aracter of the serpent.[713] In the Cuchulainn cycle
Loeg on his visit to the Other-world saw two-headed serpents--perhaps a
further hint of this aspect of the animal.[714]

In all these instances of animal cults examples of the tendency to make
the divine animal anthropomorphic have been seen. We have now to
consider some instances of the complete anthropomorphic process.

2.

An old bear cult gave place to the cult of a bear goddess and probably
of a god. At Berne--an old Celtic place-name meaning "bear"--was found a
bronze group of a goddess holding a patera with fruit, and a bear
approaching her as if to be fed. The inscription runs, _Deae Artioni
Licinia Sabinilla_.[715] A local bear-cult had once existed at Berne,
and is still recalled in the presence of the famous bears there, but the
divine bear had given place to a goddess whose name and symbol were
ursine. From an old Celtic _Artos_, fem. _Arta_, "bear," were derived
various divine names. Of these _Dea Artio(n)_ means "bear goddess," and
_Artaios_, equated with Mercury, is perhaps a bear god.[716] Another
bear goddess, Andarta, was honoured at Die (Drome), the word perhaps
meaning "strong bear"--_And_- being an augmentive.[717] Numerous
place-names derived from _Artos_ perhaps witness to a widespread cult of
the bear, and the word also occurs in Welsh, and Irish personal
names--Arthmael, Arthbiu, and possibly Arthur, and the numerous Arts of
Irish texts. Descent from the divine bear is also signified in names
like Welsh _Arthgen_, Irish _Artigan_, from _Artigenos_, "son of the
bear." Another Celtic name for "bear" was the Gaulish _matu_, Irish
_math_, found in _Matugenos_, "son of the bear," and in MacMahon, which
is a corrupt form of _Mac-math-ghamhain_, "son of the bear's son," or
"of the bear."[718]

Similarly a cult of the stag seems to have given place to that of a god
with stag's horns, represented on many bas-reliefs, and probably
connected with the underworld.[719] The stag, as a grain-eater, may have
been regarded as the embodiment of the corn-spirit, and then associated
with the under-earth region whence the corn sprang, by one of those
inversions of thought so common in the stage of transition from animal
gods to gods with animal symbols. The elk may have been worshipped in
Ireland, and a three antlered stag is the subject of a story in the
Fionn saga.[720] Its third antler, like the third horn of bull or boar,
may be a sign of divinity.