The Gundestrup version of Táin Bó Cuailnge

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

E-ISSN: 1745-1744|50|198|95-103

ISSN: 0003-598x

Source: Antiquity, Vol.50, Iss.198, 1976-06, pp. : 95-103

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Abstract

While most observers now agree that the Gundestrup cauldron originated on the Continent within a Celtic context and dates to the period 100-50 BC (Klindt-Jensen, 1960, 50; Powell, 1971, 205; Allen, 1971, 20, 23) its fantastic motifs have, despite Hatt’s (1965) imaginative rendering, remained enigmatic to most commentators. ‘The Gundestrup artists were influenced by strangely archaic, Oriental imagery and mode of composition’ (Klindt-Jensen, 1959, 167), which is a pronounced element of this unusual piece whatever its exact geographical origin.