Note (return) — Chapter III

The Celtic Minerva, or the goddesses equated with her, "taught the elements of industry and the arts,"120 and is thus the equivalent of the Irish Brigit. Her functions are in keeping with the position of woman as the first civiliser—discovering agriculture, spinning, the art of pottery, etc. During this period goddesses were chiefly worshipped, and though the Celts had long outgrown this primitive stage, such culture-goddesses still retained their importance. A goddess equated with Minerva in Southern France and Britain is Belisama, perhaps from qval, "to burn" or "shine."121 Hence she may have been associated with a cult of fire, like Brigit and like another goddess Sul, equated with Minerva at Bath and in Hesse, and in whose temple perpetual fires burned.122 She was also a goddess of hot springs. Belisama gave her name to the Mersey,123 and many goddesses in Celtic myth are associated with rivers.