BorgeoisBuffoon
Local Idiot
Hello. I'm back to having enough time to post in the forums if you somehow remember me (fat chance), but like I have for years, have always been visiting and lurking in the forum. I've written up some articles over that time period, but this one on the Celts has been the only decent one-I consider myself a Celtophile. It's hopefully decent.
PART 1: ANCIENT CELTICA
The Celts really came into being around 800 B.C., their culture being called the Hallstatt culture after the archeological site that provided a wealth of details on the civilization during the time period. The Celts expanded very rapidly from their Danubian homeland in the Alps to nearly all Europe north of that mountain range, settling many oppida, or hiltowns, throughout Gaul, Iberia, Britain, north Italy, the Danube river valley, and Ireland.
Celtic oppida tended to be small defendable villages, and the tribes that inhabited them were independent from one another. Unity was non-existant politically but culturally was rich and common. The religion was polytheistic and centered on a number of gods (some pan-Celtic, others local to a certain area) and administered by Druids, a priestly caste who were thought to be in communication with nature.
The Greek Strabo wrote 'the whole race is madly fond of war...' and the Celts were indeed warlike. Thier andescendy came in the 4th century B.C., when they possibly could have been in a loose confederation under a Gallic chief named Ambicatus, and even had a settlement named Angora in central Turkey. A band of warriors under Brennus sacked Rome in 390 B.C., and during the ransom to leave, he disregarded the Romans' complaints by throwing his sword onto a pile of gold and shouting 'Woe to the conquered!' 279 B.C. saw the Celts sack Delphi in Greece, ending several centuries' worth of trade and friendship (Celtic tribes had helped protect Greece during Alexander's conquests, and other tribes traded with western Greek colonies such as Massilia). Celtic mercenaries were found afar from Spain to Egypt.
From this height, the Celts drastically fell. Partly due to technological backwardness, but primarily due to political division, the tribes were being conquered bit by bit. Carthage expanded its holdings in southeastern Spain under Hannibal, and the Dacians in Romania and the Germanic tribes pressed down from the North. But by and far the great enemy was Rome. They were Celtophobic since Brennus, and saw destruction of Celtic civilization as thier salvation. They had conquered Cisalpine Gaul durin the Second Punic War when Hannibal had allied himself with the tribes in the area, Scipio Alemaius conquered Numantia and Celtic Spain (barring Galicia) in 146 B.C., and the most famous Celtic conquest ended in 52 B.C.
Julius Caesar began his campaign against Gaul as governor of Transalpine Gaul when the Helvetii tribe from Switzerland began migrating west to the Atlantic in 58 B.C., leading attacks supposedly to defend the province but also plundering the land before him. He defeated the Celts at Bibracte in the same year, then conquered the Belgica region the next year on the excuse of protecting them from Germanic tribes. He moved on to defeat revolts in Britanny, Belgium, and in 55 B.C. even sent an expedition to England, which was repulsed by the chieftain Cassivellaun. But in 53 B.C. all of Gaul came under revolt, united under Vercingetorix. In a brutal gurilla campaign, Vercingetorix harrassed Caesar for two years, but was finally beseiged by the Roman in Alesia. Vercingetorix surrendered, and Gaul had reportedly suffered a million casualties.
Augustus went on to conquer the Danubian kingdoms from 16.-12 B.C. and Galacia in 24 B.C., which led to the end of independent Celtdom on the continent. However, Britain, the last major hold of the Celts besides Ireland, was succesfully conquered by Claudius, though the main resister, Caradog of Camulodunum, was spared and his capital became a Roman colony.
Despite all but Scotland and Ireland being under Roman dominance, Celtic culture was still very much alive. Several Celtic towns became major Roman (and eventually modern) cities, and Celtic languages survived into the 5th century A.D.-St. Paul mentioned that the Galatians spoke a tounge similar to that he heard in Gaul. A large amount of people in Galacia, Gaul, and Britain remained partially Celtic, and uprisings were certainly existant. Boudicca of the Iceni, enraged at harsh Roman rule and at the raping of her daughters by Roman officiers, led in 69 A.D. a mass revolt. She burned down the towns of Camulodunum, Verulanium, and Londinium and defeated a whole legion before being routed by the Roman governor.
Eventually the Roman Empire began to crumble. The continental Celts and Romans fell prey to Germanic tribes and the culture gradually vanished, barring Atlantic fringes such as Galacia and Britanny. Britain was in several aspects different. It had been affected least by Romanization, and in 410 A.D. when the Romans withdrew, the culture continued on very much as before the Roman conquest.
In fact, this is the time when the modern, 'insular' Celts and nationalities began to develop. The Irish got thier first 'High' king in 379 A.D. and had begun raiding the west coast of Britain at roughly the same time. An Irish tribe moved into Soctland and became so numerous they united with the pagan Celtic Picts under Kenneth MacAlpin as the Kingdom of Scotland in 846 A.D. Wales was united in 854 under Rhodri Mawr.
EDIT: Added a bit more for Part 1.
PART 1: ANCIENT CELTICA
The Celts really came into being around 800 B.C., their culture being called the Hallstatt culture after the archeological site that provided a wealth of details on the civilization during the time period. The Celts expanded very rapidly from their Danubian homeland in the Alps to nearly all Europe north of that mountain range, settling many oppida, or hiltowns, throughout Gaul, Iberia, Britain, north Italy, the Danube river valley, and Ireland.
Celtic oppida tended to be small defendable villages, and the tribes that inhabited them were independent from one another. Unity was non-existant politically but culturally was rich and common. The religion was polytheistic and centered on a number of gods (some pan-Celtic, others local to a certain area) and administered by Druids, a priestly caste who were thought to be in communication with nature.
The Greek Strabo wrote 'the whole race is madly fond of war...' and the Celts were indeed warlike. Thier andescendy came in the 4th century B.C., when they possibly could have been in a loose confederation under a Gallic chief named Ambicatus, and even had a settlement named Angora in central Turkey. A band of warriors under Brennus sacked Rome in 390 B.C., and during the ransom to leave, he disregarded the Romans' complaints by throwing his sword onto a pile of gold and shouting 'Woe to the conquered!' 279 B.C. saw the Celts sack Delphi in Greece, ending several centuries' worth of trade and friendship (Celtic tribes had helped protect Greece during Alexander's conquests, and other tribes traded with western Greek colonies such as Massilia). Celtic mercenaries were found afar from Spain to Egypt.
From this height, the Celts drastically fell. Partly due to technological backwardness, but primarily due to political division, the tribes were being conquered bit by bit. Carthage expanded its holdings in southeastern Spain under Hannibal, and the Dacians in Romania and the Germanic tribes pressed down from the North. But by and far the great enemy was Rome. They were Celtophobic since Brennus, and saw destruction of Celtic civilization as thier salvation. They had conquered Cisalpine Gaul durin the Second Punic War when Hannibal had allied himself with the tribes in the area, Scipio Alemaius conquered Numantia and Celtic Spain (barring Galicia) in 146 B.C., and the most famous Celtic conquest ended in 52 B.C.
Julius Caesar began his campaign against Gaul as governor of Transalpine Gaul when the Helvetii tribe from Switzerland began migrating west to the Atlantic in 58 B.C., leading attacks supposedly to defend the province but also plundering the land before him. He defeated the Celts at Bibracte in the same year, then conquered the Belgica region the next year on the excuse of protecting them from Germanic tribes. He moved on to defeat revolts in Britanny, Belgium, and in 55 B.C. even sent an expedition to England, which was repulsed by the chieftain Cassivellaun. But in 53 B.C. all of Gaul came under revolt, united under Vercingetorix. In a brutal gurilla campaign, Vercingetorix harrassed Caesar for two years, but was finally beseiged by the Roman in Alesia. Vercingetorix surrendered, and Gaul had reportedly suffered a million casualties.
Augustus went on to conquer the Danubian kingdoms from 16.-12 B.C. and Galacia in 24 B.C., which led to the end of independent Celtdom on the continent. However, Britain, the last major hold of the Celts besides Ireland, was succesfully conquered by Claudius, though the main resister, Caradog of Camulodunum, was spared and his capital became a Roman colony.
Despite all but Scotland and Ireland being under Roman dominance, Celtic culture was still very much alive. Several Celtic towns became major Roman (and eventually modern) cities, and Celtic languages survived into the 5th century A.D.-St. Paul mentioned that the Galatians spoke a tounge similar to that he heard in Gaul. A large amount of people in Galacia, Gaul, and Britain remained partially Celtic, and uprisings were certainly existant. Boudicca of the Iceni, enraged at harsh Roman rule and at the raping of her daughters by Roman officiers, led in 69 A.D. a mass revolt. She burned down the towns of Camulodunum, Verulanium, and Londinium and defeated a whole legion before being routed by the Roman governor.
Eventually the Roman Empire began to crumble. The continental Celts and Romans fell prey to Germanic tribes and the culture gradually vanished, barring Atlantic fringes such as Galacia and Britanny. Britain was in several aspects different. It had been affected least by Romanization, and in 410 A.D. when the Romans withdrew, the culture continued on very much as before the Roman conquest.
In fact, this is the time when the modern, 'insular' Celts and nationalities began to develop. The Irish got thier first 'High' king in 379 A.D. and had begun raiding the west coast of Britain at roughly the same time. An Irish tribe moved into Soctland and became so numerous they united with the pagan Celtic Picts under Kenneth MacAlpin as the Kingdom of Scotland in 846 A.D. Wales was united in 854 under Rhodri Mawr.
EDIT: Added a bit more for Part 1.
. Gallic Swords are Nasty 
. Thanks for
. 
