The Celts

1. Introduction

Celts were ancient inhabitants of Europe. The term has also traditionally
included the people of Iron Age Great Britain and Ireland. The Celts were a diverse
group of peoples connected by a shared language, religion, and material culture.
People know about Celtic culture mainly from the writings of the Roman general
and statesman Julius Caesar and other ancient authors and through the work of
archaeologists.

2. Development of the term Celt

The first literary reference to the Celtic people, as keltoi is by the Greek
historian Hecataeus in 517 BC. He locates the Keltoi tribe in Rhenania
(West/Southwest Germany). According to Greek mythology, Celtus was the son of
Heracles and Keltine, the daughter of Bretannus. Celtus became the primogeniture
of Celts. In Latin Celta came in turn from Herodotus word for the Gauls, Keltoi.
The Romans used Celtae to refer to continental Gauls, but apparently not to Insular
Celts, which were divided into Goidhels and Britons, and possibly other peoples.

3. The term in English

The English word is modern, attested from 1707 in the writings of Edward
Lhuyd whose work brought academic attention to the languages and history of the
original inhabitants of Great Britain. Nowadays "Celt" and "Celtic" are usually
pronounced /k lt/ and /k lt k/ when referring to the ethnic group and its
languages. The pronunciation /'s lt k/ is occasionally used in this context, but is
mainly restricted to the names of certain sports teams.

4. Modern uses

In a historical context, the terms "Celt" and "Celtic" can be used in several
senses: they can denote peoples speaking Celtic languages; the peoples of
prehistoric and early historic Europe who shared common cultural traits which are
thought to have originated in the Hallstatt and La Tne cultures; or the peoples
known to the Greeks as Keltoi, to the Romans as Celtae and to either by cognate
terms such as Gallae or Galatae.
In a modern context, the term "Celt" or "Celtic" can be used to denote peoples
speaking Celtic languages and descendants of such peoples. There are seven
modern nations typically defined as Celtic Nations; these are: Brittany, Cornwall,
Ireland, the Isle of Man, Scotland, Wales and Galicia.

5. Celtic civilization on the continent

The first classification of Celtic population has at origin the work of Georg
Ramsauer, an amator archaeolog from Austria.
This site at Hallstatt, Austria, was first uncovered by a George Ramsauer, a
local, in 1846. It was not until 30 years later that a team of investigators from the
Academy of Sciences in Vienna performed an exhaustive investigation of the local
salt mine (the natural resource that had supported a local economy near Hallstatt
for perhaps 4500 years) and the approximately 2500 grave sites there.
The time in European history of this snapshot of Celtic cultural development
is approximately 800 B.C. The Celtic people here were an iron using people who
traded salt to the south as far as Italy and as far north as Bohemia. "The grave
goods - predominantly iron-made - ... indicated a sophisticated and hierarchical
society. These people, superb iron-workers, owned and buried beautifully-
decorated vessels, ornamented weaponry and horse trappings, all of a standard
much advanced upon that recorded from earlier Europe, reflecting a decisive and
recognizable social structure."
Prior to these discoveries at Hallstatt, the Iron Age map of Europe only
included Rome and Greece as "civilizations". "But now 'the glory that was Greece,
the grandeur that was Rome' had a proven tangible rival - the opulence and clear
structure of the Celtic civilization."
"The Hallstatt Culture reflects the Celts in their state of development between
the beginning of the ninth century B.C. and the middle of the seventh century B.C.
- an iron-using, farming, trading people with fixed patterns of habitation and
society." So, the term Hallstatt has more to do with the state of development of the
whole society than the time at which this development was achieved. For example,
artifacts found in Ireland dated four-hundred years later than those found at
Hallstatt may still be described as Hallstatt based on the way in which they were
made and the reflections of their local society.
La Tene -- In 1858, near Neuchatel, Switzerland, another trove of Celtic
objects was uncovered. Subsequent excavations in this area indicated that "busy
and continuous life" had existed by the lake at Neuchatel for hundreds of centuries.
As the Hallstatt cultural period of the Celts lasted from between 800/700 B.C.
to 600/500 B.C., "La Tene denotes a period which took over from Hallstatt
Culture". La Tene Culture can be divided into three periods: Early La Tene, 600-
500 B.C.; Middle La Tene, 300-100 B.C.; and Late La Tene which leads into the
end of Celtic dominance in central Europe as the Roman Empire began to expand
north of the Alps.
"If Hallstatt Culture may be seen as survival and breakthrough from basic
comfort to the nucleus of civilization, the Celts of La Tene Culture, luxuriated,
shone, swaggered, thought, expressed themselves....La Tene meant more lavish
burials, more advanced decoration on swords, helmets, brooches, more
cosmopolitan influence."
"La Tene Culture lifts the Celts from being just another of the myriad
European tribally-originated peoples who made an impact in the days before
literacy. La Tene spirit establishes the Celts as a real 'civilization'".
"La Tene Culture finds the Celts amongst wealth and glory and possession
and expression. They had mobility, style, trade, power. They had given themselves
definition; they had acquired a considerable presence; and they had, for their
elegance and heroism, earned respect, an assured people. The way of the Celts
within that period, the five hundred years or so before Christ, fixed them in the
popular imagination - mythological in splendour, glorious in their gold and jewels,
mysterious in the tracery of their ornamentation, opulent in the evidence of their
possessions."
"And the term 'La Tene' defines the essential vision of the Celts and their
civilization, marks their major cultural presence in Europe, when their attitude,
personality, style, came of age. Through La Tene, Europe saw them as
importanantn t, powerful and fascinating. Their spread across the continent, their
multifarious presence, made them a force to be reckoned with."

6. Celts in Britain

It is not known precisely when the Celts first enter Britain in their steady
expansion outwards from central Europe. But Caesar states, in his own account of
his campaigns, that they have been migrating across the Channel since at least the
2nd century BC.
Caesar makes his first tentative excursion to Britain in August of 55 BC. He
lands on the coast of Kent, meeting considerable opposition from the cavalry and
war chariots of the neighbouring Celtic chieftains. After staying long enough to
demonstrate to the British the strength of a Roman legion, he returns in September
to Gaul.
During the winter Caesar builds 600 new ships. He sails again, in July of 54
BC, with five legions and 2000 cavalry. They are sufficient to bring him north of
the Thames into the territory of Cassivellaunus, the tribal chieftain chosen to lead
the British forces. Caesar easily captures the Celtic leader's primitive stronghold,
and removes from it a large herd of cattle. But by the time he sails away again, in
September, little has been achieved - except that Cassivellaunus has agreed to a
treaty and has promised an annual tribute. It is unlikely that any tribute is paid.
The Celtic chieftains of Britain have almost exactly a century before they are
again disturbed by the Romans.
Caesar's campaigns into Germany and Britain suggest that he considers Gaul
itself secure. The year 52 BC proves him wrong. The Celts find an inspiring leader
in Vercingetorix, a young chieftain of the Averni. His early successes against
Roman contingents are in the absence of Caesar, who has been wintering south of
the Alps. But the great general's arrival does not make quite the difference to which
he has become accustomed.
Caesar is besieging the town of Gergovia when Vercingetorix attacks and
routs the Roman forces, killing 700. This is Caesar's first defeat in all his years in
Gaul. It prompts many more tribes to come out in support of the rebels
The next siege in the campaign reverses the situation. Vercingetorix holds the
fortress of Alesia. Caesar and his troops, attempting to blockade the garrison, are
themselves threatened by a large army of Gauls. But when the Romans win the
first major battle between the two sides, the Gauls melt away. To save further lives,
Vercingetorix rides out of the town and surrenders - in a dramatic gesture of Celtic
chivalry.
He is kept in captivity for six years, until Caesar finds the right moment to
lead him through the streets of Rome in a triumphal parade.
7. Celtic Christianity
The Christian faith was well established in Celtic Britain by the 4th century
ad, but in the 5th century the Saxons and other Germanic peoples invaded the
country, driving most of the Celtic Christians into Wales and Cornwall. At the
same time, Saint Patrick and other British missionaries founded a new church in
Ireland, which then became the center of Celtic Christianity. The Irish church
developed a distinctive organization in which bishops were subordinate to the
abbots of monasteries. The Irish monks, devoted to learning as well as religion, did
much to preserve knowledge of ancient Roman literature in early medieval Europe.
Between the late 6th and the early 8th centuries, Irish missionaries were active in
Christianizing the Germanic peoples that had conquered the Western Roman
Empire, and they founded numerous monasteries in present-day France, Germany,
Switzerland, and Italy. Celtic Christianity in Ireland was weakened by the Viking
invasions of the 9th and 10th centuries, and by the 12th century its characteristic
institutions, which were incompatible with those of the dominant Roman church,
had largely disappeared from Europe.
8. Celtic society
Julius Caesar is our best source of information about Celtic society and this
evidence is supplemented by archaeological remains. Caesar found a society riven
by factions. From the tribe down to the family, argument and dispute seems to
have been the order of the day.
The Celts were generally governed by a council of nobles and by powerful
chiefs like Caesar's most dangerous Celtic adversary, Vercingetorix. Caesar
thought the ordinary people to be "treated almost as slaves". They were
impoverished and oppressed and bound themselves to the service of powerful men
in order to survive. If the leader of a faction failed to protect his followers,
however, he became completely discredited. There were two privileged classes, the
Druids who seem to have combined the roles of priest and magistrate, and the
Knights who led the people in war.
The Druids officiated at religious ceremonies and were consulted on all aspects
of the worship of the gods. They normally elected a chief Druid but sometimes
rival factions fought for their preferred candidate. They met every year to decide
legal disputes and were held in high regard. Caesar reported that Druidism had its
roots in Britain and that students would travel there for instruction. He heard that
their religion forbade them from writing about it and that it was transmitted in
verse. There were so many verses that Druids might have to spend twenty years
learning them.
Before Caesar's intervention the Gauls used to fight wars every year and the
Knight's importance would be reckoned by the number of his servants and
warriors. Caesar noted that areas furthest from the Roman Province produced the
fiercest soldiers and implies that certain parts of the Celtic world had been
enervated by exposure to imported Roman luxuries
Women had few rights but enjoyed a certain degree of security. If a woman
were to marry, the husband would match her dowry with property of an equal
value. If one of the partners were to die, the survivor would inherit this property
and any profits earned. Funerals were considered a great event, the dead were
cremated on a funeral pyre together with their favorites objects and at some time in
the past, slaves and retainers had been burnt with their masters.
The Celts lived on small farms or in villages but could retreat when threatened
to the comparative safety of a hill fort. These hill forts were constructed by digging
a ditch around the top of suitable hills (or around other natural features which were
easy to defend). Timber or dry stone walling was used to contain the rampart
material and some of these forts had quite complex works to protect their
entrances. Some hill forts are found to have remains of buildings but others have
none and there is some debate about how they were used in ancient
times. Domestic timber housing could be square, rectangular or circular in plan.
In Britain circular houses were more common.
The Celts had a coinage more than a century before their lands became part of
the Roman Empire. Hundreds of thousands of coins have been found and some of
these have given us information on otherwise unknown rulers. The earliest found
in Britain were of pure gold and imitated the stater of Philip of Macedon. Philip
made use of Celtic mercenaries and this might explain the existence of these coins
in Britain.
Celtic coins often featured pictures of horses, boars and ears of wheat. For low
value coins, the Celts used an alloy of copper and tin called "potin". Coins of this
type were ultimately cast in long strips and they continued in circulation until the
first century AD. The coin illustrated above is a stater of Cunobelin from the
period AD 10 to 40.
Bbibliography:

1. Nicolescu, Corneliu, Anglia si spiritul englez, ed. Pro Vita, 2005
2. Motor de cautare google: -www.ibiblio.org
-en.wikipedia.org
-www.historyworld.net
-www.isle-of-skype.org.uk/celtic-encyclopaedia/
-www.celticcorner.com/origins.html