To Tommy, Valerie, Lisa, and Laverne

The author and publishers would like to express special thanks to Catherine McKenna,
Margaret Brooks Robinson Professor of Celtic Languages and Literatures,
Harvard University, for her gracious assistance in reviewing the manuscript of this book.

Marshall Cavendish Benchmark 99 White Plains Road Tarrytown, New York 10591
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Text copyright © 2010 by Marshall Cavendish Corporation Map copyright © 2010 by Mike Reagan

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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Hinds, Kathryn, 1962-
Ancient Celts : / by Kathryn Hinds.
p. cm. — (Barbarians!)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Summary: “A history of the ancient Celts, from their Iron Age culture to their final conquest
by the Romans in the first century CE”—Provided by publisher. ISBN 978-0-7614-4514-2
1. Celts—Juvenile literature. I. Title. D70.H55 2009 936.4—dc22 2008035976

EDITOR: Joyce Stanton PUBLISHER: Michelle Bisson ART DIRECTOR: Anahid Hamparian
SERIES DESIGNER: Michael Nelson

Images provided by Rose Corbett Gordon, Art Editor of Mystic CT, from the following sources: Cover: The Art
Archive/Musée des Beaux Arts La Rochelle/Gianni Dagli Orti Back cover: The Art Archive/Museo Civico Romano
Brescia Italy Page 1: The Art Archive/Alfredo Dagli Orti; pages 2-3: Musée d’Orsay, Paris/Bridgeman Art Library;
page 6: C. Walker/Topham/The Image Works; pages 8, 57: Werner Forman/Art Resource, NY; page 11: Prae-
historishches Museum, Hallstatt, Austria/Bildarchiv Steffens/Bridgeman Art Library; pages 12 top, 44: The Art
Archive/National Museum of Prague/Alfredo Dagli Orti; pages 12 bottom, 14 bottom, 15, 28, 37, 47, 50 & 51:
Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY; page 14 top: Musée Archeologique/Chatillan Sur Sein, France/Bridgeman Art
Library; pages 16, 61, 66: Werner Forman/Corbis; pages 17, 67 top: The Art Archive/Musée des Antiquités St
Germain en Laye/Gianni Dagli Orti; page 20: The Art Archive/Musée des Beaux Arts La Rochelle/Gianni Dagli
Orti; page 22: The Art Archive/Museo Nazionale Atestino Este/Alfredo Dagli Orti; page 24: Musée des Beaux-
Arts, Dunkirk, France/Bridgeman Art Library; page 25: akg-images; pages 27, 33, 49, 62: Private
Collection/Bridgeman Art Library; page 30: Nimatallah/Art Resource, NY; page 34: Manchester Art Gallery,
UK/Bridgeman Art Library; page 36: Historic Impressions, www.historicimpressions.com; page 39: Scala/Art
Resource, NY; page 40: Drents Museum, the Netherlands; page 42: Max Alexander (c) Dorling Kindersley/dkim-
ages; page 45: The Art Archive/Musée Paris/Gianni Dagli Orti; page 48: Musee Borely, Marseille,
France/Lauros/Giraudon/Bridgeman Art Library; page 52: Bridgeman-Giraudon/Art Resource, NY; page 54: The
Art Archive/Garrick Club/Elleen Tweedy; page 59: Mary Evans Picture Library/The Image Works; page 60: Tate,
London/Art Resource, NY; page 64: age footstock/SuperStock; page 65: J. Irwin/ClassicStock/The Image Works;
page 67 bottom: The Art Archive/Museo Civico Romano Brescia Italy/Alfredo Dagli Orti.

Printed in Malaysia
135642

Front cover: A conquering Celtic chief enters a Roman house, in a scene imagined by nineteenth-century
French artist Paul-Joseph Jamin.
Half-title page: A Celtic god, portrayed on a silver bowl known as the Gundestrup Cauldron
Title page: Warriors guarding the coast of Gaul, painted in 1888 by French artist Jean Lecomte du Noüy.
page 6: A stone head from northern Britain, possibly used as a symbol of protection on a Celtic farm
Back cover: A silver decoration from a horse’s harness, found in northern Italy and made in the second or
first century BCE
 who were the barbarians? 6

1. Introducing the Celts 9

2. Into Italy 21

3. Among the Greeks 31

4. Life and Loss in Gaul 43

5. The Edge of the World 55

key dates in celtic history 66

glossary 68

for more information 69

selected bibliography 70

sources for quotations 72

index 75
THE HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT WORLD is dominated by the
city-based societies of Greece, Rome, China, India, and others.
Yet not far beyond the borders of these famed civilizations
lived other peoples: the barbarians. They were first given this
name by the ancient Greeks, imitating the sounds of languages
that the Greeks found incomprehensible. Soon, though, bar-
barians came to be thought of not just as peoples unfamiliar
with the languages and customs of Greece and Rome, but as
wild, uncivilized, uncultured peoples. This stereotype has
largely endured to the present day, and the barbarian label has
been applied to a variety of peoples from many parts of
Europe and Asia.
The barbarians, of course, did not think of themselves this
way. They had rich cultures of their own, as even some ancient
writers realized. The civilized peoples both feared the barbar-
ians and were fascinated by them. Great Greek and Roman his-
torians such as Herodotus and Tacitus investigated and described
their customs, sometimes even holding them up as examples for
the people of their own sophisticated societies. Moreover, the
relationships between the barbarians and civilization were var-
ied and complex. Barbarians are most famous for raiding and
invading, and these were certainly among their activities. But
often the barbarians were peaceable neighbors and close allies,
trading with the great cities and even serving them as soldiers
and contributing to their societies in other ways.
Our information about the barbarians comes from a vari-
ety of sources: archaeology, language studies, ancient and
medieval historians, and later literature. Unfortunately, though,
we generally have few records in the barbarians’ own words,
since many of these peoples did not leave much written mate-
rial. Instead we frequently learn about them from the writings
of civilizations who thought of them as strange and usually
inferior, and often as enemies. But modern scholars, like detec-
tives, have been sifting through the evidence to learn more and
more about these peoples and the compelling roles they
played in the history of Europe, Asia, and even Africa. Now it’s
our turn to look beyond the borders of the familiar “great civ-
ilizations” of the past and meet the barbarians.

A variety of systems of dating have been used by different cultures throughout his-
tory. Many historians now prefer to use BCE (Before Common Era) and CE (Common
Era) instead of BC (Before Christ) and AD (Anno Domini), out of respect for the diver-
sity of the world’s peoples.
O NE DAY IN 335 BCE A YOUNG KING NAMED ALEXANDER
was camped beside the Danube River. He already ruled Greece
and Macedonia, and he was setting out to conquer an empire. During
a lull between battles, a group of foreign ambassadors arrived to see
him. They were Celts and came from lands a little northwest of Alexan-
der’s. According to the Greek historian Strabo, “The king received them
kindly and asked them, when drinking, what it was that they most
feared, thinking that they would say himself, but they replied they
feared nothing except that the sky might fall on them.”
This was the first time Alexander had ever met any Celtic people, Opposite page:
This bronze
but he had certainly heard of them. His own teacher, the great philoso- horse’s face
pher Aristotle, had written about the bravery of the Celts, who did not decorated the
chariot of an
even fear the powers of nature— “neither earthquakes nor waves.” Aris- important mem-
ber of the Brig-
totle thought, however, that “in general the courage of barbarians [was] antes tribe in
compounded with high-spiritedness” and was more like madness than northern Britain
during the first
true courage. But on this day in 335, these Celtic ambassadors were century CE.

9
not especially interested in demonstrating their bravery. They simply
wanted a treaty of friendship with Alexander. They got it, and returned
to their own land—where they kept their new friend’s northern neigh-
bors distracted with warfare so that he could get on with his conquests
in the east and become Alexander the Great.
Unlike Alexander, the Celts never had a unified empire. Most of
them probably didn’t even think of themselves as Celts, even though
they all spoke closely related languages and shared common art styles,
religious traditions, and social structures. Instead they identified them-
selves by their tribal groups—Senones, Parisii, Aedui, Belgae, Brigantes,
Silures, and many others. The numerous Celtic tribes were more likely
to fight one another than to unite for any common purpose. All the
same, for several hundred years they were one of the dominant peo-
ples of Europe. They occupied territory stretching from Ireland to Asia
Minor, and they threatened the might of Greece and Rome. Where did
they come from, and how did they become such a force to be reck-
oned with?

FROM SALT MINES TO HILL FORTS

In ancient times there was a great trading network running through
central Europe. Some of its most important centers were in what is now
Austria, where there were stupendous deposits of salt. Salt was
extremely important for preserving food, so whoever controlled the salt
mines could become very wealthy and powerful. About 2,700 years
ago, the salt mine owners were people who have been identified as
early Celts.
There are no written records about the Celts from this time, so infor-
mation about them comes from the finds of archaeologists. In the
1840s a government mining official discovered a cemetery at the Aus-
trian town of Hallstatt. Excavating it, he found a wealth of grave goods,
including swords, jewelry, and various kinds of containers. Some of the

[ 10 000000000000000000000000000000 ancient celts ]

metal objects were made of bronze, but many were iron—the ceme- Austrian artists
based this scene of
tery dated to near the beginning of western Europe’s Iron Age, around a Hallstatt miner
700 BCE. In the ancient salt mines near the cemetery, archaeologists dis- on archaeological
finds in the salt
covered more objects from the same period: wooden tools, fragments mines.
of woolen clothing, even fur berets and a leather backpack—all remark-
ably preserved by the salt.
The excavators of Hallstatt knew that by the 400s BCE Greek geog-
raphers and historians were aware that peoples they called Celts lived
in territory from Iberia (modern Spain and Portugal) to central Europe.
It was therefore not a stretch to conclude that the people of Iron Age
Hallstatt were Celts. And what was more, soon additional discoveries
were made not only in Austria but also in Germany, Switzerland, and
France. The finds closely resembled those at Hallstatt in materials, artis-
tic style, and other aspects, so scholars now spoke about a Hallstatt cul-
ture, or the Hallstatt phase of Celtic culture.
Archaeology has told us many things about this culture. The Iron Age
Celts were probably not invaders but descendants of the same people

[ introducing the celts 000000000000000000000000 11 ]

 PREHISTORY IS GENERALLY DIVIDED INTO SEVERAL DISTINCT PHASES:
the Old Stone Age (or Paleolithic), the New Stone Age (or Neolithic, when
farming was introduced), the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age. Sometimes schol-
ars also write of a Middle Stone Age and of a Copper Age occurring between
the New Stone Age and the Bronze Age. All these names come from the main
materials that were used to make tools. The ages were phases in the devel-
opment of technology, and these phases occurred at
FROM different times in different parts of the world.
The first people to have an Iron Age were the Hit-
BRONZE tites of Asia Minor (modern Turkey). It was they who dis-
covered how to refine iron and forge it into tools,
to IRON probably a little before 1500 BCE. The new techniques
gradually spread to other places, reaching Greece in the
eleventh century BCE and Italy by the eighth century BCE. Ironworking may have
come to the Celtic lands through Italy, or it may have come from the east,
brought by horse-riding peoples who migrated from the Black Sea region
along the Danube River and into what is now Hungary. Either way, the tech-
nology spread rapidly from this point and was known all the An iron spear-
way in the west of Britain within a century. head used by a
first-century BCE
Bronze had been a fine material for tools and Celtic warrior in
weapons, but iron had some major advantages. It was what is now the
Czech Republic
more durable than bronze, and it kept a sharper edge.
It was also easier to work, and easier to get—it was much more
abundant than the tin and copper that had to be combined to
make bronze. Iron was found almost everywhere, in many
forms, and often occurred near the earth’s surface, so little
This bronze mining was required. Some areas, of course, had larger iron
helmet from deposits than others—and some of the richest iron-ore supplies in Europe
the 400s BCE
may not were in Celtic territory.
have been With plowshares tipped with iron, the Celts could farm heavier, more fertile soils.
enough to
protect its Cattle could be raised more efficiently, too, because with iron scythes hay could be
wearer from easily cut to store for winter feed. And iron made excellent weapons. With iron
the heavy swords and spearheads, Celtic warriors were well armed to claim lands and power
blows that
dented it. and to move out from their homeland in search of greater wealth.
who had lived in the region for generation upon generation. But the
coming of iron, together with new contacts and trading relationships
with other peoples, changed society in many ways. New elite classes
arose, including warriors of different ranks. Evidence for this class sys-
tem has been found in burials. Regular warriors were buried with a long
sword made for slashing, along with some personal goods. A higher
rank seems to have been made up of warriors who fought on horse-
back, thanks to superior breeds of horses that became available from
the Black Sea region. These horsemen were buried with sword, per-
sonal goods, and horse trappings of finely worked metal.
At the highest rank (as far as we can tell), warriors were buried not
only with their weapons and the other usual possessions, but with
heavy four-wheeled vehicles. These were probably ceremonial carts,
which may have been used in the funeral procession to bear the body
to its final resting place. These carts were produced with cutting-edge
transportation technology developed by the Celts: Each spoked
wooden wheel had a rim made from a single length of wood softened
by heat so that it could be carefully bent into shape. The wheel was
then strengthened and protected by a piece of iron “shrunk” into place
to make a perfectly fitting iron tire.
During the 500s BCE the number of elite burials decreased across
the region. This seems to indicate that a smaller number of power cen-
ters were ruling over larger territories, and power was being concen-
trated into the hands of fewer people. So, apparently, was wealth. More
and more luxury items showed up in elite graves. One woman was
buried in a dress embroidered with silk thread that came all the way
from China. Most imported goods traveled a smaller distance, coming
from Greek traders based in what is now southern France and Etruscan
traders from northern Italy.
The most popular and prestigious items were ones associated with
wine drinking: large containers for mixing wine, jugs or flagons for

[ introducing the celts 000000000000000000000000 13 ]

 pouring it, cups for drinking it. For example, an elaborate
bronze krater (a type of Greek wine jar) more than five feet
tall was one of the objects buried with a woman at Vix, near
the source of the Seine River. Her tomb, a wooden chamber
covered over with an earthen mound, also contained other
imported wine accessories, a four-wheeled cart, and a great deal
of jewelry, including an amber necklace and gold torc, or neck
ring. The magnificence of her burial gives the definite impres-
The huge bronze sion that she was someone of power and importance, quite possibly a
krater buried with
the “Lady of Vix,” queen who ruled the region in her own right. The size of the wine jar
who died around is an important clue to her status: leaders were expected to host splen-
500 BCE. It weighed
460 pounds and did feasts at which there was plenty of alcohol for all their followers
was imported from
either Greece to drink. She was probably about thirty-five when she died.
or Etruria. A burial mound at Hochdorf in Ger-
many contained a similarly rich burial, this
time of a man. About forty years old and more
than six feet tall, he was laid out on a bronze
couch decorated with scenes of warriors rid-
ing in horse-drawn carts and fighting in single
combat. He wore a torc, arm ring, belt, and dagger, all
made of gold, and shoes covered in gold leaf. He also
had on a conical hat fashioned from birch bark. The
cart buried with him was covered in sheets of bronze
and iron and piled with cups and other vessels.
There were nine drinking horns in the burial cham-
ber, and a bronze cauldron imported from Greece,
large enough to hold about eighty-eight gallons. Tests
This bronze figure
formed one of the have shown that the cauldron contained mead, an
legs of the couch
on which the alcoholic drink made from honey, which was popu-
Hochdorf chief lar in Celtic lands throughout ancient and medieval
was laid to rest
around 530 BCE. times, and even beyond.

[ 14 000000000000000000000000000000 ancient celts ]

 The tombs of the lady of Vix and the lord of Hochdorf were close
to strongholds built on top of hills that overlooked and dominated the
surrounding farmland. Such hill forts were the typical headquarters of
Celtic rulers. In some of these forts archaeologists have found evidence
within the walls of numerous wooden houses and workshops clustered
together. They may have been flimsily constructed, since in many cases
they seem to have been frequently rebuilt. Fortifications often under-
went renovation, too. During this period at least one hill fort received
new walls built in the Greek style, probably by a Greek engineer—
evidence that the ruler was not only interested in the latest ideas from
abroad but could afford to pay for the services of foreign experts.
As for the common people, for the most part we can only make
guesses about how they lived. There were obviously skilled artisans
who crafted many of the fine objects found in the tombs. There were
miners who dug up salt and metals. Most people, though, would have
been farmers, raising cattle and sheep, growing barley and wheat.
A typical Hallstatt
family probably
lived in a thatch-
roofed cabin like
the building on the
left. The other
building is a bake-
house, which could
have been shared
by more than one
family. These
reconstructions at
an Austrian
museum are based
on the findings of
archaeologists.

[ introducing the celts 000000000000000000000000 15 ]

 Women, as in most of the premodern world, would have spent a
great deal of their time spinning, weaving, and sewing. Celtic women
were expert weavers, even at this early time producing plaid woolen
cloth similar to what much later Celts in Scotland would use to make
their kilts.

ON THE THRESHOLD OF HISTORY

By the late Hallstatt era, the centers of Celtic power were mainly in
what is now southern Germany. The upper class, at least, lived in rel-
ative peace, comfort, and luxury, enjoying the benefits of trade and
communication with the Greeks and Etruscans. The Celts farther north,
though, didn’t have things quite so easy. Their
neighbors were tribes of Germans and other
migrating peoples with whom they often fought
for land and other resources. The more northern
Celts therefore seem to have had plenty of oppor-
tunity to become extremely skilled in warfare. And
it is possible that eventually they used that skill in
raids and other strikes against the southern Celts. In
any case, archaeology shows major changes in Celtic
culture starting around 450 BCE.
Probably for a combination of reasons, centers of
This first- Celtic power shifted away from southern Germany and
century metal
plaque from Austria. New centers developed in what are now France and
Wales pairs Switzerland and in Bohemia (the modern Czech Republic). This
human faces with
an abstract tree-of- new phase of Celtic culture is called La Tène, after a site in Switzer-
life design. The com-
bination of the land where a great many weapons, shields, brooches, belt clasps,
human head with razors, vehicle parts, cauldrons, and other items were found in a shal-
tendrils, leaves, and
other plantlike low lake bed in the 1850s. These objects were decorated in a distinc-
shapes was a com- tive manner that remained a hallmark of Celtic art for centuries to
mon feature of La
Tène art. come.

[ 16 000000000000000000000000000000 ancient celts ]

 Elements of La Tène art included
stylized faces and animals, fantastic
creatures, leaves and other plant forms,
and abstract or geometric patterns,
often swirling or interlinking. One
commonly used figure was the triskele,
a design with three arms or branches
moving in the same direction around a
central point. Like many of the other
elements, it almost certainly had a
symbolic meaning. Some people think
the three branches may have stood for
earth, sea, and sky, but we will proba-
bly never know for certain.
The fine metal objects produced
in the La Tène style were made
largely for the warrior elite, who still
headed society. These warriors and
leaders not only enjoyed new fash-
ions in art but were being buried
with some new kinds of grave goods
(in addition to the traditional wine-
drinking equipment). Instead of
four-wheeled carts, they had light,
maneuverable two-wheeled chariots. Most chariot burials were of A grave from the
La Tène period. A
men, but there were some of women, suggesting that they could spearhead lies
occasionally play a role in military leadership. And whereas late beside the skele-
ton’s head, as if
Hallstatt-period warriors were buried with weapons that seemed to the deceased was
buried holding a
be mainly for hunting or ceremonial display, La Tène warriors took spear over his
to their graves an array of weapons of war: shields, helmets, swords, shoulder, the same
way he would have
spears, bows, and arrows. carried it in life.

[ introducing the celts 000000000000000000000000 17 ]

 (SCOTLAND)

NORTH SEA
BRIGANTES
IRELAND GUNDESTRUP
ISLE OF MAN W
HA
R FE
MÔN
BRITAIN
SE V

ER N
(WALES)
SILURES TH ICENI
AM
E

S
(CORNWALL) RH
GERMANIA
ATLANTIC I

NE
OCEAN

RI VE
BELGAE THE WORLD OF THE

R
SEI PARISII
N E ANCIENT CELTS
(BRITTANY)

RI
(PARIS)

VE
HOCHDORF

R
MA
LOI R AROUND 250 BCE

RN
E R E BOHEMIA
IVER
VIX
ALESIA BOII
GAUL BIBRACTE LA TÈNE
AEDUI HELVETII HALLSTATT
ARVERNI DACIA
ALPS
(MILAN)
PO R
PYR I V ER
EN E SENONES
EES MASSILIA ER

TR
NUMANTIA AD DA N UB E
RIV
BLACK SEA
CELTIBE RIA

URI A
CLUSIUM RI
TELAMON AT
IBERIA I
ROME C
IT SE NIA
AL A EDO
Y AC
M
BALKAN
PENINSULA AEGEAN GALATIA
SEA PERGAMUM
DELPHI
ME
DI
SICILY ASIA MINOR
TE
MILES R GREECE
CARTHAGE R SYRACUSE
SYRIA

0 100 200 300

A
NE
AN
EGYPT
SEA
 Times were unsettled; things were changing. As just one exam-
ple, around 400 BCE the salt mine at Hallstatt ceased operating. In
addition, population in the Celtic lands was increasing rapidly,
straining resources. Raids on neighboring tribes and peoples, espe-
cially in outlying areas, were probably on the rise. There was an ever
greater need for fresh grazing and farmland. Warriors began to fight
their way into new territory, followed by their families, herds, and
cartloads of possessions.
Sometimes it was only small bands on the move; sometimes large
tribal groups migrated into new areas. They went west, east, and
north. But the most tempting direction was south, into the rich lands
of Italy. More than three centuries later, Roman author Pliny the
Elder explained the temptation; like most Romans, he referred to the
Celts as Gauls, a word that may originally have meant “foreigners”
or “enemies”:

The Gauls, imprisoned as they were by the Alps . . . first found

a motive for overflowing into Italy from the circumstance of a
Gallic citizen from Switzerland named Helico who had lived in
Rome because of his skill as a craftsman, [and] brought with
him, when he came back, some dried figs and grapes and some
samples of oil and wine: consequently we may excuse them
[the Celts] for having sought to obtain these things even by
means of war.

Pliny’s story was probably just a folktale. But the fact was that Celts did
migrate into Italy on a large scale around 400 BCE. This migration would
soon bring them into contact with their greatest enemies: the Romans.

[ introducing the celts 000000000000000000000000 19 ]

T HE HISTORIAN TITUS LIVIUS, OR LIVY (57 BCE–17 CE), WAS ONE
of many Roman authors who wrote about the Celts. He drew on
a variety of old stories, not all of which were strictly accurate. But most
held at least a kernel of truth, and perhaps more. For example, there
was one about a Celtic king named Ambigatus, who ruled a portion of
Gaul (as the Romans called modern France, Belgium, and parts of Ger-
many and Switzerland):

Gaul under his sway grew so rich in corn [grain] and so popu-
lous, that it seemed hardly possible to govern so great a multi-
tude. The king, now old, wishing to relieve his kingdom of a
burdensome throng, announced that he meant to send
Opposite page:
Bellovesus and Segovesus, his sister’s two sons, two enterpris- An imaginative
portrayal of
ing young men, to find such homes as the gods might assign to Brennus, the
them . . . and promised them that they should head as large a chief who led the
Celtic sack of
number of emigrants as they themselves desired, so that no tribe Rome in 390 BCE

21
 might be able to prevent their settlement. Whereupon to
Segovesus were by lot assigned the Hercynian high-
lands [Bohemia and the Black Forest region of
Germany], but to Bellovesus the gods pro-
posed a far pleasanter road, into Italy. Tak-
ing with him the surplus population . . .
he set out with a vast host, some
mounted, some on foot.

Livy claimed that these events occurred

around 600 BCE—and indeed, archaeologists in
northern Italy have found Celtic-language
inscriptions that seem to date back to about that
period. There may well have been a small Celtic
community living between Etruscan lands and
the Alps for some time—these Celts could
have been of great help in enabling trade
between the Etruscans and the Celts on the
other side of the mountains. In any case, the
Celtic presence in north Italy was about to
get a lot bigger.

OVER THE MOUNTAINS

Around 400 BCE Celts from about half a
dozen tribes began to pour over the Alps
into the area around the Po River. This rich,
A Celtic woman from
northern Italy. She fertile valley was already occupied by Etruscans
seems to wear her hair and other Italian peoples. Most were quickly over-
in a thick braid down
her back, and her elab- come by the Celtic warriors, and the victorious Celts settled down. Each
orately patterned tribal group claimed its own territory and founded villages and small
dress may be a special
ceremonial garment. towns—some of which later developed into great Italian cities such as

[ 22 000000000000000000000000000000 ancient celts ]

Milan and Verona. The Greek historian Polybius (ca. 200–ca. 118 BCE)

wrote that these Celts

lived in open villages, and without any permanent buildings. As

they made their beds of straw or leaves, and fed on meat, and
followed no pursuits but those of war and agriculture, they lived
simple lives without being acquainted with any science or art
whatever. Each man’s property, moreover, consisted in cattle and
gold; as they were the only things that could be easily carried
with them, when they wandered from place to place, and
changed their dwelling as their fancy directed. They made a great
point, however, of friendship; for the man who had the largest
number of clients or companions in his wandering was looked
upon as the most formidable and powerful member of the tribe.

Polybius seems to be describing an early phase of settlement, or

he may have based his description largely on warriors’ encampments
or perhaps on the temporary shelters that shepherds used as they
drove sheep to different pastures in different seasons. As a whole, in
any case, the Celts certainly were not without science and art. On the
other hand, Polybius’s comments about friendship and the bonds of
loyalty among leaders and their followers are echoed in many other
sources about the ancient Celts. This kind of loyalty was a feature of
later Celtic culture, too.

TUMULT
Celts continued to migrate across the Alps, often warring with the Celts
who were already in northern Italy. Before long, many of the Celts in
the Po valley began to move south and west again in search of more
land. In about 390* BCE, according to Livy, the citizens of the Etruscan
*This is the traditional date, but many historians now think these events probably
occurred in 387 or 386 BCE.

[ into italy 000000000000000000000000000000000 23 ]

 Celtic warriors city of Clusium were threatened by “strange men in thousands . . . men
advance through
the Italian coun- the like of whom the townsfolk had never seen, outlandish warriors
tryside, alarming armed with strange weapons.”
the citizens of
Clusium and Rome. The Etruscans sent to Rome for help negotiating with the Celts, who
demanded land to settle on, or they would attack. Livy reports that
when the Romans asked what right the Celts had to make such an ulti-
matum, “the haughty answer was returned that they carried their right
in their weapons, and that everything belonged to the brave.” Tempers
rose after this, with fighting quickly breaking out—and the Roman
ambassadors, who were supposed to remain peacefully impartial,
joined in the battle. The Celts viewed this as dishonorable and were
insulted. Plus, they weren’t successful in getting land or loot from
Clusium. They decided instead to attack Rome, some eighty miles to
the south.

[ 24 000000000000000000000000000000 ancient celts ]

 Led by a warrior with the name or
title Brennus, the Celts advanced. Eleven
miles from the great city, they crushed
the Roman army’s desperate attempt to
stop them. Fear struck Rome; many peo-
ple fled, and the remaining able-bodied
citizens took refuge on the fortified hill of
the Capitol. The Celts marched into the
wide-open city and thoroughly plun-
dered it. They then besieged the Capitol
until the Romans paid them a tribute of
one thousand pounds of gold—a tremen-
dous sum, but it got the Celts to go back
to northern Italy.
For hundreds of years afterward, the
Romans vividly recalled the horror of
their first encounters with the Celts.
They called it the tumultus, the “panic” or “national emergency.” It A French engraving
of Brennus adding
became part of Roman folklore, and Roman paranoia. Every child knew his sword to the
the stories: how the old men remained seated in front of their houses, scales weighing out
the Roman tribute,
still as statues until a Celt pulled one’s beard to see if he was real; how just before his
the Celts respectfully left a brave priest unharmed when he came down famous exclama-
tion of “Woe to the
from the Capitol to perform a religious ceremony; how the geese sacred vanquished!”
to the goddess Juno honked an alarm to save the besieged Romans from
a band of Celts sneaking up to the Capitol at night. And then there was
the weighing out of the thousand pounds of gold. The Romans believed
that the Celts were using inaccurate weights, and complained. Bren-
nus responded by throwing his sword onto the scale, “with an excla-
mation intolerable to Roman ears, ‘Woe to the vanquished!’” It was no
wonder that the Celts went down in Roman history as the barbarians
to whom all other barbarians would be compared.

[ into italy 000000000000000000000000000000000 25 ]

THE LONG AFTERMATH
For decades the Celts continued to live up to their terrible reputation,
making repeated raids in Italy. During this time the Celts also demon-
strated their usefulness as mercenaries—hired warriors. The power-
ful rulers of the Greek city-state of Syracuse, on the island of Sicily,
did not like the way Rome was enlarging its territory. On many occa-
sions they encouraged and even employed Celtic forces to harass
Rome and its allies. The Celts were regarded as such a menace that
in 285 BCE Rome brutally exterminated an entire Celtic tribe, the
Senones. No doubt the Romans were also motivated by the desire to
take over the Senones’ territory, a stretch of very fertile farmland along
the Adriatic coast.
Two years later the Boii tribe joined with an Etruscan army to chal-
lenge Rome, but they were horribly defeated. An uneasy peace fol-
lowed, and Rome proceeded to bring more and more of the Italian
Peninsula under its rule. Meanwhile there was unrest among the
remaining tribes of northern Italy. They had to deal with shifting
alliances among themselves, more bands of Celts crossing the Alps, and
even the assassination of two tribal kings. Moreover, the new genera-
tion of warriors coming into power were urging fresh attacks against
Rome, both because they wanted land and plunder and because they
felt threatened by Rome’s growth.
In 225 BCE warriors drawn from at least three tribes marched on
Rome again. The Celtic army also included a large group of fighters
from across the Alps called Gaesatae, positioned in the front lines.
While the other Celts went into battle wearing light cloaks and leather
breeches, the Gaesatae fought naked, protected by nothing but their
shields. Polybius described the combined Celtic forces this way:

There were among them such innumerable horns and trumpets,

which were being blown simultaneously in all parts of their

[ 26 000000000000000000000000000000 ancient celts ]

 A LASTING STEREOTYPE
THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD’S EARLY
experiences with the Celts made a
deep impression, leaving people with
stereotyped images that would not
go away. For centuries Greek and
Roman geographers and historians
wrote the same kinds of things, over
and over, about the Celts. Here, for
example, is a selection from the
Greek geographer Strabo (ca. 64 BCE–
ca. 23 CE):

The whole race . . . is madly fond

of war, high-spirited and quick to
battle. . . . And so when they are
stirred up they assemble in their
bands for battle, quite openly
These Celtic warriors are dressed in the style described by
ancient writers. The leader’s helmet and shield are based and without forethought, so that
on first-century BCE arms found near London. they are easily handled by those
who desire to outwit them; for at any time or place and on whatever pretext
you stir them up, you will have them ready to face danger, even if they have
nothing on their side but their own strength and courage.

Diodorus Siculus, writing in the first century BCE, commented on another stereotyped
Celtic trait: “The Gauls are exceedingly addicted to the use of wine and fill themselves
with the wine which is brought into their country by merchants . . . and since they par-
take of this drink without moderation by reason of their craving for it, when they are
drunken they fall into a stupor or a state of madness.” Later in his Library of History,
Diodorus added some remarks about the Celts’ appearance and table manners: “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.”
 army, and their cries were
so loud and piercing, that
the noise seemed not to
come merely from trum-
pets and human voices, but
from the whole country-
side at once. Not less terri-
fying was the appearance
and rapid movement of the
naked warriors in the van
[advance guard], which
indicated men in the prime
of their strength . . . while
all the warriors in the front
ranks were richly adorned
with gold necklaces [torcs]
and bracelets. These sights
certainly dismayed the
Romans.

When the Celtic and Roman

armies met at Telamon, north
Celts often went of Rome, the Celts prevailed at first. But the Roman troops were more
into battle accompa-
nied by musicians numerous and far more disciplined. In the end, 40,000 Celts were killed
playing animal- and another 10,000 were taken back to Rome as slaves.
headed trumpets
like these. The war- It was a crushing defeat, and opened the way for the Romans to
rior in front of the
trumpeters has a carry out their plan to rid Italy of the Celts for good. They systemat-
crest on his helmet ically attacked and destroyed Celtic settlements, killing or driving off
in the shape of a
boar, an animal hon- the inhabitants. The Second Punic War (218–201 BCE), between Rome
ored for its tough-
ness and fierceness. and Carthage, at first interrupted this project, then gave the Romans
even more reason for it: large numbers of Celtic warriors fought for

[ 28 000000000000000000000000000000 ancient celts ]

the Carthaginian general Hannibal when he invaded Italy. But Hanni-
bal was finally defeated, and the Romans turned back to ending the
Celtic threat.
The Romans now felt secure in their ability to overcome the Celts.
As Polybius wrote,

They had learned from former engagements that Gallic tribes

were always most formidable at the first onslaught, before their
courage was at all damped . . . and that the swords with which
they were furnished . . . could only give one downward cut with
any effect, but that after this the edges got so turned and the
blade so bent, that unless they had time to straighten them with
their foot against the ground, they could not deliver a second
blow. . . . The Romans closed with them, and rendered them
quite helpless, by preventing them from raising their hands to
strike with their swords, which is their peculiar and only stroke,
because their blade has no point. The Romans, on the contrary,
having excellent points to their swords, used them not to cut but
to thrust: and by thus repeatedly hitting the breasts and faces
of the enemy, they eventually killed the greater number of them.

By 190 BCE northern Italy belonged to Roman colonists. The remain-

ing Celtic farmers became assimilated into Roman society, adopting
more and more aspects of Roman culture.
At least one Celtic tradition, however, seems to have lived on: the
love of poetry, and skill in composing it. A number of Rome’s greatest
poets (and other writers as well) came from the once-Celtic region of
Italy. Coincidence? Perhaps; perhaps not. In any case, it is nice to think
that some remaining Celtic spirit lingered on there, inspiring the cre-
ation of some of the world’s most enduring literature.

[ into italy 000000000000000000000000000000000 29 ]

The Celtic leader Catumandus
recognized the power of the
Roman goddess Minerva
(the Greeks called her
Athena). According to
later writers, many Celts
worshipped a goddess
very similar to Minerva.
N OT LONG BEFORE THE SACK OF ROME, ANOTHER MEDITERRANEAN
city was under Celtic threat. This was Massilia (now Marseille,
France), a prosperous Greek trading colony—and source of many of
the luxury imports that aristocratic Celts had long enjoyed. But earlier
friendly relations with the Greeks of Massilia were temporarily forgot-
ten, according to a story told by Pompeius Trogus in the late first cen-
tury BCE. The son of a Celt who was a Roman citizen, Trogus gave
history a valuable portrayal of Celtic ways of thinking:

Massilia was flourishing in abundance of wealth, distinction of

achievements and the increasing glory of her strength, [so] the
neighbouring peoples gathered for the purpose of eliminating
her very name. . . . The tribal [Celtic] king Catumandus was
elected leader by general agreement. When he was laying siege
to the city with a great army of his choicest warriors, he was ter-
rified in his sleep by the vision of a menacing woman who said

31
 she was a goddess, and he straight away made peace with the
Massiliotes. He asked if he might be allowed to enter the city to
pay his worship to the gods of the city. When he came to the
temple of Minerva [goddess of war and crafts] on the citadel, he
saw . . . a statue of the goddess he had seen in his dream. . . .
He congratulated the Massiliotes for being under the protection
of the immortal gods, and he presented the goddess with a
golden torque and made a treaty of perpetual friendship with
the Massiliotes.

The Celtic leader’s belief in signs from the gods and his respect for the
divine will saved the day for Massilia. Other parts of the Greek world,
however, did not get off so lightly.

THE CITY OF APOLLO

By 300 BCE many waves of Celtic immigrants had followed the Danube
River eastward from the Celtic heartland and settled in the northern
part of the Balkan Peninsula. In 298 a Celtic chief led his warriors south
into Macedonia, but was driven back. In the following years, however,
the Celtic desire to win gold and glory in the Greek lands increased.
Ambitious young warriors were no doubt fired up by stories about the
wealthy cities and richly adorned temples. In 281 three Celtic armies
began the invasion of Macedonia and Greece. It faltered for unknown
reasons, but one of its leaders determined to try again. Like the chief
who led the sack of Rome, he was called Brennus.
Brennus’s goal was Delphi, where all the great cities of Greece had
their treasuries. In addition, the temples of Delphi contained centuries’
worth of offerings from victorious generals, winning Olympic athletes,
and ordinary citizens expressing their gratitude to the gods. The idea
of all these riches drove Brennus and his warriors to endure great

[ 32 000000000000000000000000000000 ancient celts ]

hardships on their way south—and to be merciless to the people of An artist’s recon-
struction of
the towns and villages they passed through. The Greeks fought des- Apollo’s temple
perately to stop the Celtic advance. Although they didn’t succeed, they at Delphi in its
prime, with
did manage to kill a large number of the enemy. Still, Brennus may Mount Parnassus
towering above
have had as many as 30,000 warriors as he finally neared his goal.
Delphi was not just one of the wealthiest places of the Greek world,
it was also one of the holiest. It was home to the temple of Apollo that
housed the Delphic Oracle. This oracle was a priestess called the
Pythia, who channeled the god’s wisdom while she was in a trance.
People came from all over to ask her questions—but often the guid-
ance contained in her inspired words was none too clear. On this occa-
sion, however, it was. With the Celts approaching, the terrified
Delphians asked the oracle what they should do, and the Pythia gave
them Apollo’s answer: “I will defend my own.”
The Greeks must have felt that Apollo kept his word, because as the
Celts attacked Delphi, they were met by one natural disaster after
another. The historian Pausanias told what happened this way:

[ among the greeks 000000000000000000000000000 33 ]

 Portents boding no good to the bar-
barians were sent by the god, the
clearest recorded in history. For the
whole ground occupied by the Gallic
army was shaken violently most of
the day, with continuous thunder
and lightning.
The thunder both terrified the
Gauls and prevented them hearing
their orders, while the bolts from
heaven set on fire not only those
whom they struck but also their
neighbors, themselves and their
armour alike. . . .
All the day the barbarians were
beset by calamities and terrors of this
kind. But the night was to bring upon
them experiences far more painful.
For there came on a severe frost, and
snow with it, and great rocks slipping
from [Mount] Parnassus, and crags
breaking away, made the barbarians
their target, the crash of which
brought destruction, not on one or
two at a time, but on thirty or even
more, as they chanced to be gathered
in groups keeping guard or taking rest.

After this terrible night, the Greeks

The Pythia, painted in 1868 by English artist surprised the Celts, attacking their rear-
Edward Burne-Jones, beside a tripod on which
laurel leaves burn in offering to Apollo guard, and a furious battle ensued. During

[ 34 000000000000000000000000000000 ancient celts ]

the fighting Brennus was wounded and carried off the field. With that
his followers lost their fighting spirit, and soon the Celts were retreat-
ing, pursued north by the vengeful Greeks. Many more Celtic warriors
were killed, and Brennus, seeing his men dying and his expedition a
dishonorable failure, killed himself.
But was the expedition a complete failure? The Greek historians gave
conflicting reports—while some wrote that the Celts did not reach Del-
phi’s temples and succeed in plundering them, others maintained that
they did. There are a few modern historians, too, who doubt that the
Celts actually raided the holy city. Nevertheless, the Greek poet Calli-
machus, who lived during this time, described the Celts standing among
the tripods of Apollo’s temple. Strabo said the treasure of Delphi even-
tually ended up in Gaul, much of it sunk in a lake as an offering to the
gods. And Diodorus Siculus told how Brennus entered a temple in Del-
phi and “laughed at them (the Greeks), to think that men, believing that
gods have human form, should set up their images in wood and stone.”

INTO ASIA AND AFRICA

After Brennus’s death, most of his surviving warriors escaped from
Greece and settled with their families in the Danube region. A number
of these Danubian Celts seem to have eventually moved back west into
Gaul. Members of three tribes, however, journeyed farther east. In 278
BCE these groups—about 20,000 men, women, and children in all—

entered Asia Minor, where several Greek kingdoms were vying for
supremacy. The ruler of one of these kingdoms welcomed the Celts as
his allies, inviting the warriors to raid his neighbors to their hearts’ con-
tent. They did so with enthusiasm for the next several years, until the
king of one of the territories they’d been raiding put a stop to their
activities. His army defeated the Celts in battle partly with the help of
elephants, animals that amazed and terrified the Celts, who had never
seen them before.

[ among the greeks 000000000000000000000000000 35 ]

 JULIUS CAESAR WROTE, “THE WHOLE GALLIC PEOPLE IS EXCEEDINGLY GIVEN TO RELIGIOUS
superstition.” It was an opinion shared by many in the Greco-Roman world, although
Greeks and Romans also accused each other of being superstitious. So we can proba-
bly assume that superstition was used to mean enthusiastically followed religious prac-
tices, the reasons for which were not understood by the people describing them. And
ancient Celtic religion had many features that not only baf-
CELTIC fled the Greeks and Romans but are difficult for scholars to
explain today.
RELIGION Brennus’s reaction to the statues of the Greek gods in Del-
phi tells us that at least some groups of Celts did not think of
their deities as having human form. Other evidence shows that many features of the
natural world were thought to be divine in some sense: for example, the sun, the moon,
thunder, and bodies of water. The Celtic names of numerous rivers were also the names
of goddesses, such as Sequana (the Seine) and Matrona (the Marne) in Gaul, and Sab-
rina (the Severn) and Verbeia (the Wharfe) in Britain. Much Celtic artwork, together
with later literature, suggests that deities often took the forms of various animals, espe-
cially stags, bulls, horses, wild boars, ravens, and geese or swans.
By the mid-first century BCE, the Celts of Gaul were worshipping several important
deities and portraying them in human form. These included a god of healing, a god of
war, a god of the heavens, and a goddess of arts, crafts, and warfare. The most popu-
Above: Many Celts worshipped a horned or antlered god of animals and abundance.
lar god was, in Caesar’s words, one whom the
Celts regarded “as the inventor of all the arts,
as their guide on the roads and in travel, and
as chiefly influential in making money and in
trade.” Caesar called this god by the Roman
name Mercury, but his Gaulish name was
almost certainly Lugos. Under slightly different
names, he was worshipped all across the Celtic
world. Mother goddesses were also of great
importance and went by a number of names;
often they were simply called the Mothers, and
they were frequently portrayed as groups of
two or three women.
We know very little about how the Celts
worshipped their deities. We do know they fre-
quently made offerings by throwing objects—
including valuable jewelry and weapons—into
lakes, springs, and rivers. Like most ancient
peoples, they also made sacrifices of animals,
which would then have provided the meat Warriors undergo a ritual of self-sacrifice.
eaten at religious feasts. From time to time the Celts sacrificed humans, too (a prac-
tice the Romans criticized as especially barbaric, even though they occasionally prac-
ticed it themselves—and they routinely presented bloody executions as popular
entertainment). Human sacrifice was probably carried out mainly in times of urgent
need, and the victims were generally criminals or prisoners of war.
Although many Celts knew how to read and write, and used Greek and Roman let-
ters for everyday purposes, they did not believe in writing down anything to do with
their religion. But Caesar and others picked up and passed on some bits of Celtic belief.
The Celts of Gaul and Britain had religious leaders called druids, and one of their most
important teachings was the immortality of the soul. As the Roman poet Lucan said,
imagining that he was speaking to a group of druids, “It is you who say that the shades
of the dead seek not the silent land . . . and the pale halls of [the god of the dead];
rather, you tell us that the same spirit has a body again elsewhere, and that death, if
what you sing is true, is but the mid-point of long life.”
 The Celts were determined to stay, however. Encouraged by the
ruler of yet another kingdom, they moved to a mountainous area in
central Asia Minor. This region became known as Galatia (from Galatae,
a Greek name for the Celts). Here, the historian Justinus wrote, “the
numbers of Galatians grew so great that they filled Asia Minor like a
swarm. In the end, none of the eastern kings would fight a war with-
out hiring Galatian mercenaries.” Galatians fought for the kings of
Greece, Macedonia, Syria, and most of the kings of Asia Minor. But the
“eastern kings” who relied most on the Galatians were probably those
who ruled Egypt.
The first Celts in Egypt were four thousand mercenaries hired by
King Ptolemy II, probably in the 270s BCE, to help fight his rebellious
half brother. According to Pausanias, soon after arrival the Celts plot-
ted “to seize Egypt,” and so Ptolemy marooned them on a deserted
island in the Nile River. “There they perished at one another’s hands
or by famine.” Nevertheless, Galatian mercenaries went on serving the
rulers of Egypt generation after generation, right up until the death of
Cleopatra in 30 BCE.
Along with working as hired warriors, the Galatians continued to
conduct raids on their own behalf. They carried off not only plun-
der but people, whom they held for ransom or sold as slaves. In addi-
tion they blackmailed wealthy cities, demanding gold in exchange for
leaving them in peace. Finally King Attalus I of Pergamum had had
enough and decided to put an end to the Celts’ marauding and black-
mailing—and he had an army strong enough to do so. Around 233
BCE he defeated the Celts in a battle that made him a hero through-

out the Greek world. He commemorated his victory with a group of

bronze statues showing the Celts in defeat. These statues no longer
exist, but marble copies sculpted by the Romans do, and they remain
some of the most renowned and moving images of the ancient Celts
ever made.

[ 38 000000000000000000000000000000 ancient celts ]

 Even after their defeat by Attalus, the three Galatian tribes flour- This life-size mar-
ble statue, known
ished. Strabo recorded some details of their government, which seems as The Dying Gaul,
to have had a well-developed system of checks and balances: is a Roman copy of
one of the bronze
statues Attalus I
had made to cele-
Each tribe was divided into four sections, called tetrarchies— brate his victory
each of these having one tetrarch, one judge, one general (under over the Galatians.
The warrior wears
the tetrarchs’ authority), and two lesser military commanders. a torc around his
The twelve tetrarchs together presided over an assembly of three neck, and his hair
has been stiffened
hundred men. These all gathered at a place called the Druneme- with lime, just as
ancient writers
ton. The assembly judged murder cases, but the tetrarchs and described.
judges ruled on all other disputes.

In 190 BCE the Galatians allied with one of the “eastern kings” in a
battle against Rome. The Romans won, and then attacked Galatia, where
they were also victorious. They left, however, after taking 40,000 pris-
oners and requiring the Galatians to stop raiding western and northern
Asia Minor. The Galatians complied and remained independent and

[ among the greeks 000000000000000000000000000 39 ]

A Celtic girl, discov-
ered in a peat bog
in what is today the
Netherlands. Scien-
tists have recon-
structed her face in
a sensitive and
realistic way.

[ 40 000000000000000000000000000000 ancient celts ]

strong for another century. But in 88 BCE, a neighboring king invited the
tetrarchs and other Galatian nobles to a feast and slaughtered nearly
all of them. Since that king was an enemy of Rome, the Galatians
became Roman allies and then, in 67 BCE, Roman subjects.

NEW RUN-INS WITH ROME

The Galatians were not the first group of Celts to lose their independ-
ence to Rome. After the Second Punic War, Rome took over Carthage’s
lands in the Iberian Peninsula. North of those lands lived the Celtiberi-
ans, a Celtic-speaking people who were a fusion of the original inhab-
itants and Celtic immigrants who had arrived around 500 BCE. The
Celtiberians and the Romans fought a number of battles and wars over
several decades. In 133 BCE 60,000 Roman soldiers besieged the
Celtiberians’ main city, Numantia, and starved its defenders into sub-
mission. The entire surviving population was sold into slavery, the city
was destroyed, and Rome went on to conquer the rest of Celtiberia.
The Romans still had a problem, however. To get to their Iberian
possessions by land, they had to pass through Celtic territory in south-
ern Gaul. An opportunity soon arose to change this situation. In 125
BCE a Celtic tribe attacked Massilia, which called on its ally, Rome, for

help. A Roman army came to defend the city and soundly defeated the
Celts. With a foothold in the area, the Romans forcefully pressed their
advantage. By 120 BCE a large portion of southern Gaul had become a
Roman province.
The next decades were extremely unsettled ones for the Celts of the
European continent. They were pressured by ever more aggressive Ger-
manic tribes in the north and by the rising Dacian culture in the east
(in what is now Romania). Many tribes were on the move. But things
had changed a lot since the last period of widespread Celtic migration.
Rome was now the major power in the Mediterranean, and it wasn’t
about to allow the Celts to cause another tumult in its territories.

[ among the greeks 000000000000000000000000000 41 ]

S OMETIME IN THE NINETIES BCE, A GREEK PHILOSOPHER
named Posidonius made a lengthy visit to Gaul. He met and talked
with many Celts, observing them in both war and peace. Unfortunately,
most of the book he wrote about his Celtic experiences has been lost. For-
tunately, the book was read by later authors—Strabo, Diodorus Siculus,
and Julius Caesar among them—and they passed on many of Posidonius’s
observations. It was from Posidonius, for example, that Diodorus Siculus
learned that “the clothing of the Gauls is stunning. They wear long shirts
dyed in various colors and pants that they call bracae [breeches]. Around
their necks they fasten cloaks flowing in stripes or decorated with
checkerboard squares.” Posidonius also described Celtic shields, helmets,
Opposite page:
war trumpets, weapons, and chain mail (apparently a Celtic invention) A nineteenth-
century statue of
with great accuracy, as archaeological finds have proven. the Gaulish chief
Vercingetorix
stands on the
“LONG-HAIRED GAUL” site where he
That is the translation of Gallia Comata, a Roman nickname for the ter- fought his final
battle against
ritory north of the Roman province in southern Gaul. This independ- the Romans.

43
ent Gaul and its people—including its long-haired warriors—were what
Posidonius traveled to see and report on. He found that “the people dwell
in great houses arched, constructed of planks and wicker, and covered
with a heavy thatched roof. They have sheep and swine in abundance.”
The main foods were “milk and all kinds of flesh, especially that of swine,
which they eat both fresh and salted. Their swine live in the fields, and
surpass in height, strength and swift-
ness.” Indeed, ancient Celtic art
shows the important place
pigs (especially wild boar)
had in Celtic life and culture, and in
Wild boar, sym- medieval Celtic literature pork is almost always
bols of strength
and power, were the favorite food of heroes.
often portrayed Celtic farmers also raised crops, including
in Celtic art.
grain. They used hand tools—sickles, scythes,
spades, pitchforks, axes—with iron blades fixed to
wooden handles by a technique perfected by Celtic
craftsmen. (The designs of such tools have remained pretty much the
same ever since.) Their iron-tipped plows, pulled by cattle, were angled
to cut through almost any type of soil. In addition, farmers of Posido-
nius’s time may already have been using the harvesting machine—a
Celtic invention—that was described in the first century CE by Pliny the
Elder: “In the provinces of Gaul very large frames fitted with teeth at the
edge, and carried on two wheels, are driven through the corn [grain] by
a team of oxen pushing from behind.”* After harvest, the grain was often
stored in pits in the ground, ingeniously constructed to keep out mois-
ture, bacteria, mold, and anything else that might cause spoilage.
Although most people in Gaul (as elsewhere before the modern era)
lived in rural areas and worked the land, there were cities. The largest
*This harvesting machine was unknown anywhere else in the Roman Empire, and
even in Gaul farmers seem to have stopped using it not long after the third century
CE. It took till 1831 for the mechanical harvester to be reinvented.

[ 44 000000000000000000000000000000 ancient celts ]

CELTIC LEADERS SHOWED THEIR WEALTH, INFLUENCE, AND GENEROSITY BY GIVING
splendid feasts. Sometimes these were for the benefit of the entire community. For
example, a Greek writer of the third century BCE told how a Galatian nobleman named
Ariamnes decided to treat the whole country to a year-long
feast: “He divided the land into sections, all marked out at
suitable distances along the roads. At every station, he built
FEASTING
a feasting hall . . . that held four hundred men or more. . . . Ariamnes then provided
oxen, pigs, sheep, and every other kind of meat daily for the feasts, along with count-
less jars of wine and loaves of bread.” Ariamnes welcomed not just his own people but
also travelers and passersby to his feasts. This kind of hospitality was a long-standing
feature of Celtic society. Diodorus Siculus
noted that the Celts “invite strangers to their
banquets, and only after the meal do they
ask who they are and of what they stand in
need.”
Many feasts were mainly for warriors
and other leading men of the community.
Posidonius seems to have attended some
feasts of this nature during his travels in
Gaul. From him we learn, “When a large
number dine together, they sit around in a
circle with the most influential man at the
center. . . . Beside him sits the host and next,
on either side, the others in order of distinc-
tion. Their shieldsmen stand behind them
while their spearmen are seated in a circle
on the opposite side and feast in common
like their lords.” It was the practice at such
feasts for the host to give the choicest cut
of meat to the bravest warrior—or for that A feast in the Parisii tribe’s capital, now known as Paris
piece of meat to be claimed by the man who considered himself the best. Either way,
if everyone agreed about who deserved the “hero’s portion,” there was no problem.
But if another man challenged him, the two would engage in single combat. A lot of
wine was usually served on these occasions, sometimes leading to a dangerous mix of
drunkenness and hot tempers. It was not unknown for single combats and mock bat-
tles at feasts to lead to serious injury or even death.
seem to have been in what is now southern Germany—one of them had
a rampart five miles around that required sixty tons of iron to make the
nails that held the timbers in place. In central France, archaeologists
have been excavating Bibracte, the major city of the Aedui tribe. Their
discoveries show that numerous artisans and tradespeople lived and
worked there. Among other things, they crafted and sold iron tools and
goods (the iron was mined nearby), jewelry of several kinds, glass, and
a variety of items decorated with colored enamel. In addition, they
minted gold and silver coins. Judging from the number of clay wine jars,
a great deal of wine trading may also have gone on in Bibracte. On the
other hand, perhaps extralarge amounts of wine were consumed there
because it was a center of ceremony and government—we know, for
example, that Bibracte was a site where tribal councils met.
Each Gaulish tribe was self-governing, and there were two basic
forms of government. In the older, traditional form the tribe was ruled
by a rix—a king or chief. The rix did not automatically inherit his
rank from his father. It appears he was chosen by the high-ranking
warriors of the tribe, and they could select whichever member of the
royal family they thought would be the best leader. In the southern
half of Gaul, however, the tribes were embracing a newer type of gov-
ernment, probably influenced by their contact with the Greeks and
Romans. In this form, a tribal council elected one or more magistrates
every year, and these officials had absolute authority during their
term of office. If, however, two or more tribes joined together to fight
a war, they might choose one man to temporarily act as rix to lead
the combined armies.
When Posidonius visited Gaul, warfare between the different tribes
was common. Generally, though, it appears to have been a kind of lim-
ited warfare. There was no destruction of towns or crops, no killing or
harming of noncombatants. The battles were contests between small
groups of noble warriors who fought according to a shared code of

[ 46 000000000000000000000000000000 ancient celts ]

honor, which they had been trained in since childhood. Although the
winners took the arms, horses, and jewelry of the losers, the ultimate
prize was the glory of victory, and the hope that generations of bards
would pass on songs and tales of the victors’
heroic deeds.
To win even greater glory—and to
prevent the loss of too many fight-
ing men—warriors often engaged
in single combat, as Diodorus
learned from Posidonius:

When Gaulish warriors face

each other in battle, one will
often come forward from his
lines and challenge the best man of
his opponents to fight him alone. This
challenger will show off his weapons and try to A bronze buckle
from the sixth
strike fear in the hearts of his enemies. If someone accepts the century BCE shows
challenge, this warrior in turn will begin boasting of his brave two warriors
training for hand-
ancestors while he belittles his opponent—all in a mutual to-hand combat.
attempt to intimidate the other side.

In earlier times the Romans had seen this for themselves, and some
Roman commanders had even accepted Celtic challenges to single
combat. But it was not the Roman style of warfare, especially not after
the Roman army was completely reorganized at the end of the sec-
ond century BCE. Transformed from a body of citizens who were called
up for temporary military duty as needed, it was now a full-time pro-
fessional fighting force. Training and discipline were even stronger
than before, and so was the might of Rome—as the Celts were about
to discover.

[ life and loss in gaul 0000000000000000000000000 47 ]

 “THE GAULS PRACTICE A CUSTOM COMMON TO MANY NORTHERN TRIBES,” STRABO
reported. “In battle, they hang the heads of their slain enemies around the necks
of their horses, then at home they hang them on pegs in their houses. Posidonius
says he frequently saw the Gauls do this and was sickened at first but got used to
it eventually.”
Diodorus Siculus added further information, no doubt also learned from Posido-
nius: “They embalm in cedar oil the heads of the most distinguished enemies, and pre-
serve them carefully in a chest
HEAD COLLECTING and display them with pride to
strangers saying that for this
head one of their ancestors, or his father, or the man himself refused the offer of a
large sum of money.”
This gruesome practice was rooted in the deep Celtic belief that the human soul
resided in the head. When a Celtic warrior kept the head of
his enemy, he was honoring the man’s bravery and
spirit. Probably he believed that he was also
keeping some of that spirit for
himself, and that it would help
protect his home and family.
And of course, hanging up the
heads of dead enemies out-
side the house was a good
way for a warrior to advertise
his strength and skill in bat-
tle. But more importantly,
the head, as the container of
the soul, was extremely pow-
erful—perhaps almost divine.
For this reason human heads
were among the most com-
mon designs in Celtic art-
work. They remained so for A doorway from a Celtic
a long time, even decorat- place of worship in
southern Gaul, with
ing the doorways of some niches to hold the heads
medieval Irish churches. of slain warriors
CAESAR
In the 60s BCE a Germanic tribe, the Suebi, was making serious inroads
into Gaul, and eastern Celtic tribes were being pushed westward by the
Dacians. The Helvetii, who lived in what is now Switzerland, came
under so much pressure from both north and east that the whole tribe
decided to migrate to western Gaul and resettle near the Atlantic Ocean.
They prepared carefully, even taking a census “name by name . . . of
those who were able to bear arms; and likewise the boys, the old men,
and the women, separately.” As reported by Julius Caesar, who later
found this document, it was written in Greek letters and gave the total
number of emigrants as 368,000.
In 59 BCE Caesar became governor of Roman Gaul. So when the
Helvetii wanted to pass through this area on their way west, they had
to ask his permission. He refused. They went through Aedui terri-
tory instead—and the Aedui turned to Caesar to help them deal with
this invasion. As governor, Caesar had legions under his command,
Gaulish warriors in
the midst of battle,
from a nineteenth-
century book
illustration

[ life and loss in gaul 0000000000000000000000000 49 ]

 and he was only too happy to lead them against the Helvetii. In 58
BCE he followed the Helvetii into “Long-Haired Gaul,” defeated them

near Bibracte, and sent the 110,000 survivors back where they had
come from.
At this point Caesar, too, should have gone back where he came
from. Instead, he and his army advanced deeper into Gaul. He claimed
that as Protector of Gaul, he had a duty to drive out the Germans who
had established themselves there. He did so. And then he settled down
for the winter in Bibracte, and began writing his Commentaries on the
Gallic War, dispatches that he sent back to Rome like press releases.
In debt and ambitious, Caesar had found a
golden opportunity—literally—to improve his
fortunes. Gaul was rich in land and resources
and markets (Roman merchants did a
booming business in Celtic cities). More-
over, the Celts had hundreds of gold
mines, some of them very large-scale
operations indeed. If Caesar could con-
quer Gaul, he would not only gain a rep-
utation as a great general but would also
be able to seize much of its wealth. This
was a surefire route to power in Rome.
A northern tribe, the Belgae, were first to
react to Caesar’s move into Gaul and rise against
him. He defeated them in a fierce battle in 57 BCE, then
Second-century BCE headed west to subdue the other outlying tribes. This way he had cen-
gold coins of the
Parisii tribe show a tral Gaul encircled, cutting it off from outside supplies and assistance.
woman’s head and The Celtic tribes were unable to overcome their differences and unite
a horse.
against Caesar, and by the end of 56 BCE all of Gaul was his. He was
starting to enjoy the prestige and riches he’d sought—in fact, during

[ 50 000000000000000000000000000000 ancient celts ]

his years in Gaul he acquired so much gold that its
price on the Roman market dropped by one-sixth.
In 55 and 54 BCE Caesar made two brief forays
into Britain, the very edge of the known world, fur-
ther increasing his heroic reputation back in Rome.
But when he returned to Gaul after the second expe-
dition, he found the Celts in open rebellion. They were
led by Ambiorix, chief of a tribe in what is now Belgium,
whose warriors had destroyed an entire legion. It took Caesar’s Rome did not have
access to enough
forces a year of hard fighting to crush the uprising. gold to make its
In 52 BCE there was an even more serious revolt. Its leader was own gold coins
until Caesar con-
Vercingetorix, whom Caesar himself described as a man of bound- quered Gaul.
less energy with iron discipline. Vercingetorix was a noble from the
Arverni tribe of central Gaul, and he must have had an unusually
magnetic personality because he was able to do what almost no Celtic
leader before had managed: unite the tribes. Not only did he have a
strong following from among the Arverni, but he gathered together
warriors from other tribes as well. As his movement grew, a multi-
tribal council voted Vercingetorix war leader in command of all the
tribes of Gaul. His army included some 15,000 warriors on horseback
who, according to Dio Cassius, all swore that “no member of the cav-
alry who had not twice ridden through the enemy’s army, should ever
again be received under a roof or be allowed to see his children, par-
ents or wife.”
Caesar reacted to the uprising by besieging and destroying many
of the cities of central Gaul. Vercingetorix’s forces successfully coun-
tered with guerrilla warfare. Caesar, his own cavalry far outnumbered
by Vercingetorix’s, brought in German horsemen as mercenaries. With
their help he and his legions began to close in on the rebels. Vercinge-
torix and his army took refuge in Alesia, a fortified city atop a high hill

[ life and loss in gaul 0000000000000000000000000 51 ]

In a dramatic 1899 between two rivers. Caesar besieged Alesia. A Council of Gauls, as Cae-
painting, Vercinge-
torix throws down sar called it, assembled to gather an army to go to Vercingetorix’s aid:
his arms and pre- 240,000 warriors on foot and 8,000 on horseback, drawn from more
pares to surrender
to Caesar. than forty tribes.
But while Vercingetorix waited for the relief force, his men were
starving inside Alesia, and Caesar was strengthening his legions’
defenses. When the new Gaulish army did arrive, it couldn’t get past
Caesar’s troops. From the hilltop the besieged watched the battle rage
for five days and saw far more Celts die than Romans.
Then Vercingetorix called a council of his men and said that since
he had undertaken the war not for his own benefit “but on account
of the general freedom; and since he must yield to fortune, he offered
himself to them for either purpose, whether they should wish to
atone to the Romans by his death, or surrender him alive.” The deci-

[ 52 000000000000000000000000000000 ancient celts ]

sion was made: “Vercingetorix, after putting on his most beautiful
armor and decorating his horse, rode out through the gate. He made
a circuit around Caesar, who remained seated, and then leaped down
from his horse, stripped off his suit of armour, and seating himself
at Caesar’s feet remained motionless, until he was delivered up to be
kept in custody.”
With that, the last great hope for Celtic independence in Gaul was
crushed. By the time Caesar left Gaul in 50 BCE, he had destroyed more
than eight hundred settlements and had killed or enslaved more than
2 million Celts. As for Vercingetorix, he was held captive in Rome for
six years, then killed after being paraded through the streets in Cae-
sar’s grand triumphal procession.

[ life and loss in gaul 0000000000000000000000000 53 ]

T HERE HAS BEEN MUCH DEBATE ABOUT WHEN AND HOW CELTIC
culture came to Britain and Ireland. Was it brought by large-scale
invaders or smaller-scale settlers and traders? Did it reach Britain and
Ireland independently, or travel first to Britain and then across to Ire-
land? And how thoroughly did British and Irish society become “celti-
cized”? We are unlikely to ever have definite answers to these questions.
But the evidence strongly suggests that the Celts had reached this west- Opposite page:
Actor Samuel
ern edge of Europe by around 600 BCE. There may have been multiple Butler as the
waves of settlement, or perhaps Celtic language and culture arrived in British chief
Caratacus in a
a more or less steady trickle and gradually soaked in. play produced in
We have very few ancient writings about Ireland. And, interestingly, London in the
1830s. A fanciful
ancient writers referred to the people of Britain as Britons, never as druid temple
appears in the
Celts, Gauls, or “Gallic peoples.” Nevertheless, we know that by the time background, and
the Romans met them, they spoke Celtic languages and that their cul- bards hold harps
and chant poetry
ture was similar in many ways to that of Gaul. on the lower left.

55
THE BRITONS
When Caesar embarked for Britain the first time, he was going to an
almost completely unknown place. Gaulish merchants went there, but
even they could (or would) tell him little about the country and peo-
ple beyond the ports where they traded. Strabo remarked that “Caesar
twice passed over to the island, but quickly returned, having effected
nothing of consequence, nor proceeded far into the country.” Never-
theless, he did get far enough to make some interesting observations,
and wrote almost the first historical records we have of ancient Britain:

The interior portion of Britain is inhabited by those of whom

they say that [according to tradition] . . . they were born in the
island itself: the maritime [coastal] portion by those who had
passed over from the country of the Belgae. . . . The number of
the people is countless, and their buildings exceedingly numer-
ous, for the most part very like those of the Gauls: the number
of cattle is great. They use either brass or iron rings . . . as their
money. . . . They do not regard it lawful to eat the hare, and the
[rooster], and the goose. . . .

Britain not only had Gaulish-style houses but also had distinctive
round houses with high, conical thatched roofs. Historians used to
describe these dwellings as “rude huts,” but archaeologists have
learned that they were anything but. Constructing them required
sophisticated architectural, engineering, and building skills. Most round
houses were quite sturdy and long-lasting and no smaller, in terms of
floor space, than an average modern house. Many were extremely spa-
cious and some even had a covered porch in front of the door and a
gallery or balcony inside.
Caesar took two legions with him to Britain and of course fought
against British forces. He noted that the British warriors had “a more

[ 56 000000000000000000000000000000 ancient celts ]

terrible appearance in [a] fight” because they colored their skin blue It took more than
two hundred trees
with a dye made from the woad plant. He also described the way British and at least fifteen
warriors used chariots in battle: tons of thatch to
build this replica of
an ancient British
“great house.”
Firstly, they drive about in all directions and throw their
weapons and generally break the ranks of the enemy . . . and
when they have worked themselves in between the troops of
horse, leap from their chariots and engage on foot. The chario-
teers in the mean time withdraw some little distance from the
battle, and so place themselves with the chariots that, if their
masters are overpowered by the number of the enemy, they may
have a ready retreat to their own troops. . . . [A]nd by daily prac-
tice and exercise [they] attain to such expertness that they are
accustomed . . . to check their horses at full speed, and manage
and turn them in an instant and run along the pole, and stand
on the yoke, and thence betake themselves with the greatest
celerity [speed] to their chariots again.

[ the edge of the world 00000000000000000000000 57 ]

 Caesar added that his men were “dismayed by the novelty of this
mode of battle.” Nevertheless, wrote Strabo, “he gained two or three
victories over the Britons . . . and brought away hostages and slaves
and much other booty. At the present time, however,* some of the
princes there have, by their embassies and solicitations, obtained the
friendship of Augustus Caesar . . . and brought the whole island into
intimate union with the Romans”—the “intimate union” being largely
that of a thriving import-export trade between Britain and Gaul.

FREEDOM FIGHTERS, QUEENS, AND DRUIDS

By the time of Strabo’s writing, most of the Celtic lands of continental
Europe and Asia Minor had become part of the Roman Empire. In 43
CE the emperor Claudius decided to bring Britain under the empire’s

control as well. British resistance to the Roman invasion was fierce but
disorganized—the Celts of Britain were no more united than the Celts
of Gaul had been before Vercingetorix. In less than a year all of south-
eastern Britain fell to the Romans.
Of course, Britain was still full of tribes and leaders who hated
Rome. One of these was Caratacus, who came from the mountainous
country of western Britain and led countless raids on the Roman fron-
tier. To put an end to this, in 47 CE the Roman army advanced into what
are now Wales and Cornwall. They would remain there for several
years, battling the Celts.
Some of the British Celts seem to have welcomed the Roman pres-
ence in their island. In 51 CE Cartimandua, queen of Brigantia in north-
ern Britain, offered to turn her territory over to Rome. Her husband,
Venutius, was defiantly anti-Roman, so Cartimandua deposed him and
chose another man to rule at her side. She further proved her friend-
ship to the Romans by luring Caratacus into a trap and then handing
him over to his enemies. At this point Cartimandua’s people turned

*Strabo was writing some years later, during the reign of Augustus Caesar, 27 BCE–14 CE.

[ 58 000000000000000000000000000000 ancient celts ]

against her, and she fled to Roman protection. Venutius regained his Tacitus’s account of
the Roman attack on
throne. The Romans would have to fight to conquer Brigantia after all. the druid sanctuary
For the next several years the Roman army carried on campaigns on Môn is brought
to life by twentieth-
in western Britain. Around 60 CE the Roman governor, Suetonius Pauli- century English
nus, decided that the heart of British resistance in the west was Môn, artist Margaret
Dovaston.
or Anglesey. This island just off the coast was a place of refuge and wor-
ship and seems to have been a kind of headquarters for the druids, a
powerful priesthood. The Roman historian Tacitus tells how Paulinus
attacked the island:

Flat-bottomed boats were built to take the infantry across the

treacherous shallows. The cavalry used fords, some troopers
swimming beside their mounts. The armed enemy crowded the
opposite shore. Among them were women, robed in black, hair
wild . . . waving flaming firebrands. Nearby the Druid priests,
with hands raised, called down terrible curses from heaven. This
awful spectacle brought our soldiers up short. They stood as if
frozen, until the general broke the spell by shouting how shame-
ful it would be if they were halted by a gang of lunatic women.
So the [Romans] surged forward, hemming in the enemy who
was burned by his own torches. Paulinus occupied the island,
felling the sacred groves. . . .

[ the edge of the world 00000000000000000000000 59 ]

 \
\

\
\

Benjamin West’s 1778 painting The Bard illustrated a popular poem

that told of the tragic death of the last druid in Wales.
IN GAUL, BRITAIN, IRELAND, AND PERHAPS ELSEWHERE IN THE CELTIC WORLD, THE
most highly educated people were the druids. Caesar, who was personally acquainted
with at least one druid from Gaul, reported that their education took
up to twenty years. The teaching was all done orally, and the stu- DRUIDS
dents were required to memorize a vast amount of poetry and lore.
Caesar gave a list of some of the subjects they studied: “knowl- AND
edge of the stars and their motion, of the size of the world and of
the earth, of natural philosophy, and of the powers and spheres of BARDS
action of the immortal gods.” As we saw in chapter 3, the druids also taught “that souls
do not become extinct, but pass after death from one body to another.” Several other
ancient writers echoed what Caesar said, and one gave this additional example of a
druid teaching or motto: “to honour the gods, to do no evil and to practice bravery.”
The druids served a variety of functions in Celtic society. Caesar wrote, “[They] are
engaged in things sacred, conduct the public and the private sacrifices, and interpret
all matters of religion. . . . [T]hey determine respecting almost all controversies, pub-
lic and private; and if any crime has
been perpetrated, if murder has
been committed, if there be any
dispute about an inheritance, if any
about boundaries, these same per-
sons decide it; they decree rewards
and punishments.” Other authors
noted that in addition to acting as
priests and judges, the druids were
teachers, philosophers, and heal-
ers. They were so highly respected
that they could even stop disputes
and battles between tribes.
A goddess wearing a torc, surrounded by birds, people, Druids were at the top of the
and animals, both living and dead
social order, and most of them were
probably born into the warrior class. Closely related to them were seers and bards.
The bards were not just poets who made up pleasing rhymes—their poems kept alive
the history and knowledge of their people. Bards also used poetry to praise noble war-
riors and rulers or to denounce those who were cowardly, miserly, or dishonorable.
This ability to make or break someone’s reputation gave them great power and an
important place in Celtic culture.
Boudica, accompa-
nied by her daugh-
ters, rides her
chariot into battle
at the head of
her army.

[ 62 000000000000000000000000000000 ancient celts ]

 Almost immediately after the fall of Môn, the southeast rose in
revolt, led by Boudica, queen of the Iceni. She was, in the words of
Dio Cassius, “tall, terrifying, with flashing eyes, menacing voice and
a wild mass of yellowish hair falling to her waist; wearing a great,
golden neck-torque, a many-coloured dress and thick cloak,” and she
addressed her troops “spear in hand.” Boudica’s army—120,000 men
according to Dio—had several successes against the Romans and
inflicted a huge number of casualties on them. But once again, the
discipline of the Roman troops overcame the fury of the Celts. The
rebellion was crushed, and Boudica killed herself.
The Romans steadily continued their conquest of Britain. In 84
CE the island’s last Celtic army was destroyed. Tacitus imagined the

British leader Calgacus rallying his forces before the final battle. This
was how Tacitus thought Calgacus might have spoken of the
Romans: “Pillagers of the world, they have exhausted the land by
their indiscriminate plunder . . . to robbery, butchery, and rapine,
they give the lying name of ‘government’; they create a desolation
and call it peace.”

CELTIC SURVIVAL
In all of Britain, only the Highlands and Western Isles of Scotland—
regarded as barren lands inhabited by wild tribes—remained free of
Roman rule. But across the sea to the west, there was still one inde-
pendent Celtic land. Ireland preserved ancient Celtic ways right up
to the coming of Christianity in the fifth century. Even after that,
many Celtic traditions persisted in Ireland for centuries more.
Celtic ways did not die out completely in other parts of Europe,
either. There were still druids in Gaul, Britain, and Ireland until Chris-
tianity took hold. Medieval Irish judges worked within legal guidelines
probably established by the druids. Medieval Welsh and Irish story-
tellers and scribes passed on poems and tales that preserved pieces

[ the edge of the world 00000000000000000000000 63 ]

 (sometimes fairly large ones) of ancient Celtic lore. There were bards
in Wales through the 1500s and in Ireland well into the 1600s.
The Celtic languages were also long-lasting. In the fourth century
CE Saint Jerome heard them being spoken in both Galatia and Gaul—

and he recognized that the two tongues were very similar to each other.
In outlying parts of the Celtic world, far from centers of Roman power
(or those of later invaders), Celtic languages survived even longer. Cor-
nish was spoken in south-
eastern England until the
1770s, and efforts have
been under way to revive
it since the 1970s. Manx,
the Celtic language of the
Isle of Man (located in the
sea between Wales and
Ireland), nearly died out
in the 1970s, but now it,
too, has been revived.
Irish and its close rela-
tion, Scottish Gaelic, are
still in existence. In Ire-
land, Irish is taught in all
A bilingual sign in schools, and all official documents and signs are printed in both Irish
Ireland testifies to
the long survival of and English. Breton, the Celtic language of northwestern France, is hold-
the Irish language. ing on with about a quarter million speakers. More than 600,000 peo-
ple speak Welsh, the direct descendant of the ancient Britons’ language,
and the BBC has Welsh-language television and radio stations. There are
singers who perform in most of the Celtic languages, and poets who
write in them. There are Web sites in all the Celtic languages, includ-
ing versions of Wikipedia in Welsh, Irish, Manx, and Scottish Gaelic.

[ 64 000000000000000000000000000000 ancient celts ]

 Some Celtic countries today enjoy greater political independence
than they had known for several hundred years or more. Ireland has
been an independent nation since 1922. In 1998 Scotland established
its own Parliament, which met for the first time the following year. A
National Assembly was created in Wales in 1998, but with no power
to make laws. Thanks to an act passed in 2006, the Assembly can now
legislate on issues affecting Wales, although still only to a limited
extent. The Isle of Man, on
the other hand, has been
almost completely self-
governing since the 1700s.
Also in the late 1700s,
interest in ancient Celtic
history, archaeology, folk-
lore, and religion began to
undergo a major revival.
This movement has lasted
into the present, not only
in the original Celtic lands
but also in places where
many descendants of the
ancient Celts have settled,
such as the United States, Canada, and Australia. Today it is possible A farmhouse on
the Isle of Man,
to read stories based on ancient Celtic history; to listen to songs based whose name comes
on ancient Celtic myths; and to buy jewelry, wall hangings, and many from the ancient
Celtic god
other items based on ancient Celtic designs. The Celtic lands and peo- Manannán
ples have passed through many changes over the centuries, but the
Celtic love of freedom, self-expression, language and music, art and
craftsmanship are all alive and thriving and likely to continue on for
a long time to come.

[ the edge of the world 00000000000000000000000 65 ]

KEY DATES IN
CELTIC HISTORY
ca. 1300–800 BCE development of Celtic language

ca. 700 BCE beginning of Iron Age Hallstatt phase of Celtic culture

ca. 600 BCE probable arrival of first Celts in Britain

and Ireland

ca. 500 BCE Celtic immigrants settle in Iberia

ca. 450 BCE beginning of La Tène phase of Celtic culture

ca. 390 BCE Celts sack Rome

335 BCE Celtic ambassadors meet with Alexander the Great

285 BCE Roman forces exterminate the Senones in

northern Italy

281 BCE Celtic armies attempt to invade Macedonia

and Greece

This ceremo- 279 BCE Celts commanded by Brennus attack Delphi

nial bronze
shield was
thrown into
the Thames 278 BCE Three Celtic tribes migrate to Asia Minor
River in
Britain as an
offering. 270s BCE Celtic mercenaries begin serving in Egypt
ca. 233 BCE Galatians defeated by Attalus I of Pergamum

225 BCE Celts in Italy defeated by Roman army at Telamon

218–201 BCE Celtic mercenaries fight for Hannibal

in the Second Punic War
Left:
A massive
190 BCE Galatians defeated by Rome gold torc from
Gaul. It may
have adorned
133 BCE Rome conquers Celtiberia a statue of
a deity.

Below:
124–120 BCE Rome conquers southern Gaul Human heads
and a triskele
decorate a
90s BCE Posidonius’s travels in Gaul silver harness
ornament.

67 BCE Galatia becomes part of Roman Empire

58 BCE Caesar begins conquest of “Long-Haired Gaul”

55 & 54 BCE Caesar’s expeditions to Britain

52 BCE Vercingetorix leads Gaulish revolt

against Caesar

43 C E Emperor Claudius begins Roman conquest

of Britain

60 C E massacre of the druids on Môn (Anglesey); Boudica’s rebellion

84 C E Rome completes the conquest of all but northernmost Britain

GLOSSARY

Asia Minor A large peninsula surrounded by the Mediterranean,

Aegean, and Black seas. Also called Anatolia, it is the part of
modern Turkey that lies in Asia.
Balkan Peninsula A peninsula surrounded by the Adriatic, Mediter-
ranean, Aegean, and Black seas. Today it is occupied by the
nations of Greece, Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia,
Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, part of Romania, and the European portion
of Turkey.
Britain The island that is now occupied by the countries of Wales,
England, and Scotland.
Carthage A North African city-state that rivaled Rome for control of
the Mediterranean. At its height Carthage ruled what is now
Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya; the Mediterranean islands
of Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica; and southern Spain.
chain mail Armor made of small, interconnected iron rings.
Etruscans People of a group of city-states in northern Italy,
whose civilization flourished from about 800 BCE until it was
supplanted by the Romans around 300 BCE. Their territory
was called Etruria; much of it is now the modern Italian
region of Tuscany.
Gaul The Roman name for the area between the Pyrenees Moun-
tains, the Alps, and the Rhine River—modern France, Belgium,
and Luxembourg; most of Switzerland; and the westernmost
parts of Germany and the Netherlands.
guerrilla warfare Warfare conducted by ambushes, hit-and-run
attacks, and similar tactics rather than open confrontation on a
battlefield.

[ 68 000000000000000000000000000000 ancient celts ]

Iberian Peninsula The peninsula now occupied by Spain and Portugal.
legion A unit of the Roman army. In Caesar’s time each legion prob-
ably had about five thousand men.
mercenary A hired warrior, fighting for pay rather than out of loy-
alty to a nation or cause.
tetrarch One of four rulers who share power equally (at least in theory).
torc or torque A thick ring, open at the front, worn around the
neck. Celtic torcs were signs of honor and nobility and were usu-
ally made of gold. The ends were often ornamented with figures
of people, animals, or abstract designs.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

BOOKS
Calvert, Patricia. The Ancient Celts. New York: Franklin Watts, 2005.
Grant, Neil. Everyday Life of the Celts. Mankato, MN: Smart Apple
Media, 2003.
Green, Jen. Ancient Celts: Archaeology Unlocks the Secrets of the Celts’
Past. Washington, DC: National Geographic Children’s Books,
2008.
Hinds, Kathryn. The Celts of Northern Europe. New York: Benchmark
Books, 1997.
Macdonald, Fiona. Find Out about the Celts: What Life Was Like for
the Warlike Tribes of Ancient Europe. London: Southwater, 2003.
Richardson, Hazel. Life of the Ancient Celts. New York: Crabtree Pub-
lishing, 2005.
Wyborny, Sheila. The Celts. Farmington Hills, MI: Blackbirch Press,
2005.

[ for more information 000000000000000000000000 69 ]

WEB SITES
British Prehistory.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/british_prehistory/
Butser Ancient Farm.
http://www.gallica.co.uk/butser2/
Celtic Art and Cultures.
http://www.unc.edu/celtic/index.html
Celts.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/history/sites/celts/
Simon James’s Ancient Celts Page.
http://www.le.ac.uk/ar/stj/intro.htm
World of the Ancient Britons.
http://www.gallica.co.uk/celts/contents.htm

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Caesar, C. Julius. Gallic War. Translated by W. A. McDevitte and W. S.

Bohn, 1869. Online at
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/.jsp?collection=Perseus:col-
lection:Greco-Roman
Cunliffe, Barry. The Ancient Celts. New York: Oxford University Press,
1997.
———. The Celtic World. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1979.
———, ed. Prehistoric Europe: An Illustrated History. New York: Oxford
University Press, 1994.
Freeman, Philip. The Philosopher and the Druids: A Journey among
the Ancient Celts. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2006.

[ 70 000000000000000000000000000000 ancient celts ]

Green, Miranda. Celtic Art: Symbols and Imagery. New York: Sterling
Publishing, 1996.
———, ed. The Celtic World. London: Routledge, 1995.
———. The Gods of the Celts. Stroud, Gloucestershire: Sutton Publish-
ing, 1997.
———. The World of the Druids. New York: Thames and Hudson,
1997.
Jones, Terry, and Alan Ereira. Terry Jones’ Barbarians. London: BBC
Books, 2006.
Livy (Titus Livius). The History of Rome. Translated by Rev. Canon
Roberts, 1905. Online edition from Electronic Text Center, Uni-
versity of Virginia Library.
http://etext.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/Liv1His.html
McCullough, David Willis, ed. Chronicles of the Barbarians: First-
hand Accounts of Pillage and Conquest, From the Ancient World
to the Fall of Constantinople. New York: Times Books, 1998.
Pausanias. Description of Greece. Translated by W. H. S. Jones, 1918.
Online at http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/.jsp?collection=
Perseus:collection:Greco-Roman
Polybius. Histories. Translated by Evelyn S. Shuckburgh, 1889.
Online at http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?collec-
tion=Perseus:collection:Greco-Roman
Rankin, David. Celts and the Classical World. London: Routledge,
1996.
Ross, Anne. Druids: Preachers of Immortality. Stroud, Gloucester-
shire: Tempus, 1999.
Williams, Derek. Romans and Barbarians: Four Views from the
Empire’s Edge. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998.

[ selected bibliography 000000000000000000000000 71 ]

SOURCES FOR QUOTATIONS

Chapter 1
p. 9 “The king received”: Cunliffe, The Ancient Celts, p. 80.
p. 9 “neither earthquakes” and “in general”: Cunliffe, The Celtic
World, p. 29.
p. 19 “The Gauls, imprisoned”: Cunliffe, The Ancient Celts, p. 69.

Chapter 2
p. 21 “Gaul under his sway”: Cunliffe, The Ancient Celts, pp. 68–69.
p. 23 “lived in open villages”: Polybius, Histories 2.17.
p. 24 “strange men”: Jones, Barbarians, p. 16.
p. 24 “the haughty answer”: Livy, The History of Rome 5.36.
p. 25 “with an exclamation”: ibid. 5.48.
p. 26 “There were among them”: Polybius, Histories 2.29.
p. 27 “The whole race”: Cunliffe, The Celtic World, p. 28.
p. 27 “The Gauls are exceedingly”: McCullough, Chronicles of the
Barbarians, p. 57.
p. 27 “They look like wood-demons”: Jones, Barbarians, p. 23.
p. 29 “They had learned”: Polybius, Histories 2.33.

Chapter 3
p. 31 “Massilia was flourishing”: Rankin, Celts and the Classical
World, pp. 39–40.
p. 33 “I will defend”: ibid., p. 94.
p. 34 “Portents boding”: Pausanias, Description of Greece 10.23.
p. 35 “laughed at them”: Green, The Gods of the Celts, p. 35.
p. 36 “The whole Gallic people”: Green, The World of the Druids, p. 23.
p. 37 “as the inventor”: ibid., p. 23.

[ 72 000000000000000000000000000000 ancient celts ]

p. 37 “It is you who say”: Ross, Druids, p. 38.
p. 38 “the numbers of Galatians”: Freeman, The Philosopher and the
Druids, p. 46.
p. 38 “to seize” and “There they perished”: Pausanias, Description of
Greece 1.7.
p. 39 “Each tribe was divided”: Freeman, The Philosopher and the
Druids, p.43.

Chapter 4
p. 43 “the clothing of the Gauls”: Freeman, The Philosopher and the
Druids, p. 106.
p. 44 “the people dwell” and “milk and all kinds”: McCullough,
Chronicles of the Barbarians, p. 7.
p. 44 “In the provinces”: Jones, Barbarians, p. 33.
p. 45 “He divided the land”: Freeman, The Philosopher and the
Druids, p. 132.
p. 45 “invite strangers”: Cunliffe, The Celtic World, p. 43.
p. 45 “When a large number”: ibid., p. 43.
p. 47 “When Gaulish warriors”: Freeman, The Philosopher and the
Druids, p. 109.
p. 48 “The Gauls practice”: ibid., p. 112.
p. 48 “They embalm”: Cunliffe, The Celtic World, p. 83.
p. 49 “name by name”: Caesar, Gallic War 1.29.
p. 51 “no member”: Jones, Barbarians, p. 43.
p. 52 “but on account”: Caesar, Gallic War 7.88.
p. 52 “Vercingetorix, after putting”: Plutarch, “The Life of Julius Cae-
sar” 27. Online at
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives
/Caesar*.html#27

[ sources for quotations 00000000000000000000000 73 ]

Chapter 5
p. 56 “Caesar twice passed”: McCullough, Chronicles of the Barbar-
ians, p. 10.
p. 56 “The interior portion”: Caesar, Gallic War 5.12.
p. 56 “a more terrible”: ibid. 5.14.
p. 57 “Firstly, they drive”: ibid. 4.33.
p. 58 “dismayed by the novelty”: ibid. 4.34.
p. 58 “he gained two”: McCullough, Chronicles of the Barbarians,
pp. 10–11.
p. 59 “Flat-bottomed boats”: Williams, Romans and Barbarians, p. 145.
p. 61 “knowledge of the stars”: Green, The World of the Druids, p. 50.
p. 61 “that souls do not”: Caesar, Gallic War 6.14.
p. 61 “to honour the gods”: Green, The World of the Druids, p. 48.
p. 61 “[They] are engaged”: Caesar, Gallic War 6.13.
p. 63 “tall, terrifying” and “spear in hand”: Williams, Romans and
Barbarians, p. 146.
p. 63 “Pillagers of the world”: Cunliffe, The Ancient Celts, p. 9.

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INDEX

Page numbers for illustrations bards, 60–61, 60, 61, 64

are in boldface Boudica (queen of the Iceni), 62, 63
Brennus (Celtic chief), 20, 25, 25,
Alexander the Great, 9, 10 32–33, 35, 36
Alps, 22–23 Brigantia, 58–59
Ambigatus (Celtic king), 21–22 Britain, 51, 55
Ambiorix (Gaulish chief), 51 the Britons, 55, 56–58, 57
ancient Celtic history, revival of, 65 druids and bards, 60–61, 60, 61
archaeologists Bronze Age, 8, 11, 12, 12, 14, 14,
archaeological findings of Iron 66
Age Celts, 11, 13 burials, graves, and tombs,
excavators of Hallstatt, 10–11, 10–11, 13–15, 17, 17
11, 15
and Gaulish-style homes in Caesar, Julius, 36, 37, 43, 49–53,
Britain, 56 56–57, 61
hill forts found by, 15 Calgacus (British leader), 63
Aristotle (philosopher), 9 Callimachus (poet), 35
art, Celtic Caratacus (British chief), 54, 58
artisans, 15, 46 Cartimandua (queen of Brigan-
La Tène period, 16–17, 16 tia), 58–59
in religion, 36 Catamandus (Celtic king), 30,
wild boar symbol in, 44, 44 31–32
Asia, Celts in, 35, 38 Celtiberia, 41
Athena (goddess), 30 centers of power, Celtic, 16
Attalus I (king of Pergamum), chariot burials, 17
38–39, 39 children, Celtic, 40
Augustus Caesar, 58 Christianity, 63
Claudius (emperor), 58

[ index 000000000000000000000000000000000000 75 ]
Cleopatra (queen of Egypt), 38 stories about, 21–22, 27, 43
clothing, Gaulish, 43 warfare, 46–47, 47, 49–53, 52
Commentaries on the Gallic War gods and goddesses, 30, 32, 37
(Caesar), 50 gold, 50, 50, 51, 67
government, Celtic, 46
Delphi, temples of, 32–33, 33, 36 Greece, 9
Dio Cassius (historian), 51, 63 bronze imports from, 14, 14
Diodorus Siculus (writer), 27, 35, Celtic presence in, 32–35, 33
43, 45, 47, 48 city of Apollo, 32–35, 33
druids, 37, 54, 59–61, 59, 60, 61, Greek city-state, 26
63 Greek influence on Celtic reli-
gion, 36, 37
Egypt, 38 Greek stories about the Celts,
Etruscans, 22, 23–24 27, 31–32
Greek-style hill forts, 15
farmers, Celtic, 15, 44 Greek traders, 13
foods and feasts, Celtic, 44, 45, 45 temples of Delphi, 32–33, 33,
36
Gaesatae (fighters in Celtic
army), 26, 28 Hannibal (general), 29
Galatians, 38–39, 41 head collecting, 48, 48, 67
Gaul hill forts, 15
Caesar’s advance into, 49–53, history, Celtic
49, 52 key dates in, 66–67
head collecting custom in, 48, 48 revival of ancient, 65
life in, 43–46 homes, Celtic, 15, 44, 56, 57
religious beliefs, 35, 36 human and animal sacrifices, 37
Roman conquest of southern, 41
statue of dying Gaul, 39 Ireland, 55, 61

[ 76 000000000000000000000000000000 ancient celts ]

 Celtic survival in, 63–65, 64, 65 Polybius (historian), 23, 26, 28,
Iron Age, 11–13, 12 29
Italy, Celtic presence in, 22–29, Posidonius (philosopher), 43, 44,
24, 25, 28 46–47
Ptolemy II (Egypt), 38
Jerome, Saint, 64 Pythia (priestess), 33, 34
Juno (goddess), 25
Justinus (historian), 38 religion, Celtic, 36–37, 36, 37, 48
Rome, 19
La Tène (Celtic art), 16–17, 16 Celtic presence in Italy, 22–29,
languages, Celtic, 64, 64 24, 25, 28
Livy (historian), 21–22, 23–24 conquest of Britain, 56–59, 63
Lucan (poet), 37 conquest of Celtiberia and
southern Gaul, 41
Macedonia, 9, 32 Galatian attack by, 39
Mercury (god), 37 Roman stories about the Celts,
Minerva (goddess), 30 21–22, 27
Romans and Celtic combat, 47
New Stone Age, 12 Romans influence on Celtic
religion, 36, 37
Old Stone Age, 12 tumultus in Roman folklore, 25
Oracle of Delphi, 33, 34
salt mines, 10–11, 11, 19
Paulinus, Suetonius (Roman gov- Scotland, 16, 63, 64, 65
ernor), 59 Second Punic War, 28–29, 41
Pausanias (historian), 33–34, 38 Strabo (historian), 9, 27, 35, 39,
Pergamum, 38 43, 48, 58
Pliny the Elder (author), 19, 44 superstitions, 36
poetry, 29, 61, 63, 64 survival, Celtic, 63–65, 64, 65

[ index 000000000000000000000000000000000000 77 ]
Tacitus (historian), 59, 63 warriors, Celtic, 19, 27, 37, 39, 49
tetrarchs, 39, 41 bronze tools and weapons, 12, 66
trade, 10, 31, 46 burials of, 13, 17, 17
tribes, Celtic, 10, 22–23, 26, dress of, 43
46–47, 49–53, 52 feasts for, 45, 45
Trogus, Pompeius, 31–32 in Gaul, 49–53, 52
in Greece, 32–35
Venutius (king of the Brigantes), in Italy, 22–29, 24, 28
58, 59 long-haired warriors, 42, 43–44
Vercingetorix (Gaulish chief), 42, warfare, 16, 46–47, 47, 49–53,
51–53, 52 52
women, Celtic, 16, 17, 22
warriors, British, 56–58 writing, Celtic, 37

[ 78 000000000000000000000000000000 ancient celts ]

 ABOUT THE AUTHOR

KATHRYN HINDS grew up near Rochester, New York. She studied

music and writing at Barnard College, and went on to do graduate work
in comparative literature and medieval studies at the City
University of New York. She has written more than forty
books for young people, including Everyday Life in Medieval
Europe and the books in the series LIFE IN THE MEDIEVAL MUS-
Fox Gradin / Celestial Studios Photography

LIM WORLD, LIFE IN ELIZABETHAN ENGLAND, LIFE IN ANCIENT

EGYPT, LIFE IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE, and LIFE IN THE RENAIS-
SANCE. Kathryn lives in the north Georgia mountains with her
husband, their son, and an assortment of cats and dogs. When she is
not reading or writing, she enjoys dancing, gardening, knitting, play-
ing music, and taking walks in the woods. Visit Kathryn online at
www.kathrynhinds.com

[ about the author

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