The Cucullati are a range of cult images known throughout the Celtic provinces of the Roman period. The name comes from a Romano-Celtic shrine at Wabelsdorf, Austria [Egger, Robert.  ‘Genius cucullatus’, Wiener Praehistorische Zeitschrift 19, (1932): 311-23]. Two large altars were erected that depicted a figure wearing a hooded cloak and which bore epigraphic dedications bearing the Latin names 'genio cucullato' [to the hooded spirit of place]. The name is actually derived from the garment that the figure wears, for the cucullus is a Latin word for a hood fastened to a cloak or coat. Similar hooded figures have been found across the Gaulish and Brythonic realms and the term genius cucullatus has been applied to all such figures.

In the iconography of the continental Gauls the Genii Cucullati appear singularly as giants or dwarves and occasionally have the cucullus open to expose a phallus. In Britain the cucullait are invariably short in stature and appear in triads, implying triplism (the image above being derived from an engraving found at Housesteads, Northumbria. In each case, however, the figures wear thick woolen cloaks, though the cloaks depicted vary in length, their total number of folds, the shape of the associated hoods and the total area of the body covered by them. Most of the British depictions also have the genii holding overtly sexual symbols such as eggs and moneybags. Though such symbols are not unknown in a continental context, for a wooden image found at Geneva, Switzerland carries eggs and an image found at the shrine of the Xsulsigiae at Trier, Germany holds moneybags. In both continental and Brythonic iconography these dieites are often found holding parchments or scrolls, which may signify wisdom or knowlege of healing lore (an exemplar being an image found at Reculver in Kent).

With their hoods the Cucullati have an undeniably phallic appearance, however the actual sex of the figures depicted is a matter of conjecture with some commentators stating that all Cucullati are male. However, some images (such as the Housesteads one above) show a clearly masculine figure (the central form) in the company of figures with softer more feminine figures. It may be that the other figures represent younger males rather than women (which is the common feature of the Matronae that the Cucullati often accompany. Thus the span of ages may represent the period of life that the deities keep a watch over. However, as companions to mother goddesses the attributes of the Cucullati may simply reflect the features of the primary deity with which they are associated.

Part of the problem with identifying true Cucullati is that their main attribute, the hooded cloak, is also shared by the Greco–Roman deity, Telesphorus and both the time and locatoin of the deities' worhip overlap. Telesphorus was the child of Asklepios the healer deity he is generally depicted as a cloaked figure of small stature. Telesphorus' particular powers lie in the realms of sleep and drams and he is also considered the protector of children and a fertility deity. However, unlike most of the Cucullati, Telesphorus wears no shoes and this may well have been a particular feature of his cult. In Britain there can be little doubt that the Cucullati, in their triple aspect, are Celtic in origin. Unfortunately only one depiction of triple Cucullati is known from continental Europe, a clay tablet found at Kärlich, Germany. All otherdepictions are singular and this has led to a heated debate about the origins of the cults of the Cucullati and Telesphorus.

The Celticists' main argument lies in the discovery of a coin of the Segusiavi tribe discovered north-east of Lyons. This coin has been dated to circa 40 BCE, which is almost a century before the first depictions of Telesphorus appeared on Greek coins. The obverse of this cont (left) shows an image of Hercules with his characteristic club. To Hercules' right is the image of a man wearing a long robe. However, the man is not hooded and has bare feet. Still, the existence of this coin has led some to suggest that the origin of both the Cucullati and of Telesphorus is Celtic and that the god was later Hellenized and returned to the heartlands of the Celtis with the Roman invasions. Others have argued that the origins of both cults is Greco–Asian and that it reached Europe via Greek colonization and later Roman conquest. However, I support a 'middle ground' hypothesis first presented by Waldemar Deonna in his: De Telesphore au 'moine bourru'.  Dieux, génies et démons encapuchonnés in Collection Latomus 21 Wetteren: Imprimerie Universa, 1955. Here he suggests that the cults of the Cucullati and of Teleshporus originated independently, but because of the similarities between the two cults the Celtic Cucullatus was mis-identified as Telesphorus by the Romans and syncretizaton of the cults began.

In Britain, apart from the instances already named, Cucullati have also been discovered along Hadrian's wall, at Netherby, Cumberland; Castle Yard, Cumberland and Birdoswald, Cumberland. However, by far the largest number of Cucullati found in Britain occur in Gloucestershire, in the former territory of the Dobunni tribe, with sculputres found in a well in Lower Slaughter and in excavations at the settlements of Wycomb, Whittington and Daglingworth with four such sculputres being found at Cirencester. Apart from these two large groupings, Cucullati have also been found at Rushall Down, Wiltshire; London; Colchester in Essex and at Aquea Sulis in Bath. In continental Europe several figurines have been found at the area of the confluence of the Rhine and Moselle rivers, with notable examples coming from Trier, Jagsthausen and Dhronecken with no fewer that 23 cucullait figures being found at a temple dedicated to Mars Lenus near Trier. The figures found in central Gaul are more problematic as here the cults of the Cucullati and Telesphorus clearly overlap and often the attributes of both cults have become merged. A good example of this is a figure found near Nîmes, France, where the figure seems to have the bare feet of Telesphorus but the iconography is clearly celtic and similar in form to the Cucullati found at Netherby.

Whatever the true significance of these figures, they obviously had considerable cult importance and are unusual in Celtic terms in that they had such broad geographic presence. The incorporation of small carved Cucullati amongst grave goods may also signify that the deities had otherwroldly aspects (as well as having fertility and healing elements to their cults). Perhaps the Cucullati were seen as protectors throughout each stage in a human life, from conception through birt to adulthood, to death and beyond.