Gwyn ap Nudd: Travelling the Skies

           Lux refulget de supernis edita

                                -Light resplendent is brought forth from on high

“The three renowned astronomers of the Isle of Britain:

Idris the Giant;

Gwydion son of Dôn;

And Gwyn son of Nudd.

Such was their knowledge of the stars, their natures and qualities, that they could prognosticate whatever was wished to be known until the day of doom.”[1]

This triad has inspired my imagination ever since. For if the expression “astronomer” is a valid translation of the original text  (and that I take for granted), this word and the statement that Gwyn  knew the nature of the stars and their qualities would raise him far above the host of astrologers doing simple fortune-telling.

Actually, the statement implies that the knowledge of Gwyn is based on the understanding of the inner mechanisms of nature. Expressed in modern physical language this would read: He knew all parameters present in the game, so he could predict the outcome.

Now what does it mean, when a deity is characterized like this? This would attribute to the deity the qualities of a creator. But could this apply to Gwyn the son of Nudd? Indeed, it would fit perfectly into the canon of his attributes. We have seen him as the one who subdues Chaos in his function as the victor over the Dragon. We have seen him as a Master of Time as well.  The conclusion was  that this meant giving structure to matter and bringing forth the recurrent circles of time. This is nothing less than “creation”. 

On the strength of this Gwyn would show the features of a deity of supreme importance. Now you could ask sceptically, if this was not too bold an interpretation.

However, already J. Markale[2] postulates a god of the sun whose cult would reach far back in time and could well be regarded as “pre-indogermanic”. This cult might have had its summit in the bronze age and could be traced back into megalithic times. In this he follows even earlier studies by G. Rachet[3]. It is assumed that this deity gave rise to Belenos, Grannus, Maponus/ Mabon, Oengus. Into this group of deities Gwyn would fit perfectly (as I have shown earlier[4]).

Moreover, for the Germanic cultures a similar phenomenon has been observed. Golther [5] assumes that a whole group of gods of the Germanic pantheon absorbed the features of a deity of the sun/ the sky , among these Freyr, Tyr, Heimdall, Balder. Interestingly, all those possess attributes or cult stories which bring them close to the attributes and action patterns of Gwyn. In the case of Freyr, I have already described this⁴.

To sum up we could say that we might well assume that a deity of the sun or sky of central importance developed into Gwyn. Even vast periods of time and dramatic historical changes were not able to remove this deity from the memory of men, neither in Celtic nor in mediaeval times - despite the enormous efforts of the Christian church. In fact, the Church had somehow to “absorb” Gwyn and to fight him at the same time, and so St. Michael had to replace him - as a interpretatio Christiana. 

Deus Apollo Vindonnus 

For the Celtic time, we know from Caesar[6] that the cult of the Celtic God “Apollo” was only surpassed in importance by that of “Mercurius”.

 On the Continent we find the God Vindonnus who has given his name to the oppidum Vindobona, which finally developed into Vienna[7]. “Vindo-“/ “vindos” is a literal translation of “gwyn” (white / fair, blessed). In literature the connection between Vindonnus and Finn, the Irish counterpart of Gwyn, is well described[8]

 Vindonnus is not only reported to have given his name to Vienna, but also Windisch in Switzerland ( formerly called “Vindonissa”).

Moreover at least three inscriptions “ex voto” found in France at Essarois, Côte d’Or[9] call upon “Deo Apollini Vindo[no]”.

The Roman interpretation especially stresses the Celtic Apollo’s function as a god of healing. The sanctuaries of the Celtic Apollo are preferentially found next to warm or cold springs with healing power. It has been pointed out[10] that the Celtic Apollo is both a god of light and a lord of the Otherworld, an Otherworld which can be seen as a source of the renewal of life. Hence springs and wells are often brought into connection with an entrance to the Otherworld. On the other hand springs bring forth life-sustaining water from the “underground”.  Hot springs are of special interest since here the elements of fire and water are connected. A “spark of the sun” multiplies the healing capacities. Most famous is Apollo Grannus whose oppidum “Aquae Granni” is called Aachen today and who had famous shrines in  Faimingen (southern Germany) and Grand (France). But his cult was not limited to Germany and France. Inscriptions calling upon Apollo Grannus are found from Scotland to Hungary and Italy (Rome).

This proximity  to a healing/sacred spring can be found at Gwyn’s abode in Glastonbury as well. Moreover, the element of Gwyn’s father,  Nudd, is water. 

In this place it might be asked whether it is appropriate to speak of a “Celtic Apollo” in general, rather than seeing the same interpretatio romana given to a host of individual deities.  I think this is just a matter of either stressing the local appearances and thence the differences between the local forms of a multi-facetted deity or of seeing the basic features of this multi-facetted deity which is found throughout a vast area.  At least in the eyes of the Geek and later Romans and Gallo-Romans all these deities were so similar to their “Apollo” that they readily called all of them by this name. [11] Anyway, recent linguistic studies on the epitheta of the Celtic Apollo show clearly how close an Apollo Grannus,  Belenus,  Vindonnus are with respect to their epitheta and their cult.[12] 

Now let us investigate further whether the Celtic Apollo shows other characteristics which would fit into the canon of Gwyn’s attributes.

In Britain, we find “Cunomaglus” as an epithet of Apollo, which can be translated as “Lord of the Dogs”.[13] In the earliest written text which mentions Gwyn and which is found in the Black Book of Carmarthen, Gwyn himself speaks of his dog Dormarth[14]. Little sculptures of dogs are frequently found next to thermal springs, places prone to the  worship of the Celtic Apollo. The dog sculptures of Lydney Park, where a temple of Nodens, Gwyn’s father has been discovered, should also be mentioned.

Two other epithets of Apollo are “Anextiomarus”, “the great Archer”, which is found in Northern England, and “Atepomaros”, “the great horseman”, found in Gaul. These, too, would be fitting epithets for Gwyn, as he is seen as a great Hunter.

 The last three epithets bring the Celtic Apollo close to a “Silvanus”, a Hunter God. A mediaeval verse on Gwyn reinforces this aspect. According to 14th century Latin manuscript against divination, Welsh "soothsayers" would repeat the following:

“ad regem Eumenidium et reginam eius: Gwynn ap Nwdd qui es ultra in silvis pro amore concubine tue permitte nos venire domum" [15]

“To the King of the Eumenides ( “the Benevolent” =the avenging female spirits) and his queen:Gwyn ap Nudd, you who are yonder in the forests,allow us to come home”[16]

So Gwyn can be seen equal to the Celtic Apollo, a deity who commands both the life-sustaining powers and  those that bring about death. Having learned this, what is the consequence? We must draw the conclusion that it is legitimate to assume that the cult of the deity  who is called Gwyn ap Nudd in Glastonbury, was of significance throughout Europe. Hence, if we go further back in time, we may well search for traces of a cult similar to that of Gwyn throughout Europe in every place where e.g. Apollo Vindonnus was worshipped.

Raising one's eyes to the sky

It is reported that the eastern Alps were a region where the cult of the Celtic Apollo was of the highest importance.⁹ It is very tempting now to look for remainders of the bronze age or even the neolithicum, which would fit into the cult of a deity of the sun or the sky in general.

This will draw our attention necessarily to the “Kreisgrabenanlagen” (enclosures) which can be found in the Danube area and date back as early as 6000 B.C. From there they spread throughout Europe and reach Western and Northern Europe just prior to 4000 B.C. Although it is still a question of debate whether all the enclosures found served the same or a similar purpose or if there is a stringent line of development from the enclosures in central Europe to those on the British Isles, there is one point which cannot be denied. Many of them (if not all) would serve astronomical purposes.[17] G. Zotti has shown for the enclosures in Austria, that many of them are built in such a way that either the solstices, the equinox dates but also 1^st of November, 2^nd of February, 1^st of May would be indicated. This is rather interesting, for the last dates coincide with the Celtic festivals of Samhain, Imbolc and Beltaine. This would be a clear sign that these festivals date back very far in time! But there are still more surprises: Zotti showed that next to the positions of the sun at the previously listed dates, alignments with the Pleiades, Antares in Scorpius, Deneb in the Swan and Rigel in Orion were given by the orientation of the door openings.[18]  So these stellar constellations could have played a role in the cult at those enclosures. Is it then a mere coincidence that Gwyn is seen in the constellation of Orion, “the Hunter” and his rival Gwythyr in Scorpius?[19],[20] I am convinced that this is on the contrary another piece of evidence showing us that the cult of Gwyn at Glastonbury may be in the tradition of the cult of a sky deity reaching far into space and back into time.

The night journey of the sun

The only thing I was not happy about at this stage of the findings was the fact that obviously both the sun and the constellation of Orion would stand for Gwyn, and so I was tempted into looking for a possible cult story which would link both the sun and the constellation of Orion to Gwyn.

In the first place, I found that the observations which could be made at Glastonbury at the winter solstice and the fact that the constellation of Orion disappears from the skies for the summer months clearly display the features of a story of a dying and  re-surrecting God. Perhaps a solution would show up, if I let myself be inspired by myths on resurrecting sun gods. These myths can be found in Egypt!

One cult story is that of Osiris[21], who was killed by his rival and brother Seth. Coincidence or not,  this fight of the brothers would fit into the canon of Gwyn’s “action patterns”. Osiris travels across the night sky and he is identified with the constellation of Orion. His son, Horus, is identified with the sun, symbolized by a falcon. When the living Horus dies, he will become Osiris.

The other Egyptian myth is that of Re travelling the sky in daytime as the sun and then travelling back underground. It must pointed out that the myths of Re, Osiris and Horus are very closely linked.[22]

Now it is not my intent to show that the cult of a sun or a sky deity spread  from Egypt to Europe, or the other way round , which may well be possible.[23]

Nevertheless, it is interesting that an exchange of ideas between the Orient and Europe has been postulated earlier in an article on the Nebra sky disk. This artefact for sure played an important role in the cult of a sky / sun deity in the bronze age in Europe. The authors point out that the Minoic culture could have played an important role in the exchange of ideas in both directions. [24]

The grave of Kivik in Sweden is another example of influence which came from cultures from the Aegaeis. It was postulated that the grave of Kivik could not have been bulit in its characteristic manner without the knowledge of the early Mykene.[25]

Furthermore the research on the Celtic settlements in Southern Germany shows that there was an intensive contact beween the “heart land” of the Hallstatt culture and both Greece and Etruria[26]. Moreover, we know the cult of the Hyperborean Apollo which was brought to Greece from the “North”. 

In this context it is most noteworthy that Pindar, a poet with close connections to the priests of Delphi, reports that the fitting animal sacrifice for the hyperborean Apollo should be donkeys; an offering which would equal him with Horus according to the reports of Plutarch. Moreover, Apollonios Rhodios equates the python slain by Apollon with Typhon and Seth, thus putting Apollo in the same place  as Osiris and Horus.[27] This would clearly justify an interpretation of Gwyn’s cult stories by taking the Egyptian myths as a sort of “blue print”. Furthermore, this report gives evidence of the more recent interpretations that the constellation of Orion was beheld as Gwyn ^{19, 20}, for to date no written evidence from Celtic sources is available for these theories.

 So, how can a myth of Gwyn somehow be enlightended with the help of these findings?

Let us first focus on observations at the winter solstice: The constellation of Orion disappears on the western horizon just when the dawn and a little later the sun show in the east. A possible interpretaion could be that Gwyn in his aspect of the Hunter is walking over the night sky, collecting in this role the souls of the deceased, which is in accordance with his functions as reported in folklore and with his interpretatio Christiana, St. Michael. He disappears with them to the “underworld”, to Gwynfa (wherever this maybe) and returns then as the life-sustaining sun in the east and rises into the sky.

This idea is ceratinly not too far-fetched, for in connection with Newgrange some authors have made similar speculations[28], and Newgrange would also be the abode of a deity, Oengus, who can be found among the Lords of Light .   

So if this trial to find a consistent myth is accepted, then we could point out that the double representation of Gwyn both as sun deity and as the constellation of Orion would again support his aspect as “double-faced” deity[29]. Depending on the time of the year he would show us at night time either the face of Gwyn, the fighter against Chaos, or that of Gwythyr. We would see either the winter or summer king, and yet he would be ever whole and all-powerful in his aspect as sun (as “sol invictus”), for although the power of the sun diminishes during the cycle of the year, it never disappears. This would be a rather complex, yet beautiful myth for a deity of supreme power and importance. In this and the resurrection motif Gwyn would display the features of a true Lord of the Living, for the inhabitants of Gwynfa would no longer be subject to decay and age.

Another object from Gwyn’s possessions might enforce this interpretation. According to his own words he is the owner of a shining ring11. The shining ring is a solar symbol, the ring itself a symbol for perfection and eternity, for the never ending  turning of the wheel of time as seen in the revolution of the stars. So this mythical picture would tell us that Gwyn holds “eternity” and “perfection” in his hands. This, too, would single him out as a God of the highest power, a God able to transcend this world which is limited in space and time – a true Lord of the Otherworld and a Keeper of the doors between the worlds.

With this I will close for now. Perhaps future investigations will add to this picture. I sincerely hope, you, dear reader enjoyed this essay!