Editing Cernunnos (section)

===Distribution and history===
The majority of the images identified as of Cernunnos have been found in Gaul, clustered around [[Paris]] and [[Reims]]. A [[Rock Drawings in Valcamonica|rock drawing in Valcamonica]] ([[Lombardy]], [[Italy]]) and the figure on Plate A of the Gundestrup cauldron (found in [[Himmerland]], [[Denmark]]) are conspicuous geographic exceptions.<ref name=FickettWilbar>{{cite journal |last=Fickett-Wilbar |first=David |title=Cernunnos: Looking a Different Way |journal=Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic Colloquium |volume=23 |date=2003 |pages=80–111 |jstor=25660728 }}</ref>{{rp|82–83}} Engraved onto a rock at the prehistoric site of [[Val Camonica]] is a tall figure with antlers atop his head, arms in [[orans]] position, and a torc around his right arm. Besides him, on his right, are a ram-horned serpent and a smaller man (ithyphallic, arms in orans position).<ref name=Blazquez/>{{rp|839}} The detailed scene on Plate A of the Gundestrup cauldron has Cernunnos cross-legged, wielding a torc in one hand and a ram-horned serpent in the other. Around him are many animals: two bulls, a stag, a dolphin with a rider, [[griffin]]s, and a hyena.<ref name=Blazquez/>{{rp|839–840}}<ref name=Bober/>{{rp|19}} The provenance and date of the Gundestrup cauldron have been the subject of much debate.<ref name=Blazquez/>{{rp|842}} Cernunnos has been tentatively connected with images over a large geographical range, including Britain, Spain, Austria, Slovenia, and Romania.<ref name=Altjohann/>{{rp|fn 32}}

[[File:Françoise Foliot - Dieu de Bouray.jpg|thumb|The [[God of Bouray]]: a rare pre-Roman depiction of a Gaulish god. Cross-legged and hooved, the relationship of this Gaulish god to Cernunnos is uncertain.]]

The earliest datable representations of Cernunnos in Gaul date, like the Pillar of the Boatmen, to the reign of Tiberius (i.e., 14-37 CE);<ref name=deVries/>{{rp|104}} the latest to the 3rd century CE.<ref name=Blazquez>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Blázquez |date=1988 |first=José Maria |title=Cernunnos |volume=4 |encyclopedia=[[Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae]]|location=Zurich / Munich |publisher=Artemis |pages=839–844 |url=https://archive.org/details/limc_20210516/Lexicon%20Iconographicum%20Mythologiae%20Classicae/LIMC%20IV-1%20Eros-Herakles/page/n437 }}</ref>{{rp|842}} The archaeological evidence for images of deities in Gaul is scant before the Roman conquest.<ref name=Hofeneder1/>{{rp|205}} The [[God of Bouray]], a bronze statuette probably produced not long before the Roman conquest, depicts a Gaulish god with crossed legs and hooves. The relationship of this god with Cernunnos is uncertain.<ref name=GreenAnimals>{{cite book |last=Green |first=Miranda |title=Animals in Celtic Life and Myth |publisher=Routledge |date=1992 |location=London }}</ref>{{rp|231}}<ref name=Bober/>{{rp|33–34}}

Outside of Gaul, much earlier representations of Cernunnos are known.<ref name=GreenDictionary>{{cite book |title= Dictionary of Celtic Myth and Legend |first= Miranda |last= Green |publisher= Thames and Hudson |location= London |date= 1997 |isbn= 978-0500279755 |url-access= registration |url= https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofcelt00gree }}</ref>{{rp|59}} The drawing from Valcamonica dates to 4th century BCE. José Maria Blázquez has argued that a painted vase, dating to the 2nd century BCE, from the [[Celtiberians|Celtiberian]] site of [[Numantia]], gives another early representation of Cernunnos.<ref name=Blazquez/>{{rp|839}} The Gundestrup cauldron, of either [[Thracians|Thracian]] or Celtic work, has been assigned to dates within a large range (from 200 BCE to 300 CE).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Nielsen |first1=S. |last2=Andersen |first2=J. |last3=Baker |first3=J. |last4=Christensen |first4=C. |last5=Glastrup |first5=J. |display-authors=etal |year=2005 |title=The Gundestrup cauldron: New scientific and technical investigations |journal=[[Acta Archaeologica]] |volume=76 |pages=1–58 |doi=10.1111/j.1600-0390.2005.00034.x }}</ref>{{rp|53}}

After Christianisation, images of Cernunnos were the subject of [[iconoclastic]] destruction. A statue of Cernunnos from [[Verteuil]] ([[Charente]], France) was beheaded<ref name=Kiernan>{{cite book |title=Roman Cult Images: The Lives and Worship of Idols from the Iron Age to Late Antiquity |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=2020 |first=Philip |last=Kiernan |doi=10.1017/9781108766555 |isbn=978-1-108-76655-5 }}</ref>{{rp|249}} and the horns of Cernunnos on the Reims altar seem to have been purposefully chipped off.<ref name=Kiernan/>{{rp|244}}

Some scholars (such as Duval and Bober) have suggested that Cernunnos's distinctive iconography persisted into the medieval period.<ref name=Duval>{{cite book |title=Les Dieux de la Gaule |publisher=Payot |date=1976 |edition=2 |location=Paris |last=Duval |first=Paul-Marie }}</ref>{{rp|121}}<ref name=Bober/>{{rp|44}} Cernunnos has been seen on Christian monuments from Ireland, such as the north cross at [[Clonmacnoise]], the market cross at [[Abbey of Kells|Kells]], and a [[Carndonagh stones|stele at Carndonagh]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Walsh |first1=John |last2=Bradley |first2=Thomas |title=A History of the Irish Church, 400-700 AD |date=1991 |location=Dublin |publisher=Columba Press}}</ref>{{rp|32}} The figure identified as Cernunnos on the 9th-century Clonmacnoise north cross appears to have horns and crossed legs; Fickett-Wilbar argues that these are misidentified ornamental motifs.<ref name=FickettWilbar/>{{rp|84}} On the Continent, Cernunnos has been seen in the [[Stuttgart Psalter]] and on a [[capital (architecture)|capital]] of [[Parma Cathedral]].<ref name=Duval/>{{rp|121}} A leaf from the {{circa|820}} Stuttgart Psalter depicts the [[Descent into Limbo]], with a devil figure (perhaps [[Hades]]) whom Bober identifies as of the Cernunnos-type, "complete with cross-legged posture, antlers, and even a ram-headed serpent",<ref name=Bober/>{{rp|44}} though J. R. M. Galpern identifies the features on the devil's head as wings, and connects them with motifs from Late Antique and [[Roman funerary art]].<ref name=Galpern>{{cite thesis |last=Galpern |first=J. R. M. |publisher=University of California, Berkeley |degree=PhD |title=The Shape of Hell in Anglo-Saxon England |date=1977 |id={{ProQuest|288008512}} }}</ref>{{rp|254}}