The World of Celts

8/13/2019 The World of Celts

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The World of the Celts

2009


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The historical Celts were a diverse group of tribal societies

in Iron Age Europe. Proto-Celtic culture formed in the Early

Iron Age in Central Europe (Hallstatt period, named for the site

in present-day Austria). By the later Iron Age (La Tne period),

Celts had expanded over a wide range of lands: as far west as

Ireland and the Iberian Peninsula, as far east as Galatia (central

Anatolia), and as far north as Scotland.The earliest direct attestation of a Celtic language are the

Lepontic inscriptions, beginning from the 6th century BC.

Continental Celtic languages are attested only in inscriptions

and place-names. Insular Celtic is attested from about the fourth

century AD in ogham inscriptions. Literary tradition begins with

Old Irish from about the eighth century. Coherent texts of Early

Irish literature, such as the Tin B Cailnge, survive in 12th

century recensions.


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Origins

The Celtic languages form a branch of the larger Indo-

European family. By the time speakers of Celtic

languages enter history around 400 BC (Brennus's attack

on Rome in 387 BC), they were already split into several

language groups, and spread over much of Central

Europe, the Iberian peninsula, Ireland and Britain.

Some scholars think that the Urnfield culture of northernGermany and the Netherlands represents an origin for

the Celts as a distinct cultural branch of the Indo-

European family. This culture was preeminent in central

Europe during the late Bronze Age, from ca. 1200 BC

until 700 BC, itself following the Unetice and Tumulus

cultures. The Urnfield period saw a dramatic increase in

population in the region, probably due to innovations in

technology and agricultural practices. The Greek

historian Ephoros of Cyme in Asia Minor, writing in the

fourth century BC, believed that the Celts came from the

islands off the mouth of the Rhine who were "driven

from their homes by the frequency of wars and the

violent rising of the sea".


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Archaeological evidence

In various academic disciplines theCelts were considered a CentralEuropean Iron Age phenomenon,

through the cultures of Hallstatt and LaTne. However, archaeological findsfrom the Hallstatt and La Tne cultureswere rare in the Iberian Peninsula, anddid not provide enough evidence for acultural scenario comparable to that ofCentral Europe. It is considered equallydifficult to maintain that the origin of

the Peninsular Celts can be linked to thepreceding Urnfield culture, leading to amore recent approach that introduces a'proto-Celtic' substratum and a processof Celticization having its initial rootsin the Bronze Age Bell Beaker culture


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Historical evidence

Polybius published a history of Romeabout 150 BC in which he describes theGauls of Italy and their conflict withRome. Pausanias in the second centuryBC says that the Gauls "originallycalled Celts live on the remotest regionof Europe on the coast of an enormoustidal sea". Posidonius described thesouthern Gauls about 100 BC. Thoughhis original work is lost it was used bylater writers such as Strabo. The latter,writing in the early first century AD,deals with Britain and Gaul as well asHispania, Italy and Galatia. Caesar

wrote extensively about his Gallic Warsin 58-51 BC. Diodorus Siculus wroteabout the Celts of Gaul and Britain inhis first century History.


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Warfare and weapons Principal sites in Roman Britain, with

indication of the Celtic tribes. Tribal warfareappears to have been a regular feature ofCeltic societies. While epic literature depictsthis as more of a sport focused on raids andhunting rather than organised territorialconquest, the historical record is more oftribes using warfare to exert political controland harass rivals, for economic advantage,and in some instances to conquer territory.The Celts were described by classicalwriters such as Strabo, Livy, Pausanias, andFlorus as fighting like "wild beasts", and ashordes. Dionysius said that their "manner offighting, being in large measure that of wild

beasts and frenzied, was an erraticprocedure, quite lacking in military science.hus, at one moment they would raise their

swords aloft and smite after the manner ofwild boars, throwing the whole weight oftheir bodies into the blow like hewers ofwood or men digging with mattocks, andagain they would deliver crosswise blowsaimed at no target, as if they intended to cutto pieces the entire bodies of theiradversaries, protective armour and all"


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The World of Celts

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