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notactuallythor :
Silver Neck Ring (Torque), Celtic, circa 475–400 B.C.
Neck rings, worn by both men and women, were often seen as symbols of divinity or
high rank, while also offering protective powers. Ancient writers noted that the first-
century Celtic queen Boudicca, who fought against the Romans in Britain, wore a gold
neck ring in battle. Celtic artists often depicted deities wearing or holding such rings.
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Celtic Christianity or Insular Christianity refers broadly to certain features
of Christianity that were common, or held to be common, across the Celtic-speaking
world during the Early Middle Ages. ”Celtic Christianity” has been conceived of with
differing levels of specificity: some writers have thought of it as a distinct “CelticChurch” uniting the Celtic peoples and distinguishing them from the “Roman” Catholic
Church, while others classify it as simply a set of distinctive practices occurring in those
areas. Scholars now reject the former notion, but note that there were certain traditions
and practices used in both the Irish and British churches but not in the wider Christian
world. These include a distinctive system for determining the dating of Easter, a style
of monastic tonsure, a unique system of penance, and the popularity of going into “exile
for Christ”. Additionally, there were other practices that developed in certain parts of
the Celtic world, but which are not known to have spread beyond a particular
region. Rituals associated with Celtic Christianity are now almost completely lost,
though two books, the Bobbio and the Stowe Missals, contain the Irish Ordinary of a
daily Mass in late, Romanized form.
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The term “Celtic Church” is deprecated by many historians as it implies a unified and
identifiable entity entirely separate from the mainstream of Western
Christendom. Others prefer the term “Insular Christianity”. As Patrick
Wormald explained, “One of the common misconceptions is that there was a ‘Roman
Church’ to which the ‘Celtic’ was nationally opposed.” Celtic-speaking areas were part
of Latin Christendom as a whole at a time in which there was significant regionalvariation of liturgy and structure with a general collective veneration of the Bishop of
Rome that was no less intense in Celtic areas.
Nonetheless, it is possible to talk about the development and spread of distinctive
traditions, especially in the sixth and seventh centuries. Some elements may have been
introduced to Ireland by the Briton St. Patrick, later others spread from Ireland to
Britain with the Irish mission system of Saint Columba. The histories of the Irish,
Welsh, Scots, Breton, Cornish, and Manx Churches diverge significantly after the
eighth century (resulting in a great difference between even rival Irish traditions).
“Celtic Christianity” has been conceived of in different ways at different times. Someideas are fairly consistent. Above all, Celtic Christianity is seen as being inherently
distinct from – and generally opposed to – the Catholic Church. Other common claims
are that Celtic Christianity denied the authority of the Pope, was less authoritarian than
the Catholic Church, more spiritual, friendlier to women, more connected with nature,
and more comfortable dealing with the ancient Celtic religion. One view, which gained
substantial scholarly traction in the 19th century, was that there was a “Celtic Church”,
a significantly organized Christian body or denomination uniting the Celtic peoples and
separating them from the “Roman” church of continental Europe. Others have been
content to speak of “Celtic Christianity” as consisting of certain traditions and beliefs
intrinsic to the Celts.
However, modern scholars have identified issues with all of these claims, and find the
term “Celtic Christianity” problematic in and of itself. The idea of a “Celtic Church” is
roundly rejected by modern scholars due to the lack of substantiating evidence. Indeed,
there were distinct Irish and British church traditions, each with their own practices, and
there was significant local variation even within the individual Irish and British
spheres. While there were some traditions known to have been common to both the
Irish and British churches, these were relatively few. Even these commonalities did not
exist due to the “Celticity” of the regions, but due to other historical and geographical
factors. Additionally, the Christians of Ireland and Britain were not “anti-Roman”; the
authority of Rome and the papacy were venerated as strongly in Celtic areas as theywere in any other region of Europe. Caitlin Corning further notes that the “Irish and
British were no more pro-women, pro-environment, or even more spiritual than the rest
of the Church.”
Corning notes that scholars have identified three major strands of thought that have
influenced the popular conceptions of Celtic Christianity. The first arose in the English
Reformation, when the Church of England declared itself separate from the Catholic
Church. Protestant writers of this time popularized the idea of an indigenous British
Christianity that opposed the foreign “Roman” church and was purer (and proto-
Protestant) in thought. The English church, they claimed, was not forming a new
institution, but casting off the shackles of Rome and returning to its true roots as theindigenous national church of Britain. Ideas of Celtic Christianity were further
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influenced by the Romantic movement of the 18th century, in particular Romantic
notions of the noble savage and the intrinsic qualities of the “Celtic race”. The
Romantics idealized the Celts as a primitive, bucolic people who were far more poetic,
spiritual, and freer of rationalism than their neighbors. The Celts were seen as having an
inner spiritual nature that shone through even after their form of Christianity had been
destroyed by the authoritarian and rational Rome. In the 20th and 21st centuries, theseideas were combined with appeals by certain modern churches and neo-pagan and New
Age groups seeking to recover something of ancient spirituality that is felt to be missing
from the modern world. For these groups Celtic Christianity becomes a cipher for
whatever is lost in the modern religious experience. Corning notes that these notions say
more about modern desires than about the reality of Christianity in the Early Middle
Ages, however.
By the early fifth century the religion had spread to Ireland, which had never been part
of the Roman Empire. The highly successful 5th-century mission of
Saint Patrick established churches in conjunction with civitates like his own in Armagh;
small enclosures in which groups of Christians, often of both sexes and including themarried, lived together, served in various roles and ministered to the local population.
Irish society had no history of literacy until the introduction of Christianity, yet within a
few generations of the arrival of the first missionaries the monastic and clerical class of
the isle had become fully integrated with the culture of Latin letters. Besides Latin, Irish
ecclesiastics developed a written form of Old Irish. During the late 5th and 6th centuries
true monasteries became the most important centres: in Patrick’s own see of Armagh
the change seems to have happened before the end of the 5th century, thereafter the
bishop was the abbot also. Finnian of Clonard is said to have trained the Twelve
Apostles of Ireland at Clonard Abbey.
In the sixth and seventh centuries, Irish monks established monastic institutions in parts
of modern-day Scotland (especially Columba, also known as Colmcille or, in Old
Irish, Colum Cille), and on the continent, particularly in Gaul (especially Columbanus).
Monks from Iona under St. Aidan founded the See of Lindisfarne in Anglo-
Saxon Northumbria in 635, whence Celtic practice heavily influenced northern
England.
The achievements of insular art, in illuminated manuscripts like the Book of Kells, high
crosses, and metalwork like the Ardagh Chalice remain very well known, and in the
case of manuscript decoration had a profound influence on Western medieval art. Themanuscripts were certainly produced by and for monasteries, and the evidence suggests
that metalwork was produced in both monastic and royal workshops, perhaps as well as
secular commercial ones. Irish monks also founded monasteries across the continent,
exerting influence greater than many more ancient continental centres. The first
issuance of a papal privilege granting a monastery freedom from episcopal oversight
was that of Pope Honorius I to Bobbio Abbey, one of Columbanus’s institutions.
At least in Ireland, the monastic system became increasingly secularised from the 8th
century, as close ties between ruling families and monasteries became apparent. The
major monasteries were now wealthy in land and had political importance. On occasion
they made war either upon each other or took part in secular wars - a battle in 764 issupposed to have killed 200 from Durrow Abbey when they were defeated
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by Clonmacnoise. From early periods the kin nature of many monasteries had meant
that some married men were part of the community, supplying labour and with some
rights, including in the election of abbots (but obliged to abstain from sex during fasting
periods). Some abbacies passed from father to son, and then even grandsons. A revival
of the ascetic tradition came in the second half of the century, with the culdee or “clients
(vassals) of God” movement founding new monasteries detached from familygroupings.
Others who influenced the development of Christianity in
Ireland include Brigid and Moluag.
Saxon connections with the greater Latin West led to papal preferment and brought the
Celtic-speaking peoples into closer contact with the orthodoxy of the councils. The
customs and traditions particular to Insular Christianity became a matter of dispute,
especially the matter of the proper calculation of Easter. Synods were held in Ireland,
Gaul, and England (e.g. the Synod of Whitby) but a degree of variation continued in
Britain after the Ionan church accepted the Roman date.
The Easter question was settled at various times in different places. The following dates
are derived from Haddan and Stubbs: South Ireland, 626-8; North Ireland, 692;
Northumbria (converted by Celtic missions), 664; East Devon and Somerset, the Celts
under Wessex, 705; the Picts, 710; Iona, 716-8; Strathclyde, 721; North Wales, 768;
South Wales, 777. Cornwall held out the longest of any, perhaps even, in parts, to the
time of Bishop Aedwulf of Crediton (909).
A uniquely Irish penitential system was eventually adopted as a universal practice of the
Church by the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215.
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notactuallythor :
Sword, mid-1st century B.C.; Late Iron Age
This sword offers eloquent testimony to the value that Celts placed on war and
weaponry. Celtic artists often ingeniously integrated animal and human forms in the
decoration of precious objects; here a warrior serves as the dramatic hilt for a double-
edged sword. With its carefully defined features and finely drawn curls, the figure’s
head contrasts with the abstract form of the limbs and body. The arms and legs are V-
shaped, terminating in round knobs, while the body is made up of three turned ringmoldings. The scabbard, now amalgamated to the iron blade, still displays much of its
original ornamentation in the form of three small hemispheres on the front upper end, a
molding element at the tip, and an elaborate loop at the back for attaching the scabbard
to a belt. Swords with an anthropoid hilt are characteristic of Celtic Europe in the first
century B.C., with some fifty surviving from this period. Their inclusion in richly
outfitted graves suggests that they were the valued property of aristocratic warriors.
They may have been meant to enhance the power of the owner, or perhaps served as
talismans in battle.
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beast-of-man:
Celtic women were distinct in the ancient world for the liberty and rights they enjoyed
and the position they held in society. Compared to their counterparts in Greek, Roman,
and other ancient societies, they were allowed much freedom of activity and protectionunder the law. The Iron Age Celts were nevertheless a patriarchal people and for the
most part men had the ultimate power in politics and the home.
Despite this, ancient Celtic women remain an inspiring example of womanhood from
the past.
Roman author Ammianus Marcellinus wrote (which confirmed by some other Roman
authors) that the Gaulish women combined an extraordinary beauty with remarkable
courage and great physical force; they participated in armed combat. He gave this
description of a Gaulish woman: “A whole band of foreigners will be unable to cope
with one Gaul in a fight, if he calls in his wife, stronger than he by far and with flashingeyes; least of all when she swells her neck and gnashes her teeth, and poising her huge
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white arms, begins to rain blows mingled with kicks, like shots discharged by the
twisted cords of a catapult”.
Previous Next
art-of-swords:
Celtic Sword
Date: ca. 60 B.C.
Culture: Celtic
Medium: Iron blade, copper alloy hilt and scabbard
Dimensions: Overall: 19 5/8 x 2 5/8 x 7/8 in. (49.8 x 6.7 x 2.2 cm)
Classification: Metalwork-Bronze
~~~
This magnificent anthropomorphic Celtic sword is also one of the best preserved. The
beautifully modeled head that terminates the hilt is one of the finest surviving images of
a Celtic warrior.
The human form of the hilt—appearing as a geometric reduction of a classical warrior
—must have been intended to enhance the power of the owner and to bear a talismanic
significance. The face is emphatically articulated with large almond eyes, and the head
with omega-shaped and finely drawn hair.
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Although the scabbard has become amalgamated to the iron blade, affecting parts of the
surface, its ornamentation and the exquisitely worked hilt make the whole an evocative
statement about the technical ability of the Celts, the powerful conquerors of ancient
Europe.
The sword is of a type associated with the La Tène culture, named after the importantCeltic site on Lake Neuchâtel in present-day Switzerland and eastern France. Other
related anthropomorphic swords from diverse finds in France, Ireland, and the British
Isles demonstrate the expansion of the Celts across Europe.
As the first such example in the Museum’s collection, the sword is a superb and
singular example that richly adds to a select group of Celtic works of art.
Ancient Celtic music
Main Article Talk Draft Related Articles [?] Bibliography [?] External Links [?]
Article approved by an editor from at least one of the listed workgroups. The Music,
Classics and Archaeology Workgroups are responsible for this article. While we have done
conscientious work, we cannot guarantee that this article is wholly free of mistakes.
Help improve this article further on the draft page!
This article is about the music and instruments of the ancient Celts until late Antiquity. For the modern
folkloristic genre and its history see Celtic music.
The ancient Celts had a distinct culture, which is shown by their very sophisticated art
work. The Hallstatt culture and especially the later La Tène culture are characterized by
a high aesthetic level, which must have also left traces in Celtic music and musical
practices. Music will surely have been an integral part of this ancient cross-European
culture, but with only very few exceptions its characteristics have been lost to us.
Deductions rely primarily on Greek and Roman sources as well as on archaeological
finds and interpretations including the reconstruction of the Celts' ancient instruments.
In 54 BC Cicero wrote that there were no musically educated people on the British isle.[1] Independent of the validity of Cicero's remark [2] the situation was different for the
Gallic regions. By the time of Augustus, musical education must have widely gained
ground in Gaul, otherwise Iulius Sacrovir couldn't have used the erudite Gauls as a
decoy, after Sacrovir and Iulius Florus had occupied the city of Augustodonum during
the Gallic insurrection in 21 AD.<ref>Tacitus, Annals 3.43</ref> The Gauls took great
pride in their musical culture, which is shown by the remark of Gaius Iulius Vindex, the
Gallic rebel and later senator under Claudius, who shortly before the arrival in Rome
called emperor Nero a malus citharodeus ("bad cithara player") and reproached him
with inscitia […] artis ("ignorance of the arts").[3] However, Celtic music culture was
spread inhomogeneously over Europe: Maximinus Thrax, the Thracian-Roman emperor
of Gothic descent, annoyed his fellow Romans because he was unable to appreciate a
mimic stage song.[4]
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Most of the information on ancient Celtic music centers on military conflicts and on
maybe the most prominent Celtic instrument of its time, the carnyx.
Contents
[hide]
• 1 The carnyx
o 1.1 Playing techniques and features
o 1.2 Use of the carnyx
o 1.3 Archaeological finds
• 2 Other Celtic instruments
o 2.1 Brass instruments
2.1.1 The Celtic horn
2.1.2 The Celtic trumpet
2.1.3 Other brass instruments
o 2.2 Woodwinds and similar instruments
o 2.3 Percussion and dance
o 2.4 Crwth — the ancient Celtic lyre
o 2.5 Celtic use of Roman instruments
• 3 Chant
o 3.1 Germanic chants
3.1.1 Barditus — the battle song
3.1.2 Heroic songs
• 4 The Romans as ethnographers
• 5 References
• 6 External links
The carnyx
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Two ancient carnyces[5]
© 1972 Haupt (Bern) (Used by permission)
The carnyx (plural: carnyces; Greek: κάρνυξ —"karnyx"—or rarely: καρνον —"karnon")
was a Celtic-Dacian variant of the Etruscan-Roman lituus and belongs to the family of
brass instruments.[6] It was an ſ-shaped valveless horn made of beaten bronze and
consisted of a tube between one and two meters in length, whereas the diameter of the
tube is unknown.[7] Archaeological finds date back to the Bronze Age, and theinstrument itself is attested for in contemporary sources between ca. 300 BC and 200
AD. The carnyx was in widespread use in Britain, France, parts of Germany, eastward
to Romania and beyond, even as far as India, where bands of Celtic mercenaries took it
on their travels.[8]
Gallic coins show the carnyx behind the head of the goddess Gallia or held by a
chieftain, a charioteer or a Gallic Victoria. On British coins the instrument is seen
swung by mounted Celtic warriors or chiefs. Roman coins, e.g. those heralding Caesar's
victory over Gaul, depict the carnyx on Roman tropaea as spoils of war. Other
depictions are known from the Augustus statue of Prima Porta.[9] In addition several
instruments are illustrated on Trajan's Column, carried by Dacian warriors.
The carnyx's most prominent feature is the bell, which was constructed as an animal
head, either as one of a serpent, a fish, a bird, a wolf, a horse, an ass or a wild boar. The
earliest depiction shows the head of a dragon and was found on Aetolian victory coins
from the 3rd century BC, which commemorate the expulsion of the Gallic warriors, who
had marauded the Delphi sanctum.[10] Behn (1912) interpreted the many bell types as
distinguishing features of the various Celtic clans and chiefdoms.[11] Others have
suggested a mythological component,[12] which is the most logical explanation, since the
Deskford Carnyx in Scotland was a sacrificial offering, of which the possibly
dismantled head could have been the key element.
[13]
Based on this independentdevelopement of the bell an attempt was made to derive the Etruscan lituus from the
carnyx, but without success.[14]
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Playing techniques and features
Pitch compass of the reconstructed Deskford carnyx
The sound of the carnyx was described as lugubrious and harsh, perhaps due to the
loosened tongue of the bell,[15] which shows that the instrument must have been a
discrete enhancement of the Etruscan lituus, the sound of which was mostly described
as bright and piercing.[16] The carnyx was held vertically so that the sound would travel
from more than three meters above the ground. Reconstructions have shown that the
instrument's embouchure must have been cut diagonally as an oval opening, so the
carnyx could be played in a similar fashion as a modern-day trumpet, i.e. with vibrating
lips, however blown from the side.[17] Due to the absence of valves and crooks, melodies
were created by producing harmonics with overblowing techniques, as the
reconstructional work by John Kenny has convincingly shown ( see External links for arecording sample).[18] The fairly wide bell guaranteed a very high playing volume, and
the instrument itself must have had a considerable dynamic range. The best surviving
bell of a carnyx was found in North East Scotland as part of the so-called Deskford
Carnyx and featured a movable tongue. In addition the bronze jaw of the animal head
may have been loosened as well in order to produce a jarring sound that would surely
have been most dreadful when combined with the sound of a few dozen more carnyces
in battle.[19] The demoralizing effect of the Gallic battle music must have been
enormous: When the Celts advanced on Delphi under Brennus in 279 BC, the unusual
echoing effects of the blaring horns completely overawed the Greeks, before even a
single fight could commence.[20]
Use of the carnyx
A Roman tropaeum with a carnyx © VRoma (Used by permission)
Since most ancient Roman sources are based on bellicose encounters with the Celtic
chiefdoms, the carnyx is today mostly seen as an instrument used during warfare, as
Polybius e.g. reports for the battle of Telemon, Gallia Cisalpina, in 225 BC, where the
Gauls used the instrument together with other brass instruments to frighten the Roman
enemy.[21] The limitation to acoustic or psychological warfare is however erroneous.
Brass instruments were regularly used as a means of communication during battle,
relaying orders for troop positioning, movement and tactics, also by the Gauls.[22] Other sources confirm that the Gauls kept their military order even in situations of military
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mishaps. The musicians of their army camps played their horns to ensure a cohesive and
controlled retreat.[23] After the victory of Marius near Vercellae, his Roman rival Catulus
Caesar reserved a Cimbrian signaling horn from the loot for himself.[24] Music,
musicians and instruments were strategically important elements for the Roman and
Celtic armies alike.
Furthermore, the instrument can be seen in action on the famous Gundestrup cauldron
in the depiction of a warrior initiation ritual (2nd or 1st century BC), a clear evidence
for the use of the instrument outside of the purely military realm. [25] The ritual use of the
instrument is further supported by the Deskford Carnyx, which was shown to have been
a sacrificial offering to an unknown god.
Archaeological finds
Apart from the Scottish Deskford Carnyx found in 1816 on the shores of Moray Firth in
Aberdeenshire, fragments of only four other carnyces had been found (e.g. the Glanum
Carnyx in the Bouches-du-Rhône region), until in 2004 archaeologists discovered afoundation deposit of five well preserved carnyces from the first or second century AD
under a Gallo-Roman fanum at Tintignac (Corrèze, France), four of which feature boar
heads, while the fifth exemplar appears to have a serpent bell.[26] The fact that the
carnyces were deposited on a holy site underlines the sacrificial importance of the
instrument in Gallic culture.[27] The archaeologists responsible for the Tintignac
excavation assume that the carnyces were offered to a deity identified with the Roman
god Mars. There is still debate on the dating, because parts of other finds discovered in
the deposit seem to be older than the first century, possibly dating to the first century
BC, which means that some of the musical instruments may have been stored inside the
sanctuary long before being buried.
Other Celtic instruments
Brass instruments
In his accounts of the battle of Telemon, Polybius clearly distinguishes between horn-
and trumpet-like instruments played by the Gallic warriors.[28] In general the Celtic
peoples had a variety of instruments at their disposal. Aside from the carnyx, at least
two other brass instrument types are known from Roman and Greek depictions.
Celtic horn© 1972 Haupt (Bern) (Used by permission)
The Celtic horn
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The Celtic horn was a large, oval-curved horn with a thin tube and a modestly large bell,
not unlike the Roman cornu, especially since it also had a crossbar as a means of
supporting the instrument's weight on the player's shoulder. Like the carnyx it is
therefore and in all probability an instrument of Etruscan origin from the first period of
hellenization.[29] On a Pompeian fresco, the horn is carried by a female dancer,[30] and a
Gallic warrior carries a broken exemplar, fastened together by a (leather?) band, on aCapitoline sculpture.[31] Like the Roman cornu, the Celtic horn will have been held
horizontally to ensure a more comfortable playing position.
Celtic trumpet© 1972 Haupt (Bern) (Used by permission)
The Celtic trumpet
The Celtic trumpet was similar to the straight Roman tuba and probably came in
different lengths. A Celtic musician is depicted playing the instrument on a late Greek
vase.[32] A related instrument could be the early mediaeval Loch Erne horn that was
found in Ireland.
Other brass instruments
Many regional variants of the Celtic horns are known and came in different shapes,
sizes and diameters, like the Loughnashade Trumpa from Ireland and similar horns
from Scandinavia and other regions. Couissin (1927) documented a third Celtic wind
instrument type with a bent horn, similar to the Caledonian Caprington Horn[33] or the
infamous prehistoric Sussex horn that was however lost and of which only drawings and
reproductions survive. It is not known whether the horn mentioned by Couissin was a
fragment of another Celtic horn or a simple cow horn of the rural population, a bowed
horn-instrument known all across Europe.
Woodwinds and similar instruments
Bone flutes, mostly made from birds, are known since the Stone Age.[34] Wooden flutes
were introduced later and corresponded to the Roman fistula (shepherd's flute). But
terracotta and bone whistles remained in use throughout antiquity.[35] In addition
woodwinds made of tubes and pipes, similar to the Greek syrinx ( pan flute), were in use.[36]
Percussion and dance
Crotales (hand bells) made of bronze or wood as well as terracotta rattles are knownsince the Bronze Age, some of which came in the shape of birds. [37] Closed bells were
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sometimes built with a ring and could be strapped to the player's apparel. Weapons and
shields—apart from their use for rhythmic noises on the battlefields—must have been
widely adopted as percussion instruments, but the only sources in this respect are on the
Gallaecian and Celtiberian culture: In his epic on the second Punic war Silius mentions
the exotic songs of the Gallaecian military allies, to which they beat the rhythm on their
shields.[38]
Celtiberian weapon dances are reported for the funeral of TiberiusSempronius Gracchus.[39] The most famous dances of Hispania however were performed
by the Gaditanae, the women of Gades in Hispania Baetica,[40] which were so popular in
Rome that special teachers from Spain were hired for Roman music education. [41] The
dancers used hand clappers as an accompanying instrument, creating a lascivious dance
similar to modern-day castanet performances.[42] If the Celts used drumming instruments
like the Roman tympanum is unknown, but very likely, because other forms of hand
drums like the ceramic German Honsommern Drum, which was similar to the African
djembe, are known since the Neolithic. A later Iron Age drum is the Malemort Drum
found in the central French Corrèze region.[43]
Crwth — the ancient Celtic lyre
Not much is known about the ancient Celtic lyre, only that it was used by Celtic bards
since the 8th century BC and that it was later well-known in Rome, where it was called
lyra.[44] Its resonator was made from wood, while only few components were made from
bones. The instrument's strings were made from animal intestine. The Gauls and other
Celtic peoples regarded the crwth[45] as a symbol of their independent musical culture,[46]
although they had probably received it from the Ancient Greeks. The Goths invoked
their tribal gods with prayers and chants, which they accompanied by lyre play. [47] By
the time of the Barbarian Invasions in the 5th century AD the lyre had become the most
important stringed instrument of the Germanic tribes [48] and was a six-stringed wooden
lyre with hollow ledger arms and wooden vortices in the ledger rod. The original Celtic
lyre however came with different numbers of strings, as the Lyre of Paule, which is
depicted on a statue from Côtes d'Armor in Bretagne, apparently had seven strings.[49]
Celtic use of Roman instruments
Since many Celts like the Gauls and Germans became part of the Roman army, they
must have also used Roman instruments, especially during battle. However, only one
source seems to have been passed down: At the time of emperor Claudius' inauguration,
the troops stationed in Germania and Pannonia mutinied. When an unexpected lunar
eclipse commenced, the insurgent Pannonians feared the wrath of the gods and orderedtheir musicians to play against their perdition aeris sono, tubarum cornuumque
concentu, i.e. with their tubae and cornua.[50]
Chant
The Romans have left us a variety of sources on chants from various regions. Sallust
mentions the Spanish custom of ancestral songs honoring their military deeds. [51] The
recital of "barbaric songs" is reported for a member of the Celtiberian infantry during
the battle of Cannae in 216 BC, as he was attacked by the Roman consul.[52] National
songs are already attested by Tacitus for the Caledonians.[53]
Livius reports Gallic war songs that were heard at the river Allia.[54] After the Gallic victory (ca. 387 BC) the
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city's inhabitants had to endure the dissonant battle chants. [55] A sole Gallic warrior is
reported to have gone into a fight singing.[56] Livius on the other hand only describes the
Roman Titus Manlius, who would defeat him in 361 BC, as remaining in defiant silence
to concentrate all his anger on the impending fight.[57] In 218 BC the Gauls resisted the
enemy commander Hannibal and his troops during his crossing of the Rhône with
furious battle cries and the demonstrative clashing of their swords and armor.[58]
Since many of the Gauls and Germans joined Caesar's army after his victory over Gaul,
their war chants were added to the Roman oeuvre of army songs: When 2000 soldiers
from the Gallic cavalry defected to Octavian before the battle of Actium, they didn't
only cheer for Caesar but presented genuine Gallic war songs. [59] Probably the most
popular vocal performers were the Celtic bards, whose national heroic songs were
known in Rome throughout antiquity.[60]
Germanic chants
The Roman sources on Germanic chants are not based on ethnographical topica, butoriginate from actual experiences. The primary attributes of Germanic singing can be
derived from the accounts on the Germanic tribes by Publius Cornelius Tacitus. As
scant and recapitulary Tacitus' observations might be, it is possible to deduce two
discrete music genres, the war chant (barditus) and the heroic songs.
Barditus — the battle song
Among other heroes and gods the Germans especially worshipped Heracles as their god
of war with their battle songs,[61] which must have inspired Hecataeus of Miletus to use
the name Κελτοὶ
( Keltoì) for the Celtic Hallstatt tribes of Western and South-WesternGermany,[62] since Celtus was the son of Heracles and Keltine in Greek mythology.[63]
The warriors inferred the outcome of the battle from the character of the so-called
barditus[64] and also accompanied their cries with the beating and rattling of their
weapons and armour, which directly parallels the custom that the Gauls exhibited at the
Rhône ( see above). The fact that the name barditus also describes the trumpeting of an
elephant might be a hint that also wind instruments were used, but this must remain
pure speculation. It is more feasible that Tacitus used the term for purely objective
reasons, since Germanic war songs would not be expected to come as a particularly
aesthetic experience. The most important aspect was namely the intonation before the
battle,[65] and the abrupt start of the barditi doesn't speek for music with words. The
characterization as an acoustic crescendo rather points at noisy battle clamor than anormal song with lyrics.
The Germans fighting for Aulus Vitellius Germanicus went into battle singing, after
they had been surround by Othonian enemy forces.[66] In his account of the Batavian
rebellion lead by Gaius Iulius Civilis the author Tacitus contrasts the hesitant attitude of
the Roman soldiers with the sullen Batavian chants. [67] The writings of Ammianus
specify that the descriptions of the raw, dull and thundering battle songs, which were
also given by Tacitus, allude to the music of the Germans fighting on the Roman side. [68]
The fact that he actually mentions "Romans" intoning Germanic songs clearly shows
how extensively the Roman army had been enforced with Germanic troops.[69]
Heroic songs
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Although Tacitus doesn't distinguish between the barditus and the heroic songs, his
choice of words implies a second genre. Tacitus' cumulation of alliterations[70] is
probably the first mention of rhyme in Europe, an early form of the German Stabreim,
which became widely popular in the Mediaeval Ages.[71]
The Romans were acquainted with Germanic heroic songs, e.g. from the poetic andmusical Nachleben of Arminius.[72] The Tacitus source can be seen as the first testimony
of early Germanic heroic songs.[73] Festive singing is also attested for the night of the
Roman advance in the Ems region in 15 AD.[74] In 26 AD the insurgent Thracians were
surprised by the attack of the Roman consul and general Poppaeus Sabinus during a
feast with dance and singing. The Sicambri, who fought for the Roman side, countered
the situation with defiant songs of their own,[75] which could be evidence that the Celts
knew improvisation as well as the ancient tradition of singing contests, which are e.g.
reported by Virgil.[76] The Goths sang heroic songs to worship their ancestors,[77] and
their tradition of tribal songs is well attested.[78] After the battle of Campus Mauriacus
the Goths were heard singing dirges for their fallen king. [79]
The Romans as ethnographers
Elephant treading a carnyx © Harlan J. Berk (Used by permission)
The Roman historians and poets were often interested in foreign music, especially the
music of the Gallic and Germanic Celts, but sometimes their literary aims had priority
over a detailed ethnographical observation. Many modern scholars had long presumed
this to have been a common characteristic of Roman historiography.[80] One of the most
prominent victims of this generalizing misconception was C. Iulius Caesar , whose
excurses in his Commentaries on the Gallic War often show an exceptionallyautonomous ethnography, especially in the later books.[81] Only in a minor number of
other cases, ethnographical detail is presented by Caesar to benefit purely as a foil for
Roman behavior. An example is his detailed description of the Gallic women's
opportunistic behavior,[82] where their inconstantia is used to contrast the magnitudo
animi of the Roman military. Furthermore the colorful account helped to play down
Caesar's military setback in Gergovia.
Caesar can therefore not be seen as completely free from the preferral of political goals,
especially in his reports on the enemy's military campaigns, which can furthermore be
exemplified by his mention of the Gallic signaling horns in his Commentaries. The
instrument was used in Alesia by orders of Vercingetorix to alarm his troops, and theBelgian tribe of the Bellovacians used it to summon a council of war, after they had
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been defeated by the Romans in 51 BC.[83] Caesar calls the instrument a tuba, although
the correct term must have been known to him, so it's unclear if it was a carnyx or one
of the other Gallic brass instruments ( see above), although Caesar's rendition might well
suggest the Celtic trumpet. Here the interpretatio Romana obscures the ethnographical
detail, although it can be derived from the many illustrations on victory reliefs that the
distinctiveness of the Gallic horns had not been passed unnoticed by the Romans.
A good example of how many Romans viewed the Germanic Celts is given by the
soldiers after the triumph of Lepidus and Plancus 43 BC in Spain. For their songs the
soldiers improvised lyrics that used the term germani ("brothers", "Germans") for their
fellow Romans to ambiguously allude to the barbaric proscriptions of the second
triumvirate.[84]