Prince Stefan Prvoslav

This is the Church of the Đurđevi Stupovi Monastery in Berane, Montenegro. 

It was built in 1213 as a memorial to the Serbian Prince Stefan Prvoslav, whose grave is in the nave...His grave slab is decorated with a very interesting symbol: triskele of Celtic Scordisci type.

The Scordisci were a Celtic Iron Age cultural group centered in the territory of present-day Serbia...From the 3rd c. BC until the 1st c. AD they ruled over a tribal state which at its zenith also included parts of Croatia, Bulgaria and Romania...

During the 3rd and 2nd c. BC they successfully fought Romans in the Balkans. You can read more about this on the Balkan Celts blog... 

Lucius Annaeus Florus in his Epitome  XXXVIIII (The Thracian War), says about them: "The cruelest of all the Thracians were the Scordisci...their haunts among the woods and mountains..."

They are the guys who lived in the fortress on Veliki Vetren peak on Mount Juhor, Central Serbia...

"14 horsemen came down from Devil's Town on Veliki Vetren peak, Serbia, on foggy nights and abducted young girls, croaking like Ravens" (Local legend). 14 sets of cavalry equipment were found in the Celtic opidium on Veliki Vetren peak 🙂 

Where this button was found...With the identical triskele symbol...

From my post "Veliki Vetren"...

During the 1st c. BC their power begins to weaken and eventually they were crushed in 15 BC by Tiberius, and became Roman subjects, after which they started fighting for the Romans as mercenaries...

After the Roman conquest in the 1st century AD, their territories were included into the Roman provinces of Pannonia, Moesia and Dacia. 

Strabo's Geographica (20 BC–23 AD) says that "the Major Scordisci, lived between moths of Sava and Morava rivers (Serbia)"...

So what happened to Scordisci after they became "Romans"? Well they stayed in the Balkans...And most likely became one of (many) Serbian ancestors...Look at Serbian genes...

Is this why Serbian Prince Stefan Prvoslav has a Scordisci triskele on his grave slab? Or maybe this is just a meaningless squiggle...

BTW, do you remember my post "Death of Prince Marko" about Celtic style "ritual killing" of weapons during warrior funerals, depicted in Medieval Serbian folk epic poems? 

More about Scordisci can be found on this great site "Balkan Celts, Journal of Celtic Studies in Eastern Europe and Asia-Minor"

But I don't think you will find anything there about Serbian Prince Stefan Prvoslav's grave...

PS: By @LazarStojkovic

And let’s not forget this…

In “Red and White: Serbian-Celtic Parallels" (In Serbian), the late Serbian linguistic scholar, Celticist, and academician Professor Ranka Kuić identified ~600 words shared between Welsh and Serbian.

For comparison, that’s about 10x the number of words shared between the languages considered to be the members of the Finno-Ugric language group...

Head cutters

Celts, "When their enemies fall, cut off their heads and fasten them about the necks of their horses...." (Diodorus Siculus). 

Celtic bronze fibula of a horseman with enemy's severed head (2nd c. BC), Museo Arqueológico Nacional, Spain

A mounted Celtic warrior with what is interpreted as a decapitated head suspended from the neck of his horse. From Entremont (oppidum) France.

In case you are in doubt that this could be a severed head, have a look at this. One of the Celtic warrior statues from Entremont oppidium southeastern France. The warrior is sitting in a lotus position, with the cut off heads of his enemies on his laps. Reconstructed from fragments...

The head of a deceased person placed under a hand (of a seated hero?). The position of the head on the knee of a warrior almost certainly indicates it was one of the trophies accumulated during his life...From official Entremont site..

Closeup of two other heads. One with the hand resting on the head under a streak of long hair...From the official Entremont site... 

Te decorated portion of the head-pillar from Entremont, from "Porticos, pillars and severed heads: the display and curation of human remains in the southern French Iron Age"

Decapitated head in one of the scull pillars of the Sanctuary of Roquepertuse, Southern France...From "The head hunters"...

Gold quinarius, Central Gaul, 100-50BC. 

Front: female head looking right with inscription DVBNOC[OV] (Dubnocoveros, giant of the world) 

Back: warrior standing, holding boar standard in right hand and human head in left hand with inscription[D]VBNOREX (Dubnorex, king of the world)

Some habits die hard...Once a headhunter, always a headhunter...Even if you are now "Roman"...Tombstone of Insus, son of Vodullus of the Treveri, cavalryman of the Ala Augusta. c. 80 AD...Treveri were a Celtic tribe who inhabited the lower valley of the Moselle. And collecting the heads of dead enemies was one of Celtic favourite hobbies... 

Finally, in "Porticos, pillars and severed heads: the display and curation of human remains in the southern French Iron Age" we can read that:

"...human crania themselves, sometimes perforated for display, have proved to be a recurrent find on Iron Age archaeological sites right across Europe, from southern France to northern Scotland..."

That head cutting and collecting was a widespread custom among Celts, can be seen from the Irish annals, oral histories first written down during early medieval time by the Irish monks:

Examples of the practice of cutting off the heads of dead enemies, from Fragmentary Annals of Ireland 

Example from "The Cattle-Raid of Cooley (Táin Bó Cúalnge)", the chapter entitled "Here Now Cometh The Head-Place Of Ferchu":

"Cuchulain turned on them, and straightway he smote off their twelve heads. And he set up twelve stones in the earth for them, and he put the head of each one of them on its stone and he likewise put Ferchu Longsech's head on its stone..."

I think this is enough to illustrate that this was a widespread practice in Ireland...

Finally we come to "kern". Kern (Anglicised Middle Irish "ceithern", fighting men) was a Gaelic (Irish) warrior, specifically a light infantryman, and light cavalry in Ireland in the late Middle Ages. Like many Gaels historically, Kerns often found themselves on multiple sides of conflicts; for example, the native Irish forces of the Norman-English in Ireland would have had levies of Kerns. As a result, they also found themselves fighting upon distant shores in Europe where they were famous as ferocious light infantrymen. This is a 15th century description of the kerns in action in France:

The Prior and many of his men were killed. The kern had made a strong impression by their outlandish dress and their ferocity, riding back from raids with severed heads dangling from their bareback ponies...

Lugus or Triglav

Two years ago I posted this picture 

Three headed Idol from Vaćani, Dalmatia, Croatia, probably represented Slavic god Triglav (Three headed, Trimurti) who was identified with Dabog, the supreme god of the Serbs. Similar ancient stone head was found in Ireland. I talked about it in my post "Triglav"...

Then yesterday I came across this article by Anne Ross: "A pagan tricephalos from Netherton, Lanarkshire"...And in it, she talks about three almost identical idols presumed to be Celtic...

The first one was found in Netherton, North Lanarkshire, Scotland

The second one was found in Marne valley, France

The third was found in Raphoe, County Donegal, Ireland. 

And according to the author, the Irish legends about the stone point to the possibility that it could depict the Celtic god Lugus, who was "one of three brothers" all called the same, basically Triglav (tricephalos)...

So is the idol from Croatia Celtic too? And what is the relationship between Lugus and Triglav?

Veliki Vetren

In 1997, a group of hunters was chasing a fox up the slopes of the Veliki Vetren peak on Mount Juhor, Central Serbia. 

Finally the fox reached the area which surrounds the peak and which is littered with giant bedrock outcrops. 

There it disappeared in a hole under one of the rocks...

The hunters sent the hound in, and when it emerged back out with the dead fox in its mouth, the hunters noticed that the fox had "a piece of ceramic in its jaws" and that it was entangled "in some rusted irons"...

Tomica Stefanović from the local museum, who heard the story from the hunters, went to the fox hole to see it for himself. And after some poking around, he managed to get out of it a bronze spearhead...

He immediately informed dr Milorad Stojić from the Archaeological institute about his find. The fox hole dig led by dr Stojić unearthed over 400 metal objects: 

Jewellery of Celtic type

Buttons with a Celtic triskelion 

But the most amazing find was a complete equipment for 14 riders. A complete cavalry unit...A Celtic cavalry unit...From the 2nd c. BC...Why was this equipment buried on Veliki Vetren?

Now who were these Celts from Veliki Vetren? Most likely Scordisci, who at that time controlled northern Balkans...Apparently according to dr Milorad Stojić, the historical sources say that Scordisci cavalry units were lead by a leader and two lieutenants. The equipment found on Veliki Vetren confirms this, as three of the cavalry sets were more luxurious than the others. 

The further digs in the area discovered that the whole top of the Veliki Vetren peak was fortified and turned into a Celtic oppidum. 

Celts built the oppidum walls around the existing bedrock outcrops which they incorporated into the walls. 

They also used large boulders to form the rest of the wall

Why would anyone want to build a fortress on Veliki Vetren? Those who controlled the Veliki Vetren peak, controlled the transport along the Morava valley below it, which was the main North-South transport route across the Balkans...

That controlling this part of Serbia was very important throughout Balkan history can be seen from the fact that remnants of 40 fortified settlements were found so far on the mountain Juhor...

So Celtic oppidum on Veliki Vetren was an important military centre, as can be seen from the military equipment found on the site, but it was also an important metallurgical centre, as can be seen from many smelting furnaces found on the site too...

Local villagers say that Veliki Vetren peak "attracts lightning"...Probably because huge amount of metal deposits, particularly slag, located in and around the Celtic oppidum...

Dr Stojić believes that the Celtic opidium was destroyed during the campaign against the Scordisci lead by the Cornelius Scipio Asiagenus in 74BC. 

Dr  Milorad Stojić published his findings in a book entitled "Veliki Vetren". He has since retired... 

When the news about the discovery of the Veliki Vetren oppidum hit the archaeological circles, it caused a sensation..."Celtic lexicon" gave it a special place in its list of Celtic sites. Veliki Vetren is the only known Celtic fort and metallurgical centre south of the Sava and Danube rivers. Way out of the "Land of the Celts"...

One of the world's leading Celts researcher, professor Vaclav Kruta, considered Vetren one of the most important European Celtic sites. 

But, promises made by the Serbian government that they will finance further digs on Veliki Vetren never materialised...No other investigation of the site was done by archaeologists and Veliki Vetren was soon forgotten...Well, by the archaeologists and the press. Not by treasure hunters who are the only people who dig around Mount Juhor today, based on numerous holes that can be seen everywhere in an around the Celtic oppidum...

Now this is amazing in itself. But it gets better...

There are many legends related to the "Devil's Town" on Veliki Vetren peak recorded in the villages surrounding the mountain. And the most famous story is the one about the "14 horsemen who came down the mountain on foggy nights and abducted young girls". 

How incredible is this??? 

Now is it just a coincidence that the archaeologists have found exactly 14 sets of cavalry equipment in the "Devil's town"? I mean the number 14 is not one of the usual mythological numbers, like 1, 3, 7, 9, 10, 15, 30, 100 which are found in so many legends...14 is a very non mythological number...So the chance that this number was picked by the legend makers by chance is very very low... So what then? How old is this legend? Is it possible that it is dating to the time when "riders resided in the oppidum on Veliki Vetren" and from it, terrorised the local population in villages below? How then was it preserved to this day? Passed on from father to son in the villages surrounding Veliki Vetren since the 2nd century BC? 

Now this is amazing in itself...But it gets better...

The legend also says that the riders from the Devil's Town "croaked like ravens" which obviously meant that they spoke in, to the local villagers, foreign and incomprehensible language, which to them sounded like croaking of ravens...

Now, believe or not, in the local Serbian dialect spoken in villages around Veliki Vetren, the word for raven is "gal"...So "the Galli (Celts) croaked like Gali (Ravens)"...

What? Is this a coincidence?

Does this have anything to do with "Galli"??? You know, the Celts? 

I am not entirely sure...This could all be just a coincidence...

But:

Serbian word "gal" which means raven also means black...Black like a corvid...It is the word that gave us Kali and Cailleach...I talked about this in my post "Gal"...

This is indeed very interesting, I can hear you say. But what does any of this have to do with Celts? Particularly when we know that the Hellenistic folk etymology connected the name of the Galatians (Γαλάται, Galátai) to the supposedly "milk-white" skin (γάλα, gála "milk") of the Gauls. 

Well I don't know...

It is this picture that makes me wonder:

"Four Provinces Bringing Tribute to Emperor Otto III" is an illustration from the manuscript: "Gospel Book of Otto III" which was made around the year 1000AD.

What is very interesting is that in this medieval depictions of the people of the Holy Roman Empire, each nation was depicted with different racial characteristics: 

Sclavini, Slavs are depicted with dark skin and red straight hair. 

Germanics were depicted with pale skin and blond straight hair. 

Romans were depicted with pale skin and brown curly hair. 

And

Galls were depicted with dark skin and black curly hair. 

Was this deliberate? Was this based on what people thought Slavs, Germanics, Galls and Romans looked like at the time? Or was this random rubbish which means nothing?

If this was deliberate, is it possible that Gali once meant "people with black hair"???

I think it was deliberate, as Procopius in the 6th century AD says for Slavs: "Their skin is not very white and their hair is reddish".

Just like the depiction of Slavia in the Gospel Book of Otto lll...So I would say the rest is accurate too... 

Also, Celts which lived on Veliki Vetren came to the Balkans in the 3rd century BC lead by Brennus. Apparently: 

The recurrence of the name Brennus makes it possible that it was a title rather than a proper name. Some 19th century scholars connected the name with the modern Welsh word "breenhín", and Irish words "branán, braine, braineach" meaning "a prince, a chief, leader". There is also an Irish name "Bran" with the same meaning. 

Now in Serbian the word "bran" means to defend, "brana" means defence, "Branko" means defender...So is it possible that Celtic Bran (prince, leader, chief) and Serbian Bran (defend), Brana (defence) and Branko (defender) come from the same root? Leader's first duty is defence of his people and his land...

Also, interestingly

In  Breton word Bran means Raven and Crow. 

In Welsh, word Frân mean crow and word Gigfran means raven. Fran is in old Welsh also spelt Bran, Vran and Uran.

In Irish, word Bran means raven. 

In Serbian we have these two words: 

Bran - defend, protect, be a barrier

Vran - black, Crow

And

As early as the 12th century AD, authors such as Geoffrey of Monmouth (in his Historia Regum Britanniae were connecting the name Brennus with the Welsh personal name Bran (spelt Vran, Uran, Fran in old Welsh) meaning "Crow". 

I wrote about this in my post Bran Vran...

So I don't know what to think really...

It could be all just a coincidence...

PS: Celtic raven helmet from Romania...