About The Celts

Who were the Celts?

The Celts were a group of peoples that occupied lands stretching from the British Isles to Gallatia. The Celts had many dealings with other cultures that bordered the lands occupied by these peoples, and even though there is no written record of the Celts stemming from their own documents, we can piece together a fair picture of them from archeological evidence as well as historical accounts from other cultures. The first historical recorded encounter of a people displaying the cultural traits associated with the Celts comes from northern Italy around 400 BC, when a previously unknown group of barbarians came down from the Alps and displaced the Etruscans from the fertile Po valley, a displacement that helped to push the Etruscans from history's limelight.

The next encounter with the Celts came with the still young Roman Empire, directly to the south of the Po. The Romans in fact had sent three envoys to the besieged Etruscans to study this new force. We know from Livy's "The Early History of Rome." that this first encounter with Rome was quite civilized: [The Celts told the Roman envoys that] this was indeed the first time they had heard of them, but they assumed the Romans must be a courageous people because it was to them that the [Etruscans] had turned to in their hour of need. And since the Romans had tried to help with an embassy and not with arms, they themselves would not reject the offer of peace, provided the [Etruscans] ceded part of their superfluous agricultural land; that was what they, the Celts, wanted. If it were not given, they would launch an attack before the Romans' eyes, so that the Romans could report back how superior the Gauls were in battle to all others. The Romans then asked whether it was right to demand land from its owners on pain of war, indeed what were the Celts going in Etruria in the first place? The latter defiantly retorted that their right lay in their arms: To the brave, belong all things.

The Roman envoys then proceeded to break their good faith and helped the Etruscans in their fight; in fact, one of the envoys, Quintas Fabius killed one of the Celtic tribal leaders. The Celts then sent their own envoys to Rome in protest and demanded the Romans hand over all members of the Fabian family, to which all three of the original Roman envoys belonged, be given over to the Celts, a move completely in line with current Roman protocol. This of course presented problems for the Roman senate, since the Fabian family was quite powerful in Rome. Indeed, Livy says that: The party structure would allow no resolution to be made against such nobleman as justice would have required. The Senate, therefore passed examination of the Celts' request to the popular assembly, in which power and influence naturally counted for more. So it happened that those who ought to have been punished were instead appointed for the coming year military tribunes with consular powers (the highest that could be granted).

The Celts saw this as a mortal insult and a host marched south to Rome. The Celts tore through the countryside and several battalions of Roman solders to lay siege to the Capitol of the Roman Empire. Seven months of siege led to negotiations whereby the Celts promised to leave their siege for a tribute of one thousand pounds of gold, which the historian Pliny tells was very difficult for the entire city to muster. When the gold was being weighed, the Romans claimed the Celts were cheating with faulty weights. It was then that the Celts' leader, Brennus, threw his sword into the balance and uttered the words vae victis "woe to the Defeated." Rome never withstood another more humiliating defeat and the Celts made an initial step of magnificent proportions into history.

Other Roman historians tell us more of the Celts. Diodorus notes that: Their aspect is terrifying; they are very tall in stature, with rippling muscles under clear white skin. Their hair is blond, but not naturally so: they bleach it, to this day, artificially, washing it in lime and combing it back from their foreheads. They look like wood-demons, their hair thick and shaggy like a horse's mane. Some of them are clean-shaven, but others - especially those of high rank, shave their cheeks but leave a moustache that covers the whole mouth and, when they eat and drink, acts like a sieve, trapping particles of food. The way they dress is astonishing: they wear brightly colored and embroidered shirts, with trousers called bracae and cloaks fastened at the shoulder with a brooch, heavy in winter, light in summer. These cloaks are striped or checkered in design, with the separate checks close together and in various colors.

The Celts wear bronze helmets with figures picked out on them, even horns, which made them look even taller than they already are, while others cover themselves with breast-armour made out of chains. But most content themselves with the weapons nature gave them: they go naked into battle, weird, discordant horns were sounded, [they shouted in chorus with their] deep and harsh voices, they beat their swords rhythmically against their shields. Diodorus also describes how the Celts cut off their enemies' heads and nailed them over the doors of their huts, as Diodorus states:
In exactly the same way as hunters do with their skulls of the animals they have slain, they preserved the heads of their most high-ranking victims in cedar oil, keeping them carefully in wooden boxes. -Diodorus Siculus, History.

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What is a Celt and who are the Glasgow Celtics?

The people who made up the various tribes of concern were called Galli by the Romans and Galatai or Keltoi by the Greeks, terms meaning barbarian. It is from the Greek Keltoi that Celt is derived. Since no soft c exists in Greek, Celt and Celtic and all permutations should be pronounced with a hard k sound. It is interesting to note that when the British Empire was distinguishing itself as better and separate from the rest of humanity, it was decided that British Latin should have different pronunciation from other spoken Latin. Therefore, one of these distinguishing pronunciation differences was to make many of the previously hard k sounds move to a soft s sound, hence the Glasgow and Boston Celtics. It is the view of many today that this soft c pronunciation should be reserved for sports teams since there is obviously nothing to link them with the original noble savagery and furor associated with the Celts.

The Irish and the Scots Are From the Same Tribe. Ireland used to be divided up into five parts, the five fifths. There was a northern fifth, Ulster, a western fifth, Connaught, a southern fifth, Munster, an eastern fifth, Leinster and a middle fifth, Mide. The Ulster Cycle is a set of stories which are grounded in the five fifths. Indeed, they are primarily concerned with Cu Chulainn, the Ulster hero and his king, Conor Mac Nessa in their wars against the king and queen of Connaught, Ailill and Maeve. These figures play a prominent role in the may be the greatest story of the Ulster Cycle, the Tain Bo Cuailnge, The Cattle Raid of Cooley.

Sometime after 300 AD, Ulster became steadily less important in status among the five farthings and the ruling family of Mide, the Uí Neill Sons of Niall started to take over large parts of Connaught and most of Ulster. A similar move was made in Muster by the ruling family of Munster, the Eoganachta family. Thus was Ireland divided almost entirely into two halves. The people of Ulster were pushed to a small coastal strip bordering the Irish Sea. The kingdom changed its name to Dal Riata. Yet eventually Dal Riata fell under the rule and influence of the Ui Neill. This family, not content with the boundary presented by the sea, launched colonies across the Irish Sea into then Pictish Britain. Thus was Scotland founded, for it was these Ui Neill that the Romans called Scotti, not the original Picts.

Indeed, it was this Irish Expansion which led to Christianity in Scotland in 563 AD. St. Columba, the patron saint of Scotland, was a member of a powerful family in Dal Riata and in order to keep his ties in Ireland he settled on an island that was close to Scotland and Ireland, Iona. Of course, even more bizarre is the fact that St. Patrick, the man responsible for bringing Christianity to Ireland in the first place, was from Wales.

The name 'Celt' has been messed about with over the years to the point that the true meaning has all but disappeared.In the first instance the Greeks and the Romans knew of a tribe called Keltoi. From that point, all the people that looked or behaved the same were called 'Keltoi', regardless of the true name of the individual tribal group. Over the centuries the name changed with the languages until it was shortened to Kelt (with a hard 'K'). This name persisted into the 20th century with books in the 1920's-30's calling the people Kelts and the word celt (pronounced selt) being the name for axe-heads of various kinds.With the upsurge in interest of our origins the words merged and now we call the people Celts (pronounced Kelt).

The racial group that we now call Celt were in fact an Indo-European people whose culture spread rapidly across the whole of Europe, up into Scandinavia, down into the Spanish peninsula; and modern thought points to a spread over the Asian sub-continent as far as the borders of China.This does not mean the people expanded and took over, but that their culture was strong enough to dominate and be adopted by other peoples in the area.

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Origins of the Celts

Two new groups of people emerge in Central Europe during the late Neolithic (New Stone Age) period, one certainly immigrant. Each group may be distinguished archaeologically by characteristic artifacts found in their respective burial sites. One was a Bell Beaker or drinking vessel. We now refer to this group as the Beaker folk. There is still some doubt as to the origins of the Beaker folk, some say Iberia, and some say Central Europe itself. Never-the-less it is believed that they emerge as an independent cultural group around 3000 B.C.E.

The second group is characterized by a perforated battle-axe of stone. Similarly, we now refer to this group as the Battle-Axe folk. Evidence points towards origins in the steppe-lands of southern Russia, between the Caucasus and the Carpathian mountains. The Battle-Axe folk may be attributed with the initial spread of the Indo-European group of languages. The Indo-European group of languages encompasses most of those current in present-day Europe. In Central Europe the Beaker folk and Battle-Axe folk fused to become one European people. Shortly thereafter began the Bronze Age in Europe. It is unclear whether the arrival of the two groups influenced the arrival of the Bronze Age or not. Many think that contact with the Mediterranean and beyond may have influenced this. From this period onwards the line of continuity which leads directly to the historic Celts may be traced from the archaeological evidence. This is identified by the successive Unetice, Tumulus and Urnfield cultures of the Central European Bronze Age. The Unetice culture appears to have emerged from the fusion of Battle-Axe and Beaker peoples and their immediate descendants. The Unetice culture became the pre-eminent culture in Central Europe by the middle of the second millennium B.C.E. Because of rich mineral deposits and control of trade routes between the south-east (early Mediterranean cultures) and the more distant parts of Europe, the Unetice people prospered.

The Tumulus culture which followed the Unetice, and from which they descended, dominated Central Europe during much of the second part of the second millennium B.C.E. As the name implies, the Tumulus culture is distinguished by the practice of burying the dead beneath burial mounds. During this period trade contacts with the south-east remained intact and were probably expanded. The Tumulus culture flourished without any disruption of local peoples by large-scale immigration. This was to end, however, toward the close of the second millennium B.C.E., when there is evidence of wide-spread disruption which affected the "higher civilizations" to the south-east and curbed trade.

With the emergence of the Urnfield culture of Central Europe, there appear a people whom some scholars regard as being 'proto-Celtic', in that they may have spoken an early form of Celtic. As the name suggests, the people of the Urnfield culture cremated their dead and placed the remains in urns which were buried in flat cemeteries without any covering mound. The period of the Urnfield culture, like that of the Tumulus culture, was one of expansion, particularly during the first millennium B.C.E. It is during the period of the Urnfield culture that the Bronze Age was at its peek in Central Europe. They produced weapons, tools, eating and cooking vessels, etc. all out of Bronze. From the Urnfield Culture, the Celts emerge as an agricultural people. Whereas the Urnfield people may justifiably be considered to have been proto-Celtic, their descendants in Central Europe, the people of the Hallstatt culture, were certainly fully Celtic. The Hallstatt culture and its successor, that of La Tene, together represent the iron-using prehistoric peoples of much of Europe. These are the Keltoi, the Galli and Galatae of classical writers. The two cultures are named after sites at which were found archaeological artifacts now considered to be representative of a particular stage of each culture. Hallstatt is a village in Central Austria at which was found an important cemetery; La Tene is near the north-eastern end of Lake Neuchatel, in western Switzerland. In rough terms the Hallstatt culture existed from approximately 1200 to 500 B.C.E., with some overlap of the Urnfield culture. The La Tene culture in the parts of Europe which would soon become part of the Roman Empire ended with the arrival of the Romans. Beyond the Empire, such as Ireland and Northern Britain (modern day Scotland) the La Tene culture flourished until about 200 C.E.

In 1824 came the first signs of the existence archaeologically of an important Iron Age cemetery at Hallstatt, a small village in Upper Austria. Since much was lost about the Celts through the centuries, archaeology, just developing as a science in the 19th century, became a chief source of knowledge about the Celts in Europe. From 1846 until 1963, when excavations stopped at the cemetery, anywhere from 1000 to 2000 graves (My sources conflict) were excavated. The cemetery mostly dates to the seventh and sixth centuries B.C.E., and includes graves of many different classes.

Warriors' graves made up only about a quarter of the Hallstatt cemetery. Women's graves tended to have masses of clanking jewelry and bulky fibulae. Rich graves in the cemetery often contained impressive sets of bronze vessels - buckets, situlae (buckets with rims turned inward), bowls, and cups, presumably imported from the Mediterranean. Hallstatt remains one of the richest known cemeteries of its kind, with a wide range of weapons, brooches, pins, and pottery. From these excavations, we can develop a comprehensive picture of who the early Celts were.

The individuals buried at Hallstatt came from an early Iron Age community, whose lives depended on the mining of nearby rock-salt deposits, an important commodity in those days for preserving food. Salt also effectively preserves organic remains. Investigations of the mines themselves yielded clothing, equipment and even the body of a miner, perfectly preserved by salt. Around 600 B.C.E. another big salt mine opened not far from Hallstatt, at Hallein (near modern day Salzburg), a site that was more easily accessible. Hallstatt then went into decline. From the 5th century on it had fewer and fewer well furnished graves. In the fourth century B.C.E., Hallstatt was devastated by a vast landslide.

As stated in the Origins section, the Hallstatt culture, together with La Tene, represent archaeologically the iron-using prehistoric peoples of Central, Western and, temporarily at least, some other parts of Europe. The Hallstatt culture is now thought to span a period from 1200 to 500 B.C.E. From about 1200 to about 800 B.C.E. there is some overlap with the Urnfield culture as Europe was moving from the Bronze Age into the Iron Age. There are many similarities between the Urnfield and Hallstatt cultures, and it hard to determine when one left off and the other began. One thing is for certain, the first truly Celtic culture saw its beginnings in the Hallstatt culture.

The Hallstatt era is divided into four phases: A, B, C, and D, by modern day archaeologists. Approximately, Hallstatt A and B correspond to the late Bronze Age, c. 1200-800 B.C.E.; Hallstatt C refers to the very early Iron age, c. 800-600 B.C.E.; and Hallstatt D ranges from c. 600-500 B.C.E.. During Hallstatt A and B there is an apparent lack of large scale political organization. Until the eighth century, the known settlements suggest no more than petty chiefdoms. It is during the Hallstatt C period that we start to see fortified settlements on hilltops north of the Alps with greater frequency. Consequently, many burial mounds mark the graves of the rising noble classes, who no doubt had the hillforts built. Increased trade volumes seem to have contributed to the rise of these nobles. In the last phase, Hallstatt D, the richest graves are more concentrated in the west than previously. Resulting, seemly from the wishing to be closer to trade routes to the newly founded Greek colony of Massalia (Marseilles), near the mouth of the Rhone. Reaching the Greek world via Massalia, stories about the 'barbarian' chiefdoms were in all likelihood one of the earliest sources for tales of the people called Keltoi.

The fifth century B.C.E. began with a sudden extinction of the rich chiefdoms of the Hallstatt D. Hillforts all over Central Europe was abandoned, and rich burials ceased. At about the same time, wealthy warrior societies were developing, mostly to the north of the old Hallstatt centers. Almost certainly Celtic speakers, these peoples founded a unique culture and developed an artistic style unlike anything previously seen. This then is the development of the La Tene culture. Located on the northern edge of Lake Neuchatel in Switzerland, La Tene was identified as an archaeological site in 1857 when amateur archaeologist, Hansli Kopp, found some ancient iron weapons and timber piles driven into the bed of the lake. Draining and dredging the section of the lake in the 1860's and 1880's revealed an exceptional wealth of artifacts, including human remains, swords, spearheads, tools, and shields. The extraordinary quantity of artifacts recovered since then has convinced archaeologists that La Tene is a representative site for the period of greatest Celtic development and expansion. Whereas the Hallstatt culture probably consisted of many different peoples and language groups, the La Tene culture can truly be termed "Celtic.

The La Tene culture evolved during the fifth century B.C.E. in part of the Hallstatt area. There are several reasons for distinguishing archaeologically between the Hallstatt and La Tene cultures. One most important and distinctively different feature of the La Tene culture is the unique art-style, usually represented in their metal-work. This style most likely developed between the Meuse, Neckar, and Main, and had spread quite rapidly. The era in which it flourished begins around 500 B.C.E. and ends, on the European continent at least, around 50 B.C.E. La Tene Culture lifts the Celts from being just another of the many European tribal peoples. La Tene truly establishes the Celts as a real civilization. La Tene Culture generated some of the ancient world's most stunningly beautiful pieces of decorative art. The use of animals, plants, and spiral patterns in the art eventually epitomized and perpetuated the legend of the Celts. La Tene society seems to have risen to prominence through trade with the Mediterranean, with the Greeks and Etruscans, and later the Romans. La Tene Culture finds the Celts amongst wealth and glory and expression. In general, the technological level of the La Tene Celts, with very few exceptions, was equal to, and in some cases surpassed that of the Romans.

It was inevitable, however, that in any conflict between the Celts and Romans, the superior powers of organization, discipline, and orderliness of the Roman culture were bound to overcome the passionate and undisciplined Celts. But before the Romans were able to conquer the greater part of Celtic-dominated areas of continental Europe, the Celts during the La Tene period were to achieve their most widespread expansion. They spread into and beyond those areas previously held by the Urnfield and Hallstatt cultures. They forced their way into Greek and Roman history by sacking Rome in 390 B.C.E. and Delphi around 279 B.C.E. With the La Tene Culture, the Celts came of age and marked a major cultural presence in Europe. Through La Tene, European peoples saw them as important, powerful, and something to be feared. Their spread across the continent and their impressive presence made them a force to be reckoned with. From Germany and Eastern Europe they spread southward into the Balkans and Italy, and westward into France and Iberia. Before the La Tene culture of the Celts was finally destroyed by Roman conquest and culture, some of its elements had traveled beyond the continent into the British Isles. Ireland remained (at least no evidence suggests) untouched by the Romans. With the La Tene culture, the Celts had given themselves definition, acquired a considerable presence, and earned respect from all the peoples of Europe at that time.

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Who were the Druids?

While religion was a major element in the social and political structure of the Celts it constituted only one aspect of the pan-Celtic association known as the priesthood of the Druids. This society succeeded in uniting many scattered Celtic tribes into a cohesive people through similarity of beliefs and laws. The Druids formed a large clergy which had many diverse and specialized functions. They are known to us by long passages in the works of the Greek and Latin historians and polygraphist: Caesar, Diodoros, Strabo, and Ammianaus Marcellinus, who enumerated their functions and powers. These writers, however, owe most of their information to Poseidonios and Timagenes. (Being unfamiliar with Latin and Greek myself, I must rely on the translations of true scholars such as Joyce, Dobie, Rhys, and others.)

A great number of Irish epic texts speak of the Druids. There are also many legal texts regarding the functions and powers of the "Fili" (poets and men of letters), who formed a corporation parallel and to some extent rivaling that of the Druids. The two bodies, however, lived side by side, were complementary to each other and, in earlier times, were associated in their organizations and privileges. Even so, Christianity spared the Fili but wrought total havoc with the Druids.

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Where are the Druids from?

There is historical evidence of Druids in Ireland, Britain, and Gaul. Although we have no direct confirmation of Druids in the Celtic settlements of Spain, Italy, Galatia, and the Danube valley, there seems no reason for denying that they existed among those branches of the race. The travels and meetings of the Druids cemented the union of the Celtic peoples and encouraged a sense of kinship which might have given birth to unity. Some students believe that Druidism had its origin west of the Celtic counties. These scholars have said that Druidism is not Celtic at all but originated with those peoples whom the Celts found established in the west of Europe, the builders of the megalithic monuments. Caesar tells us that Druidism first started in Britain, and that the Druids of Gaul used to go to Britain to visit famous schools and sanctuaries. British Druidism had an equally high reputation in Ireland, and the Irish Druids went to Britain to complete their education. The Gauls of Italy had among them persons described as "Vates" (a word borrowed from the Celtic), who were similar to the Druids and organized like them. A comparative study of the druidic institution shows that it was indeed pan-Celtic and an essential part of the organization of Celtic society.

History shows clearly enough that Druidism emerged as an element of resistance to the Romans in Gaul and Britain and to Christianity in Ireland. It was assailed as an enemy with attacks taking the form of persecution in Gaul (as evidenced by the campaigns of the Roman generals against sanctuaries in Britain) and by a kind of degradation in Ireland. It becomes apparent, then, that Druidism was an element of resistance because it was an element of cohesion. This fact lends further credence to the notion that druidism transcended both geographic boundaries and clan or tribal delineation.

The literature and law of Ireland was not written down until after the advent of Christianity. This work was performed by the Fili who, therefore, appear in a more favorable light than the Druids. However, if we boldly fill in the gaps in our knowledge of the Druids using what is known of the Fili, we get a picture of the Druids of Ireland which corresponds at every point to that of the Druids of Gaul. From this we obtain a check on the accuracy of both portraits and a strong presumption that we are dealing with a common institution dating from the most distant past of the two peoples.

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