Introduction to the Ancient Celts

The Celtic people evoke images of painted warriors, mysterious druids, and a rich cultural heritage, with their ancient languages still spoken today in places like Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, and a shared heritage dear to tens of millions worldwide, sparking an exploration of who the ancient Celts were across a 1,500-year historical span.

The Hallstatt Culture and the Emergence of the Celts

The most popular narrative of Celtic genesis is linked to the Hallstatt culture, discovered in the town of Hallstatt, Austria, between 1846 and 1863. This culture is considered the birthplace of an early Celtic society and has been divided into four chronological phases based on artifact evolution, emerging in the late Bronze Age around 1200-800 BC in central Europe as a minor deviation of the Indo-European Urnfield complex, with a society based on mining salt.

The Halstadt society prospered from trading salt, copper, and tin, which were crucial for preserving meat and forging bronze. With the introduction of iron working around 800 BC, the Halstadt culture developed into the Proto-Celts, building hill forts and establishing a class system with social inequality, as evident in the disparity of wealth in burials from the Halstadt C era onwards.

Trade Networks and Cultural Influence

The Hallstatt people valued treasures like collars, brooches, and metalworks featuring geometric and animalistic designs, and maintained trade networks extending to the Baltics and North Africa. Equestrianism was a symbol of power and nobility, with elites buried alongside ceremonial bridles and horse-drawn wagons. The importance of horses in aristocratic society was likely due to contact with Indo-Iranian peoples, and the mobility and cultural influence of horses helped the Hallstatt people expand their cultural influence across Central Europe, with a cultural shift occurring around 600 BC.

The early Celts had trade connections with the Greek colony of Masalia, now Marseille, which served as a gateway to Mediterranean luxuries like fine pottery, glass, and wine. They also traded with other Mediterranean peoples, including the Phoenicians and Etruscans. The first historical mention of the Celts was in 517 BC by the Greek historian Hecateus of Miletus, who referred to them as Keltoi, possibly meaning “the tall ones”.

The La Tène Culture and the Expansion of the Celts

The Halstead culture came to an end around 450 BC due to the Masalian Greeks’ and Etruscans’ shift in trade routes and imperialistic efforts, leading to a shift in Celtic power to the north and the emergence of the La Tène culture, which lasted from 450 to 50 BC and became the most iconic era of ancient Celtic history, expanding across much of Europe and characterized by distinctive artwork.

The Celtic world is characterized by spiral patterns on shields, armor, and jewelry, and is understood through a combination of archaeological finds and written attestations from classical Greek and Roman authors, who provide information on Celtic language, politics, society, and religion, despite often being biased or misinformed.

Celtic Society and Culture

The Celtic languages split into two main groups, P-Celtic and Q-Celtic, spoken in North-Central Europe and Britain, and Ireland and Spain, respectively. This split is still observed in modern Welsh and Irish languages, which are mutually unintelligible. The ancient Celts were a politically divided people, organized into tribes ruled by hereditary chiefs and warrior aristocracies, with further subdivisions into administrative districts called pagi.

Notable tribes from the late Iron Age include the Helvetii, Cenones, Veneti, and Tectosages. The Gaulish peoples, such as the Belgae and Parisi, had a common culture beyond tribal lines, with a social hierarchy consisting of a chieftain, elite aristocracy of warrior nobles, craftsmen, and subsistence farmers.

Daily Life and Social Structure

The chieftain ruled from a hill fort, while the farmers provided a portion of their production to support the warrior aristocracy, which protected them from external enemies. The Gallic diet consisted of wheat, barley, beans, oats, and peas, and they raised sheep, pigs, and cattle for wool, meat, and milk. Gauls lived in small rural communities in well-insulated homes, with differing architectures in various regions.

Personal grooming was highly important to the Celts, with both sexes meticulously plucking body hair and men often sporting thick mustaches as a sign of manhood and virility. They also practiced unique hair styling, such as washing hair in a mixture of lime and water to create white spikes. Tattoos and skin dyes were limited, mainly used by the ancient Britons who used a bluish dye called woad for magic protection in battle.

Celtic Religion and Druidism

Ancient Celtic polytheism is often misunderstood, with modern neo-pagans idealizing it as a pure, proto-environmentalist nature worship and the ancient Romans portraying the Celts as backwards barbarians. In reality, the Celtic world had over 400 gods, most of whom were local or tribal deities, with a handful of prominent gods like Belanus and Taranis worshipped across the region, and their religion was not uniform, with various gods associated with different areas and aspects of life.

Celtic religious rights were structured and facilitated by professional priests known as Druids, who wielded significant political influence, serving as peacemakers, diplomats, healers, and educators. To become a Druid, one had to undergo a 20-year regimen of memorizing oral histories, law, medicinal knowledge, astronomy, and divination practices. Druids belonged to a common order that existed beyond tribal lines, hosting annual meetings to settle major political and religious issues, maintaining a common identity among the many tribes.

Druidic Practices and Human Sacrifice

Druids officiated sacrifices to the gods, including human sacrifice, which was a core part of Celtic ritual. Different gods required different forms of ritual slaughter, and human victims were also sacrificed for divination purposes. However, the knowledge of these practices comes from Roman authors who had a vested interest in portraying the Celts as savage and barbarous, and modern scholars have a limited perspective on the subject.

Conclusion

The study of the ancient Celts provides a fascinating glimpse into a complex and multifaceted culture that continues to captivate people around the world. From their emergence in the Hallstatt culture to their expansion across Europe, the Celts left a lasting legacy in language, art, and religion. Despite the limitations of our knowledge, it is clear that the Celts were a vibrant and dynamic people who played a significant role in shaping the course of European history.

Key Vocabulary

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Vocabulary Quiz

1. What does the term “Keltoi” possibly mean, as referred to by the Greek historian Hecateus of Miletus?

A) The wise ones
B) The tall ones
C) The fierce warriors
D) The skilled traders

2. Which of the following was a key factor in the Hallstatt society’s prosperity?

A) The introduction of iron working around 1200 BC
B) The trade of salt, copper, and tin
C) The expansion of their territory through conquest
D) The development of a strong naval fleet

3. What was the significance of horses in the Hallstatt society?

A) They were used primarily for agriculture and farming
B) They were a symbol of power and nobility, and helped expand cultural influence
C) They were used for trade and commerce only
D) They were not significant in the Hallstatt society

4. What was the name of the culture that emerged after the Hallstatt culture, and is characterized by distinctive artwork?

A) The La Tène culture
B) The Halstead culture
C) The Urnfield culture
D) The Indo-Iranian culture

5. What was the role of Druids in Celtic society?

A) They were primarily warriors and fighters
B) They were professional priests who wielded significant political influence, serving as peacemakers, diplomats, healers, and educators
C) They were farmers and agricultural specialists
D) They were traders and merchants

Answer Key:

1. B
2. B
3. B
4. A
5. B

Grammar Focus

Grammar Focus: The Use of the Past Perfect Tense

Grammar Quiz:

1. By the time the Hallstatt culture was discovered, the town of Hallstatt ________ for over 2,000 years.

• A) had existed
• B) exists
• C) was existing
• D) exist

2. The Halstadt people ________ hill forts by the time they developed into the Proto-Celts.

• A) build
• B) had built
• C) were building
• D) have built

3. The importance of horses in aristocratic society ________ due to contact with Indo-Iranian peoples.

• A) was
• B) had been
• C) is
• D) has been

4. By the time the La Tène culture emerged, the Halstead culture ________ for over 700 years.

• A) had existed
• B) exists
• C) was existing
• D) exist

5. The Druids ________ a 20-year regimen of memorizing oral histories before they could become priests.

• A) were undergoing
• B) had undergone
• C) undergo
• D) have undergone

Answer Key:

1. A) had existed

2. B) had built

3. B) had been

4. A) had existed

5. B) had undergone