Editing Hooded Spirits

{{Short description|Sculpture figures}}
[[File:Relief of the Genii Cucullati (hooded deities) found in a shrine in the vicus, early 3rd century AD, Housesteads Roman Fort (Vercovicium) (44588550041).jpg|alt=|thumb|The Genii Cucullati found in a shrine in the vicus, early 3rd century AD, [[Housesteads Roman Fort]] (Vercovicium) ]]

The '''Hooded Spirits''' or '''''Genii Cucullati''''' are figures found in religious sculpture across the [[Gallo-Roman|Romano-Celtic]] region from [[Roman Britain|Britain]] to [[Pannonia]], depicted as "cloaked scurrying figures carved in an almost abstract manner".<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Martin|first=Henig|title=Religion in Roman Britain|year=1984|isbn=0-7134-1220-8|pages=62}}</ref> They are found with a particular concentration in the [[Rhineland]] (Hutton). In Britain they tend to be found in a [[triple deity]] form, which seems to be specific to the British representations.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=de la Bedoyère|first=Guy|title=Gods with thunderbolts: Religion in Roman Britain|year=2002|isbn=0-7524-2518-8|pages=166–168}}</ref>

== Name ==
The name ''CucuIlātus'' is a derivative of [[Gaulish]] ''cucullos'', meaning 'hood' (cf. ''bardo-cucullus'' 'bard's hood'), whose etymology remains uncertain. ''Cucullos'' is the source of Latin ''cucullus'' and Old French ''cogole'' (via the Latin feminine form ''cuculla''; cf. modern ''cagoule''). The Old Irish ''cochaIl'' ('monk's hood'), Cornish ''cugol'', Breton ''cougoul'', and Welsh ''kwcwIl'' are loanwords from Latin.{{Sfn|Delamarre|2003|p=131}}

== Cult ==
[[File:Musée Picardie Archéo 03.jpg|thumb|upright|225px|[[Gallo-Roman culture|Gallo-Roman]] bronze statuette of a Genius cucullatus (or a [[Priapus]]?) discovered in [[Picardy]], northern France, made in two parts, with the top section concealing a giant phallus.]]The hooded cape was especially associated with [[Gauls]] or [[Celts]] during the Roman period. The hooded health god was known as [[Telesphorus (mythology)|Telesphorus]] specifically and may have originated as a Greco-Gallic syncretism with the [[Galatia]]ns in Anatolia in the 3rd century&nbsp;BC.{{Cn|date=October 2022}}

The religious significance of these figures is still somewhat unclear, since no inscriptions have been found with them in this British context.<ref name=":1" /> There are, however, indications that they may be fertility spirits of some kind. [[Ronald Hutton]] argues that in some cases they are carrying shapes that can be seen as eggs, symbolizing life and rebirth,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hutton|first=Ronald|title=The Pagan religions of the British isles|year=1991|isbn=0-631-18946-7|pages=214–216}}</ref> while Graham Webster has argued that the curved hoods are similar in many ways to contemporary Roman curved phallus stones.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Webster|first=Graham|title=The British celts and their gods under Rome|year=1986|isbn=0-7134-0648-8|pages=66–70}}</ref> However, several of these figures also seem to carry swords or daggers, and Henig discusses them in the context of warrior cults.<ref name=":0" />

[[Guy de la Bédoyère]] also warns against reading too much into size differences or natures in the figures, which have been used to promote theories of different roles for the three figures, arguing that at the skill level of most of the carvings, small differences in size are more likely to be hit-or-miss consequences, and pointing out that [[experimental archaeology]] has shown hooded figures to be one of the easiest sets of figures to carve.<ref name=":1" />

==See also==
* [[Priapus]]
* [[Pixie|Pisky]]
* [[Telesphorus (mythology)]]

==Footnotes==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
*{{Cite book|last=Delamarre|first=Xavier|title=Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise: Une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental|year=2003|publisher=Errance|isbn=9782877723695|author-link=Xavier Delamarre}}

==External links==
*{{Commons category-inline}}

{{Celtic mythology (ancient)}}

[[Category:Gods of the ancient Britons]]
[[Category:Gaulish gods]]
[[Category:Fertility gods]]
[[Category:Health gods]]
[[Category:Priapists]]
[[Category:Triple gods]]