Introduction

"The Dying Gaul" Capitoline Museum, Rome

"And to start with, the Celts are the tallest people in the world."

Thus wrote Pausanias, a Greek writer of the 2nd century AD. Other Classical commentators were also fascinated with these strange "barbarian" people.

"...The Gauls are of tall stature, fair and ruddy, terrible for the fierceness of their eyes, fond of quarrelling and of overbearing insolence." - Ammianus Marcellinus, 4th century AD

"...People of great stature and haughty disposition." - Arrian, 1st century AD

"The whole nation is madly fond of war, both high-spirited and ready for battle, 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. ...but otherwise simple, though not uncultured."

- Strabo ( IV, 4, 2) c. 1st century BC, a Greek geographer and historian.

"And when someone accepts their challenge to battle they proudly recite the deeds of valour of their ancestors and proclaim their own valorous quality at the same time abusing and making little of their opponent and generally attempting to rob him beforehand of his fighting spirit." - Diodorus Siculus (V, 29 , 3) c. 1 st century BC.

"They cut off the heads of enemies slain in battle and attach them to the necks of their horses. The blood-stained spoils they hand over to their attendants and carry off as booty, while striking up a paean and singing a song of victory; and they nail up these first fruits upon their houses... they embalm in cedar oil the heads of the most distinguished enemies... " - Diodorus Siculus (V, 29 ,4- 5) c. 1 st century BC

"Golden is their hair and golden their garb. They are resplendent in their striped cloaks, and their milk-white necks are circled with gold." - Virgil, 1st century B.C. poet.

In the popular mind, the Celts seem to appear suddenly, charging out of the mists of history like tigers, full of ferocity, elan, dash, and proud swagger, first sweeping all before them, but later going down to defeat before the superior military, technical, and administrative abilities of the Romans and their successors.

Much has been written about them, (including much balderdash), from ancient times to the present. Currently, almost everyone and their cat seems to be "Born-Again" Celts, or self-styled Celtic "gurus". The marketing moguls in manufacturing and Tin Pan Alley have caught on, and issued many so-called "Celtic" products and recordings that bear little or no relation to anything remotely "Celtic" in any true sense of the word.

There are also the politics behind the concepts of what constitutes "Celtic" people and things- politics that began mainly in the 18th and 19th centuries, and which revolve around issues of national identity, territorial boundaries, race, and all the many things people use to differentiate themselves. These politics were used against the Celts by their conqerors, who often labeled them as inferior, untrustworthy, and all the usual tools of colonial dominance. People who believed themselves to be Celts also used the term (albeit fairly recently) to identify themselves as a group in order to rally the population to resist foreign domination.

What about the "real" Celts? Who were they? What were their origins? We might start by examining the name itself. Where did it originate? What does it mean?

What's in a Name?

One problem in ascertaining the origins and meaning of the word "Celt" is that it has come to mean whatever the user wishes it to mean.

First, however, we should clear up one common misconception; the "Celts" are not and never were a "race." They were an ethno-cultural-linguistic group, which is quite different.

(I use this obsolete and much misused term only for the sake of clarity. From a biological standpoint, humanity is in fact only one "race" albeit they come in a variety of shapes, sizes,, and colors. Like our canine friends, humans can interbreed despite sometimes marked differences in size, shape, color, etc. The term is still sometimes used to describe particular variations on the human genome, but has been much misused by the purveyors of racist ideologies. I also want to stress here that I do not believe in, condone or purvey the idea of the inherent "superiority" of any ethno-linguistic group or creed over any other. The very notion is ridiculous. All branches of the human family have approximately the same capacity for learning - but not all people have had the opportunities for education as modern Western nations - or even a peaceful and safe society with sufficient wealth, nutrition and education to obtain even a rudimentary education. So this is NOT a site for racists or supremacists of any stripe, and you will find nothing here to bolster your pathetic ego and need to feel "superior." I strongly suggest if you suffer from such pathologies, seek professional help.)

Indeed, from emerging DNA evidence, as well as much scholarly research, it appears that the Celts may have never formed more than a superstrate culture in some of the lands now considered most "Celtic." A similar conclusion was also reached by Henri Hubert, a noted French Celtic scholar, early in the 20th century, though he had no access to DNA or other modern evidence.

A consensus of generally accepted modern archaeological, historic, and linguistic evidence supports the theory that the people we now call the Celts were an ethno-linguistic-cultural group who first appear in Europe as an identifiable culture c. 1000 BC. They are considered a branch of the linguistic family now called Indo-European. (c. 6000 - 4000 BC).

On the other hand, there are those like Simon James, Vincent Megaw, et al, who question their very existence as an identifiable separate people. (in James' case, the Insular Celts of the British Isles and Ireland.)

There is also some relatively new and interesting evidence for what has been termed a "Western Atlantic" or "Atlantic Facade" culture as the point of origin, and the fascinating DNA work carried out among the Gaelic surnamed males of Western Ireland, which has shown a strong genetic connection between these Irishmen and the Galicians of NW Spain.

These finds all advance interesting points and questions.

However, for our present purposes, we shall focus on the cultures the Roman and Greek commentators described on the European Continent and the British Isles. In their view, the Insular and Continental Celts seemed to be related linguistically, by alliance, and by religion over a fairly wide area and long period of time, and their comments dovetail nicely with the native literary traditions of the Insular Celtic people themselves, especially of Ireland and Wales, which combine to show a strong affinity and connection with the Celts and Gauls the Classical cultures described, further corroborated by archeology and other disciplines. Archaeology also shows that these peoples were engaged in extensive commerce with their Mediterranean neighbors.

My own inclination is that they may have been in a situation analogous to the Gaels in Ulster and the Highlands prior to the Plantation of Ulster - sharing a language, culture, and beliefs, and maintaining close ties in trade and regular interchanges of people, so whatever their ultimate derivation, and regardless of how they spread their culture, they shared a common cultural group, much as in modern Western Europe.

Returning to the names they have been given; their modern popular name comes from that given them by the ancient Greeks; "Keltoi" though it is not really certain how the Greeks came upon that name, or even what it means. Some posit that it was a name they knew themselves by and gave to the Greeks who contacted them, others that it was a name applied to them by the Greeks, and various other theories. Possibly, it was a tribal name given to the Greek ethnographers by one of their tribal groups. There is also a personal name that appears in several Classical commentaries (including Caesar) - "Celtillus" - which may or may not be related. The original name may have represented a tribal group, a leader, or even a god. (Particularly if one accepts the idea of those who state that this word's meaning is "hidden").

The Greeks also either invented (or adapted) origin myths for them, which tied them into the Greek pantheon. For example, in the Greek version of their story, their progenitor's name was given as Celtus, a son of Heracles, and Celtine, the daughter of Bretannus.

The Romans usually called them Galli or Galatae (Gauls). These names may have been based on tribal names the Classical Greeks and Romans (or their informants) had come in contact with, but which they assigned in error to all they encountered who shared (or were deemed to share) characteristics of the "Keltoi" or "Galli."

The term Galli (Gaul - which may be related to a name for one branch of the family, i.e. "Gael") may possibly stem from the Proto-Celtic (& later Gaulish / Celtic / Gaelic) word "gae" (spear) plus the suffix "lo" [bearer], hence “spear-bearer.”

(Compare the Gaelic term “saighdear” [soldier] which stems from Irish saighdiur, M. Ir. saigdeoir (and Welsh sawdwr), all of which are related to and derive from saighead (arrow) [0ld Ir. saiget, Welsh saeth, Cor. seth, etc.] denoting one who carries or uses arrows. Some authorities trace it either to Middle English soudiour and its antecedents, and / or consider it an early borrowing from the Latin sagittarius [archer]. I personally believe this might possibly stem from a much older word, possibly Proto-Indo-European in origin, which may also be the root of the English word “soldier”.)

The Celts themselves seem to have further muddied the waters by using their own tribal names, rather than any overall name for themselves as a people, and later by cheerfully adopting and adapting Greek and Roman "ancestry" and incorporating it into their genealogies (as they later did with Judaeo-Christian Biblical figures) while in many cases keeping their pagan Celtic deities and demi-gods, as they did into relatively modern times, where old Celtic pagan beliefs and customs were commonly and readily mingled with the more "recent" Christian charms and chants - just to "mak' siccar" (make certain) - rather like the Hebridean custom of having a bull’s head or other animal totem on their vessel’s prow, while having a cross on the stern, or the clansman going into battle with a "charm-stone" or other "charmed" or "magical" object, and a recited or chanted "sian" — thus hedging their (spiritual) bets.

(Also compare the ancient pagan sacral corn-king concept to the concept of the “divine right” of kings deriving (in part) from the Judaeo-Christian concept of deity and in part from pagan beliefs.)

Alexander Carmichael, the collector of Scottish traditions and folklore [writing in his collection, Carmina Gadelica, Volume 2, 1900] describes the Sian A Bheatha Bhuan [134] as follows;

"'SIAN' or 'seun' is occult agency, supernatural power used to ward away injury, and to protect invisibly. Belief in the charm was common, and examples of its efficacy are frequently told. A woman at Bearnasdale, in Skye, put such a charm on Macleod of Bearnaray, Harris, when on his way to join Prince Charlie in 1745. At Culloden the bullets showered upon him like hail, but they had no effect. When all was lost, Macleod threw off his coat to facilitate his flight. His faithful foster-brother Murdoch Macaskail was close behind him and took up the coat. When examined it was found to be riddled with bullet-holes. But not one of these bullets had hurt Macleod!"

In more modern times, Edward Lluyd, a Welsh scholar, did a meticulous study of the Welsh, Breton, Irish and Gaulish languages (partially published in 1707), which led him to identify them as related. He termed this language family "Celtic."

Lluyd's work was later acknowledged and incorporated into the the burgeoning field of Indo-European language studies. This family had been identified by the brilliant Sir William Jones, whose story is told in the chapter on the Indo-Europeans.

William Stukeley (1687-1765) also did work that led to the term "Celtic" being applied (often as not quite incorrectly) to pre-Roman sites such as Stonehenge and Avebury, and various tombs and standing stones.

Prior to this work, none of the people of the British Isles or Ireland had used the term in reference to themselves. The Gaelic Irish, Scots, and Manx referred to themselves collectively as Gaels, while the Welsh use the term Cymry. ("Wales" is a Saxon-derived word meaning "stranger.") Individuals from a clan-tribal group (such as in Ireland and Scotland) usually referred to themselves by their family or clan names, as they still did until comparatively recent historic times - i.e., "Domhnallach" (Donalds") or "Clann Domhnuill" the Children of Donald, or similar terms), a trait which would lend some credence to the possibility that the original "Keltoi" were a tribe or group who considerd themselves the "people or children of" some chief, king, or demi-god whose name sounded to the Greeks like Keltoi or to the Romans like "Galli."

There is also the possibility of misunderstandings on the part of those who first encountered these people and recorded their name(s). This was not uncommon in the past when encountering new peoples and languages. (A possibly apocryphal story goes that the when Australia was being explored and settled by Europeans, they asked the Australian Aborigines the name of the parakeet.

The Aborigines misunderstanding what was being asked, responded with "budgerigar"(or a word like it) - meaning "good food" or "tasty treat"! (Which is why many British still call these birds "budgies"

There is also the possibility of deliberate misleading by the Celts themselves. In those times (and even today), in many cultures, possession of a name was believed to confer magical "power" over the individual. Therefore, it was (and remains) not uncommon in some cultures to have more than one name, sometimes consisting of a secret name known only to one's inner family circle and shaman, a "public" name, and sometimes even a third name for use with those outwith the clan-tribal-village circles.

In summary, while we cannot know positively the origin of the names used for these people by the Classical Mediterranean cultures, or even their own name for themselves, it is fair to posit a possible tribal and / or totemic origin for at least some of them, and I believe that a strong case exists for their connectivity at least on a cultural and linguistic level. Therefore, we shall proceed on the basis that there were and are an identifiable group or groups of people in Europe and later in the British Isles and Ireland who shared cultural and linguistic links, and for the purpose of convenience, we shall use the scholarly consensus and identify them as "Celts."

The Historic Record

The earliest known reference to the "Keltoi" may be a fragment of a now lost Greek poem, the "Massaliote Periplus" c. 600 BC. A "periplus" was a navigational aid in poetic form to help sailors find landmarks - in those times, most navigation was line of sight and coastal, because there wasn't much in the way of navigation gear. Key navigational instructions were memorized in the form of a poem or song, which gives one points of reference to sail by. Later these would be written down, and called in English a "rutter" (derived from Fr. "routier" and Dutch "ruiter", meaning "something that finds a way" - we still use the term in computing - "router"). These were the precursors to modern navigational charts and books.

The Gaels used similar navigation poems, some of which still survive. One is "Mo Laochan Air a Ghille Dhubh" which, though now used for a waulking song for fulling cloth, was clearly a navigational aide. The song is about a boat engaged in a smuggling operation, and in it they take some fire from an English Revenue cutter. It includes lines like this; "Dol seachad Mull a' Rubhanan" - "go past the Headland of Rubanan"). If you follow the directions given in the song, you can sail from Ireland to the Hebrides.

This periplus was preserved in "Ora Maritima" ("Shores [or Coasts] of the Sea"), a poem by Postumious Rufus Festus Avienus (believed to have been a native of Volsinii in Etruria who may have later been a consul, c. 400 AD). It describes the routes of the tin traders, and gives the Keltoi as being in the hinterlands of Massalia (present-day Marseilles in France) then a merchant colony founded by the Greeks, and later assimilated by Rome. It also describes two distant islands - Ierne (probably Ireland) and Albion (England), and discusses Celtic poets; “...which they call Bards, who sing eulogies or elegies of great men to the accompaniment of an instrument like the lyre.” (Likely an early form of the cruit - See Music for details.)

The earliest direct reference known is by the Greek historian Hecataeus of Miletus, (c. 517 BC). He gives their location as "Rhenania" in what would now be West or South-Western Germany.

Much else of what we know from Classical times comes from the writings of a Greek ethnographer Poseidonius of Apameia (c. 135 - 51 BC). His work was lost, but is widely quoted by most Classical scholars who followed him, which enabled Brian Tierney to attempt a reconstruction. (See Bibliography.) It is believed that Poseidonius actually traveled among the Celts, and thus had first-hand knowledge of them.

He describes them as; "boasters, threateners, self-dramatizing" "lovers of decoration" - "high-spirited" and "brave to the point of foolhardiness" but "quick-learning, honest, and frank." He also mentioned their sense of community, and reliance on wit and eloquence. (Which traits have endured in the rural areas of Celtic lands to modern times.)

They seem to have been heavy drinkers. "Since the quality of the climate is spoiled by the cold, they produce neither wine nor oil. They make a barley beer, mead, and import wine. They get drunk and fall into stupors or maniacal rages."

Caesar tells us that there were three distinct groups in Gaul; the Belgae, whom he termed the bravest of the three, the Aquitani, and those calling themselves Celtae, whom the Romans called "Galli" - Gauls - again, a name of uncertain derivation.

They embodied many aspects of what is considered a Indo-European tripartite culture (priests, warriors, farmers), were family and tribal-based, and were governed by a military aristocracy and powerful priesthood, the Druids.

Their economy centered on a pastoral-agrarian life, (particularly cattle and horses), and trade centered around salt and slaves as the principal exports, with wine, gold and bronze jewelry, pottery, and other manufactured goods as the main imports from Greek, Carthaginian, and other Mediterranean trading nations.

The Celts were at times a warlike people. The scale of the actions ranged from individual combats and small-scale feuds and cattle raids, to armies on plundering expeditions or conquest. They also enlisted abroad as mercenaries, and also fought as allies in foreign conflicts.

Celts (or Celtic-influenced people) appear to have controlled or influenced a vast territory at their height, from eastern Europe to Asia Minor - over 800,000 square miles of Europe (c. 390 BC). Their sphere of influence ranged from the Balkans and Eastern Europe, to Britain and Ireland in the West, and from Jutland (modern Denmark) in the North to NW Spain (Galicia) and Northern Italy (Gallia Cisalpina) in the South. Remnants of their culture endured to some extent for almost 2500 years, even after their overthrow as a major power.

Their influence was further extended by mercenary units serving abroad. Troops from the army of a leader called Brennus (one of several of this name) took service under Nicomede I of Bythnia (c. 278-250 BC) and Antiochus I of Syria (c. 280-261 BC), eventually settling in the area which came to be called Galatia (now part of Turkey) from the numbers of Gauls there.

Pergamon Frieze

They were not exactly good neighbors. They terrorized and dominated the region, and other territories they controlled or influenced, by running the BC equivalent of an "insurance" racket, demanding tribute to defend or to refrain from attacking the Greek cities there. This was continued until a coalition under Attalus I of Pergamum defeated them c. 230 BC. The victory left us the famous marbles now in the Capitoline of the Dying Gaul (above) and the Ludovisi Group, with a Gallic warrior slaying himself after killing his wife with a defiant glance over his shoulder at the enemy.

The Ludovisi Group

(Interestingly, their distant cultural descendants in the Scottish Highlands and Borders had much the same "racket," known as "black mail" {"mail" being an old term for rent}. The famous Rob Roy MacGregor, among others, seems to have run just such a "service." Though some members of Clan MacGregor may disagree on this, the evidence is rather clear - and indeed, in Celtic terms, cattle raiding and related practices were not only legitimate, but a central practice of the economy. I will later have a section on creachs {cattle raids} and other Celtic practices and aspects of life in Scotland and Ireland, which were carried on up to fairly recent times.)

Alhough they dominated much land at their peak, the Celts lacked any unified form of central government, and thus later fell prey to more modern states, starting with Rome, who had a strong central regime. Instead, there were local princes and magnates, with loose and shifting coalitions and alliances. This, combined with their alliances with the Carthaginians in the Punic Wars, and their attacks on Roman allies and territories, led to a long and concerted effort by the Romans to first conquer or expel those in Northern Italy and bordering areas, and then to spread that conquest into Celtic lands elsewhere, in what is now France and elsewhere in Europe, and thence into Britain. There followed a series of defeats by their enemies, leading to their eventual conquest and domination by the expanding Roman Empire.

Despite their bloodthirsty tendencies, the mental abilities of the Celts were widely recognized by their Mediterranean neighbors. Diodorus Siculus (1st century BC Greek historian) described the Druids as; "..philosophers and theologians..", and stated "...they are quick of mind and with good natural ability for learning." This seems to be a common thread in descriptions of the Celts.

Though a non-literate culture, we can reasonably assume that the early Celts, much like their Gaelic and Welsh successors, produced a substantial volume of oral traditional poetry and legends, much of the epic type. These included, in the words of the Massiliote Periplus poet (above); "eulogies and elegies of great men." Battle incitements and other compositions associated with such a warlike people were probably also composed and sung.

Despite no clearly identifiable remains of these poems, we can postulate their basic forms from several sources: remnant archaic Celtic epics,(such as the Tain Bo Cuailnge), later heroic poetry and song recorded from native Celtic speakers in more recent times; by comparison with similar cultures in other lands, (such as the herding tribes of Africa); and with works of other Indo-European groups, including the Sanskrit works of the Bhagavad-Gita, and the Iliad. We will touch on these later in the section on music and poetry. ( See Music for Details. )

Modern nations and groups who descend from (or some of whose people identify with) the Celts of antiquity include; Irish, Scottish, Manx, Welsh, Cornish and Bretons. (Galicia is also considered a Celtic region by at least some of its people.)

The Celtic family of Indo-European languages includes: Gaeilge {Irish Gaelic}, Gaìdhlig {Scottish Gaelic}, Gaelg {Manx}, Cymraeg {Welsh}, Kernewek {Cornish}, and Kernevek (Breton}, as well as the now dead Gaulish languages and Celtiberian of Classical times. (Galicia is also considered a Celtic region by at least some of its people, though the modern version of its language, Galego is more akin to Portuguese, at least in its present form.)

We shall begin with a look at the origins of modern humans, and then the Indo-Europeans, the people who the Celts ultimately got their language and some of their customs from. From there, we will move on to the various cultures believed to have been pre- and proto-Celtic, and finally, into the various phases of Celtic civilization.