Gundestrup Cauldron - Interpretation

Interpretation

For many years, scholars have interpreted the cauldron's images in terms of the Celtic pantheon. The antlered figure in plate A has been commonly identified as Cernunnos, and the figure holding the broken wheel in plate C is more tentatively thought to be Taranis. There is no consensus regarding the other figures. Some Celticists have explained the elephants depicted on plate B as a reference to Hannibal's crossing of the Alps. Furthermore, the appearance of torques around the necks of some of the figures suggest a connection with Celtic culture.

Because of the double-headed wolfish monster attacking the two small figures of fallen men on plate b, parallels can be drawn to the Welsh character Manawydan or the Irish Manannán, a god of the sea and the Otherworld. Another possibility is the Gaulish version of Apollo, who was not only a warrior, but one associated with springs and healing besides.

Olmsted relates the scenes of the cauldron to those of the Táin Bó Cuailnge, where the antlered figure is Cú Chulainn, the bull of the base plate is Donn Cuailnge, and the female and two males of plate e are Medb, Ailill, and Fergus mac Róich. Olmsted also toys with the idea that the female figure flanked by two birds on plate f could be Medb with her pets or Morrígan, the Irish war goddess who often changes into a carrion bird.

Both Olmsted and Taylor agree that the female of plate f might be Rhiannon of the Mabinogion. Rhiannon is famous for her birds, whose songs could "awaken the dead and lull the living to sleep". In this role, Rhiannon could be considered the Goddess of the Otherworld.

Taylor presents a more pancultural view of the cauldron's images; he concludes that the deities and scenes portrayed on the cauldron are not specific to one culture, but many. He compares Rhiannon, whom he thinks is the figure of plate f, with Hariti, an ogress of Bactrian mythology. In addition, he points to the similarity between the female figure of plate B and the Hindu goddess Lakshmi, whose depictions are often accompanied by elephants. Wheel gods are also cross-cultural with deities like Taranis and Vishnu, a god from Hinduism.

• This seal of a Pashupati (Lord of Animals) from the Mohenjo-Daro archaeological site, (2500-1900 BC) is remarkably similar to the antlered figure of plate A.

• Stone relief from Candi Mendut of the Bactrian ogress Hariti. Notice the similarity of the three birds and the child at her breast with plate f.

• Cham sandstone sculpture (late 9th-early 10th centuries) of Lakshmi flanked by two elephants like the figure of plate B.

• The supreme god Vishnu on the eagle steed Garuda battling Asura monsters from the outer gallery of Angkor Wat. Vishnu is almost always depicted with the wheel-like Sudarshana Chakra, which, in this case, is held in the upper-right hand.