Many people can conjure up a surprisingly clear picture of the ancient Celts: proud, fiercely independent people, heroically represented by Vercingetorix (d. 46 Bc) and Boudicca (d. ad 60). The ancient Celts are viewed as ferocious enemies when roused by the threat of foreign oppression - their warriors charging, in chariots and on foot, fearlessly into battle. When not at war, the ancient Celts are popularly seen as unsophisticated farming folk, ruled by clan chiefs and kings much given to feasting, personal adornment and barbarian splendour. In arts and crafts, the ancient Celts are considered skilled and inspired metalworkers, as well as poets and musicians of great renown. The druids loom in the shadowy edges of the picture - the mystical seers and keepers of ancient knowledge.
This picture, though useful as an aide-memoire, is far from complete. The heroic struggle against the Romans dates back to the Celts' defeat at the Battle of Telamon (225 Bc). Before Telamon, the Celts were an ever-present threat to Rome. The struggles of Vercingetorix and Boudicca represent the swan song of the ancient Celts, a last snapshot before they were submerged (and largely assimilated) into the Roman Empire.
Celtic supremacy in the Iron Age
A more 'modem' picture of the ancient Celts sees them as either the first masters of Europe or the first pan-European civilisation. This picture covers a wider period: extending back to c.750 bc and, although it covers the whole of Europe from Spain to the Black Sea, the focus is on central Europe, and the British Isles are relegated to the fringes of the Celtic world. These Celts emerge at the dawn of the Iron Age and spread vigorously, dominating much of Europe north of the Alps by c.200 bc.
The myth of migration?
An even more recent approach questions many of the assumptions made about the ancient Celts. It interrogates the nature of Celtic identity, and attempts to deconstruct and demythologise some of the history that built up around the Celts through the centuries. This picture has gained limited support. It sees no great folk-movements - apart from a few migrations for which there is definite historical evidence - but detects instead innovations and fashions travelling along ancient and sophisticated networks of trade between historically related groups of people. This approach challenges some firmly established beliefs about history and ethnicity, archaeology and language. Yet, while this prop>osal provides a healthy counter-balance to the traditional tendency to explain everything by migrations, the history of migrations cannot be entirely ignored.
What exactly do we mean by the term 'Celts'?
When we refer to the Celts, do we mean people speaking a Celtic language as defined by those who
< The Gundestrup cauldron
Highlights the difficulty of determining and interpreting Celtic art. The silver cauldron was found at Gundestrup, West Himmerland, north Jutland, Denmark. It is generally thought to be of Celtic origin, and was perhaps brought to Denmark as plunder. Perhaps the most fanx)us of all 'Celtic' finds, the cauldron is commonly dated to the 1st century bc, since the 'thorn' spurs worn by the first rider on this panel are rare before this date. Some argue that the panel shows a human saoifice while armed men prepare for war. Others believe that the scene is a depiction of the warriors' initiation rite. The panel is divided by a 'tree of life'. Beneath the tree, are the infantry with caps, knee-length tunics, spears and shields. Through the initiation rite, conduded by the priest or god with braided hair on left, the foot soldiers become cavalrymen with crested helmets, short jerkins and hoses. In this latter account, the warrior is being placed in a pit (rather than a cauldron), covered with a piece of turf.
Ў During the 3rd century bc, About 600 years later, Celtic Celtic languages were spoken languages were virtually confined across a broad swathe of Europe. to the western parts of the British
Study the relationships between languages; not only present-day languages, but also those known only from inscriptions and inference? Or do we mean people of Iron Age Europe as defined by archaeologists who study the similarities and differences betw'een art styles and manufacturing techniques?
For our first glimpse of the ancient Celts, and for the first use of the word 'Celtic', we have no option but to start with history. Physical archaeology rarely pro 1des us with written records, and the archaeology of language is nothing but words.
The first histories of the Celts
The Celts emerge into history, and then only fleeting-ly, in the writings of Greek historians. At the end of the 6th century bc, Hecataeus of Miletus places the Keltoi (Celts) some distance north of present-day Marseilles in southern France. A little later, Herodotus (484?-420? bc), the 'father of history', has them living in Spain and the upper Danube region. Most contact between Greeks and Celts took the form of indirect trade across the adjacent fringes of their respective worlds. However, it is highly likely that there were many direct encounters between Greeks and Celts. We know that Celts were mercenaries in the war between Sparta and Thebes (367 bc), and that Alexander the Great (356-323 bc) met the Celts in 335 BC. By 279 bc, when a band of Celts sacked the sacred treasuries at Delphi, Greek power was on the wane and the Celts were engaged in struggles with Germanic tribes and the emerging might of Rome.
We know most about the ancient Celts from the Romans, who called them Gauls. Caesar tells us that some of those living in Gaul called themselves "Celtae". Only a few Celtic inscriptions have been found in Gaul. Most of the Celtic words that we have from the period are contained in reports by various Roman generals and historians, who use them to refer to their barbarian enemies, their weapons and their places of settlement.
We can be fairly certain that during the period of the Roman conquests in western Europe, many (if not most) of the inhabitants of Gaul and Britain spoke one of a number of related languages we now describe as belonging to the Celtic language group. Other related languages were spoken across a much wider area extending from Spain to the Balkans but, then as now, the fact that a language is spoken in an area does not mean that it is spoken by everybody all of the time.
> Human head on a bronze handle mount of the so-called 'Aylesford bucket', discovered in Kent, southern England. The bronze and wooden bucket dates from the 1st century bc. The swim-bladder protuberance on the head is typical of Celtic art from the La Tene period. It has been suggested that this is a depiaion of a helmet and head-dress.
World History
