Metaphor Gods

[The Sum of Awe]

This is all very interesting perspectives, thanks all!

 

[Riverwolf]

The weighting took forever, and gave the Romans opportunity to make a comeback that was even more brutal than the one offered by Brennus. Camillus exclaimed: "not by gold, but by iron, is the nation to be recovered". And the Gauls were then expelled.​

I never said that they were master strategists or terribly great at waging war. Even Queen Boudica's rebellion only succeeded at first because the Legions who were any good were busy exterminating the Druids; once they returned, they put the rebellion down.

But the Celtic-speaking tribes were NOT hippies by any stretch or meaning of the word.

This is all very interesting perspectives, thanks all!

No problem. ^_^

Keep any further questions coming. Helps keep my own perspectives clear

 

[Poeticus]

I never said that they were master strategists or terribly great at waging war. Even Queen Boudica's rebellion only succeeded at first because the Legions who were any good were busy exterminating the Druids; once they returned, they put the rebellion down.

But the Celtic-speaking tribes were NOT hippies by any stretch or meaning of the word.

I never said that you said that. And of course they weren't "hippies"; in fact, the Gauls were quite martial.​

 

[Riverwolf]

I never said that you said that. And of course they weren't "hippies"; in fact, the Gauls were quite martial.​

Ah. It seemed like you were trying to say that they were bad at fighting in response to me apparently saying that they were good fighters.

I misunderstood, then?

 

[Poeticus]

Ah. It seemed like you were trying to say that they were bad at fighting in response to me apparently saying that they were good fighters.

I misunderstood, then?

A simple and innocent misunderstanding of very little concern. The Gauls were wondrous fighters of high charisma. The Romans, on numerous times, praised the warrior spirit of the Gauls and their bravery. Furthermore, the aesthetics of the Gauls was very much romanticized by the Romans, and understandably so. The notion that they were "hippies" (have no idea from where Sum got it or heard it) is very much unfounded. They were staunch adversaries of the Romans.​

 

[Riverwolf]

A simple and innocent misunderstanding of very little concern. The Gauls were wondrous fighters of high charisma. The Romans, on numerous times, praised the warrior spirit of the Gauls and their bravery. Furthermore, the aesthetics of the Gauls was very much romanticized by the Romans, and understandably so. The notion that they were "hippies" (have no idea from where Sum got it or heard it) is very much unfounded. They were staunch adversaries of the Romans.​

I think the idea that the Celts were hippies stems from modern Celtic-style Neopaganism or Celtic-styled New Age, with all its emphasis on Nature, Sacred Trees, etc.

Damh the Bard's music would certainly feel right at home in hippie communities. (Well, most of it, anyway.)

 

[The Adept]

It seems many polytheists on this thread take their gods symbolically rather than literally. What exactly does that mean? Perhaps it means they are metaphors for what they are god of. If so, how would this go about for the underworld deities? Also, we all know the things they stand for metaphorically (thor = thunder for example) exist, but why treat them god-like?

I'm not sure how an entity would be metaphorical.

The gods are symbolic; the upper and lower gods are both symbolic.
They illustrate and are easier for the human mind to relate to than abstracts.
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