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Drinking the Feast: Alcohol and the Legitimation of Power in Celtic Europe
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Drinking the Feast: Alcohol and the Legitimation of Power in Celtic Europe
Bettina Arnold
Cambridge Archaeological Journal / Volume 9 / Issue 01 / April 1999, pp 71 - 93
DOI: 10.1017/S0959774300015213, Published online: 14 October 2009

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Cambridge Archaeological Journal 9:1 (1999), pp. 71-93

'Drinking the Feast':

Alcohol and the Legitimation of Power in Celtic Europe
Bettina Arnold
Drinking and feasting were an integral part of life in Iron Age Europe and the British
Isles. The distribution of food and especially drink in prescribed fashion played a key role
in establishing and maintaining social relationships. Alcoholic beverages were important
consumable status items in prehistoric Europe, serving as a social lubricant as well as a
social barrier. The metal, ceramic and wooden vessels required for the preparation, distribution and consumption of these beverages were a vehicle for inter- and intragroup competition, and underwent considerable change, both symbolic and material, through time. This
article will attempt a cognitive analysis of the material culture of Iron Age drinking and
feasting by integrating archaeological and documentary evidence. The impact of contact
with the Mediterranean world, gender configurations, and the ideology of power and
patronage will be discussed in relation to changing material culture assemblages.
Mediterranean opinions on the subject of Celtic
-The distribution and consumption of alcohol played
drinking practices were not very complimentary, nor
an important role in prehistoric cultures in continenparticularly objective, but the documentary evidence
tal Europe as well as in the British Isles. Significant
does provide us with useful background informaritually as well as socio-politically (Murray 1996),
tion against which to interpret the archaeological
feasting behaviour is documented in the archaeorecord (Champion 1985). Plato, writing in the midlogical, historical, and literary records. The drinking
dle of the fourth century BC (about 150 years after the
and feasting equipment itself is made of materials as
manufacture of the Vix krater), includes the Celts in
diverse as wood, ceramic, horn, leather, iron, bronze,
'a list of six barbarian warlike peoples who are given
silver, and gold. Elaborate sets of ceramic vessels
to drunkenness, as opposed to Spartan restraint'
associated with the consumption of food and drink
(Laws 1:637: Tierney 1960, 194). Diodorus Siculus,
first appear in Continental European burials at least
300 years later, describes the Celts in a similar fashby the Urnfield period (Kossack 1964,99) and possiion: They are exceedingly fond of wine and sate
bly as early as the Late Neolithic (Sherratt 1987; 1995;
themselves with the unmixed wine imported by mer1997). In the later Bronze Age and Iron Age, local
chants; their desire makes them drink it greedily,
wood and pottery products are gradually augmented
and when they become drunk they fall into a stupor
by imported ceramics and metal vessels in the burior into a maniacal disposition' (Diodorus Siculus
als of elite individuals. Extravagant vessel assemV:26,2-3: Tierney 1960,249).
blages peak in the wealthy chieftains' graves of the
Late Hallstatt period, best exemplified by the 1.64
The central role of alcohol consumption in Celtic
metre high krater of Vix, larger than any bronze
culture is generally accepted (Dietler 1989b; 1990;
vessel preserved from the contemporary Greek - Enright 1996). Scholars of Celtic literature, archaeworld. The krater was part of the equipment in a
ologists, and historians all describe banquets and
Gaulish elite burial and was probably manufactured
feasts in considerable detail within their respective
by Greek artisans for a powerful northern personage
spheres of interest. Unfortunately, few scholars look
(Joffroy 1962).
outside their own disciplines for the cognitive system
71

Bettina Arnold

underlying this drinking and feasting behaviour. This

is particularly true of archaeology, which is traditionally wary of literary and historical sources. It
also applies to disciplines like Celtic studies which
could benefit from an archaeological perspective in
distinguishing rhetorical or symbolic elements in literature from those which may contain historical fact.1
While some caution is commendable, it can also
be an obstacle to creative thinking. Conservative
scholars argue, for example, that the Celtic literature
of the British Isles (most post-dating the sixth century AD), is not relevant to the interpretation of prehistoric Iron Age Europe. The argument is that the
insular Celtic cultures do not resemble the earlier
Continental ones in any fundamental or identifiable
way. The definition of the term 'Celtic' itself is contested (Arnold & Gibson 1995,2), but continues to be
used to describe the peoples linked by language and
material culture from Spain to the Black Sea during
the Iron Age, and will be used here in its most general sense. More moderate researchers concede some
affinity and continuity between British and Continental Celtic cultures, particularly in the areas of
material culture and technology. These are of course
the best-documented sources of archaeological information and are not usually as well represented in
the literature. The archaeological evidence certainly
documents major social and ideological changes in
the centuries separating the chieftain of Hochdorf
(near Stuttgart, Germany; 550 BC) from Gereint ab
Erbin in the Gododdin (Britain; AD 600) (Powell 1888;
Jackson 1969, 150). There is, however, considerable
continuity through time and space in some areas of
material culture, especially those concerning the
socio-political and ideological importance of drinking and feasting. The discussion below will explore
the foundations of this continuity through a comparison of textual and archaeological evidence. Arafat
& Morgan (1994), among others, have called for a
more emic investigation of how contact with the
Mediterranean world affected existing patterns of
behaviour, particularly feasting and competitive display among elites, in the Early Iron Age of southwest Germany, eastern France and Switzerland north
of the Alps. The synthesis of archaeological and written 'records' of Celtic 'feasting' patterns which follows attempts to do this, although it does not claim
to be exhaustive, much less definitive.
The sources of information available for drinking and feasting behaviour in the Celtic world are:
1) contemporary Greek and Roman written accounts;
2) extensive legal tracts, especially from Ireland;
3) surviving epics and tales from Ireland and Wales,
72

heavily patinated by Christian influences, but preserving earlier non-Christian elements; 4) the archaeological record, primarily from the Continent, since
the burial and settlement record of the British Isles
for the Iron Age is much less well documented or
preserved (Raftery 1994).
This discussion will attempt a text-aided, cognitive interpretation of the archaeological evidence
for drinking and feasting behaviour from the Late
Hallstatt period in west central Europe (600-400 BC),
with reference to late Iron Age evidence from the
British Isles and the Continent. It is at this time that
the peoples known as Celts begin to appear in recognizable form in the material record, but the contemporary Mediterranean written sources are meagre
and problematic. The different sources of information intersect or overlap to some extent, so there will
be some repetition of the more seminal arguments.
The information offered by Classical sources for Celtic
drinking practices will be examined first.
The contemporary classical sources: strange
people and weird practices
The general formula followed by most Classical authors describing the alien cultures on their peripheries was modelled on Herodotus and consisted of
several categories of information: 1) population; 2)
antiquity and ancient history; 3) way of life; 4) customs (Tierney 1960,190). Unfortunately for modern
scholars the unusual and bizarre aspects of the last
two categories were generally recounted in some
detail, while information considered mundane, common knowledge or uninteresting was less frequently
recorded. Two pitfalls facing the modern scholar
attempting to derive 'facts' from these accounts are
'Randvolkeridealisierung' (Tierney 1960, 214) and
'ethnographische Wandermotive' (Tierney 1960,201).
The first is the tendency of Classical ethnographers
to romanticize or demonize 'exotic' peoples. The second refers to the borrowing of descriptions of customs from accounts of one culture and transposing
them wholesale or only slightly modified to a completely different group of people, whenever hard
facts were lacking or could benefit from being fleshed
out in a more dramatic way. The problem of successive 'borrowings' of another ethnographer's ideas
and/or descriptions over several centuries has been
discussed elsewhere (Tierney 1960; Nash 1976).
Despite these potential difficulties, several significant themes related to Celtic drinking and feasting behaviour (both insular and continental) recur in
Classical sources. Some of these themes, particularly

Alcohol and the Legitimation of Power in Celtic Europe

structure and drinking practices:

those also found in the later insular Celtic texts, may
result from similarities between geographically and
When a large number dine together they sit around
temporally different groups of Celts (Nash 1976,116).
in a circle with the most influential man in the
centre, like the leader of the chorus, whether he
One such theme is that of the king's or hero's porsurpasses
the others in warlike skill or nobility of
tion at, a banquet, described as early as Phylarchus
family, or wealth. Beside him sits the host and next
(Tierney 1960,197). Another is the concept of gueston either side the others in order of distinction . . .
friendship, mentioned by Diodorus Siculus (Tierney
The drink of the wealthy classes is wine imported
1960, 250) and again by Caesar (Tierney I960, 274);
from Italy or from the territory of Marseille. This is
both accounts stress the Celtic emphasis on openunadulterated but sometimes a little water is added.
handedness and generosity as important virtues.
The lower classes drink wheaten beer prepared
Generosity as the defining characteristic of a
with honey, but most people drink it plain. It is
called corma. They use a common cup, drinking a
good chieftain or king is a common theme in both
little at a time, not more than a mouthful, but they
Classical and insular texts, also in many ethnodo
it rather frequently (Athenaeus IV 36, p. 151 Egraphically recorded societies at a chiefdom level of
152D: Tierney 1960,247).
organization. Athenaeus' account of Lavernius' banThe custom of feasting in a circle, or in several groups
quet is a good example (Tierney 1960,248). The Celtic
arranged in circles around central beverage vessels
chieftain Lavernius, pleased by the praise of a poet
and/or food cauldrons, described here in a secondat his feast, scatters gold along the plain behind his
century BC context by Poseidonius (transcribed by
chariot, and 'the poet picked it up and sang another
Athenaeus), reappears in the following passage from
song saying that the very tracks made by his chariot
the sixth-century AD Cododdim 'After wine-feast and
on the earth gave gold and largesse to mankind'
mead-feast they hastened out, men renowned in [bat(Tierney 1960,248).
tlers traits, reckless of their lives; in a shining array
Athenaeus' verbatim transcription of four of
they fed together round the wine vessel [my emphathe nine surviving extracts of Book 23 of Poseidonius'
sis], they set their hands to wine and mead and malt'
History, the recognized 'Bible' on the Celts, describes
Qackson 1969,140).
food, drink, heroic feasting and combat, and bardic
The 'common cup' mentioned in the passage
display at great length. In fact, the passage on food
from Athenaeus might explain the relatively small
and drink is the longest surviving portion of
numbers of drinking vessels compared to containers
Poseidonius' Celtic ethnography. This may reflect
(both mixing and serving vessels) in many Hallstatt
the special emphasis on food and drink in the Celtic
contexts, in particular those graves with only one
world observed by Poseidonius.
beverage container.3 There is another interesting point
The symbolic as well as functional significance
to be made here with regard to the status distinction
of feasting is documented in many ethnographic conassigned by Athenaeus to the two beverages wine
texts (Chapman 1980, 66); such sources provide adand beer. Drinking equipment in West Hallstatt buriditional preindustrial configurations for modelling
als changes from mostly ceramic in the sixth century
prehistoric social organization. The Tlingit potlatch
BC to a mix of metal and imported ceramic vessels by
is a good example of a society in which feasting acts
the fourth century BC (Kossack 1964,99; Fischer 1982,
as an institutionalized form of social regulation. As
10; 1995,37). Kossack concludes from his interpretadescribed by Kan, 'the unity and solidarity of clan
tion* of Celtic drinking behaviour as primarily relirelatives were emphasized by the obligatory sharing
gious in nature that this change is due to a change in
of property and food that characterized their relareligious practices.4 This is one possible explanation,
tionships' (1989,65-6). The status of a Tlingit aristobut the change could equally well be explained by a
crat depended on the rank and wealth of his parents
restructuring of elite status markers along the lines
(especially his mother), marriage to a person of equal
proposed by Miller (1985). He describes successive
or greater rank, the number and scale of potlatches
emulation events in which second and third tier sosponsored by his parents in his honour, and accomcial groups acquire elite status markers, thereby 'deplishments in activities which generated wealth and
valuing' them, and forcing elites to acquire new,
enabled him to give his own potlatch(es) or actively
participate in those given by his matrikin (Kan 1989, - more 'exclusive' items.
A change in what is being consumed by the
82).2
Early Iron Age elites in whose burials this equipSome of the same themes appear in the Mediment is found could have been accompanied by a
terranean sources. Athenaeus' account of a typical
change in the associated paraphernalia.5 The Italian
feast offers interesting insights into Celtic social

73

Bettina Arnold

merchants were described by Diodorus Siculus as

regarding 'the Gallic love of wine as their treasure
trove' (Diodorus Siculus: Tierney 1960, 249). There
has been considerable debate as to how extensive
the contact between West Hallstatt elites and the
Mediterranean (via Massalia/Marseille) actually was
(Bintliff 1984; Dietler 1990; Arafat & Morgan 1994,
among others). Are the drinking vessel sets of Mediterranean manufacture in West Hallstatt elite burials
trade items, diplomatic gifts, or personal booty? If
there was regular trade, how extensive was it, and
how was it organized? Perhaps equally important,
what was the primary focus of that trade? The sherds
of Attic pottery found at sites like the Heuneburg
(Germany), Mont Lassois (France) or Chatillon-surGlane (Switzerland) suggest several things: 1) the
small number and size of Attic sherds found exclusively in settlement contexts in the late Hallstatt period (and not all on hillforts: cf. Biel 1989) indicates
that the imported pottery used to serve alcoholic
beverages was curated; 2) the relative scarcity of
such imported pottery may have been artificially
maintained by elites, since breakage or inclusion in a
high status elite burial seem to have been the only
ways these vessels became part of the archaeological
record (Attic kylikes, interestingly enough, do not
appear in elite burials until the early La Tene period;
the Vix burial is right on the cusp of that transition);
3) the focus of archaeologists on imported vessels as
the primary trade item may be a case of the tail
wagging the dog. If it was wine that was moving
along the Rhone-Saone corridor and thence to the
Hallstatt centres, the picture of limited contact between the Mediterranean and the Hallstatt chiefdoms
which is currently in vogue in the British literature
(Arafat & Morgan 1994) needs to be re-examined.
Granted, the number of amphorae (the distinctive pottery vessels used to transport wine and olive
oil in the Mediterranean world) that are known from
late Hallstatt sites is fairly modest, particularly when
compared to contemporary sites in southern France
(Dietler 1989a; 1990). On the other hand, there are
ways of transporting wine, particularly overland,
which do not involve imperishable containers. Casks
or barrels of wood, or wineskins, could all have been
used in such trade. Archaeologists seem to have no
difficulty assuming that trade in perishable raw materials was going the other way (Wells 1980; 1984;
1985; Arafat & Morgan 1994, among others). We
should consider the possibility that once a group of
primary elites had established themselves, partly on
the basis of imported drinking vessel sets, the maintenance of their socio-political hegemony would have
74

been much more secure if based on a consumable

commodity which could be controlled and stockpiled for maximum effect by a limited number of
individuals.6
There may be a chronological dimension here:
the initial exchange (between 600 and 550 BC) took
the form of inter-elite distribution of imported drinking vessels, but the later movement of trade goods
may have focused more on the mutual exchange of
perishables: forest products and other resources for
wine and olive oil. Ultimately, then, contact with the
Mediterranean did not create the West Hallstatt
chiefdoms, but it seems to have offered some elites
an alcoholic beverage which could be strategically
stock-piled and distributed in a way not possible
with beer (which had to be consumed more or less
immediately) or mead (which was much more difficult to' produce, and was never available in large
enough quantities for its distribution to have been
subject to the kind of strategic manipulation possible with wine7). In short, the new alcoholic beverage
provided individuals, referred to by formalist postprocessualists as 'aggrandizers' (Clark & Blake 1994;
Hayden 1995), with the opportunity to intensify their
political influence. They were able to do this because
alcoholic beverages had been of fundamental religious significance and socio-economic importance
in west-central Europe at least since the Bronze Age.
More archaeological investigation is essential if
we are to advance any of these interpretations of
contact between the Mediterranean and the West
Hallstatt area. Very few hillfort settlements of this
period have been investigated systematically, and
only one the Heuneburg on the upper Danube
extensively, so such statements must remain hypothetical. The fact that very few elite burials have
imported metal vessel sets as extensive as those of
Hochdorf or Vix is similarly ambiguous. Looting
over the centuries has decimated high-status burials
in particular, and only a very small percentage of the
original number of such graves has been preserved.
That there is a shift in the material of which drinking
vessels were made (pottery to metal), and an increase in the number of imported vessels (indigenous to imported) is clear. The pattern is suggestive,
and seems to indicate changes in drinking behaviour
as well as in aspects of social organization in the
West Hallstatt zone,
Poseidonius (quoted by Athenaeus in the passage cited earlier) was describing the social conventions of the late La Tene Celts of southern France,
among whom the high-status consumption of wine
seems to have been a commonplace social marker.

Alcohol and the Legitimation of Power in Celtic Europe

Yet the congealed liquid preserved in the bottom of

the great bronze cauldron (also of Mediterranean
manufacture) found in the spectacular Late Hallstatt
burial of Hochdorf c. 550 BC (about 400 years before
Poseidonius' time) was mead, not wine. Several centuries later, however, wine was being served from
Etruscan bronze vessels and drunk from the imported
Attic kylikes found in early La Tene elite burials in
the north.8 In other words, the change in drinking
equipment corresponds to a change in what was
being consumed by the aristocracy as a status beverage.
We may assume a status division by Poseidonius'
day in the different kinds of alcohol and the vessels
from which they were imbibed. At the time of the
Hochdorf chieftain honeyed beer or mead could have
been the beverage reserved for elites and consumed
on special occasions, while 'plain' beer was drunk
by the rest of the population.9 When wine became
more readily available in the areas farther from the
Mediterranean sources as a result of increased trade,
it appears to have replaced mead as the elite drink of
choice.
This is not to say that mead and plain beer were
not drunk by late Hallstatt elites; it is clear from the
literature that all three beverages continued to be
consumed. Wine consumption by non-elites may,
however, have been a sumptuary restriction that did
not apply in reverse, i.e. the common folk could
drink anything but the current status beverage and
the aristocracy could drink anything they liked. Even
without such sumptuary restrictions, wine would
have been too costly for the average person to afford, and mead produced with honey was probably
not an everyday drink either. Bees were not domesticated until considerably later, so that the honey
used to produce the Hallstatt period mead was gathered from wild hives, a time-consuming and potentially dangerous activity. My suggestion is that
intoxicating beverages were probably subject to the
same rules of exclusivity as the containers they were
stored in, served in, and drunk from, and must therefore be considered an integral part of Early Iron Age
elite material culture.10
Wine never completely replaced mead or beer
in Celtic society. This is indicated by the relative
frequency with which all three beverages are mentioned in the Gododdin (which relates events c. AD
600). Mead and wine are the drinks most commonly
cited in the Gododdin, particularly mead, but bragget,
malt and ale are also mentioned (Jackson 1969,35).
Jackson discusses the role of mead in the heroic
poetry of Dark Age Britain:
75

. . . a king or chief supported at his court a 'warband' or 'retinue', a bodyguard of picked and
trained professional warriors whose special task it
was to defend him in battle with their lives, and
whose memory would be disgraced if he were killed
and they had not died fighting to save him. In
return for this professional military service, the
lord supplied them with board and lodging, weapons, presents, and the rest; and, as feasting in the
great hall was the supreme form of this, it is
summed up metaphorically as their 'mead' . . .
'Mead' is the stock metaphor, but the same idea is
sometimes expressed of other drinks (Jackson 1969,
36).
Jackson points out the similar part played by mead
in Anglo-Saxon heroic poetry, and quotes a warrior
in Beowulf: T remember the time when we used to
accept mead in the banqueting-hall, when we promised our lord who gave us these arm-rings that we
should repay him for our war-equipment if ever
straits like these befell him' (Jackson 1969, 37).
Sherratt makes essentially the same point in his description of Homeric Greece:
... access to wine and the ability to provide ostentatious feasts were important levers of political
power: the Homeric hero 'feasts at equal feasts',
forming alliances and securing the following of his
own warrior band... The dynamics of such chiefly
or aristocratic societies have parallels both in ethnographic descriptions and in the world of the
Norse sagas (Sherratt 1995,19).
I would argue that the similarities between Celtic
feasting and Homeric Greek or Norse commensality
are functionally linked to social organization, whereas
the similarities between late Hallstatt feasting and
that described in the insular literature are due to a
fundamental cognitive continuity. This continuity
can be traced through the material culture related to
feasting in the Celtic world. For example, several
Classical authors describe the equipment used by
the Celts at their banquets. Athenaeus mentions servers bearing around the drink in 'terracotta or silver
jars like spouted cups. The trenchers on which they
serve the food are also of these materials, while others they [sic] are made of bronze, or are woven or
wooden baskets' (Athenaeus IV 36, p. 151 E^152 D:
Tierney 1960, 247). The 'jars like spouted cups' described here are probably Etruscan-inspired Schnabelkannen, and although the ones found in graves are
primarily of bronze, ceramic 'spouted jars' are known
from:
Durmberg Graves 34,52,56, 71,85,103,154, Austria;
Poix Grave 41, Marne, France;

Bettina Arnold

Sien, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany (Haffner 1972);

the Hellbrunnerberg in Austria;
and the Heuneburg, Baden-Wiirttemberg, Germany.11
Bronze 'trenchers' or basins are known from most
wealthy chieftains' graves of the continental Celtic
Iron Age; for example, three large basins or serving
trays and nine plates of bronze were found in the
Hochdorf burial. Wooden or basketry vessels certainly existed, but these are rarely recovered from
Early Iron Age contexts owing to problems of preservation. Baskets have been found in a secondary
burial in the Rauher Lehen tumulus (Bittelef ah 1981,
384), in Grave 6 of the Hohmichele tumulus (Riek
1962, 92), in Kappel Grave 2 (Kimmig & Rest 1954;
Kimmig 1988,262), and in Tumulus 1 of the Geigerle
cemetery (Keefer 1977, 204-22), all in BadenWiirttemberg. A wooden bowl was found in Hundersingen Tumulus 4, Grave 23.12
The 'vats filled with expensive liquor' described
by Athenaeus in his account of 'the wealth of
Lavernius, father of Bituis, who was dethroned by
the Romans' (Athenaeus IV 37, p. 152 D-F: Tierney
I960, 248) undoubtedly resembled the huge bronze
cauldron from the Hochdorf burial (total capacity
500 litres) or the even larger Vix krater.13 Such quantities of liquor would indeed have taken even a company of hard-drinking Celts several days to consume..
Drinking horns were another important item in
the arsenal of Celtic drinking equipment. Eight of
the nine drinking horns from the Hochdorf burial
were of horn (possibly aurochs or some other species of cattle; they were too poorly preserved to say).
They were ringed with gold and bronze bands (which
is why they could be identified and recovered), and
each one held about 1.1 litres (Biel 1982a,b; 1985).
Jackson notes that the banqueters described in the
Goddodin 'drank chiefly out of horns, which are frequently mentioned' (1969, 34), although other vessels types are also used. In conclusion, the material
culture of drinking and feasting seems to have remained remarkably constant for about 1100 years in
two different parts of the Celtic world.

cal significance of drinking in Celtic society, we

would expect this pattern to be reflected in the material culture of feasting as well.14 The discussion which
follows attempts to test this theory against both the
written and the archaeological evidence.
In the Mesca Ulad, which Hennesy describes as
'the only story to be found in the existing remains of
Irish literature, the chief feature of interest in which
is based upon the result of a drunken revelry' (1889,
iv), we find the following description of Conor's
regal generosity as reflected in his feasts:
A year was the province thus, in three divisions,
until the feast of Samhain was made by Conor in
Emain-Macha. The extent of the banquet was a
hundred vats of every kind of ale. Conor's officers
said that all the nobles of Ulad would not be too
many to partake of that banquet because of its
excellence. (Hennesy 1889,3)
Fintan's banquet, described in the same poem, is
similarly lavish, and also rife with number symbolism:
The Ulidians arrived to the festive assembly, so
that there was not a man of a half-bally in Ulad that
did not come there . . . As if only a company of nine
had reached the place so were they attended.
Provisions for food and ale were poured out for
them, so that the allowance of a hundred of food
and ale reached every nine of them (Hennesy 1889,
13).

Multiples of three as a means of describing the preparations for a banquet, the quantity of food and drink
consumed, the numbers of guests, and the length of
time required to consume the provisions laid before
the company are a constant theme in the Irish and
Welsh literature. Mael Duin and his company 'sleep
an intoxication of three days and three nights' during
their visit to the lofty island (Stokes 1888, 487). At
the island of the brazen fortress they are refused
entrance twice: "Then they saw before them in the
house a couch for Mael Duin alone and a couch for
every three of his people . . . She gave a share (of
cheese) to every three' (1888, 491).15 It takes Carpre
Cathead and his fellow conspirators three half years
to prepare their feast in Morand's Fiirstenspiegel, and
they spend nine nights feasting before the visiting
Number symbolism and feasting in archaeology
noblemen are murdered (there are, naturally, three
and literature
conspirators) (Thurneysen 1929, 65). In the Mabinogi
it takes Owein three years to prepare the banquet in
'Question: How many banquets are there? Answer
honour of Arthur's arrival, and three months for his
Three; a godly banquet, a human banquet, a demon
banquet' (Senchus Mor, vol. 3, in Hennesy et al. 1865- company and Arthur's to consume it (Gantz 1976,
209). The allowance of meat and drink to officers
1901,19). Celtic society is characterized by a heavy
and attendants at the court of Ancwyn is quoted by
emphasis on number symbolism, especially multiPowell as follows: 'The Penteulu: his allowance is
ples of three. Given the ritual as well as socio-politi76

Alcohol and the Legitimation of Power in Celtic Europe

three messes and three hornfulls of the best liquor that

there shall be in the house' (1888,223).

There is no doubt that the number three and its
multiples had magico-religious significance for Celtic
peoples (Ross 1986,123); the curvilinear triskele, one
of the most common elements in late Iron Age design, is an obvious example from the decorative arts.
The triangle is its geometric counterpart in Early
Iron Age ceramics and metal work. There are numerous examples from other sources (triple-headed
deities, tripods, etc.), but it is the close association
between this number in the archaeological record
and drinking and feasting in the literature which is
intriguing. It may simply be a coincidence that the
Hochdorf chieftain had nine drinking horns hanging
on the walls of his burial chamber and nine plates
with three serving basins stacked up on his fourwheeled wagon. On the other hand, given the fact
that almost all other chieftains' graves from this period were disturbed before excavation, it is possible
that multiples of three were common in the drinking
and serving vessel sets placed in Iron Age burials of
wealthy individuals. Two other examples are the
nine plates from the elite burial of Corminboef, Switzerland (Drack 1989,77-82), and the eight small cists
and one large bucket from the elite burial of Kappel
am Rhein (Dehn 1979).
In the literature, multiples of three have both
rhetorical and symbolic significance. It may be that
in the fully equipped chieftain's burial, multiples of
three were also meant to represent a symbolic or
actual number of guests or followers. Nine men might
have been required for a quorum, or perhaps a chieftain's entourage or retinue traditionally consisted of
eight others besides himself. There is some evidence
from both the Classical sources and Celtic literature
for this:
The accounts of the invasion of Greece and the
attack on Delphi by the Gauls in Pausanias and
Justin are thought to be derived from Hieronymous
of Cardia, who was writing in the period 270-260
BC. Their main interest is historical, but a few pas- k
sages are of ethnographical interest. He describes
the Celtic battle-custom called trimarcisia in which
two servants of a mounted cavalry-man provide
him with remounts or take his place in battle.
(Tierney I960,196)

axe at a time when the axe was no longer commonly

used as an offensive weapon (Patterson pers. comm.).
Cynddilig of Aeron, one of the champions elegized
in the Gododdin, is described as follows: Tt was his
custom to attack in front of nine champions in the
presence of the battle-shout of the army, and to provoke them' (Jackson 1969,148). Another passage from
the same poem describes a fighting configuration of
three champions: 'Three lords wearing gold torques,
three bold horsemen, three battle-peers, three equal
chiefs bounding forward together; they routed the
enemy bitterly. Three in fight, in hardship, they slew
. . . easily(?)' (Jackson 1969, 123). The Briton war
chief Mynyddog reportedly led 300 picked chiefs or
'knights' into battle against the Saxon (i.e. English)
armies at Catterick/Catraeth as late as AD 600; the
total number of Mynyddog's forces might have been
anything up to three thousand (Jackson 1969, 15).16
Significantly, only the chieftains are numbered and
elegized, and the number 300 as a multiple of three
conforms to the rhetorical pattern and symbolism of
the poem. The poet was obviously concerned less
with historical accuracy than with traditionally auspicious number configurations.
The number nine is one of the most important
multiples of three in Celtic tradition; according to
Rees & Rees, 'it has been described as the northern
counterpart of the sacred seven of Near Eastern cults'
(1961,192). They argue that multiples of three men,
and nine men in particular (3 x 3), had both military
and magico-religious significance in Celtic culture:
Irish literature abounds with 'companies of nine',
and in a considerable number of cases it is made
clear that the nine consist of a leader and eight others [my emphasis]. This is strikingly illustrated in a
description of Medb's mode of travel in Tain Bo
Cuailgne (The Cattle Raid of Cooley): 'and nine
chariots with her alone; two of these chariots before her, and two behind, and two chariots at either side, and her own chariot in the middle
between them'... Nine, like five, symbolized the
whole (Rees & Rees 1961,193).

The medieval Scots mercenaries in Ireland, known

as \he galloglassf also fought in groups of three, called
a 'spar'. The galloglass fighting unit consisted of the
fighter, a groom, and a boy to cook for them. This
configuration was probably an extremely ancient one,
indicated by the galloglass preference for the battle
77

Drinking horns, often of gold, appear frequently in

the early Irish tales. One of these is the description of
St Patrick's encounter with the remnants of the Fenian
bands and their account of their wanderings in
Agallamh na Senorach, 'The Colloquy of the Ancient
Men'. Patrick says to Caeilte, 'Good Caeilte, in the
houses in which you dwelt in before our time, were
there drinking horns, or cups, or goblets of crystal
and gold?' And Caeilte answers that 'the number of
the horns that were in my lord's house was as follows twelve drinking horns and 300 made of gold

Bettina Arnold

be attended by tribesmen from these petty kingdoms also . . . Most important of all was the provincial fair, held in the neighbourhood of the chief
stronghold and attended by all the tribes of the
province; it lasted several days, and there was an
elaborate programme of public business and entertainment (Binchy 1958,124-5).

Finn had; whenever they came to the pouring out

the quantity of liquor they held was immense' (Ross
1986,17). The association of multiples of three with
drinking horns in this passage is suggestive, given
the pattern of horns from the Hochdorf burial. On
the other hand, only two gold drinking horn terminals were found in the early La Tene Kleinaspergle
burial near Stuttgart (Jacobsthal 1944, 106). Either
there were seven additional horns made of perishable material without metal decoration in this grave,
or the significance of number symbolism in drinking
equipment was not constant through time on the
Continent. Clearly caution is indicated when
analyzing such a fragmentary material record. There
is little doubt, however, that multiples of three had
particular significance in Celtic art, military configurations, and feasting customs as early as the Late
Hallstatt period. Awareness of such a pattern might
serve to stimulate reanalysis of previously excavated
material.

Binchy is describing a much more centralized and

politically stratified society than probably existed
during most of the pre-Roman Iron Age, but the
basic elements of obligation exist in any society where
patron-client relationships define social interaction.
The obligation of the chieftain to his vassal lords
is illustrated in the following passage from the
Mabinogi when Culhwch arrives at King Arthur's
court and is refused entrance by the gatekeeper, who
tells him 'Knife has gone into meat and drink into
horn, and there is a throng in Arthur's hall. Excepting the king of a lawful dominion or a craftsman
who brings his craft, no one may enter' (Gantz 1976,
139). Culhwch insists, and the gatekeeper goes to
complain to Arthur, who replies, when Kei counsels
him 'not to abandon the custom of the court for this
lad's sake': 'Not so, good Kei. We are noble men so

The role of the oenach: redistribution and

reciprocity
When he went forth in the country his praise went
before;
He poured out wine; he was a golden torque wearer.
He afforded a bright example, handsome and
gorgeous;
He was a sent offspring, a banished knight,
He led a hundred men, he was a courteous
warrior;
Only son of Kian from the transmontane country

long as others come to us, and the more gifts we distribute

the greater will be our reputation and fame and glory'

[my emphasis] (Gantz 1976,139).

The reciprocal nature of the relationship between a chieftain and his warrior nobles was subtle
but clear; his sovereignty depended on their support, and that was maintained' through a redistributive mechanism which was centred around the
'human banquet' of the Senchus Mor: 'What is the
human banquet? The banquet of each one's feasting
house to his chief according to his (the chief's) due;
to which his (the tenant's) deserts entitle him; viz., a
supper with ale, a feast without ale, a feast by day'
(Hennesy et al 1865-1901, vol. 3, 21). This type of
banquet, as distinct from the recreational 'demon
banquet'17 and its antithesis, the 'godly banquet', is
described as being 'given for earthly obligation'
(Hennesy et al 1865-1901, vol. 3, 25), 'a banquet for
which another is given in return' (Hennesy et al.
1865-1901, vol. 3,23). The distinction made between
the demon and the human banquets is important
because it indicates that any excessive consumption
of alcohol and food in large groups by 'sons of death
and bad men' (Hennesy et al 1865-1901, vol. 3, 25)
gathered for purposes of debauchery was considered taboo, i.e. an activity in which only marginal
individuals like those listed (lewd persons, satirists,
jesters, buffoons, mountebanks, outlaws, heathens,
harlots and bad people in general) would engage.

(The Gododdin ofAneurin Cwawdrydd: Powell 1888,

158; Jackson 1969,103).

The generosity expected of a model chieftain was

more than just a desirable quality; it was an obligation, part of the relationship between a man of high
status and the men who put him in a position of
authority. Binchy discusses the system of reciprocity
in pre-Christian Ireland at some length (1936; 1941;
1958; 1963).
From several statements in the laws (e.g. Crith
Gablach) it is clear that the king of each tribe was
bound to convene an oenach at regular intervals. At
such gatherings, besides the exchange of goods
and the holding of games, horse racing, and various athletic competitions, the 'public business' of
the tuath, including important lawsuits between
different kindreds and the issue of special ordinances was transacted . . . The importance of a fair
was proportionate to that of the king who presided
over it. Hence a fair held by an over-king, to whom
the rulers of several tuaths owed allegiance, might
78

Alcohol and the Legitimation of Power in Celtic Europe

The fact that these individuals are 'outside' society is significant and emphasizes the role of the
banquet or feast as a mechanism for enforcing and
maintaining social order. This passage is one of the
oldest in the Senchiis Mor, which supports the contention that although drinking behaviour as recorded in the laws has obviously been modified
by the influence of Christianity18 (the godly banquet is described as given 'for heavenly reward')
(Hennesy et ah 1865-1901, vol. 3, 25), it is clearly
an ancient institution.
The human banquet not only strengthened and
reinforced the bond between a chieftain and the warrior nobles in his retinue, it also served to rank his
followers according to their relative status within
the uppermost echelon. This practice, also described
by Athenaeus, is well illustrated in the following
passage from the Mesca Ulad:
His drinking house was afterwards arranged by
Conor according to deeds, and parts, and families;
according to grades, and arts, and customs, with a
view to the fair holding of the banquet. Distributors came to distribute, and cup bearers to deal and
door-keepers for door-keeping. Their music, and
their minstrelsy, and their harmonies were played.
Their lays, and their poesies, and their eulogies
were chanted for them; and jewels, and valuables,
and treasures were distributed to them (Hennesy
1889,13).
The function of a feast as a reaffirmation of an individual's relative ranking in the group is symbolically represented by the coire aisicain or ansirc, which
is described as follows in 'Cormac's Adventure in
the Land of Promise':
It was a cauldron of this kind that used to be of old
in every hostel of the royal hostels of Erin. And this
is why it was called coire aisic, 'cauldron of restitution', because it used to return and to deliver to
every company their suitable food... Now each in
turn was brought up to that cauldron and everyone was given a fork-thrust of it. So then his proper
portion came out to each, to wit, a thigh to a king
and to a poet, a chine for a literary sage, a shinbone
for young lords, heads for charioteers, a haunch
for queens, and every due share besides. Wherefore in that assembly his proper due fell to each
(Stokes 1891,206).19
In return for services rendered,20 the chieftain is
praised for his generosity at the end of a feast; again
the Mesca Ulad:
When they were merry, Senchas clapped his hands.
They all listened to him. 'Give ye, now, your blessing on the Prince who has protected you, who has
79

been generous to you. It is not a hand in a poor

garnered field. Plentiful are food and ale for you
with the Prince who has protected you' (Hennesy
1889,49).
And from the Gododdin, the eulogy for Eidol, son of
Ner:
Eidol was a man
Of the best conduct,
And remarkably wise...
The mead and wine were divided
By this knight of the battlefield
In small measures . . .
A minister of mead he would be,
Possessor of mead . . .
Red gold he deserves,
Renowned overwhelmed
Affluence he provided,
And shelter he rendered,
And rewards he gave for song.
Pre-eminent he was;
He gave protection
FroTn the violence of a foe
(Powell 1888, 275-9).
Here is a paragon among chieftains, the ideal leader
of men, the model ruler.
The political significance of maintaining this
balance, through the medium of feasting and giftgiving, between the chieftain and his dependents
(who could be of paramount status within their own
domains and as such were a real threat to each other
and to the chieftain to whom they were usually bound
by necessity, blood or both) is best illustrated by
instances of a breakdown in the system. Binchy discusses the frequent cases of 'hinderings' at feasts,
where various vassal groups 'fasted' against the
king/chieftain and threatened supernatural sanctions
against anyone attending the oenach in order to get
the compensation due them (1958,117).
Occasionally revolts were staged or attempts
made on the life of the most powerful individual
present at such a gathering. Coups were frequent
occurrences (Binchy 1958,119). The revolt of Carpre
Cathead and his fellow conspirators, described in
Morands Fiirstenspiegel, is a good example of such a
temporary breakdown caused by violation of the
obligatory generosity and gift-giving required of the
model chieftain:
There was great dissatisfaction among the vassal
farm tribes of Ireland during the time of the three
Irish kings . . . Great and immeasurable was the
burden of taxation and the size of the tribute and
the pressure of domination under the three kings...
The vassal farmers were discontented with the pow-

Bettina Arnold

erful servitude which oppressed them, and by the

hardship of their service . . . And this then was the
decision which they made: to organize a feast in
the house of Carpre Cathead, in the Bruiden of
Mac-da-Reo in Brefne, and to invite their overlords
to the feast there and to murder them, so that the
kingship would be with themselves. (Thurneysen
1929, 65, translated from the German).

illustrated by the three examples from the insular

literature cited above. Put more succinctly, a successful inauguration feast was a prerequisite for leadership status. In the Mabinogi, for example, Pwyll is
on the verge of celebrating his marriage to Rhiannon
when his rival Gwawl appears on the scene and
demands her and the feast. Rhiannon rescues Pwyll
by stating that while she is Pwyll's to give (and
Pwyll had promised Gwawl 'anything7 in a fit of
The mead flows freely at the banquet, and the blood
prenuptial generosity), the feast belonged to her and
as well, and by the time the slaughter is over a new
had already been promised to the assembly. Since he
ruling class has seized power. Dillon describes a
similar attempted coup in Caithreim Cellaig which cannot get the feast, i.e. the symbol of sovereignty,
Gwawl consents to wait a year-and-a-day for
ends in death for the would-be usurpers:
Rhiannon, by which time another wedding feast will
The swineherd provided food for all the company
be ready (Gantz 1976, 55-G). 22
and led Cu Choingelt to the house where the four
In societies dominated by what Lenski has called
murderers were holding a feast for their inauguration as lords of the territory. He went disguised
the 'redistributive ethic' (1966, 165), wealth can be
and ordered his men to follow. When all within
given to others to send a variety of messages. The
were drunk his men stormed the place and seized
flaw of most cultural ecological and materialist exthe four usurpers. Their followers were slain beplanations of redistributive systems (the Northwest
fore their eyes, but Cu Choingelt bade the assemCoast potlatch is a good example) is their neglect of
bled guests continue the feast, for he knew they
this multivocality (my emphasis) of the food and gift
were his friends (1946,
items which serve as a mode of communication (Kan
1989,249). One of the problems with using the later
While I would not like to make too much of this
Celtic literature from the British Isles as a source of
analogy, the evident breakdown of social order docuworking hypotheses for Early Iron Age social ormented in the archaeological record c. 400 BC in the
ganization on the Continent is its overemphasis on
West Hallstatt area (marked by the abandonment of
the heroic warrior construct at the expense of most
the 'Fiirstensitze' and Tiirstengraber' of the late
other forms of dependent relationships. In fact, drinkHallstatt period) might be due to a similar internal
21
ing, feasting and gift-giving were probably imporupheaval. Trade routes to the south were disrupted
tant means of communicating rank and status
by the shift of Greek trade from Massalia to Spina as
relationships between individuals and groups bethe main port. This also stopped the flow of feasting
yond the chieftain and his entourage. Dietler's disequipment and possibly imported alcoholic bevercussion of the work-party feast offered by elites in
ages from the Mediterranean to the West Hallstatt
exchange for labour is a good example (1990). The
region. If political stability in this area had come to
Irish legal texts also discuss this form of obligation,
be dependent on such imports (through the mechain which a client owes his aristocratic patron labour
nism of redistributive feasting along the lines of the
oenach), then internal revolt may have resulted once in the construction and maintenance of cashels and
raths, the residences of the early Irish elites.
those supplies were cut off. The secondary elites
who most likely constituted the chiefly retinues were
Blair Gibson has translated one of the passages
then in a position to challenge the ruling or primary
dealing with this form of obligation from the Senchus
elites for their failure to live up to their end of the
Mor as follows: 'Manual labor, that is, a man for all
social contract. While there probably was never a
services, to the making of his dun (the capital site of a
late Hallstatt/early La Tene Carpre Cathead leading
chieftain), or of his working party, that is the dun, or
a conspiracy to overthrow the clan chieftain on the
his hosting with him' (1990, 308). Clients and exHeuneburg hillfort, the insular literature helps us
tended kin relations23 probably made up the labour
colour in the largely monochrome picture we have
pool of these Irish Late Iron Age elites, and one of
of events on the Continent. At the very least it prothe mechanisms for gathering such a labour pool
vides a series of scenarios from a related cultural
was the work-party feast. Relationships and responcontext which may help us to understand the arsibilities of this sort are implied by the fortification
chaeological record.
systems of hillforts like the Heuneburg, and by the
impressive burial mounds characteristic of the Early
The connection between the right to assemble a
Iron Age.
company for a feast and the right to rule is clearly
80

Alcohol and the Legitimation of Power in Celtic Europe

Laith/flaith: alcohol and sovereignty

In ancient Ireland, as in ancient Wales, a weddingceremony took the form of a feast or symposium,
hence the Irish name for the ceremony, banais or
banfeiss, literally 'wife-feast'. It is likely that in pagan times the acceptance by the bridegroom of a
draught of liquor handed to him by the bride signified mutual consent to the marriage. If so, we may
suppose that this part at least of the ceremony
originated in imitation of the religious wedding
ritual performed at the inauguration of kings
(O'Rahilly 1946,15).

The distribution of alcohol as a means of maintaining kingship or sovereignty was one aspect of Celtic
* drinking practices. Alcohol also served the purpose
of establishing an insular chieftain, lord, or king
through its consumption by the new ruler at his
inauguration ceremony or banais rigi. In effect, alcohol was the vehicle by means of which divine sanction was transferred to the mortal individual being
established in a position of power. The rhyme words
laith, 'liquor' andflaith, 'lord, lord-ship', and the etymological identity of Irish/7fl/7/j/lord, lord-ship' and
Welsh gwlad, 'country' underline the fundamental
nature of this aspect of insular Celtic kingship
(Wagner 1975,11).
If alcohol was the medium or vehicle by which
kingship was passed on to each new ruler, it was
sovereignty in her role as earth goddess," embodied
in the epics by the king's wife, who was the arbiter
of this transfer of power to a new earthly vessel.
Binchy, Dillon, O'Rahilly and a host of other scholars have explored the connections between laith and
flaith and the role of the queen or earth goddess in
the inauguration ritual. O'Rahilly shows that the ancient inauguration ritual of the kings of Tara and
Connacht amounted to a symbolical mating (feis,
banfeis) with the local earth goddess (1946, 114ff.).
There are numerous examples of this connection in
the literature.
Intriguing hints of this symbolic mating are
found also in the archaeological record of the continental Iron Age. An Etruscan situla from Sanzeno is
decorated with scenes which combine fertility symbolism (men with oxen ploughing a field, a man and
a woman embracing on a couch) with drinking equipment. The man and woman are being attended/
anointed by a figure holding a dipper in one hand
and a situla in the other. Could this be a figural
representation of a banfeis in an Etruscan context?
Representations which link erotic scenes with ploughing are also found on the Nesactium and Monte81

belluno situlae (Eibner 1981, 262 & 268), indicating

the significance of this association in Etruscan symbolism. Eibner interprets the scenes as associated in
some way with fertility rites (Eibner 1981, 268), and
acknowledges the possible connection with a 'sacred
wedding' (Eibner 1981, 269 & 288 footnote 48) but
does not link these activities with the drinking equipment in the same scene, or with the fact that the
representations themselves are found on vessels used
to serve alcoholic beverages. Such situlae are occasionally found in Hallstatt contexts through trading
links between Etruria and the Hallstatt centres
(Bonfante 1981).24
Couches like those depicted in the Etruscan
'erotic' scenes also are found in high-status elite
graves in the West Hallstatt area (Fischer 1990). Was
the symbolic mating of two people (or of a male elite
individual and a female goddess or goddess-substitute), depicted on the Sanzeno situla a concept shared
by these two cultures, or did the Hallstatt elites
merely appropriate the trappings of this ritual without its content? The connections between the West
Hallstatt and Etruscan centres during the Early Iron
Age suggest the possibility that an inauguration ritual
similar to that described in the Irish literature may
have existed in both cultures. The fact that situlae
are the drinking vessels most often depicted in these
'ritual' scenes25 makes the argument for a connection
between drinking equipment and sovereignty in
Early Iron Age west central Europe even more compelling.
Several Irish tales associate drinking, women,
wells and sovereignty. A good example is the story
of Niall of the Nine Hostages and his four stepbrothers, Brian, Fichra, Aillil and Fergus. The brothers are given arms by a smith and sent hunting to
prove themselves. They come across a well, guarded
by a monstrous black hag, who will grant each
brother in turn use of the well only on condition that
he kiss her. They all refuse except Niall, whereupon
the hag turns into a beautiful woman. When Niall
asks her 'What art thou?', she replies 'King of Tara, I
am Sovereignty', and, with the water she hands him,
she gives him superiority over his brothers (Rees &
Rees 1961,73-4).26
Another example can be found in the Irish epic
the Tain. Each of Medb's husbands became King of
Ireland; she was the wife of nine of the Kings of
Ireland in succession. 'Great indeed was the power
of Medb over the men of Ireland, for she it was who
would not allow a king in Tara without his having
herself as a wife' (Rees & Rees 1961, 75). As the
Reeses so succinctly put it, 'Sovereignty is a bride,

Bettina Arnold

the server of a powerful drink, and the drink itself

(Rees & Rees 1961, 76). Medb in herself performs all
three functions, for her name means 'alcohol, the
intoxicating one'. Possession and 'consumption' of
Medb/mead are therefore required for the accession
of each new King of Tara.
Dillon, who discusses the taboos of the kings of
Ireland, interprets the inauguration ceremony as an
induction of the new chieftain into the realm of the
Otherworld: 'The king was a personification of his
people and was in some measure divine' (1951, 1).
He also presents the notion of ale or beer as the
medium of this divinity in the following passage
relating the five 'lucky things' (buada) of the king of
Leinster: 'To drink by the light of candles of pure
wax/in Dinn Rig for the famous king /Safe is the
lord of the hills by means of that /the ale of Cualu,
games at Carman' (Dillon 1951,13). For each of the
rulers of the five kingdoms, the consumption of ale
or beer is a prescription, for 'these semi-divine persons, upon whom the welfare of the people depended, had to be protected by magical devices'
(Dillon 1951, 1) and the consumption and distribution of alcoholic beverages were at once a protection
and a justification of that semi-divine status.
Ireland is frequently depicted as a goddess in
Irish thought and literature; in Baile in Scail, 'They
saw a girl seated in a chair of crystal, wearing a gold
crown. In front of her was a silver vat with corners of
gold. A vessel of gold stood beside her, and before
her was a golden cup' (Dillon 1946, 13). The Phantom, who has brought Conn and his fellows to his
mansion, offers to predict the number of Conn's offspring that will be kings of Ireland, and conjures up
the spirits of future rulers who file past the girl one
by one.
When she went to serve the ale, she asked to whom
the cup of red ale (dergflaith) should be given, and
the Phantom answered her. When he had named
every Prince from the time of Conn onwards,
Cesarn (the/i/i) wrote them down in ogam on four
staves of yew. Then the Phantom and his house
disappeared, but the vat and the vessels and the
staves remained with Conn (Dillon 1946,14).

tain, 500 litres of mead to smooth the way to sovereignty on the Other Side) may have been the equivalent of a social status passport. Similarly in Celtic
burial rites, which are rarely mentioned in the insular literature:
The Celtic chieftains were interred with all their
personal insignia and trappings, equipped as warriors, with their chariots, weapons and accoutrements necessary to the Otherworld where they
would partake, not as their reward but as their
right, of the Otherworld feast and continue an existence in no way markedly different from the one
they had known in life (Ross 1967,357).
Documentary references to the feasting equipment
itself are also of interest in interpreting the archaeological evidence on the Continent. Although cauldrons in the later literature tend to be mentioned in
association with eating (in discussions of the king's
or hero's portion, for example), there are several
descriptions of large drinking vessels. Wagner
records one such instance from the Tochmarc Emire
[The Wooing of Einer], the 'iarn-gnalae . . . the enor-

mous iron vessel out of which Conchobar and his

fellow Ulstermen used to drink' (1975,22). Drinking
vessels and the beverages served in them function as
insignia and marks of elite status in the literature.
The close relationship between kingship, divinity
and metal drinking vessels is exemplified by the
cauldron-bearing Dagda, or 'Good God', the 'Dis
Pater', 'divine ancestor god' and 'universal tribal
god' of the Celts (Ross 1986, 124). Unlike oenachs,
which appear to have combined eating and drinking
in no particular order, inauguration feasts seem to
have been largely a matter of drinking (comol);
O'Rahilly emphasizes the wording of the phrase ic ol
na fleide, literally 'drinking the feast' (1946, 14), in
this context. Ross cites a similar phrase used to describe the oenach of Tara:
The term 'Drinking the Feast of Tara' was used to
express the total feast of Tara which took place
during the sinister season of Samain, early November, the Celtic New Year. The official name of the
Assembly Hall of Tara was Tech Midchuarta, 'The
House of Mead Circling' (1986,72).
Along the same lines, Binchy sees the Scela Cano
Meic Gartnain as far more than a
mere catalogue of the ales drunk all over Ireland as
well as among the Saxons and Picts. For in every
case, the poet is referring to the figurative ale of
sovereignty which is drunk at the 'wedding-feast'
marking the inauguration of the tribal king. We are
in effect given a list of kingdoms over which the
hero of the poem has achieved dominion (1963,
xxvi).

It is as significant as the rest of the allegory that the

drinking equipment from which the ale of sovereignty is offered to Conn's successors by the personification of Ireland remains with him as a symbol
of his right to rule. This passage has interesting implications when considered in the light of the vessels
from the Hochdorf burial and other Iron Age chieftains' graves. Possession of the equipment necessary
for feasting (and in the case of the Hochdorf chief82

Alcohol and the Legitimation of Power in Celtic Europe

Binchy also makes a point of the ciiirm chualand, 'the

drinking horns of Chualand which are a symbol of
sovereignty over the province' (Binchy 1963, 462).
This has implications for the interpretation of the
nine drinking horns of the Hochdorf burial as well
as those found in other Iron Age chieftains' graves.
Drinking horns as symbols of sovereignty are a
particularly good example of the continuity and conservatism through time and space of Celtic drinking
practices and associated equipment. The Kavanagh
Charter Horn, for example, exhibited in Ireland and
Germany as an outstanding piece of Celtic metal
work, was still the basis of the Kavanagh family's
claim to direct descent from the royal house of
Leinster as late as the fifteenth century AD (Irische
Kunst aus dfei Jahrtansenden 1983,185). The horn is of

^ ivory with a brass mouthpiece and terminal, and its

stand is formed by a brass band supported on two
brass legs ending in webbed duck's feet. This whimsical design concept is common in Celtic metal work.27
Drinking horns as status objects in exchange and
trade were important in early medieval Ireland:
That some of the gift objects are not merely luxuries, but also symbols of authority can be seen in the
frequent references to horns in poetry as a symbol of
kingship (my emphasis). They are also depicted on
the high crosses, particularly clearly on the Cross
of Scripture at Clonmacnoise (Doherty 1981,74).
In the epics (for example, Medb and Aillil in the
Tain), and in symbolic form in a chieftain's inauguration ceremony as documented in the Laws, it is
through marriage that sovereignty is transmitted. In
each case the arbiter of kingship is female. This suggests several possible interpretations. Some scholars
argue that prehistoric Celtic society was matrilineal
(Pauli 1972,115-33). While this may have been the
case at certain times and in certain regions, generalizations are obviously not possible. Interesting hints
in the literature and in the archaeological record do,
however, support Pauli's hypothesis. Gantz discusses
this issue in reference to the cycle of Welsh tales
known as the Mabinogi: "The stress on sisters' sons in
the northern branches of the Mabinogi Beli,
Penarddun, and Bran; Bran, Branwen, and Gwern;
Math, Don, and Gwydyon; Gwydyon, Arianrhod,
and Lieu suggest a system of matrilinear descent'
(1976,225).28 Strabo may be hinting at such a system
also when he reports 'Their practice in regard to
male and female, of distributing their tasks in a way
opposite to our custom, is one which is common to
many other barbarian peoples' (Tierney 1960,269).
This disdain of different customs extended to
'barbarian' commensality as well. Feasting in the
83

Greek world was essentially an all-male activity. The

fact that the Etruscans and Romans allowed their
wives and daughters to participate in such gatherings was considered a manifestation of their 'lack of
culture and immorality' (Murray 1990,6). Similarly,
Cooper and Morris describe a case from Classical
Greece in which 'a witness testifying to the appearance of a woman at a symposion helps eliminate her
claim to citizenship' (1990, 80). The elite early La
Tene female burials from the Rhineland, which contain elaborate sets of drinking vessels as well as gold
ornament and other markers of extraordinarily high
status, seem to suggest that women were not only
participating in such feasting in the Celtic world;
they may in some cases have been able to host them
in their own right. Although the West Hallstatt elites
made use of both Greek and Etruscan imports in the
distribution and consumption of alcoholic beverages,
they seem to have followed the Etruscan rather than
the Greek practice of mixed gender feasts (Arnold
)
Wagner comments on 'the female aspect of lordship' in which 'in Celtic tradition the inauguration
of the king is symbolized by the offering of intoxicating liquor by the queen to her chosen king' (1975,
11). He quotes the Yellow Book of Lecan: 'Medb took
the kingship of Connaught and adopted [my emphasis] Aillil into lordship and it is in Inis Clothrann
that she consumed the laws of Connaught' (Wagner
1975,12). This sort of arrangement, although clearly
symbolic rather than historical in this context, has
implications for the interpretation of high-status elite
burials such as the Vix grave (Arnold 1991; 1996).
The Mesca Ulad provides us with the following
account of such an inauguration banquet:
At this time a conversation occurred between
Cuchulaind and Emer. 'Methinks', said Emer,
'Conor is now arch-king of Ulad'. 'Not sad, though
it were so', said Cuchulaind. 'It is time to prepare
his banquet of sovereignty for him now', said Emer,
'because he is a king forever'. 'Let it be made,
then', said Cuchulaind. The banquet was prepared;
and there were 100 vats of every kind of ale in it.
(Hennesy 1889,9)
O'Rahilly in his turn refers us to the Tochmarc Emire
'where there is mention of the banais rigi made by
Lug on his succeeding to the kingship after the death
of Nuada' (1946,14). He also discusses the ceremony
in which Petta (or Gyptis) is espoused in the legend
of the founding of Massalia, viz. by her proffering a
bowl of liquor to the man of her choice at the wedding feast (O'Rahilly 1946,15). Dillon describes such
a fled baindsi in Fled Duin Na Nged: 'The King (Domnall

Bettina Arnold

under certain circumstances be paramount... Since

the various sheet metal objects functioned as grave
goods, it can at the very least be claimed that the
images of combat and funeral feasting were produced in honour of the deceased (1964, 99, translated from the German).

son of Aed) went home and prepared a feast for his

inauguration. The kings of the provinces were bidden to that feast, with their petty chiefs and lords
and soldiers and artists ordinary and extraordinary'
(Dillon 1946,59-60).

I would remark, first, that the belt plates and mirrors

with feasting, games and other figural scenes depicted on them are not found outside the area mentioned, and second, that the few metal vessels of
indigenous manufacture with figural ornamentation
in the West Hallstatt province are most often found
in hoards, bogs, or as votive deposits in rivers, and
seldom in burials as grave goods. The vessels decorated with figural ornament in the West Hallstatt
area seem to have served a different purpose, quite
possibly purely ritual, from the East Alpine objects
described by Kossack, and should be considered
separately from the standard drinking equipment
found in West Hallstatt burials. The same is true in
Britain:

The archaeological evidence: conclusions

What inferences can be drawn about prehistoric
drinking behaviour from the connections between
the consumption of alcohol, feasting, and kingship
in historic Celtic cultural contexts? Binchy provides
a starting point when he states "There seems no reason to doubt that all kings in Ireland, great and
small, were "dedicated" by a ceremony of this kind,
though the details may have varied from tribe to
tribe' (1958,135). As I have attempted to show in the
foregoing discussion, many of the integral aspects of
insular drinking and feasting behaviour can be identified in continental Celtic cultures at least as early
as the Late Hallstatt period.
Bronze buckets and iron cauldrons are found in
many of the wealthy graves of the Early and Late
Iron Age together with assorted drinking paraphernalia (Spindler 1983, 214-15). It is strange therefore
that no attempt has been made to formulate a social
and functional interpretation of this group of objects. Hawkes & Smith's treatise (1957) on Bronze
and Iron Age cauldrons and buckets, for example,
does not discuss drinking behaviour itself or its possible social functions or significance. While the article is useful as a compendium or inventory of bronze
vessels from the British Isles, it does not deal with
the issue of their use or the nature of their role in
Celtic society. The early buckets and cauldrons (the
Marlborough vat and the Aylesford bucket, both
manufactured c. 50 BC, are good examples) were
manufactured on the Continent (Hawkes & Smith
1957,147); the fact that they may have been used, as
imports, in indigenous drinking ritual suggests strong
cross-Channel connections at least with regard to
the consumption of alcoholic beverages.
Kossack's study of drinking equipment focuses
only on what he perceives to be the ritual aspects of
drinking behaviour illustrated in the situla art of the
North Italian and East Alpine areas. Kossack concludes that the scenes depicted on the situlae, belt
plates and mirrors of this Hallstatt zone do not represent 'profane' activities, but rather have a concomitant spiritual significance which is paramount:

Other objects of a cult nature or significance have

been recovered from wells, and are suggestive of
offerings made in water, such as, for example, the
cauldrons and metalwork objects found at
Carlingwark, Eckford, and Blackburn Mill in Scotland and the pony cap and horns found at Torrs in
Kirkcudbright (Ross 1967,31).

The role of wells, springs and all other sources of

ground water (including lakes and rivers) as entrances into the Otherworld is discussed in detail by
Wagner, who mentions the segais 'out of which the
Irish poets (filid) drink their science' (1975, 2); he
explains that 'what is meant here is probably not the
sea but the bottom of the fresh water under the earth
from which creation and fertility derive . . . That
poets should seek the substance of their science in
the same place is not unnatural' (Wagner 1975,3).
The archaeological correlates, both in Britain
and on the continent, are the enigmatic Viereckschanzen, rectangular enclosures of varying size, with
earthwork ramparts surrounding one or more deep
shafts or wells sunk into the earth. These shafts,
some over 40 metres deep (Cunliffe 1979, 92), often
contain objects of wood, ceramic and other materials
which may represent votive offerings. Liquid and
solid food may also have been offered at these places.
These enclosures are generally dated to the Late La
Tene period, but recent more systematic excavations
have uncovered earlier wooden structures beneath
the La Tene earthworks (Schwarz 1975; Schiek 1977,
42-3; Planck 1985; Krause & Wieland 1993; Murray
1996; among others). Furthermore, many of the Con-

It is common knowledge that in ancient times the

transcendental element played a role especially at
the banquet, indeed, its role in this context could
84

Alcohol and the Legitimation of Power in Celtic Europe

tinental enclosures are located near Late Hallstatt

tumulus cemeteries, seeming to indicate some continuity with earlier periods. While no metal drinking
vessels have been found in these shafts, there may
well be a thematic connection between sources of
water as wells of inspiration and fertility and earthly
vessels of liquor serving the same purpose.
The fact that Viereckschanzen frequently appear
within a few kilometres of one another has also puzzled researchers, who have tended to interpret them
as territorial markers. If this interpretation is correct,
some of the territories thus marked would have been
very small indeed. If, however, they were intended
to act as monumental Vessels' (complete with well
shafts linking the participants to the Otherworld) for
"the inauguration ritual of a new chieftain, and subsequently served as meeting places for gatherings
like the Irish oenach, then their frequent close proximity is less problematic. We should perhaps consider insular models again here, especially given the
changes brought about on the Continent in the course
of the Late Iron Age, first by the Romans, and later
by the in-migration of Germanic peoples. Irish Celtic
society, for example, was a fluid and shifting affair,
with clans within tuaths rising to prominence and
themselves being replaced by other clans over the
decades. Some of these power shifts occurred within
a single generation (Byrne 1971; Patterson 1994; 1995).
Scottish chiefdoms before 1745 seem also to have
been significantly dependent on the circulation of
alcoholic beverages and other commodities within a
complex system of fluidly structured clans whose
fortunes and preeminence were fickle and subject to
challenge (Dodgshon 1995). If Viereckschanzen were
associated with inauguration rituals, and were in
fact initially constructed to act as the site of a new
clan chieftain's inauguration, then landscapes which
today preserve evidence of several such enclosures
could be interpreted as socio-politically contested
space (Murray 1996).
The fact that Viereckschanzen appear at a time
when the archaeological evidence for lineage monuments in the form of large burial mounds is no longer
found suggests that these two categories of monument may have played similar symbolic roles within
Celtic social systems. Bradley has discussed the mutually exclusive nature of symbolic behaviours in
prehistoric Europe (votive deposits vs. elaborate disposal of the dead in mounds, for example) (1984;
1985). The mutual exclusivity of burial mounds and
Viereckschanzen and the frequent proximity of
Viereckschanzen to tumulus groups of the Hallstatt
period support the idea that the Viereckschanzen also
85

represent lineage monuments, as the site of clan chieftain inaugurations. The consumption of food and
drink at such inauguration rituals and subsequent
community festivals can also be assumed, although
at present the archaeological evidence for such activity is relatively scanty.
The link between drinking equipment in Iron
Age burials and the relative position of the individual in society is also important. One of Kossack's
basic assumptions is that the inclusion of drinking
equipment in an otherwise average wealthy grave is
an indication of the special status of the individual
thus interred:
Of course not every male grave of the early Hallstatt
period outfitted with a sword, horse trappings and
a four-wheeled wagon included such a drinking
vessel assemblage. But where this is the case, such
a grave good set imbues a grave with extraordinary importance. In these cases one must assume
that a form of social distinction is being represented, and that such warriors belonged to a group
which was not only united by a common conception of 'knightly' existence, but also shared a special drinking ritual across significant geographic
distances (1964,103, translated from the German).

Certain symbols of power and authority remained

constant through both space and time in the Celtic
world. Four-wheeled wagons in the Hallstatt period, two-wheeled chariots in the later La Tene period and beyond, are a good example of how the
form of a status object might change while maintaining its essential significance, in this case that of a
wheeled vehicle. A passage from Morands Fiirstenspiegel lists three of these symbols of power and
authority in its description of the noblemen slain by
the peasant uprising: 'Noble was yonder brood of
boars. It was a herd of steers of good breeding, a
herd of boars fed on rich acorn mast, it was the
fittings of a noble wagon' (Thurneysen 1929,66, translated from the German).
The wagon or chariot as a status symbol has
already been discussed; it was probably derived from
Near Eastern prototypes. The significance of the wild
boar (Eber) as a symbol of power, virility and nobility is well documented in the archaeological record
of the Hallstatt period; boars' tusks, either real or
carved of other substances, are frequently found in
burials as grave goods (Pauli 1975). The boar is invoked as a symbol of bravery and courage five times
in descriptions of battle prowess in the Gododdin
(Jackson 1969,100,102,129,133 & 143). In four out of
the five instances it is specifically described as a wild
boar. It is likely that the qualities attributed to the

Bettina Arnold

wild boar ferocity, cunning, swiftness and endurance were somehow thought to be transferable
through the tusks (and possibly other perishable body
parts such as the tail or the hide) to the individual in
the burial. Such objects were probably worn during
life also, for the amuletic qualities mentioned.
Bulls or oxen are similarly important design
motifs (Wells 1981,137), in part also because of their
economic significance. In the Irish epics the bull symbolized leadership and sexual preeminence. This is
well illustrated in the Tain by the defection of the
bull Finnbennach to King Aillil's herd, 'refusing to
be led by a woman' (Kinsella 1985, 55) i.e. Queen
Medb. Bulls are referred to seven times in the
Gododdin (Jackson 1969,107, 111, 129,132,136,145 &
154). Bulls and wild boars are the most frequently
invoked animals in the poem; other animals which
appear in descriptions of heroes are lions, bears,
wolves, stags, oxen, serpents, eagles, hawks and dragons (Jackson 1969, 41). Unlike boar/pig, however,
cuts of beef are rarely found in burials, although
faunal analysis from settlements shows cattle were
clearly the most important source of meat in Early
Iron Age diet (von den Driesch & Boessneck 1989,
140). The apparent avoidance of beef in Early Iron
Age mortuary contexts in the West Hallstatt area
might repay closer examination, considering its significant representation in contemporary settlement
contexts.
Celtic drinking behaviour and equipment can
be linked to the Etruscans and the Greek colonies of
the Mediterranean coast during the Hallstatt period,
and to the Roman world during the La Tene period.
The Greek symposium has occasionally been cited as
the inspiration for Celtic import of Mediterranean
wines from 600 BC, but Etruscan influence seems
better supported by the archaeological evidence.
Pasquier discusses the role of women in drinking
behaviour in those cultures with whom the Celts of
west central Europe had contact. He bases his arguments mainly on depictions of women and drinking
practices in Greek and Etruscan art, and notes the
absence of women as active participants in Greek
feasting scenes (Pasquier 1988, 329). When women
do appear in Greek drinking and feasting scenes,
they appear in the passive role of servers. Etruscan
art, on the other hand, depicts women as active participants in the drinking and feasting activity, apparently equal to men in rank and status. Pallottino
notes that
in Etruria woman's place in society was remarkably high, and certainly quite different from that of
Greek women. The fact that women took part with
86

men in banquets, far from being a sign of dissolution as maliciously stated by many Greek writers, astonished and scandalized at a custom quite
foreign to the Greeks of Classical times is a mark
of social equality (1975,137).
Pasquier regards this as evidence of a close affinity

between Celtic and Etruscan drinking practices, and

notes that a burial like that at Vix would have been
impossible in a contemporary Greek context (1988,
330). This suggests that although the Celts imported
Greek drinking paraphernalia and wine, their drinking practices varied significantly from those of their
Greek contemporaries, and may have been more directly influenced by contact with the Etruscans (1988,
330-31). The Greek symposium seems to have had
very little or no influence on indigenous Celtic drinking practices; in fact, Mediterranean writers make a
point of their peculiarity. Diodorus, for example,
singles out the Celtic practice of drinking wine neat,
rather than mixed with water in the Greek fashion,
and only some of the equipment required for the
Greek symposium seems to have been used in Celtic
drinking (Dietler 1990,381-3).79
The archaeological record itself provides us with
some useful evidence in this discussion. The drinking equipment of the Hochdorf burial, for example,
invites comparison in several regards with the role
of alcohol consumption we have shown in Celtic
society. The model chieftain is supposed to be lavish
not only in his distribution of liquor, but in his consumption of it as well. Wagner describes Aillil as
follows: 'It is the king of whom we are told that he
spends a third of the day oc ol chorma, "drinking
cuirm'" (1975, 12). The Hochdorf chieftain is certainly represented as a great drinker in his burial
chamber, for his personal drinking horn, of iron with
gold and bronze bands, hung over his head on the
wall of the chamber and had a capacity of 5.5 litres,
five times that of the eight companion horns which
hung on the south wall and 'only' held 1.1 litres
each. The 500 litre bronze cauldron would have been
the focus of every gathering convened by this individual; the patches and repairs in evidence on all of
the serving equipment including the cauldron (Biel
1985, 94) indicate that these gatherings were frequent and probably fairly boisterous affairs.
It is also significant that no food remains were
found in the burial; only the mead residue in the
cauldron represented the Otherworld feast. According to Biel, no remains of food are known from the
other Fiirstengrtiber with drinking equipment (1985,
94).30 It seems that the concept of 'drinking the feast',
i.e. an emphasis on the consumption of large quanti-

Alcohol and the Legitimation of Power in Celtic Europe

ties of alcoholic beverages with food a necessary but

subordinate accompaniment, applied in Early Iron
Age times as well, at least in contexts such as the
Otherworld feast. This makes it probable that the
mead in the cauldron was intended as one more in
the array of status markers in the burial, some of
which were actually produced on the spot after the
chieftain's death (Biel 1985). The absence of recoverable food remains in the Hochdorf grave (though
implements for processing large cuts of meat were
included), together with the presence of a quantity
of mead, which must have represented a small fortune in the Early Iron Age world of the Hochdorf
chieftain, strengthens the link between alcohol consumption, rather than feasting more generally, and
"sovereignty in this sixth-century BC context.
The cauldron contained large quantities of
beeswax (88 g) and pollen in high concentrations.
This suggests that the mead was not ready to drink
at the time of the mortuary ceremony but was intended to settle and ferment after burial. According
to the results of the pollen analysis, the quantity of
mead in the cauldron would have required a year to
ferment sufficiently to be consumed (Korber-Grohne
1985,121-2), so it follows that it was not meant to be
drunk by the dead man in the Otherworld until that
period of time had passed. The emphasis on 'a year
and a day' as the time required to prepare a feast in
the Celtic literature (Patterson pers. comm.) may shed
some light on the significance of the unfermented
mead buried with the Hochdorf chieftain. Perhaps
this was the length of time required for the preparation of an 'inaugural' feast in the Otherworld. It is
also possible that some form of feast in the world of
the living was timed by the survivors to coincide
with the arrival and/or inaugural feast of the deceased in the Otherworld. One year after death was
considered the ideal time for a Tlingit potlatch (Kan
1989, 182), for example, since it would take the deceased that long to find his or her way to the
Otherworld village.
The mood-altering nature of alcoholic beverages themselves also must be considered. Alcohol
temporarily transports the drinker beyond normal
restraints, which probably explains the Celtic practice of drinking before battle. In the Gododdin, for
example, Medel 'drank transparent wine/Designing to excel in fight' (Powell 1888,181) and the son of
Nwython is described as 'a mead-fed hero with a
large heart' (Powell 1888, 349). Inspiring when imbibed in moderation, destructive when over-indulged
in, alcohol as such must have been imbued with special qualities, and it is therefore no surprise to find
87

the vessels used to serve it in ritual contexts in lakes,

rivers, wells and springs as well as burials.
Wagner briefly discusses the magical nature of
alcohol, specifically whiskey: 'As a matter of fact
uisce beatha could be a taboo word, because it has
been pointed out by O hEochaidh that 'they used to
call poteen and the instruments connected with
poteen-making by <hidden> terms' (1975, 23). It is
unfortunate that we know so little about the actual
production of alcoholic beverages during the European Iron Age, for it would be interesting to discover if a respect, perhaps even fear, was associated
with the production of alcohol similar to that often
ethnographically documented for the profession of
iron working. Both processes involve a change in the
nature, or 'magical' transformation, of an essential
element: in the one instance fire and iron ore, in the
other water and grain, grapes or honey. The production of alcoholic beverages may also have had implications for the construction of gender in European
Iron Age societies. If beermaking was traditionally a
female occupation (and there is documentary evidence to suggest this) the production of alcoholic
beverages should be viewed as a female parallel to
the male transformative magic of the smith.31
This discussion has identified three primary
functions of the drinking cult, existing in a mutually
supportive network: 1) alcohol in its ideo-political
manifestation as the vehicle of kingship in the inauguration ceremony of the chief or king; 2) alcohol in
its socio-political manifestation as the means of maintaining the chiefly prerogatives through feasting and
the distribution of liquor among the warrior elites
and clients as an incentive and reward for service;
3) alcohol in its ideological manifestation as an
emblem of sovereignty in the complex of status
markers meant to accompany a chieftain into the
Otherworld.
The multiple signification of drinking and feasting equipment and its socio-political function in
Tlingit society may provide a parallel here:
The exchange of potlatch food and gifts was a rich
and complex system of communication, in which
material objects carried metamessages about eschatology, power, and rank as well as success in
subsistence activities, trade, warfare, and key cultural values and structural principles. Using the
artifacts circulating in the potlatch system, the participants negotiated their social and power relations as well as expressed their feelings and
attitudes towards each other. (Kan 1989,209)
Celtic drinking and feasting customs may have
served similar ends, both in prehistoric and early

Bettina Arnold

historic times, as the material record and the literature attest. The sharing of food and drink has deep
social and often religious significance in many cultures, serving as a social lubricant while simultaneously communicating messages of membership and
exclusion. This was particularly true in Celtic society, where communal feasting served to rank individuals in relation to one another while confirming
and strengthening existing relationships of dependence and dominance.
The hypotheses presented here suggest interesting avenues for further research. Drinking equipment is not found in every wealthy Iron Age burial.
It follows that this artefact complex must have particular significance beyond the obvious display of
wealth.32 This discussion has presented evidence for
a connection between Celtic drinking and feasting
equipment and sovereignty or political control over
others. Up to now the term 'chieftain's grave' or
Filrstengrab has been indiscriminately applied to any
Iron Age grave in Western Europe with an above
average accumulation of 'luxury' grave goods. The
arguments developed here show that this term should
be applied only to those burials which contain a full
range of drinking and feasting equipment, including
an especially large metal storage vessel, in addition
to the usual trappings of a wealthy Iron Age individual. The next step would be to examine the regional and temporal distributions of burials of this
description to determine 1) whether the hypothesis
is supported by the archaeological evidence available, and 2) if so, what this might tell us about territorial boundaries and the size and organization of
population groups in the Early Iron Age. By the end
of the early La Tene period these sets of drinking
vessels disappear, together with the Fiirstengrtiber
(Biel 1985,95). There is good evidence that this time
saw a breakdown of the existing social order, and it
is not surprising that the balance between the chieftain and his warrior elites maintained through drinking ritual should temporarily vanish from the
archaeological record. That it did not disappear permanently is evidenced by the importance of that
same institution in the maintenance of insular Celtic
kingship in the later literature.

3. The serving vessels are made of pottery or metal,

which certainly contributes to their archaeological
over-representation. Drinking vessels made of perishable materials such as wood or horn would be less
likely to survive.
4. Kossack's religious interpretation of Hallstatt iconography has been contested by Alexandrine Eibner
(1981), whose discussion of the symbolism on situlae
is more convincing than the comparison with the
Tammuz festival proposed by Kossack. I would like
to thank one of the anonymous reviewers for bringing this point to my attention.
5. In India, Srinivas (1966,14-16) cites examples of low
castes being punished for appropriating object assemblages considered the exclusive property of upper
castes, including a provision prohibiting the use of
metal as compared to ceramic vessels. Achaemenid Persians considered it a disgrace to be made to drink
from an earthenware cup rather than one of precious
metal (my thanks go to one of the anonymous reviewers for this observation). Miller adds that not surprisingly, the symbolic associations of food and water
have been extended to the vessels which are used for
them, a second field of reference being derived from
the material from which the vessels are made (1982,
92-3). The question of which first came to be proscribed by sumptuary regulations in the Early Iron
Age, the food and drink served in the vessels found in
elite graves or the vessels themselves, will probably
never be answered. By the late Hallstatt period at
least it is likely that both the vessels and the consumables served in them were governed by such regulations. The shifting of medium from a common
resource, such as pottery, to a comparatively rare resource, such as metal, may have helped to preserve
the contrast between elites and non-elites through
their differential access to wealth and power (Miller
1982, 97).
6. Sherratt also makes this point: 'Much of the traffic of
prehistoric times must have involved organic substances (even though these are less prominent in the
archaeological record than durable items like stone
axes or bronze ornaments); and the wine trade was
undoubtedly a mainstay of the ancient Mediterranean
economy in Greek and Roman times' (1995,8).
7. See Sherratt on this subject: 'Although valuable as a
sugar supplement, honey is unlikely to have been
sufficiently plentiful [during the European Bronze
AgeJ to sustain an alcoholic tradition on its own . . .
Mead was an expensive, elite drink' (1995,25).
8. Residue analyses of bronze vessel contents have confirmed this (Kimmig 1988).
Notes
9. This is conjecture, but it is conjecture based on abundant ethnographic evidence. Most societies that en1. Enright's recent study, Lady with a Mead Cup, is an
gage
in social drinking differentiate between alcoholic
exception, but he focuses primarily on the Late Iron
beverages consumed on an everyday basis and those
Age and later periods, and the discussion of archaeoproduced for ritual purposes. The Matis of western
logical evidence is the weakest part of the book (1996).
Brazil, for example, brew several different types of
2. Note the key role played by feasting in establishing
beer from a variety of starchy crops, such as sweet
and maintaining status in this society.
88

Alcohol and the Legitimation of Power in Celtic Europe

10.

11.

12.

13.

manioc roots or peach palms. While everyday beers

made from staples are very important, the brand of
beer the Matis endow with the most significance is
corn beer. Corn is a seasonal crop, and corn and corn
beer provide an opportunity for festivities and initiation rites such as the tattooing ritual (Erikson 1990). In
some societies, different types of alcoholic beverages
are associated with particular social classes rather than
with different types of social activities. An example of
such sumptuary classification of alcoholic beverages
is documented in India during the Vedic period, where
each of the four varnas was assigned its 'proper' beverage (Goody 1982,115; Dietler 1990,365). The importance assigned to drinking in late Hallstatt society is
documented by the prevalence of drinking equipment
in the burial record. Dietler has argued very persuasively for the pan-regional importance of social drinking during this period, and the association between
imported wine, wine drinking vessels and the Early
Iron Age elite seems to indicate that sumptuary restrictions based on social rank and /or status were in
operation (Dietler 1990,384-6).
This seems to have been particularly true for alcoholic
beverages and other psychoactive substances, as
Sherratt has indicated: 'Substances causing marked
behavioural alteration, including some loss of physical control, may be powerful symbols of access to
esoteric knowledge and communication with other
worlds. Such qualities may be attractive for individuals in small communities or in societies where political power is in the process of formation' (1995, 16).
This certainly seems to describe the West Hallstatt
area during the sixth century BC.
This is an example of 'dissembling', or skeuomorphism,
the practice of attempting to reproduce an object typically made of some valuable resource in a material
which is less valuable and more readily available.
Renfrew refers to this in his discussion of 'value' in
prehistoric society as represented in the material
record, and the pitfalls of projecting modern values
into the past. Renfrew considers 'dissembling' one of
the few dependable indicators of 'value' in prehistoric contexts (1986,149). The gold applique's on some
of the objects in the Hochdorf grave were cited as an
example; ceramic versions of metal drinking and feasting vessels are another.
Wooden drinking vessels, especially cups, are also
mentioned in the Celtic literature. The Gorchan of
Tudfwlch refers to 'the bitter alder cup as well as the
spiral drinking-horns' (Jackson 1969,35 & 153).
It has been pointed out that the relatively thin sheet
bronze walls of the Vix krater could not have sustained the pressure exerted by its contents when full,
and that it was probably used primarily as a showpiece (Fischer 1982, 46). Even if the krater had been
fully functional, the logistics of serving a beverage
from its depths would have proved complicated. In
fact, unlike the Hochdorf cauldron, which contained
mead when placed in the burial, the Vix krater con-

89

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

tained the bones of a skunk and several other small

mammals (Bouloumie" 1988, 378). The large bronze
basin also found in this burial may have been the
vessel actually used to dispense alcoholic beverages.
As Sherratt has pointed out, 'Food is not simply a
system of alimentation . . . but also a system of nonverbal communication; and its syntax can be illuminated by the kinds of structural analysis that have
been applied to mythology and visual art' (1995,1112).
References to couches used in feasting are interesting
in view of the metal kline from the Hochdorf burial
and the furniture intaglios from numerous other highstatus elite burials of Early Iron Age date. Jackson
describes a typical feasting hall in the Gododdin as
follows: 'Good living in the way of feasting and drinking was constantly referred to, particularly with reference to the year-long feast of Mynyddog before
Catraeth. The scene, and the centre of life in the kingly
household, is the great hall . . . The place of honour
here was "at the end of the couch"'. The scene was
one of some richness; '[reclining] on his cushions,
Blaen used to dispense the drinking horn in his luxurious palace . . . he led us up to the bright fire and to
the reclining [seat covered with] white fleece' (1969,
34). A metal couch (imdae) is even mentioned in the
Tain bo Flidaise (Mallory 1986, 35). This is important,
for it implies that such couches were not manufactured exclusively for funerary purposes, but may have
been used in drinking and feasting during the life of
the individual. The description is accurate even with
respect to the cushions and the furs found lining the
Hochdorf couch (Biel 1985,148; Korber-Grohne 1985,
117-21).
Jackson translates the relevant verse as follows: 'The
men went to Catraeth, they were famous; wine and
mead from golden vessels was their drink for a year,
according to the honorable custom; three men and
three score and three hundred wearing gold torques.
Of those that hastened forth after the choice drink
none escaped but three, through feats of combat; the
two battle-hounds of Aeron and Cynon the stubborn
and I, with my blood streaming down, for the sake of
my brilliant poetry' (1969,125).
Although I am assuming here that the 'demon banquet' described was primarily secular and recreational
in nature, the obvious polarity established between it
and the 'godly banquet' hints at a darker past. Originally the 'demon banquet' may well have involved
sacrifice to pre-Christian deities (Patterson pers.
comm.).
Transformations of Celtic culture in the British Isles
under the influence of Christianity certainly occurred,
but varied in degree depending on the history of the
region and the aspect of social practice affected.
Change can be documented in gender roles, for example, and to some extent this overlaps with drinking
and feasting practices (Arnold 1991; 1996,159-65).
The following passage from the Gododdin describes

Bettina Arnold

the right of the most courageous warrior to the hero's

portion at the banquet: 'When my comrade was struck,
he struck others, there was no insult he would put up
with. Steady in guarding the ford, he was glad when
he bore off the honoured portion in the palace' (Jackson
1969,105). Athenaeus quotes Poseidonius on the same
subject as follows: 'And in former times, he says, when
the hindquarters were served up the bravest hero
took the thigh piece, and if another man claimed it
they stood up and fought in single combat to the
death' (Athenaeus IV 40, p. 154 A-C: Tierney 1960,
247).
20. The reciprocity of the relationship is expressed particularly directly in the following passage from the
Gododdin: 'The men hastened forth, they were bounding forwards together, short-lived they were, drunk
over the clarified mead, the retinue of Mynyddog,
famous in [battlej-straits; their lives were payment for
their feast of mead' (Jackson 1969,129).
21. This has in fact been suggested by some researchers
(Fischer 1982,72).
22. I would like to thank Nerys Patterson for drawing my
attention to this very significant passage.
23. The derbfine, the male descendants of a common greatgrandfather, was the basic Irish late Iron Age corporate kin unit (Gibson 1990,309).
24. The association between drinking and copulation as
part of an inaugural feast suggests a parallel transfer
of fluids rather than just a statistical coincidence;
thanks go to an anonymous reviewer for this observation.
25. Figural representations of the sort found on the situlae
described above are also found on other vessels and
objects, but less frequently. Cists, lids and 'double
conical vases' are sometimes decorated with such
scenes, which are occasionally found on belt plates
and mirrors also (Eibner 1981,286 footnote 2).
26. I would like to thank James L. Hodge for pointing out
the significance of this passage to the discussion of
alcohol and sovereignty in pre-Christian Ireland.
27. See for example the four bronze human legs and feet
which serve as supports for the bronze canteen from
Durrnberg Grave 44/2 (Pauli 1980,227-8).
28. Note that evidence for matrilineal succession in the
Laws is restricted to the south of Wales, where the
legal rights of women seem to have differed from
those in the North (Rees & Rees 1961,180-81).
29. Many Iron Age researchers would dispute this. Frey,
for example, believes that the Celtic peoples of Early
Iron Age west-central Europe imported both Mediterranean drinking vessels and their 'Speisegewohnheiten' and incorporated them in their burial ritual
(1989,299). I disagree, primarily because there is good
evidence of continuity in drinking and feasting practices and equipment from at least the Urnfield period
through the period in question, beginning well before
documented contact with the Mediterranean (Sherratt
1995). There are also clear differences in the way some
of the vessels were used, and in the participants in the

90

feasting activity, as Pasquier points out. Dietler's discussion of the evidence for 'aboriginal' drinking practises in Early Iron Age Europe agrees with Pasquier's
conclusions regarding the indigenous genesis of this
activity (1990,374-5).
30. This seems to be true of dlite Iron Age burials in
France as well (Bouloumie 1988,377).
31. Thanks are due to an anonymous reviewer for suggesting this possible interpretation.
32. Kimmig deals with this issue as well: 'These examples
show that a basic set of objects was associated with
especially elite individuals, which could be varied
from one case to the next, in which however certain
vessel types were more or less stringently required...
especially with respect to drinking horns, which are
seldom absent in well-documented elite graves' (1983,
170, translated from the German).
Bettina Arnold
Department of Anthropology
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Milwaukee, Wl 53201
USA
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