World of the Celts, The
Simon James
Number of quotes: 29
Book ID: 280 Page: 8
Section: 3B1
. . . it might come as some surprise to discover that no Classical writer referred to the ancient British or Irish as Celts. For, 2,000 years ago, the term ‘Celt’ strictly referred to people living in continental Europe.
Quote ID: 7002
Time Periods: ?
Book ID: 280 Page: 12
Section: 3B
Ireland was the only part of the Celtic world entirely to escape the colonial ambitions of Rome, and she sat out the centuries of the Roman empire . . .
Quote ID: 7003
Time Periods: 012345
Book ID: 280 Page: 21
Section: X
Why the westward shift? The answer seems to be connected with the establishment in c. 600 BC of a new Greek trading colony at Massalia (Marseilles), near the mouth of the Rhone. The new chiefdoms or ‘princedoms’ lie close to the major routes connecting the Rhine, Seine, Loire and Upper Danube with the Rhone corridor.
Quote ID: 7004
Time Periods: ?
Book ID: 280 Page: 21
Section: 3B1
Reaching the Greek world via Massalia, stories about these ‘barbarian’ chiefdoms (where Celtic was probably spoken) were in all likelihood one of the earliest sources for tales of the people called Keltoi.
Quote ID: 7005
Time Periods: 0
Book ID: 280 Page: 23
Section: 3B1
Caption from Picture The grave was dominated by an enormous bronze krater, the largest ever found. Decorated with gorgons, Greek warriors and chariots, and surmounted by a lid with a statuette of a woman, it stands 5 ft 4 in (1.64 m) high. Made in Sparta or in Greek southern Italy, there are signs that the vessel travelled north in pieces, and was reassembled . . .
Quote ID: 7006
Time Periods: ?
Book ID: 280 Page: 26
Section: X
This may have been a widespread, even long-lived fashion, for figures wearing similar footwear are to be seen in Etruscan murals and on an early La Tene scabbard from the Hallstatt cemetery. Worn by the Etruscans and Celts
Quote ID: 7007
Time Periods: ?
Book ID: 280 Page: 27
Section: X
Celtic Burial attendants had placed a fine service of bronze dishes on the wagon – enough to accommodate nine people; nine large drinking horns were also hanging from hooks on the south wall of the chamber. Nine was the ideal number for the Greek symposium, or drinking party, so perhaps what we have here is evidence for a final ritual feast.
Quote ID: 7008
Time Periods: ?
Book ID: 280 Page: 33
Section: 3B1
In the third century BC, the Celtic world had reached its greatest territorial extent, and was a the height of its power.The Celtic world was not an empire, but a mosaic of tribes, a rich and diverse pattern of chiefdoms and kingdoms.
Quote ID: 7009
Time Periods: 0
Book ID: 280 Page: 34
Section: 3B1
Soon after 400 BC, waves of Celtic-speakers came through the Alpine passes from the north and invaded northern Italy. They seized the vast Po Valley and raided deep into the peninsula. Henceforth the Po plain and adjacent areas under Celtic rule were known as Gallia Cisalpina, ‘Gaul this side of the Alps’.
Quote ID: 7010
Time Periods: 0
Book ID: 280 Page: 35
Section: 3B1
The new tribal map is known in outline from Roman sources. Mediolanum, now Milan, was the capital of the Insubres, although virtually nothing is known of it at this period. Map pic included
Quote ID: 7011
Time Periods: 0
Book ID: 280 Page: 37
Section: 3B1
Celtic attacks on Macedonia were contained until 281 BC when Galatians under the leader Bolgios defeated and beheaded King Ptolemy Ceranunus; the way south was opened. In 279 BC Celtic forces invaded Macedonia. Eventually, internal quarrels led to a split in the invading army, with 20,000 men led by Leotarios and Leonnorios heading off on their own, ultimately to settle in Turkey and establish a Galatian state (pp. 40-41).
Quote ID: 7012
Time Periods: 0
Book ID: 280 Page: 39
Section: 3B1
The attack on Delphi, and the diversion of many of the Galatae to Asia (pp. 40-41), marked the high tide of Celtic expansion in Europe.
Quote ID: 7013
Time Periods: 0
Book ID: 280 Page: 40
Section: 3B1
The archaeology of the Galatians has yet to be discovered: to date the only pieces of La Tene metalwork known from Turkey are three brooches!
Quote ID: 7014
Time Periods: 0
Book ID: 280 Page: 40
Section: 3B1
King Antiochus II was unable to dislodge them, and indeed was killed by a Celt in 261. Their depredations were gradually curbed by their neighbours, notably by Attalus of Pergamon, who defeated them around 240 BC.The Galatians, while numerous, ruled a substantial pre-existing population, although they seem to have kept themselves aloof, preserving their culture and identity for generations. However, Greek names later appear among them, and there are other indications of a trend towards assimilation with their Hellenized neighbours by the last century BC.
Quote ID: 7015
Time Periods: 0
Book ID: 280 Page: 41
Section: 3B1
Each tribe was divided into four ‘septs’ or clans, probably with distinct territories.
Quote ID: 7016
Time Periods: 0
Book ID: 280 Page: 41
Section: 3B1
The role of Galatia in third- and second- century BC Asia Minor was frankly destructive.The Galatians inspired widespread terror, especially since they had a reputation for sacrificing prisoners: people committed suicide rather than fall into their hands.
Quote ID: 7017
Time Periods: 0
Book ID: 280 Page: 41
Section: 3B1
The best recorded instance of Galatian human sacrifice occurred in 165 BC, when prisoners not about to be ransomed were offered to the gods. Virtually nothing is otherwise known of Galatian religion, beyond the existence of the central shrine, Drunemeton (‘oak sanctuary’). Despite this indication of veneration for the oak, there is no evidence that Druids existed among the Galatians.
Quote ID: 7018
Time Periods: 0
Book ID: 280 Page: 43
Section: 3B1
Diodorus records that the Celtiberians were very hospitable to strangers;
Quote ID: 7019
Time Periods: 0
Book ID: 280 Page: 44
Section: 3B1
‘Gaul is inhabited by many tribes of different size; for the largest number some 200,000 men, and the smallest 50,000, one of the latter the Aedui standing on terms of kinship and friendship with the Romans, a relationship which has endured from ancient times down to our own day.’ Diodorus Siculus {5, 25, 1}By the time the Romans arrived in the Rhone Valley late in the second century BC, it was clear to them that all of what is now France, the Rhineland and the Alpine region was occupied by similar, largely Celtic-speaking peoples.
Quote ID: 7020
Time Periods: 0
Book ID: 280 Page: 45
Section: X
One of the major characteristics of the period, contrasting strongly with what had come before and what would happen later, is the virtual absence of evidence for trade with the Mediterranean world after about 400 BC: apart from an Italian bucket in the Waldalgesheim grave in Germany, there is almost nothing in central or eastern Gaul until the second century BC.
Quote ID: 7021
Time Periods: ?
Book ID: 280 Page: 46
Section: 3B1
. . . one important tribe, the Aedui, found they had common cause with Rome against the power of the Arverni, and from 122 BC were established as the ‘friends and brothers’ of the Roman people.
Quote ID: 7022
Time Periods: 0
Book ID: 280 Page: 46
Section: X
. . . Gaul was already divided into tribal power-blocs.
Quote ID: 7023
Time Periods: ?
Book ID: 280 Page: 46
Section: 3B1
The second century BC ended with an ominous foreshadowing of the future. Gaul was invaded by the Cimbri and Teutones, the first recorded incursion of a growing power in the north: the Germans.
Quote ID: 7024
Time Periods: 0
Book ID: 280 Page: 48
Section: 3B1
The Britain that Caesar found when he raided the island in 55 and 54 BC (p. 128) was in many respects like Gaul, with tribal units and a dominant warrior aristocracy.
Quote ID: 7025
Time Periods: 0
Book ID: 280 Page: 63
Section: 3B1
In medicine, as in so many other areas, the Celts stand favourable comparison with the Classical world; . . .
Quote ID: 7026
Time Periods: 0
Book ID: 280 Page: 66
Section: 3B1
Ceasar records that some women in Britain shared several husbands. This passage is often dismissed as fabulous, but such polyandry is paralleled in later societies elsewhere in the world.
Quote ID: 7027
Time Periods: 0
Book ID: 280 Page: 66
Section: 3B1
‘We fulfil the demands of nature in a much better way than do you Roman women: for we consort openly with the best men, whereas you let yourselves be debauched in secret by the vilest’, Dio {77, 16, 5}.
Quote ID: 7028
Time Periods: 0
Book ID: 280 Page: 84
Section: X
One of the greatest of all the many battles between the Romans and the Cislpine Gauls occurred in 225 BC at Telamon, on the coast midway between Rome and Pisa.
Quote ID: 7029
Time Periods: ?
Book ID: 280 Page: 89
Section: 2B1
Many dieties were venerated in triads, or were three aspects of one god, sometimes depicted as three-faced. Epona
Quote ID: 7030
Time Periods: 047
End of quotes