Spain and the Celts - Martial Edge

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Spain and the Celts

By Pete Mills, on 10-12-2007 21:08

In A-Coruna I got off the train and looking up saw the city coat-of-arms above the door of the train station. It consists of a shield with a spiral tower upon it. Depicted below the spiral tower is a rock foundation with the familiar pirate motif-the skull and crossed bones. Also the symbol used by the Templars and as I recall-their Navy in particular. On either side of the tower are three scallop shells in a vertical row.

Spain and the Celts

The tourist guide says the name of A-Coruna comes from their first citizen - a woman who settled here after Hercules slew the giant Gerion. According to legend Hercules built the tower directly on top of Gerion's decapitated head. This tale is told in the chronicles of Alfonso the Tenth in the Thirteenth Century. The Templars, I recall predated this so I suspect the adoption of the symbol of the skull and bones may have been due to Templar influence. The town of La Guardia, further along the coast is known specifically as a town owned by the Templars.

Getting back to A-Coruna, it was settled by the Brigantines,a branch of the Artabri, one of the Celtic lineages of Galicia. (Galicia is essentially the north western corner of Spain). Coruna is associated with old Celtic myths of sunken cities (Atlantis?) and has been successively populated by the Oestrimini, Celts, Phoenicians, Romans and the Suevians. The historian Ptolemy called it Flavium Brigantium.

According to Irish myth from Gabala (eleventh century) it was Brehogan who looked out from the Tower of Hercules and saw the land of Ireland. His son told him it was a mirage. Nonetheless Brehogan got in his ship, went out and discovered Ireland!

Some say it was Brehogan who built the Tower of Hercules. Others say it was Hercules himself. Either way it took a Herculean effort. The tower itself has eighteen hundred years of recorded history and it is still a working lighthouse (in Spanish - "Pharos"). The present foundation is Roman and square with walls that form a cross inside to reinforce it. It may be built on an even older foundation than the known one. The Romans had a liking for building on top of ruins. Originally the tower had three floors the top one was the tallest.

Each floor, divided into four rooms like the human heart, had doorways to each part, and originally had exits outside to a ramp that spiraled around the tower. The ramp was used to carry fire wood to the top to light the torch. Outside the spiral ramp was another wall.

After the fall of Rome the tower too began to decay. The top and outer wall began to crumble. At the end of the eighteenth century Coruna became headquarters of the Maritime Postal Services to America. Repairs began on the tower in July, seventeen eighty-eight by the engineer Gianini.

Gianini removed the collapsed portions and surrounded the tower with a sixty centimeter thick granite cloak. The dome was dismantled and the building was elevated from the top to a height of sixty eight meters with an octagonal section. A lantern and reflecting mirrors were placed in the octagon. A stone staircase was added inside to go from floor to floor.The outer lining was decorated with a spiral band to recall the direction of the old Roman ramp (it had seven spirals).Ten windows are on each side-some are real some facades. In seventeen ninety all repairs were finished.

Some of the Tower's legends are interesting. One according to King Alfonso the Tenth of Spain states the nephew of Hercules finished the building of the Tower. It is said he placed a large mirror at the top so ships far out at sea could be seen. This would make the tower not just a lighthouse but a magnifying periscope as well!

In the early seventeenth century del Hoyo discovered a legend which said the mirror was held up by a copper image. The divinatory powers of the lookouts were supposedly transferred to the copper image. (The ancient Greeks had a similar idea of statue empowerment called "Telestica"). Porreno mentions the fire of the tower was "inextinguishable" (perhaps a natural gas flame?).

So the Tower of Hercules, past marvel, still standing in anew skin.

Some of my readers may already know that I am interested in the theory of eight-what the Chinese call "Ba Gua" or the eight trigrams of Change theory will and these people will be interested to know of my recent trip to Europe where I found a reproduction of a Chinese offering mound in the Garden at Sterling Castle in Scotland-complete with a raised earthen octagon!

Even more interesting was the "Compass Rose" a beautiful mosaic disc located at the base of the Tower of Hercules in Spain. This disc, the size of a helicopter pad, is a blue mosaic divided in to eight sections. Each section is symbolic of a Celtic tribe. The disc or "Compass Rose" marks the spot at the light house at A-Coruna where the Celts divided themselves and went to eight different regions. Each region has a characteristic symbol which is depicted on the compass.

To the NorthWest the compass points to "Alba"(Scotland) and "Eira" (Ireland), marked with a thistle and a shamrock. To the NorthEast is "Mannin" (Isle of Man) and "Cymru"(Wales) marked with the three legs and the feathered serpent. To the SouthWest is Tarsis (Turkey) Galiza (Spain),marked by the skull and bones and the scallop shell. To the SouthEast is Cornwall (UK) and Britanny (north-west France) marked by the grail and the goose's foot. Here is a TENTATIVE parallel of the Celt Compass Rose to the Chinese Ba gua.

Three Legs = Thunder

Winged Snake = Light

Grail = Fire

Goose Foot = Air

Scallop Shell = Water

Skull/Bones = Earth

Clover = Joy

Thistle = Mountain

Readers may want to rearrange and experiment with their own orders and parallels. There is enough substance here to show that the Celts and Chinese may have shared something as regards archetypes in their cultures. And my own contention is that the idea of Ba Gua found in the Book of Changes is actually TRANSCULTURAL and found in many cultures.