Page 442 - Four Thousand Years Ago by Geoffrey Bibby

derer—he touched the dagger at his belt—dwelt often upon the
jagged peak of Mount Concarena, which frowned down upon

the valley. Here, beneath the abode of the gods, the dwellers in
the valley had from time immemorial carved the symbols of the
gods upon the rocks, and figures of men worshipping the gods,
and of sacrificial animals, and other such things as it would de­

light the gods to see.

SOLAR DISC, AX, AND DAGGER; RELIGIOUS SYMBOLS CARVED ON THE
ROCKS OF VAL CAMONICA.

The valley had thereby become even more holy. And here,
therefore, the free people of the Alps he laid a itt e emp

the word “free”—assembled every four years, or gam
religious festivals and discussions of matters of common

And it was there, though this was not a year for t e gam ,
the chiefs of the cantons had now assembled, to co er w
envoy of the Celtic king and hear his proposals. ,
It was not long thereafter before they came in sig

goal, a widening of the valley, where other roa s came