“La profezia nella tradizione celtica, con particolare riguardo alle testimonianze medievali”

This paper offers an overview of the most important manifestations of the phenomenon of prophecy in the texts and cultures of the Celtic world. Due to the wealth of available documentation, special attention is paid to the medieval testimonies from Ireland and Wales. The relevance of the phenomenon is indicated by the role that the prophecy assumes in all major textual types: poetry and prose, epics and legends, legal and religious texts. Among many, two lines of development are particularly noteworthy: the high level of osmosis on the religious plane, between paganism and Christianity; and the extraordinary vitality of the political prophecy, which represents a remarkable maintenance of a culturally archaic feature (i.e., a non-linear conception of history) that, at the same time, is subject to constant renewal and reshaping in the light of political events contemporary to the actual production of the prophetic text.