Editing Torc (section)

==Celtic torcs==
[[File:Gold torque 2.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Gold Celtic torc with three "balusters" and decoration including animals, found in [[Glauberg]], Germany, 400&nbsp;BC]]

Depictions of the gods and goddesses of [[Celtic mythology]] sometimes show them wearing or carrying torcs, as in images of the god [[Cernunnos]] wearing one torc around his neck, with torcs hanging from his antlers or held in his hand, as on the [[Gundestrup cauldron]].  This may represent the deity as the source of power and riches, as the torc was a sign of nobility and high social status.<ref>Green, 78−79</ref> 

The famous Roman copy of the original Greek sculpture ''[[Dying Gaul|The Dying Gaul]]'' depicts a wounded Gaulish warrior naked except for a torc, which is how [[Polybius]] described the ''[[gaesatae]]'', Celtic warriors from modern northern Italy or the [[Alps]], fighting at the [[Battle of Telamon]] in 225&nbsp;BC, although other Celts there were clothed.<ref name="Green, 77">Green, 77</ref> One of the earliest known depictions of a torc can be found on the [[Warrior of Hirschlanden]] (6th century&nbsp;BC), and a high proportion of the few Celtic statues of human figures, mostly male, show them wearing torcs.

Other possible functions that have been proposed for torcs include use as rattles in rituals or otherwise, as some have stones or metal pieces inside them, and representations of figures thought to be deities carrying torcs in their hand may depict this. Some are too heavy to wear for long, and may have been made to place on cult statues. Very few of these remain but they may well have been in wood and not survived. Torcs were clearly valuable, and often found broken in pieces, so being a [[store of value]] may have been an important part of their use. It has been noted that the Iberian gold examples seem to be made at fixed weights that are multiples of the [[Phoenicia]]n [[shekel]].<ref>González-Ruibal, "Torcs"</ref>

With bracelets, torcs are "the most important category of Celtic gold", though armlets and anklets were also worn; in contrast finger-rings were less common among the early Celts.<ref>Green, 45, 74−77</ref>  The earliest Celtic torcs are mostly found buried with women, for example, the gold torc from the [[La Tène period]] [[chariot burial]] of a princess, found in the [[Waldalgesheim chariot burial]] in Germany, and others found in female graves at [[Vix Grave|Vix]] in France (illustrated) and [[Reinheim]]. Another La Tène example was found as part of a hoard or ritual deposit buried near [[Erstfeld]] in Switzerland.<ref>[http://www.hp.uab.edu/image_archive/uj/ujk.html Iron Age Western Europe from c. 800 B.C. − La Tène] {{webarchive|url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20021008145708/http://www.hp.uab.edu/image_archive/uj/ujk.html |date=2002-10-08 }}, on the Images from World History Website</ref>  It is thought by some authors that the torc was mostly an ornament for women until the late 3rd century&nbsp;BC, when it became an attribute of warriors.<ref>Green, 45−48, 74</ref>  However, there is evidence for male wear in the early period; in a rich double burial of the [[Hallstatt period]] at [[Hochmichele]], the man wears an iron torc and the female a necklace with beads.<ref>Green, 73</ref>  A heavy torc in silver over an iron core with bull's head terminals, weighing over 6 kilos, from Trichtingen, Germany, probably dates to the 2nd century&nbsp;BC (illustrated).<ref>Laings, 69, 71</ref>
[[File:Snettisham HoardDSCF6580.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|The [[Great Torc from Snettisham|Snettisham Torc]] contains a kilogram of gold. It was found in [[Norfolk]], England.]]

Many finds of torcs, especially in groups and in association with other valuables but not associated with a burial, are clearly deliberate deposits whose function is unclear. They may have been ritual deposits or hidden for safekeeping in times of warfare. Some may represent the work-in-progress of a workshop.<ref>Green, 45, 49, 70</ref>  After the early period, torcs are especially prominent in the Celtic cultures reaching to a coast of the [[Atlantic]], from modern Spain to Ireland, and on both sides of the [[English Channel]].

Some very elaborately worked torcs with relief decoration in a late form of [[La Tène style]] have been found in Britain and Ireland, dating from roughly the 3rd to 1st centuries BC.  There may be a connection with an older tradition in the British Isles of elaborate gold neckwear in the form of [[gold lunula]]s, which seem centred on Ireland in the [[Bronze Age]], and later flat or curved wide collars; gold twisted ribbon torcs are found from both periods, but also imported styles such as the fused-buffer.<ref>Key examples of all Irish types are in both Wallace and Treasures; see previous reference for older types, the Iron Age ones are: Treasures nos. 14, 15, 21 and Wallace chapter 4, nos. 3, 4 and 10.</ref>  The most elaborate late Insular torcs are thick and often hollow, some with terminals forming a ring or loop.  The most famous English example is the 1st-century&nbsp;BC multi-stranded [[electrum]] [[Snettisham Torc]] found in northwestern [[Norfolk]] in England (illustrated),<ref>Laings, 110; Green, 48−49</ref> while the single hollow torc in the [[Broighter Gold]] hoard, with relief decoration all round the hoop, is the finest example of this type from Ireland, also 1st century BC.<ref>Treasures, no. 21; Wallace, 138−153</ref> The [[Stirling Hoard]], a rare find in Scotland of four gold torcs, two of them twisted ribbons, dating from the 3rd to 1st century&nbsp;BC, was discovered in September 2009.<ref name="Wade">{{cite news| url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article6901879.ece | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100106120938/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article6901879.ece | url-status=dead | archive-date=January 6, 2010 | work=The Times | location=London | title=1m golden hoard rewrites history of ancient Scotland | first=Mike | last=Wade | date=2009-11-04 | access-date=2010-05-25}}</ref> 
[[File:Torques de Burela. Museo Provincial de Lugo.jpg|thumb|left|Torc from [[Burela]], Galicia, with double moulding ''scotiae'' terminals, and hoop decoration.  At {{cvt|1.812|kg}} the heaviest Iberian torc.<ref>González-Ruibal, "catalogue", fig. 33</ref>]]

The Roman [[Titus Manlius Torquatus (347 BC)|Titus Manlius]] in 361&nbsp;BC challenged a Gaul to single combat, killed him, and then took his torc. Because he always wore it, he received the nickname ''Torquatus'' (the one who wears a torc),<ref>[[Cicero]], ''[[De Officiis]]'', III, 31</ref> and it was adopted by his family.  After this, Romans adopted the torc as a decoration for distinguished soldiers and elite units during [[Roman Republic|Republican]] times.  A few Roman torcs have been discovered.<ref>[http://www.ancienttouch.com/172.jpg Roman Silver Torque with Two Roman Denarii Pendants (late 1st−3rd centuries AD)], on Ancient Touch Website</ref> [[Pliny the Elder]] records that after a battle in 386&nbsp;BC (long before his lifetime) the Romans recovered 183 torcs from the Celtic dead, and similar booty is mentioned by other authors.<ref name="Green, 77"/>

It is not clear whether the [[Gallo-Roman]] "Warrior of Vacheres", a sculpture of a soldier in Roman military dress, wears a torc as part of his Roman uniform or as a reflection of his Celtic background. [[Quintilian]] says that the [[Emperor Augustus]] was presented by [[Gauls]] with a gold torc weighing 100 [[Ancient Roman units of measurement#Weight|Roman pounds]] (nearly {{convert|33|kg|disp=or}}),<ref name="Green, 77"/> far too heavy to wear.  A torc from the 1st century&nbsp;BC [[Winchester Hoard]], is broadly in Celtic style but uses the Roman technique of laced gold wire, suggesting it may have been a "diplomatic gift" from a Roman to a British tribal king.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1156472.ece|title=Golden hoard of Winchester gives up its secret|author=Alberge, Dalya|date=8 September 2003|work=[[The Times]]|access-date=2010-08-02}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ncmd.co.uk/docs/treasurereport2000.pdf|title=Treasure Annual Report 2000|publisher=[[Department for Culture, Media and Sport]]|pages=16–18;133|year=2001|access-date=2010-08-02|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120301112414/http://www.ncmd.co.uk/docs/treasurereport2000.pdf|archive-date=2012-03-01}}</ref>

A very late example of a torc used as ceremonial item in early Medieval Wales can be found in the writings of [[Gerald of Wales]]. The author wrote that there still existed a certain royal torc that had once been worn by Prince [[Cynog ap Brychan]] of [[Brycheiniog]] (fl. 492&nbsp;AD) and was known as Saint Kynauc's Collar. Gerald encountered and described this relic first-hand while travelling through [[Wales]] in 1188. Of it he says, "it is most like to gold in weight, nature, and colour; it is in four pieces wrought round, joined together artificially, and clefted as it were in the middle, with a dog's head, the teeth standing outward; it is esteemed by the inhabitants so powerful a relic, that no man dares swear falsely when it is laid before him."<ref>[http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/text/chap_page.jsp;jsessionid=C38A36A0500F1F9C3F762D6E4846D204?t_id=Cambrensis_Tour&c_id=4 Vision of Britain: Gerald of Wales, The Itinerary of Archbishop Baldwin through Wales, Chapter 2]</ref> It is of course possible that this torc long pre-dated the reign of Prince Cynog and was a much earlier relic that had been recycled during the [[Sub-Roman Britain|British Dark Ages]] to be used as a symbol of royal authority. It is now lost.

There are mentions in medieval compilations of [[Irish mythology]]; for example in the [[Lebor Gabála Érenn]] (11th century) [[Elatha]] wore 5 golden torcs when meeting [[Eriu]].<ref name="Lady Gregory">{{cite book|chapter-url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14465/14465-h/14465-h.htm#L5 |author=Lady Gregory |author-link=Augusta, Lady Gregory |title=[[Gods and Fighting Men]] |orig-year=1905 |year=2004 |publisher=[[Project Gutenberg]] |chapter=The Reign of Bres}}</ref><ref>''[[Lebor Gabála Érenn]]''. Online translation at [http://www.ancienttexts.org/library/celtic/ctexts/lebor4.html#62 www.ancienttexts.org]</ref>

===Romano-British beaded torcs===
[[File:DUR-B8DF64 Iron Age Torc (FindID 587247).jpg|thumb|Section of a beaded torc found in [[Yorkshire]], AD 75–200]]
After the [[Roman conquest of Britain]], from about 75&nbsp;AD for a century or more, a different type called the "beaded torc" appears in [[Roman Britain]], mainly in the northern "frontier" region, in two types, A with separate "beads" and B made in one piece.  These are in copper alloy rather than precious metal, and evidently more widely spread in society than the elite Iron Age Celtic examples.<ref>Hunter, Frazer, "Celtic Art in Roman Britain", 132-134, in ''Rethinking Celtic Art'', ed. Duncan Garrow, 2008, Oxbow Books, [https://books.google.com/books?id=lZj9AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA137 google books]</ref>