"Damn it!" isn't specifically Christian - the word 'damn' is Latin in origin, and means 'condemn'.
"Hades!", "Dis!" and "Tarterus!" could all be used for "Hell!" - increasing in strength from best to worst. (Tarterus is said to lie seven times further below Hades than Hades below Earth.) Julius Caesar, in misinterpreting Celtic legend, says that the Gauls claim to be descended from "Father Dis", so your Breton/Gaul might conceivably believe "Dis Pater" to be a name to call on.
Lindsey Davis' Falco books often use "Mars Ultor!" (= "Mars on high") as a curse. I presume she has a source for this.
A milder Latin curse is "Mehercule!", which literally means "by my (friend) Hercules", but is often translated with mild expressions like "Good heavens!".
Some nitpicks:
Do you Mycenean, or Macedonian?
Do you mean capitol (state headquarters) or capital (chief city)?
And I think you mean Brittany, if you're thinking of the Celtic Fringe peninsula in north-western France. I think the Romans called that Armorica.
Right on all counts, I'm afraid. I should know better than to put out a question without re-re-reading it.
It's Macedonian not Mycenaean.
Bretons are from Brittany. The Romans did call it Armorica (Place by the Sea). I've found a lot of useful information using that term, including a possible epithet. Ankou or the "Reaper of Death" was a Breton folk figure, "a skeleton wrapped in a shroud... devoted to bring the dead to Death", which sounds very promising. I don't have a date on him but his description sounds Medieval, possibly arising from the 'Black Death'.
By capitol I mean the main place of government for the kingdom, which is a subdivision of the Empire. For example during the British imperial period London was the 'capitol' of the empire, but Delhi was the 'capitol' of India (I think). Using this example my boys would be in Delhi attending the 'king' of India.
One could use the names of most gods to swear by. Romans would say "Hercule!" ("Oh, Hercules!") as a damn/dash it all type of expression.
Typo alert: I think you meant Macedonian Empire, not Mycenaean. Also, out of curiosity, what year is your story set by our calendar? The bubonic plague reached the Mediterranean/Europe by the sixth century CE almost definitely (the Justinian Plague), but possibly even as early as the second (during the reign of Marcus Aurelius).
Macedonian, yes, not Mycenaean. I was shooting for around 1000 AD but was thinking of it as "the empire lasts for 1000 years" which would actually be closer to 750 AD. I may have to rethink my backstory a bit there.
In 'Rome' this was frequently done by reference to a deity's body parts, which I thought worked very well. The vulgarity of expression increased with vehemence!
This article is quite a useful read on classical swearing, and this Wikipedia article on Latin Profanity has an excellent choice of epithets to pick from.
Generally, though the Abrahamic God doesn't exist, I would expect that characters would still tend to swear by their choice of deity; "By Herakles!" or "By Hades!" probably being a good one, as the God of the Underworld, or "By Jupiter!" if you prefer the Roman pantheon. You could also have a Google search for ancient graffiti, as a lot of it contained cursing and some great insults for various offenders, though there seems to be more examples of Roman graffiti than any other kind.
This is a full list of graffiti found carved into Pompeii, including this very sweet (atrium of the House of Pinarius); 6842: If anyone does not believe in Venus, they should gaze at my girl friend.
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"Hades!", "Dis!" and "Tarterus!" could all be used for "Hell!" - increasing in strength from best to worst. (Tarterus is said to lie seven times further below Hades than Hades below Earth.) Julius Caesar, in misinterpreting Celtic legend, says that the Gauls claim to be descended from "Father Dis", so your Breton/Gaul might conceivably believe "Dis Pater" to be a name to call on.
Lindsey Davis' Falco books often use "Mars Ultor!" (= "Mars on high") as a curse. I presume she has a source for this.
A milder Latin curse is "Mehercule!", which literally means "by my (friend) Hercules", but is often translated with mild expressions like "Good heavens!".
Some nitpicks:
Do you Mycenean, or Macedonian?
Do you mean capitol (state headquarters) or capital (chief city)?
And I think you mean Brittany, if you're thinking of the Celtic Fringe peninsula in north-western France. I think the Romans called that Armorica.
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Merda = shit
Pedica = Bugger (it)! (The Latin word for 'fuck' doesn't get used as a straight-up curse.)
Irruma = Fuck-(it)-in-the-mouth
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Right on all counts, I'm afraid. I should know better than to put out a question without re-re-reading it.
It's Macedonian not Mycenaean.
Bretons are from Brittany. The Romans did call it Armorica (Place by the Sea). I've found a lot of useful information using that term, including a possible epithet. Ankou or the "Reaper of Death" was a Breton folk figure, "a skeleton wrapped in a shroud... devoted to bring the dead to Death", which sounds very promising. I don't have a date on him but his description sounds Medieval, possibly arising from the 'Black Death'.
By capitol I mean the main place of government for the kingdom, which is a subdivision of the Empire. For example during the British imperial period London was the 'capitol' of the empire, but Delhi was the 'capitol' of India (I think). Using this example my boys would be in Delhi attending the 'king' of India.
Thanks for the help :)
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Typo alert: I think you meant Macedonian Empire, not Mycenaean. Also, out of curiosity, what year is your story set by our calendar? The bubonic plague reached the Mediterranean/Europe by the sixth century CE almost definitely (the Justinian Plague), but possibly even as early as the second (during the reign of Marcus Aurelius).
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Generally, though the Abrahamic God doesn't exist, I would expect that characters would still tend to swear by their choice of deity; "By Herakles!" or "By Hades!" probably being a good one, as the God of the Underworld, or "By Jupiter!" if you prefer the Roman pantheon. You could also have a Google search for ancient graffiti, as a lot of it contained cursing and some great insults for various offenders, though there seems to be more examples of Roman graffiti than any other kind.
This is a full list of graffiti found carved into Pompeii, including this very sweet (atrium of the House of Pinarius); 6842: If anyone does not believe in Venus, they should gaze at my girl friend.
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girlfriend = Venus, carved in stone for eons. Awww. That's my kind of graffiti ^_^
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