Of course Bradley's techniques are mythic, allowing a litany of Goddess images to emerge within her narrative, illustrating the present and prefiguring the future. The prevalent image of the Goddess is that of the mother — a nurturing, life giving force as invoked in the Beltane festival, where Gawen is conceived, and a more restrained, reflective presence invoked by the image of the Caillean, who is a virgin mother, and the child Gawen, like a very ancient Goddess and young God figures.

She is also Don, the Celtic Ur-goddess, Cathubodva, Lady of Ravens, (or Morrigu) the goddess of War, and Arianhrod, the goddess of magic, the sea, and the moon. The classical religions have their counterparts, as do other Mediterranean religions, especially the great Goddess cults, such as that of Isis, popular in the Roman world at the time, and observed by Gaius on his trip.

This underpinning...