Nemeta tells Tera:
"'But you serve the old Gods yet... Not the Gods of Ys but of your own people, Cernunnos, Epona, Teutatis, Those Who once were mighty here and may still keep a little, little strength to help Their last few worshippers.'" (p. 486)
In a pagan perspective, "Which Gods (exist and) are active here?" and "Which Gods are worshipped here?" are the same question. In that sense, the perspective is empirical. To answer the question(s), it is necessary merely to inquire to Whom local prayers and temples are dedicated.
What becomes of Gods Who are no longer worshipped? There is a short story by Lester del Rey in which They become human. The best fictional answers that I know are in Neil Gaiman's The Sandman. See:
A joke answer by Alan Moore is mentioned in:
See also:
My own reflections on gods, God and the One have been revised since the last time I linked to them.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I have my doubts as regards what Nemeta said. The fact that so little is known about the Celtic pagan gods of Gaul both during the Roman era and as the Empire was falling makes me think hardly anybody took such rustic deities seriously in Gratillonius' time.
Ad astra! Sean
The literate people who wrote about the Celts & their religion were Romans & later Christians, both rather hostile to Celtic culture. Should we be surprised we don't get much solid information?
Kaor, Jim!
I did have something like that in mind. IIRC, one Roman writer, about two centuries before, made inquiries about the Celtic gods of pre-Roman Gaul. But the only source he was referred to was Julius Caesar's GALLIC WAR, with an admittedly unfriendly discussion of the Celtic pagan religion.
That still makes me think more than 400 years of Roman rule, urbanization, Greco-Roman culture, and Christianity, etc., eroded away both knowledge of, and any inclination by Gallo-Romans to have any interest in these gods.
Ad astra! Sean
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