By Celts we mean a gathering of peoples who shared traits of three cultures of antiquity. They originally arose from the Culture of the Fields of the Urns and over time they spread to different parts of Europe, extending from Portugal to Turkey. They were not a unified people and there were different ethnicities within the Celts.
Also access:What did the war mean to the Vikings?
Were the Celts one people?
Celts it is the form of a very vast group of peoples who inhabited vast regions throughout Europe and even as far as Asia. This term was not established by the Celts themselves, but by foreign peoples. Thus, there was a very wide variety of different populations that are understood to be Celts.
The spread of the Celts took place in different regions and there are indications that they were present in the IslandsBritish, at PeninsulaIberian, at Europewestern, at EuropeCentral and even in the AsiaSmaller, the region where Turkey is currently located. The Celtic peoples had a certain cultural and linguistic proximity, however, it is not possible to treat the Celts as just a single people.
The study of the languages spoken by the Celts clearly demonstrates this proximity, as a number of closely related languages were spoken by these populations. Among the languages spoken by the Celts are those of the branch Gaelic, like Irish and Scottish Gaelic, and branch britonic, such as Welsh and Breton.
Therefore, when we talk about Celts, we are not talking about a unified people, but rather an extremely numerous that included several peoples who had some cultural approximation, but who could even be enemies. This happened because in antiquity, these different peoples were grouped together as if they were part of the same people. As we don't know much about these different peoples, this nomenclature was kept.
When did the Celts appear?
The Celtic peoples are believed to have arisen around 1300 BC. Ç. in a region north of the Danube River, located on the EuropeCentral. This is currently the most accepted theory regarding the origin of the Celts, pointing to a culture that existed in the Bronze Age period, the Culture of the Urn Fields.
When iron was introduced into the region, a cultural development took place, giving rise to Culturehallstatt, which existed around the 8th century BC. Ç. to the V century; Ç. The other stage of cultural development that gave rise to the Celts was the Culture of La Tène, which existed from the 5th century BC. Ç. to the 1st century a. Ç.
All of these cultural stages relied on geographic diffusion in relation to the previous culture, thus, in each of these stages, a new region in Europe was influenced. It was in the contact of peoples influenced by these cultures that gave rise to the concept that identified them as Celts. This appointment came from peoples who lived in the Mediterranean regions and who were influenced by the cultureclassic.
There is evidence that the possible origin of the Celtic term may have been an influence of Herodotus, a well-known Greek historian. This evidence brings a record written by him in Greek of a passage that he refers to peoples who dwelt near the Danube River as “keltoi”. Despite this evidence, it is not possible to say whether there is any connection between the passage of Herodotus and the term "Celtic".
Where did the Celts dwell?
As mentioned, the Celts inhabited numerous places in Europe and it is believed that they spread to so many places because they fled wars, especially attacks. romans, but not just for them. Remembering that the Celts arose in the region of Central Europe and that region from the third century BC. Ç. it began to be constantly attacked by the Romans. It was also very common for different Celtic tribes to fight each other.
Thus, different Celtic tribes fled and settled in different places such as the Iberian Peninsula, the region of present-day Romania and some even settled in Asia Minor. The Celts who settled in Asia Minor became known as Galatians. Among the various Celtic tribes that inhabited the Iberian Peninsula, the one of the Portuguese.
![The Gauls, who were part of the Celtic people, were depicted in a famous comic called Asterix & Obelix.[2]](/f/a7910481e4edc5c5fd2453bdffdd113f.jpg)
In the region of France, for example, known in Roman times as Gaul, grouped together dozens of Celtic tribes that became known as Gauls. Thus, we can say that the Gauls were Celtic peoples and, even in popular culture, the Gauls became very well known because of the comic books of Asterix & Obelix.
However, the region that was best known for the presence of the Celtic peoples was the British Isles. There you have a considerable part of the historical remains and the influence of Celtic culture is greater there, especially in countries like Ireland and Wales. The Celtic languages that were spoken there are more common today than those spoken in Continental Europe.
Accessalso: Pax Romana, the period of prosperity of the Roman Empire
General Characteristics of the Celts
The Celts were mentioned in some classical literature about their warriors who fought the Romans while Rome sought to expand its borders. The Celts even fought as mercenaries hired by the Carthaginians during the Punic Wars, but in both cases, the fate of the Celts was not good, because the Carthaginians were defeated, as well as the Celts when defending their own territories.
Historical evidence suggests that Celtic tribes were ruled by a King and that the social organization of these tribes consisted in the existence of a group of aristocratswarriors, one intellectual class it's the rest of the people. Still, it is very difficult to say that this structure extended to all Celtic tribes, as, as we have seen, the variety of Celtic peoples was very large.
There are studies that show that some of these tribes even had a similar system with a republican system. Many studies show that it was a societyhierarchical, with a small part enjoying some privileges. There was a patronage system among the Celts and there was also slavery.
Among the intellectuals are the druids, men responsible for accumulating legal and philosophical knowledge. There is a great debate among scholars of the subject regarding whether or not the druids fulfilled religious functions within Celtic society. The druids also had a legal role, as they elected the laws of the people.
Religion and Rituals of the Celts
Regarding religion, the Celts practiced a religionpolytheist that they had in the Mother Goddess, the most important goddess of her pantheon. They believed that nature was a manifestation of the Mother Goddess and that is why part of the religious cults performed by them took place outdoors. There were even Celtic cities that were created as a tribute to Celtic gods.
A very famous example is the city of Lyon, which was known in antiquity as Lugdunum, name that means “Fortress of the God Lug”. Other places that carry the Celtic influence in their names are London, the English capital, city that was known as Londinium. Furthermore, Belgium has this name as a reference to the Belgian that inhabited the region and Switzerland was for a long time known as the Helvetic Confederation, a term that derives from the Helvetii.
In addition, the Celts held religious festivals of which one of the best known was Beltane, a festival that celebrated the beginning of summer. Another Celtic festival is Samhain, a festival that was considered a New Year for the Celts. Samhain had a strong influence on the emergence of one of the best known celebrations in the world, the halloween. THE romanization and the Christianization caused a considerable part of Celtic culture to disappear in several places in Europe.
Know more:Polytheism and assimilation of the Roman religion
Difference between Vikings and Celts
So far we have seen that the Celts were peoples with a cultural and linguistic proximity that arose in Central Europe and migrated to other parts of the European continent. They had a tribal lifestyle, polytheistic and shamanic religion, and great warriors.
These characteristics cause some people to confuse them with vikings, but we must clarify that Celts and Vikings are people absolutely different from each other. Despite having maintained contact in regions such as Ireland, Wales and Scotland, the differences between them are many.
We can begin to point out these differences from the geographic origin and language that each of these peoples spoke. You vikings they are how we know the Norse who inhabited Scandinavia between 793 and 1066. They originated from populations that settled in northern Europe around 8000 BC. Ç. In addition, the Vikings spoke Norsenic, also known as Old Norse, a language that belongs to the Germanic trunk.
You Celts, in turn, originate from peoples whose culture arose in Central Europe around 1300 BC. C., as we have already seen. Furthermore, we also already know that their languages were derived from the Celtic linguistic trunk, different from the one that originated the Viking language.
Furthermore, Celts and Vikings had their own distinct deities, religious festivities, traditions and laws. Despite the common tribal characteristic, they developed societies that organized themselves in different ways. These differences were natural because, as we've said, they were different peoples.
In the places we mentioned, Vikings and Celts coexisted and eventually merged. This was because, at the end of the 8th century, the Vikings began their expansion across the North Sea and settled by the thousands in places like Scotland, Ireland and other British Isles. Thus, it became common in this region for place names, and even traditional family names, to have Nordic origins.
Image credits
[1] g_reg and Shutterstock
[2] matteo_it and Shutterstock
