xliv. c. 3. To this day, the Arran islanders
on the west coast of Ireland, will not permit the ancient raths
to be dug or ploughed. Weld, "Ireland," p. 41.
f t Strabo (lib. ix. c. 2. § 33) says there was no tree near
the temple of Neptune on the height at Onchestus, which was
the place of meetmg of the Amphictyonic Council of the Boeotians,
and observes that the poets call all sacred places groves,
even when without trees.
i t Many of the fanes and temples destroyed m the 4th century
by St. Martin, in Roman Gaul near the Loire, were probably
Druidical. One in particular is described as templum
antiquissimum, close to which was a sacred pine-tree (Sulpic.,
"Vit. B. Martin., c. x.). By various Gallic councils, stones
which were the objects of worship were ordered to be destroyed
or buried, and the terms in which these are described by the
Council of Nantes (a.d. c. 658), seem appheable to circles as
well as menhirs and cromlechs—lapides quos in ruinosis hcis
et syhestribus doemonum ludijicationibus decepti venerantur,
uhi et vota vovent et deferimt. See also the decrees of the
Councils of Aries (452 a . d . ) and of Tours (567 a . d . ) , and those