Transcript The Earliest Celts

The Earliest
Celts
Approximately
300BC
Approximately
300BC
The Earliest Celts
In any discussion of the Celts, whether
ancient of modern, it is frequent to find
the word ‘Celt’ or ‘Celtic’ used in a way
that suggests that it was a term for a
cohesive and easily recognisable people, if
not even race, in the past, not to mention
the present.
 We must be careful to approach the word
and those who are labelled with this word
with great caution.
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Celts and Indo-Europeans
Roughly half the world’s population speaks
languages derived from a shared linguistic
source known as Proto-Indo-European.
 The likely speakers of this linguistic form
inhabited central Eurasia’s steppe
grasslands in the bronze age
approximately 6000BC.
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Celts and Indo-Europeans
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Their innovative use of the ox, wagon,
horse-riding and warrior’s chariot turned
their homeland into an area of
communication, commerce and cultural
exchange. This area can be tentatively
located north of the Black and Caspian
Seas (today’s Ukraine and southern
Russia).
Celts and Indo-Europeans
This linguistic form spread in a westward
direction towards Europe. Language
expansion is often psychological.
 The initial expansion was due to
widespread cultural shifts in group selfperception (identity). The pre-IndoEuropean languages were abandoned for
a variety of reasons: perception of change
in identity, out-marrying.
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Celts and Indo-Europeans
Some of these changes were increased
mobility (technology), new pastoral
economies, status-ranked political
systems, inter-regional connectivity.
 Language shift flows in the direction of
paramount prestige and power.
 This prestige and power was recognized
amongst the ‘Celts’, Romans, Scythians
and others at different periods.
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Celts and Indo-Europeans
The earliest form of what can be called
Celtic developed from Indo-European.
 Other branches also evolved: Germanic,
Slavic, Hellenic, Italic (from which came
Latin), Baltic, Iranian, Northern Indian.
 We can think of Indo-European as a
language spreading across Europe during
a long period approx. 5000-3000BC.
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Celts and Indo-Europeans
It does not imply a large population
movement: naturally some, perhaps the
earliest Neolithic and bronze age farmers.
 By about 3000-2500BC branches of IndoEuropean had evolved, including what we
call ‘proto-Celtic’. At some point, the
differences between Celtic and Germanic
must have become clear, as well as the
differences between Celtic and Italic.
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Celts and Indo-Europeans
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What is important to realise is that the
people who spoke Indo-European in
eastern, central and western Europe and
its later varieties were the descendants of
peoples who had inhabited the same areas
for probably several thousand years before
that- well into the neolithic period.
Celts and Indo-Europeans
Many people share similar genetic profiles
across Europe, North Africa and beyond in
the middle east which have little to do
with the languages they speak.
 This is true as well for those very early
Celtic speakers in Europe and beyond in
Britain and Ireland. c800BC.
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Celtic languages
In western Europe
c500BC
Celtic and identity
Many would think today that a ‘Celtic’ identity is
easily assumed or easily recognisable. But the
term is controversial.
 There are two kinds of basic identity: identity
from within and identity from outside—an
identifiable ‘us’ versus an identifiable ‘them’.
 The word Celtic was widely used by the Greeks
and Romans, and was revived in the 17th
century by scholars, especially Edward Lhuyd.
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Celtic and identity
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In fact, those Greek and Latin writers
actually used a variety of terms to refer to
those populations who spoke Celtic:
Celtic and identity
Keltoi, Galatai, Albiones, Celtiberi, Britanni,
Iverni.
 All of these come from Celtic languages
originally and probably referred to local
Celt-speaking communities. (groupnames).
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Celtic ‘torque’ worn around
the neck. 100BC
Ceremonial helmet
from eastern Europe
Centre (‘boss’) of an
Iron Age Celtic shield
Celtic helmet from Britain (Thames)
The Earliest Celts
Although we now use the word Celtic
widely to refer to the Irish, Scottish Gaels,
Welsh, Cornish, Bretons, Manx and
sometimes the Galicians in Spain, this
usage only goes back to the end of the
1600s, and was mainly revived as a term
which referred to their languages.
 Irish (Gaelic); Scottish Gaelic, Welsh,
Cornish, Breton and Manx.
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The Earliest Celts
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Scholars working in the late 1600s
(especially Edward Lhuyd) and the 1700s
noticed that earlier forms of Irish and
Welsh had obviously similarities with what
was known then of the ancient Celtic
languages of Europe spoken up until
approximately the 1st and 2nd centuries
AD, in particular Gaulish, the Celtic
language of France.
The Earliest Celts
This was hardly surprising given that the
wide spectrum of Celtic culture extended
in antiquity across Europe from Ireland,
Britain, Gaul (=France), Northern Italy,
Austria, Switzerland, the Balkans even as
far as today’s Turkey.
 There are many questions about the
people who lived in these areas 2000
years ago who shared a common culture
and similar languages.
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The Earliest Celts
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The Ancient Greeks were the first to use
the word ‘Keltos’ or in the plural ‘Keltoi’.
The Greeks did not have a very accurate
idea about the geography and ethnology
of central and northern Europe. They
thought in terms of Scythians (in the east
of Europe) and Keltoi in the centre and
west. This area where the Greeks thought
the Keltoi lived was called ‘Keltika’ by
them.
The Earliest Celts
An early Greek historian Herodotus (c485BC425BC) believed the Keltoi lived around the
Danube river but also as far away as the
Pyrenees. (he was right).Other writers placed
Celtic settlements in Narbonne (S. France) and
possibly Noricum in Austria. (also right)
 So was the word ‘Keltoi’ a term used
indescriminately to describe ‘barbarians’ north of
the Mediterrean world?
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The Earliest Celts
A later writer, the famous C. Julius Caesar
writing in the first century BC about the
Celts of France (known as the Gauls),
comments that although they the Romans
call them ‘Galli’ (Gauls), that they call
themselves ‘Celtae’ (Celts).
 Another Greek writer called Pausanias
suggested that the name Keltoi was more
ancient a name than Galatae or Galli.
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The Earliest Celts
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Pausanias (2nd century AD) in his ‘Guide to
Greece’ says that the Gauls live the
remotest region of Europe…It was quite
late on that ‘Gauls’ became their agreed
name: in ancient times they called each
other Celts, and other people called them
the same.
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This is hearsay of course, and the probability is
that some of the Celtic-speakers called
themselves ‘Keltoi’, while other used other
names for their tribal groups.
The Earliest Celts
As Barry Cunliffe points out, it is very likely that
in temperate Europe (the cooler part), different
tribes came together in confederations and
allegiances and adopted new names. From the
4th century BC there were great population
movements and further regrouping probably
took place as a consequence.
 Such words as ‘Keltoi’ and ‘Galli’ had had some
specific ethnic reference at one time, but
gradually they came to refer to peoples with a
common culture and language.
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The Earliest Celts
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Although we have mentioned two names
used by Greeks/Romans to signify Celts
(Keltoi, Galatae/Galli), there were other
names used, such as Albiones, Celtiberi,
Britanni and Iverni for local manifestations
of Celtic peoples, not to mention the many
‘tribal’ names in Gaul and Britain (under
the general names Galli and Britanni).
Some of the Celtic
Tribes of northern France
Approx.50BC
The Earliest Celts: Language
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Language is an essential part of the
picture, and together with a destinctive
art-style and similar artifacts (weapons,
ornamental horse-trappings, coins etc),
and a similar social hierarchy, these are
the elements which make the ‘Celts’
recognisable in antiquity. These are the La
Tene Celts mainly whose art and often
warlike civilisation is so vividly described
by Greeks and Romans alike.
The Earliest Celts
The application of the term ‘Celtic
languages’ was coined by Edward Lhuyd
for his book Archaeologia Britannica
published in 1707.
His choice of the term ‘Celtic’ was partly
influenced by his theory- until recently
universally accepted- that the Celtic
languages of Britain and Ireland had come
from the Continent by prehistoric mass
migrations.
This is largely rejected now.
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The Earliest Celts: Place-name
evidence
When we look at a map which shows the extent
of Celtic-speech in the c.300BC period (the highpoint of Celtic civilisation in Antiquity), we can
see the similarity of speech forms reflected in
recorded place-names.
 We do not have full inscriptions in Continental
Celtic until c300BC-100AD (Celtiberian, Gaulish,
Lepontic)
 We have Old Irish inscriptions in ogam from
c300-400AD.
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The Earliest Celts
A common theory about the origin of the
Celts as a homogenous group speaking
Common Celtic (=the earliest form of
Celtic, that developed from IndoEuropean) held that they lived in the high
Alpine areas of Europe at the source of
the Danube and along the river.
 This idea is not necessarily wrong, but we
have to consider other factors.
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The Earliest Celts: The Iron Age
Part of that theory of the origin of the
Celts is associated with the highly
developed forms of Celtic society and art
that we usually call Hallstatt and La
Tène.(700BC –c50BC)
 Certainly when we talk about the ‘ancient
Celts’ we are talking about the societies
that developed between c700BC-c50BC.
This is also known as “The Iron Age”.
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The Earliest Celts
These two periods of Celtic civilisation are
named after two localities. Hallstatt is in
Austria and La Tène in Switzerland (lac
Leman), both in Northern Alpine areas,
and rich in archaeological finds belonging
to the Celtic world.
 They are also indicative of societies
controlled by wealthy land-owning élites.
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Approximately
500BC
The Earliest Celts
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The Hallstatt culture which spread beyond
the North Alps to parts of Germany and
France is notable for its remarkable burials
with chariots and valuable gold ornament,
as well as imports from the
Mediterranean. They were able to control
the trade routes between central and west
Europe and the world of the Greeks.
Possibly the Islands were
Celtic- speaking centuries
before this
TheCeltic Migrations
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Another factor which can be misleading
for our understanding of Celtic origins is
the fact that large contingents of La Tène
Celts started to move from their original
‘homeland’ to northern Italy, and
especially to eastern European regions
(Balkans, southern Poland, Transylvania,
and as far as central Turkey (Galatia). This
undoubtedly meant that Celtic was spoken
in these areas for some hundreds of years.
The Earliest Celts
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This reopens the question of a Celtic homeland.
There is no archaeological evidence for a mass
migration into Britain and Ireland, yet both
became Celtic-speaking. How? Can we know?
One theory talks of exchange of elite goods and
values.
Cunliffe goes as far as to suggest that Celtic
developed as a lingua franca alsong the Atlantic
coast, and eventually found its way not only in
Britain and Ireland but also up the main rivers of
France as far as the Alps.
Perhaps the language found its core in central
The Earliest Celts
But this would have happened in the Late
bronze Age (c1200-c700BC), rather than
the Hallstatt or La Tene periods.
 Trade discussions, and cross-tribal
delegations would have been made up of
high-ranking members of that society, and
within it Celtic may have evolved, and in
the earliest stages may not have been the
language of the majority (just the elite).
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The extent of the early Celtic World
Place-names are one of the most useful
ways of tracking the extent to which Celtic
language and culture had spread by
approximately 300BC.
 The modern countries and regions where
Celtic languages are still spoken: Ireland,
Wales, Scotland and Brittany as well as
Cornwall and the Isle of Man have Celtic
place-names in profusion.
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The extent of the early Celtic World
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We know that Celtic was spoken in Ireland
and Britain in antiquity. But the ancient
continental Celtic languages: Gaulish,
Lepontic, Celtiberian and Galatian and
perhaps Belgic left much evidence of their
former prestige in Europe.
The extent of the early Celtic World
Celtiberian is found written in the
Phoenician script in the centre east of the
Iberian peninsula, although Celtic names
are found throughout Spain and Portugal.
 Group-names such as the Celtici, Callaeci,
Gallaeci (hillforts: Mirobriga, Nertobriga
etc).
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The extent of the early Celtic World
French place-names often hide a Celtic origin.
We know from Roman times that France was
very much part of the Celtic-speaking world if
not the very centre. Its tribal names, and
hillforts almost all have classic Gaulish names
(Parisi, Bituriges, Alani, ). (Bourges, Alain)
 Further east from France in central and eastern
Europe, there is a substantial body of names
often labelled ‘Celtic’.
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The extent of the early Celtic World
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Group-names like the Lugii (NE Europe),
the Helvecones (numerous
hounds/warriors), as well as the
widespread Boii, Tectosages, the Cotini,
the Anartii. In the Carpathians and
Balkans other group-names (probably
Gaulish warriors who had wandered far
from their western roots) like the Taurisci,
and the Scordisci.
The extent of the early Celtic World
In the Black Sea area we find again
group-names such as the Britolagai and
the Vergobritiani.
 Further into the south east were the
Galatians around today’s Ankyra in Turkey.
And even beyond that in the Ukraine.
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Approximately
500BC