Caesar writes among the main preoccupations of the Druids “the measurement of the world and of territories”. A simple surveying being excluded, other methods have to be considered, and first the spotting of privileged directions from high points (such as the Puy-de-Dôme, the Montagne de Dun, the Mont Dardon, the hill of Sion-Vaudémont…) allowing a kind of primitive triangulation. It has been noticed that in the obtained patterns, the places known as Mediolanum play a major role. Thus Milano, Mediolanum of (...) the Insubri and Châteaumeillant, home of the Biturigi, can be connected by a straight line across the Mont Blanc and the Montagne de Dun, this last one being the center of several equidistances leading to Meilhan-sur-Garonne, Saintes, Évreux, all of them ancient Mediolanum. Geometrical relations, not less striking, link among others, the Mediolanum de Samoreau (landmark on the bank of the Seine) to Maulain (Haute-Marne), Mâlain (Côte‑d’Or) and Moliens (Oise). Consistant with the Celtic tradition, the sacralization of the central points adds up to a real endeavour of Gallic geodesy, the chronology of which should be elaborated. (shrink)

Beyond the dragon of the tales, reduced to its function as an adversary, most Celtic dragons are linked to a site, most often in relation to the water regime: flood plains, confluences, torrents (the Drac). In Christianised versions, a saint, rather than exterminating them, is responsible for leading them back to their maritime or underground origin. Princes use it differently. Their confrontation with the dragon is a qualifying fight wich allows them to appropriate the monster’s strength. Represented on their sword (...) or their shield, or even integrated into their name (Uther Pendragon), the dragon becomes a talisman. Cities and nations (Wales) make it their emblem. In time, dragons are linked to the four great Celtic calendar festivals. The fight of two dragons, split ouroboros, symbolises the two seasons of the year, alternately dark and light. In space, the dragon maintains a privileged relationship with the notion of central place, leading back to the problem of the omphaloi (Delphi) or the Gallic Mediolanum. At the astronomical level, the constellation of the Dragon, where the Greeks saw the metamorphosis of the dragon (and the river) Ladon, becomes in Breton Avank Du, “the black Beaver”, allowing us to imagine a monstrous beaver blocking the waters as the Vedic Vrtra. Active in the three functions, present at the three levels of the world in verticality, the Celtic dragon thus joins its congeners from other mythologies, attesting to its immemorial origin. (shrink)