CELTIC
TRIBES
13th
Century BC - 6th Century AD :
The
story of the Celts is one that links back to the earliest appearance
of Indo-Europeans in Europe. In very basic terms, Europe of the
late third millennium BC provided a home for a group of recently-arrived
Indo-European people who all spoke the same language. This was a
centum branch (a West Indo-European-speaking branch) which later
divided into the Italic, Celtic, Venetic (of the Adriatic), and
probably Liburnian and Illyrian language groups. A date for the
split is conjectural, but 3100-2600 BC seems likely (see the Indo-European
page for a more detailed discussion).
As
time passed these groups began to drift apart, each group speaking
the tongue a little differently. Along what was probably the southern
and western edge of these tribes, each group began to expand further
south and west. One group settled in what is now north-eastern Italy
in the region of Venice (the Adriatic Veneti). Another group headed
south into the Italian peninsula (the Villanova culture and others).
The last group headed west into what is now France, Spain and Portugal.
Linguistically,
one characteristic of the last group is their retention of a 'kw'
sound from the original Indo-European language. Some of these people
migrated into the British Isles and spread even farther west to
Ireland where their version of the language survives to this day.
But in the old homeland, things were changing. Instead of a short
stabbing bronze sword, a long slashing bronze sword became dominant.
Instead of the 'kw' sound at the beginning of many words, they were
replacing this with 'p' sound. Population pressures forced these
people in the old homeland to migrate outwards; and they did so
in all directions: north to the Early Baltics coastline (the Belgae,
among others), east into Eastern Europe, south towards Italy, and
west into France (Gaul). They became the dominant society in Europe.
Meanwhile,
a group of the first wave Indo-Europeans in the Latium region of
the Italian peninsula, under the influence of pre-Indo-European
civilisation (the Etruscans), began the very organised military
conquest of their neighbours. Some of these were non-Indo-Europeans,
but most were their not-too-distant relatives the Italic and Celtic
tribes. Once conquered, they easily adapted their speech to the
closely-related Latin. In Iberia the 'kw' sound (such as 'qu') was
the same, making the transition easy after conquest - and so even
today Spanish and Portuguese are very similar to Italian and their
mutual mother, Latin - all of them being based on the Q-Celtic of
the First Wave. In France (Gaul) the old tongue had altered more,
and so the Gaulish version of Latin was rather strange sounding
(this was the P-Celtic of Celts of the Second Wave). Naturally not
all linguists accept this version of events, but it is popular and
also makes very good sense.
The
difference between Q-Celtic speakers and P-Celtic speakers was mirrored
in later progression, with the Latins regarding the P-Celtic-speaking
Gauls to be an enemy that was to be ridiculed (as well as feared).
In general terms, the Romans coined the name 'Gaul' to describe
the Celtic tribes of what is now central, northern and eastern France,
but the root of this name, and the possible origins of the Celtic/Keltoi
name as a whole are explored in more depth in the accompanying feature.
In very basic terms it seems to mean 'to prevail, be strong', as
seen in languages ranging from Old Norse and Old High German to
Latin and Latvian.
Most
individual Celtic and Germanic tribal names were made up of a core
word, plus two suffixes, one indigenous and one Latin. For example,
the Pictones name is not Picton, it is Pict. The Redones are Red
(Reds in plural form in modern English). This is often overlooked
when analysing tribal names. These names are examined in much greater
detail in the entries for each individual tribe. In addition, the
definite article was used as a suffix to denote a people, and since
that time in which it was indeed used to denote a people, it appears
to have evolved into a plural suffix in some subsequent languages.
This affects the use of the '-on' plural suffix in many tribal name
translations, but perhaps not seriously.
(Information
by Peter Kessler and Edward Dawson, with additional information
from The La Tene Celtic Belgae Tribes in England: Y-Chromosome Haplogroup
R-U152 - Hypothesis C, David K Faux, from A Genetic Signal of Central
European Celtic Ancestry, David K Faux, from The Horse, the Wheel,
and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped
the Modern World, David W Anthony, and from External Links: The
Works of Julius Caesar: Gallic Wars, and Tracing the dynamic life
story of a Bronze Age Female (National Museum of Denmark, via Nature.com).
Other major sources listed in the 'Barbarian Europe' section of
the Sources page.)
from
c.3300 BC :
Up until around 2800 BC, groups of Indo-Europeans first begin migrate
into Greece, blending in with the indigenous populations to later
form Mycenaean, Minoan, Cypriot and Italian culture. They also begin
to arrive in north-western Europe, settling amongst earlier populations
of Neolithic farmers and Palaeolithic hunters.
![Auvernier on Lake Neuchatel](Prehistory_Karakum02_full.jpg)
The
Indo-Europeans had a strong horse culture, with the animals proving
to be highly valuable status objects that also carried them on their
long migration from the steppes into Europe and the Near East
Anthony
adds that the split between the Italic and closely allied Celtic
language groups appears to occur between 3100 and 2600 BC. Then
Bell Beaker decorated cup styles, domestic pot types, and grave
and dagger types from the middle Danube are adopted around 2600
BC in Moravia and southern Germany, possibly as a result of trade
rather than immediate migration. However, this material network
could be the bridge through which pre-Celtic dialects spread into
Germany. Austria, and Bavaria seemingly becoming the location in
which proto-Celtic originally develops - in other words the language's
homeland.
According to Ellis (1998), The large number of Celtic place-names
still surviving in Switzerland and south-western Germany are therefore
an indication that when the Celtic peoples appear in the historical
record they are already well-settled in this area. He also echoes
Hubert's views that the survival to this day of so many Celtic names
for important geographical features (such as the rivers Rhine and
Danube) in what are now German-speaking regions points to the names
being of indigenous form and of long usage.
from c.2500 BC :
Central Europe's Bronze Age (2500-900 BC), which peaks around 1700
BC, marks the approximate beginning of the Unetice culture (which
emerges out of the Bell Beaker culture). This is found on both sides
of the Elbe and northwards to the Baltic Sea in what is today Czech
Republic, western Poland and Germany. It represents a fusion of
the Corded Ware and Beaker traditions and is considered by many
to be proto-Celtic.
It is this Unetice group that introduces bronze objects into the
region and makes prestigious objects mainly for the elite of the
area, and mainly as status symbols. Many of these bronze objects
ended up as votive offerings in bogs. It is not clear whether these
people are ancestors of the eastern Hallstatt and La Tène Celts,
but they may be cousins, and may also lay the grounds for a later
possible presence of Belgae in this region.
One of the better-documented sites of this period is Auvernier on
Lake Neuchatel in Switzerland. Radiocarbon and dendochronological
dates suggest two occupations, in 2350 and 1950 BC (Suess and Strahm,
1970). There are remarkable similarities between sites in France,
Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, and Italy (particularly
around Lake Garda) at this time that shows extensive contact between
the trans-Alpine and southern Alpine areas.
![Auvernier on Lake Neuchatel](Lake_Neuchatel01_Auvernier_full.jpg)
Auvernier
on Neuchatel in Switzerland was one of the key development sites
for the proto-Celts, with the area of the modern country providing
the western section of the early Celtic heartland
from
c.2000 BC :
Following their gradual arrival over the previous few centuries,
the Late Neolithic Celto-Ligurian tribes are in control of large
areas of central and Western Europe. Represented by Bell Beaker
culture, and with some knowledge of copper-working, they begin moving
into the British Isles. Other Indo-Europeans arrive in territory
between the Balkans and Persia, where the proto-Thracians and proto-
Iranians form two large groups. The Balts occupy most of what is
now northern Poland and large areas of western Russia. Illyrian
tribes occupy an area of Southern Europe between the Italian peninsula
(home of possibly close relatives to the proto-Celts in the form
of the Italics) and modern Greece. Indo-Europeans have already moved
from the Danube region into the Italian peninsula, and warlike Greek
tribes (the early Mycenaeans) into the Mediterranean area.
The
proto-Teutons enter and dominate most of the Scandinavian peninsula,
where a racially distinct Germanic Nordic develops from a mixture
of invading Indo-European Nordics and Old Stone-Age survivors. Indo-European
tribes soon possess most of Europe at the expense of the earlier
stock who are now either pushed into the more inaccessible parts
of the Continent (such as the Aquitani around the Pyrenees), or
become the lower strata of society, the untouchables of Europe.
As
an aside, during the last few centuries prior to the Yamnaya horizon
(which had seen the proto-Indo-European ancestors of the now proto-Germanics
begin their migrations alongside the ancestors of the proto-Celts),
cannabis may have been travelling from the Pontic-Caspian steppes
to Mesopotamia and the early city states of Sumer. Greek kdnnabis
and proto-Germanic *baniptx seem to be related to the Sumerian
kuriibu. Sumerian dies out as a widely spoken language after
around 2000 BC, so the connection must be a very ancient one. The
international trade of the Late Uruk period (circa 3300-3100
BC) provides a suitable context for this trade.
The
link between the early, proto-Indo-European form of the word cannabis
(and therefore its probable Sumerian origin of kuriibu) to
the proto-Germanic form requires a few steps. In the late Bronze
Age, proto-Germanic groups are pretty isolated in southern Scandinavia
and along the southern shore of the Baltic Sea, but are theorised
to be in contact with the proto-Celts (and possibly even dominated
by them). In support of this is the realisation that 'cannabis'
would need to pass through Celtic to reach its Germanic form: the
initial 'k' would be a 'kw' in Q-Celtic (of the First Wave), transformed
to a 'p' in P-Celtic (of the Second Wave), and then transformed
into a 'b' in Belgic (northern Celtic), and finally adopted into
Germanic. This appears to fit in with the idea that Belgic Celts
dominate Northern Europe prior to the rise of the Germanic tribes
around the fifth century BC.
c.1500
BC :
A new analysis in 2016 of the iconic Bronze Age woman known as Egtved
Girl, whose well-preserved remains are unearthed near Egtved in
modern Denmark in 1921, suggests she is born elsewhere and travels
widely during her lifetime. By comparing strontium traces from the
Egtved Girl to place-specific strontium signatures across north-western
Europe, it has been possible to determine where she lives at different
points in her life. Strontium signatures in her teeth, which are
deposited in childhood, show that she is likely to be born in what
is now south-western Germany, some eight hundred and four kilometres
away (five hundred miles). The precise location is difficult to
pinpoint but it places here right in the heart of the proto-Celtic
Urnfield culture which may just beginning to show signs of emergence
at this time.
![Egtved Girl](Celts_EgtvedGirl01_full.jpg)
Egtved
Girl wears a well-preserved woollen outfit and a bronze belt plate
which symbolises the sun - a well-travelled woman at the dawn of
the Celtic Urnfield culture who found herself visiting Denmark
Her
hair and a thumbnail contain strontium, which is accumulated during
the last two years of her life, by which time she is aged around
eighteen. The strontium describes two journeys between Denmark and
her birthplace. One theory for this is that she may be married off
to help secure an alliance and perhaps the trade it will foster.
This seems unlikely as it would involve only one journey from her
birthplace to Denmark. More likely she is part of a trade mission,
heading north on multiple trips during her lifetime, probably accompanying
her parents. Given the likely domination of early Germanics by northern
Celts, the party may even be collecting tribute.
Urnfield
Culture (Proto-Celts) (Late Bronze Age) :
c.1300 - 750 BC :
The Urnfield culture (Ha A and B) is the label given to the earliest
recognisably proto-Celtic group in Europe. The culture arose gradually
in Central Europe, to the north of the Alps, between Bohemia and
the Rhine, forming from earlier-arriving and earlier-forming Celto-Ligurian
groups. This rise included the Upper Danube regions of Austria and
Bavaria, and it rapidly spread to the Swiss lakes, the Upper and
Middle Rhine valleys and, ultimately, further north and west. It
gained its name from the cremation remains that were found in large
urns.
The
people of this culture had a well-developed Late Bronze Age warrior
strata to their society, something that would also feature strongly
in later Celtic society. The more important characteristics of this
were prevalent across the full extent of the culture's spread throughout
Europe, although it is likely that they followed the standard pattern
of dividing into clans (tribes) that periodically sub-divided or
absorbed other clans. Sadly they had no contact with any literate
peoples who could record their existence in any detail, so nothing
is known of them other than through archaeological evidence, perhaps
supported by linguistic and cultural evidence that passed down through
their successors.
In
his work, The Celts, Powell stated that it was this total
population of the so-called 'North Alpine Urnfield province', which
was centred in southern Germany and Switzerland, that demanded special
scrutiny in relation to the coming into existence of the Celts.
He also noted that the pattern in rural settlement and economy,
in material culture, and partly in burial ritual, that was established
in the North Alpine Urnfield province is found to be continuous,
however variously enriched it may later have been, into and throughout
the span of the historical Celts. In other words, the Urnfield was
recognisably Celtic in many of its key points.
Paul
Reinecke classified this period as Hallstatt A and B, with the subsequent
Iron Age periods being classed as Ha C and D. This corresponds to
the Montelius III-IV phases of the Northern Bronze Age. The origin
of the cremation tradition appears to be the Balkans, and it was
this cultural grouping that replaced the indigenous Tumulus culture
at a time of collapse and migration (which included the Israelite
exodus from Egypt around 1230 BC and the collapse the Hittite empire
in Anatolia around 1200 BC). Just who this Balkan group may have
been is unknown, but it may have pre-dated another such (contentious)
migration along the same route (almost certainly via the Danube)
in the eighth century BC, which is known as the Thraco-Cimmerian
Hypothesis.
(Information
by Peter Kessler and Edward Dawson, with additional information
from Spain: An Oxford Archaeological Guide, Roger Collins,
and Los pueblos de la España antigua, Juan Santos Yanguas,
from Culinaria Spain, Marion Trutter (Ed), from Cultural
Atlas of Spain and Portugal, Mary Vincent & RA Stradling,
from A Genetic Signal of Central European Celtic Ancestry,
David K Faux, and from The Celts, TGE Powell.)
c.1250
- 900 BC :
Social collapse and a dark age engulfs the Near East, largely due
to climate-induced drought and crop shortages. During this period,
Celto-Italic Indo-European groups in Europe filter into Italy, where
they form the two main groups of Italic peoples, the Oscan-Umbrians
(which includes the Opici and Umbri) and Latino-Faliscans (which
includes the Latins).
One
of the earliest proto-Celtic cultures has already started to appear
in Central Europe, this being the Late Bronze Age Urnfield culture,
which replaces the preceding, indigenous Tumulus culture. Q-Celtic-speaking
proto-Celtic groups also migrate outwards, some apparently ending
up in Britain. The rapid expansion of Urnfield means that it almost
literally engulfs Central Europe and even impacts upon the Baltic
culture, very quickly taking over the entire south-western corner
of Baltic dominance - central, eastern, and southern Poland - via
the associated Lusatian culture.
![Bird vases of the Urnfield Culture](Cultures_Urnfield01_full.jpg)
Bird
vases of the Urnfield were objects that were closely related to
the belief system, and it may not be accidental that this vase was
found next to a pot containing bird eggs in the cemetery of Békásmegyer,
as the two objects together may emphasise the pots' symbolism of
life and fertility
c.1100
BC :
There is evidence, supported by archaeology, of the aforementioned
early influx of Celts into Britain, where they eventually push back
or integrate with the indigenous population and settle in the fertile
south and east. They also later infiltrate into Ireland. This would
explain later tradition which claims the conquest of the island
of Britain by Brutus. This influx, however, would be little more
than a new elite ruling the native Bronze Age population of the
islands. Other Urnfield groups migrate into Gaul, such as the Vocontii.
The
appearance of the proto-Villanovan culture in northern and central
Italy bears some links to the later Celtic Hallstatt culture. At
the same time, and for the next two or three centuries, a generalised
group called Italics migrates into the Italian peninsula from the
north. They have uncertain origins, but are largely accepted as
being Indo-Europeans (cousins of the proto-Celts).
c.1000
BC :
Latins and other Indo-European Italic tribes continue to migrate
into Italy. West Italics first, and East Italics later, the latter
largely displacing the first group. Celtic tribes arrive in Iberia,
probably in two waves, the first traditionally placed around 900
BC. More recently, however, there has been a tendency to identify
the early arrivals as Indo-European or proto-Celtic tribes and argue
for a process of infiltration over an extended period, from around
1000 to 300 BC, rather than invasions.
The first arrivals appear to establish themselves in Catalonia,
having probably entered via the eastern passages of the Pyrenees.
Later groups (more identifiably Celtic) venture west through the
Pyrenees to occupy the northern coast of the peninsula, and south
beyond the Ebro and Duero basins as far as the Tagus valley. It
could be the strong Iberian presence that prevents the Celts from
continuing down the Mediterranean coast.
![Map of Late Bronze Age Cultures c.1200-750 BC](Map1000BC_Cultures01_full.jpg)
This
map showing Late Bronze Age cultures in Europe displays the widespread
expansion of the Urnfield culture and many of its splinter groups,
although not the smaller groups who reached Britain, Iberia, and
perhaps Scandinavia too
As
can be seen from the map above, by this stage the Urnfield culture
has formed several sub-groups or cultures in an unbroken line between
the modern Netherlands to the heel of Italy, from eastern central
Poland to the eastern Pyrenees, and from eastern France to
western Ukraine.
These include: the Lower Rhine groups, the North Alpine groups,
the Golasecca culture (in north-western Italy), the proto-Villanova
culture (in central and northern Italy), the Middle Danube groups,
the Knoviz culture (in southern Poland, Bohemia, and Moravia), the
Lausitz culture (in eastern Poland), and the Gava culture (in the
upper Balkans). Britain and the Atlantic coast of Western Europe
are still dominated by the Atlantic Bronze Age system, while northern
Poland and Germany and southern Norway and Sweden are dominated
by the Nordic Bronze Age societies.
First
Wave Celts - Q-Celtic Speakers / Hallstatt Culture :
c.800 - 450 BC :
The first wave of Indo-European-speaking peoples to arrive in Western
Europe were from the Italo-Celtic branch of Indo-Europeans. They
displaced, and more often incorporated, the previous inhabitants,
who appear physically to have been Mediterranean prehistoric folk
who spoke non-Indo-European languages from the Dene-Caucasian language
group. Historically, records exist of these indigenous peoples where
they were mentioned by Greek and Roman sources. The ancient Greeks
called the indigenous people in their area Pelasgians. The Romans
knew theirs as Etruscans, and indeed received much of their early
civilising influences from them. The Romans also encountered them
as Aquitani, whom we know today as the Basques. In the British Isles
there is speculation that some of the Picts may have been from this
group of prehistoric folk.
Physically these early peoples appear to have been of middle height,
slender, and with black hair and dark brown eyes. These characteristics
are widely seen across Europe (in France, Italy, Portugal, Wales,
etc), and indicate the ancestry of these peoples. There appears
to have been another people, possibly predating the Mediterraneans,
which older anthropologists called Alpines. Their range is mixed
among the Mediterraneans, but in many places they were found along
the western 'fringe' of Europe or, as in the case of the Alpines
proper, in mountains. In Britain and Ireland this type is found
scattered through much of the latter, and appears often in the former,
especially in mid-Wales. This type is usually of a stocky build,
and with a rounded head shape; colouration varies, which would be
in line with an older stock much admixed with two major waves of
invaders (Mediterraneans and Indo-Europeans) and long adapted to
their environs.
Into this mix was added the proto-Celtic Urnfield culture which
had greatly expanded Indo-European influence across many regions
of Europe that previously had been populated entirely by indigenous
groups. In the very heartland of Urnfield culture, between Switzerland
and Bavaria, a new culture emerged around 800 BC called the Hallstatt.
This was the first true Celtic culture, and its export outwards
into western, southern, and Eastern Europe became the 'first wave'
of Celtic expansion. More controversially, there may also have been
expansion into Northern Europe. If the Urnfield culture had not
already generated mixed Celto-Germanic groups itself, then this
expansion can be claimed to have done so in its place, with this
probable mixture rightly being claimed as the origin of the Belgic
group of Celts.
The opinion has been expressed by some authors that in the eighth
century BC a 'Thraco-Cimmerian' migration triggered cultural changes
that contributed to the transformation of the Urnfield culture into
the Hallstatt C culture, and thereby ushered in the European Iron
Age. This theory is still highly controversial though. David Rankin
was one author to expound it, stating that Celtic peoples owed their
origin to a specifically eastern warrior culture imposing itself
upon an Eastern European culture of the Urnfield, Lusatian type,
and introducing the lordly habit of tumulus burial. The warrior
culture of the Celts was actually the standard Indo-European warrior
culture, but perhaps regional elements existed which were added
to the Urnfield culture at just the right time.
As mentioned in the main introduction, above, the formerly single
Indo-European language and culture quickly broke down into many
regional variations, two being Iberian Q-Celtic, and Italian Q-Italic.
These were quite similar, both cultures preferring the short stabbing
sword, and speaking closely related languages. The first wave of
Celts themselves were also Q-Celtic speakers, seemingly being most
closely related to the Italic tribes such as the Latins.
(Information by Peter Kessler and Edward Dawson, with additional
information from The La Tene Celtic Belgae Tribes in England:
Y-Chromosome Haplogroup R-U152 - Hypothesis C, David K Faux,
from A Genetic Signal of Central European Celtic Ancestry,
David K Faux, from Celts and the Classical World, David Rankin,
from The Civilisation of the East, Fritz Hommel (Translated
by J H Loewe, Elibron Classic Series, 2005), from Europe Before
History, Kristian Kristiansen, and from External Links:
The Works of Julius Caesar: Gallic Wars, and Chiemgau Impact, and
the Archaeology News Network, and Geography, Strabo (H C
Hamilton & W Falconer, London, 1903, Perseus Online Edition).
Other major sources listed in the 'Barbarian Europe' section of
the Sources page.)
c.750
BC :
Celts start to expand from their traditional territory in southern
Germany, expanding the early Hallstatt culture in Iron Age Europe.
This culture is a direct progression of the previous Urnfield culture.
Tribes such as the Lemovices and Mediomatrici begin to arrive in
what becomes known as Gaul, although the migration and settlement
period is an ongoing one that lasts as long as the culture itself.
The earliest signs of Hallstatt culture come from the eastern Alps,
in elite burials of the Hallstatt C people. The tribes here have
become wealthy on the salt trade, amongst other commodities, and
these Hallstatt C people are dominant until around 600 BC.
![Caerau hill fort](Cardiff_Caerau01_full.jpg)
The
Welsh hill fort of Caerau (pronounced Caer-eye) now stands
on the edge of a modern housing estate on Cardiff's outskirts and
with a road cutting through part of the lower hill
This
is also the period in which the Iron Age begins to arrive in Britain,
introduced alongside early Celtic settlers. The site of Caerau in
the later territory of the Silures shows evidence of this, although
the initial spread of the Celtic newcomers is probably confined
to the south and south-east coast before it moves inland. It is
quite possible that with most of southern Britain held by Celts,
the pre-Indo-European natives of the west and north respond to the
threat by building defences that contain the latest technological
advances, which are typical of those seen at Caerau.
The use of iron weapons would more quickly supplant the bronze ones
as a matter of necessity, and pockets of pre-Indo-Europeans would
survive and persist much as later Romano-Britons do in the face
of Anglo-Saxon advances, with the natives adopting elements of the
newcomers' weapons and fighting techniques as a matter of survival.
Either way, Celtic language and tough iron swords gradually replace
native language and soft bronze swords across the country over the
course of the next 250 years.
c.730s
- 720s BC :
It
seems to be around this time that the window for the 'Thraco-Cimmerian
Hypothesis' first opens. The Cimmerians and Scythians have suddenly
positioned themselves as a more powerful collection of tribes which
are not afraid of thundering around the Black Sea coast (on either
side of the sea itself) and waging war against established kingdoms.
It is known that Cimmerians later settle amongst the Thracian tribes,
so to be that welcome they must share some common points of interest,
such as language or culture. The common points would seem to be
old Urnfield traditions in metalwork mixed with new Cimmerian influences
from the Caucuses. Could they already be mixing with Thracians now,
with some groups beginning to explore further along the River Danube
to enter regions that are controlled by the Celts of the Hallstatt
C culture? The weight of evidence shows that there is indeed a warrior
culture of the horse/wagon complex in the eighth century BC and
also a shift in production centres from Hungary to Italy and the
Alpine region. This would match well with a Thraco-Cimmerian migration
along the Danube (whether in person or by osmosis through neighbouring
migratory groups).
In successive waves from the ninth to the sixth centuries BC these
migrating warrior groups push west towards the headwaters of the
Danube before veering off to the north. Ultimately, one branch follows
the course of the River Elbe and a second backtracks west from the
headwaters of the Rhine, heading north-east to the Elbe and then
north into Jutland (where it theoretically forms, or merges with
the ancestors of, the Cimbri).
c.700
BC :
The second 'wave' of Celtic migration into Iberia begins around
this period (confusingly named, as it consists of first wave Celts).
This is remarkably close in time to the Celtic migrations into Italy,
around a century later. Overpopulation in southern Germany must
be pretty bad at this time. Some elements of the Celtic populations
in Iberia later migrate to Ireland, where in part at least they
form a population known to the natives as the Erainn.
Not so much a sudden influx of Celts, the migration into Iberia
is more a general progression of Hallstatt culture tribes arriving
at the Pyrenees and forcing their way across. These Hallstatt Celts
remain undisturbed by the later La Tène culture Celts until Iberia
is conquered by Rome. It is this wave of Celts that ventures west
through the Pyrenees to occupy the northern coast of the peninsula,
and south beyond the Ebro and Duero basins as far as the Tagus valley.
It is probably the strong presence of Iberians that prevents them
from expanding further.
The Germanic peoples, still apparently occupying a possible original
homeland in southern Sweden and the Jutland peninsula, appear
to go through a period in which they are conquered by the Western
Celts (Gauls) and remain subject to them (especially in Jutland).
This leads to a good deal of cultural cross-contamination, with
Germans exhibiting Celtic influences (in the form of words and names),
and Celts exhibiting similar Germanic influences. This cross-cultural
exchange is especially noticeable in many Belgic tribes of the first
century BC, raising the possibility that they are the ones dominating
the Germans at this time, not the Gauls.
![Lower Rhine](Rhine_Lower01_full.jpg)
The
Lower Rhine shown here was a mighty, if crossable, barrier but the
Cadurci crossed much farther upriver, in the middle of the seventh
century BC
c.650
BC :
The Cadurci are thought to migrate across the Rhine, leaving the
Celtic heartland in southern Germany to enter the land that becomes
known as Gaul. The Lexovii make the same journey. Other Celtic groups
are also settling in the British Isles and Ireland around this time.
Whether the Cadurci tribe itself exists at this stage is entirely
unknown. More probably, the migrants are one or more larger tribes
that later divide and settle Gaul. It could take a further two or
three centuries for the Cadurci to find a permanent home near the
Garonne and evolve the identity that is later recorded by Caesar.
Farther
east, on the Black Sea coast, the name Tugdamme, a leader of Cimmerians
at this time, strikes Edward Dawson as being Celtic, with an automatic
reconfiguration to the Celtic 'Togodumnos' being an easy leap. Given
the possibility that it may be Thraco-Cimmerians who influence the
Celtic progression from Hallstatt to La Tène culture during the
proposed migration west from the Black Sea, Tugdamme could be a
name type that is adopted by the Celts from the Cimmerian warrior
elite and is afterwards rendered as Togodumnos (or variants).
618
BC :
A huge early Celtic calendar construction is discovered in 2011
at the royal tomb of Magdalenenberg, near Villingen-Schwenningen
in modern Germany's Black Forest. The order of the burials around
the central royal tomb fits exactly with the constellations of the
northern hemisphere. Whereas Stonehenge in Britain is orientated
towards the sun, the burial mound at Magdalenenberg, which is over
a hundred metres wide, is focused towards the moon.
The builders position long rows of wooden posts in the mound to
be able to focus on the lunar standstills, which occur every eighteen-point-six
years and are the cornerstones of the Celtic calendar. The position
of the burials at Magdalenenberg represents a constellation pattern
which can be seen between midwinter and midsummer. The positions
of the constellations are recalculated back to this period by computer,
resulting in a date of midsummer 618 BC, which makes it the earliest
and most complete example of a Celtic calendar that is focused on
the moon.
c.600
BC :
The first century BC writer, Livy (Titus Livius Patavinus), writes
of an invasion into Italy of Celts during the reign of Lucius Tarquinius
Priscus, king of Rome. As archaeology seems to point to a start
date of around 500 BC for the beginning of a serious wave of Celtic
incursions into Italy, this event has either been misremembered
by later Romans or is an early precursor to the main wave of incursions,
probably as a result of the same apparent overpopulation in southern
Germany that doubtless forces the start of migration into Iberia
around a century earlier. The Celtic advance into the Po Valley
also forces the Raeti to relocate into the Alps (according to Pliny
the Elder).
Could it also be linked to the influx of Thraco-Cimmerian migrants
along the Danube who have for some time been introducing gradual
changes into Celtic society? The influx has seen the gradual replacement
of a chariot-borne warrior culture with a lightly armed horse-borne
one that is more able to attack larger and more powerful foes.
![Gauls on expedition](Celts_Expedition01_full.jpg)
An
idealised illustration of Gauls on an expedition, from A Popular
History of France From The Earliest Times Volume I by Francois
Pierre Guillaume Guizot
Livy
writes that two centuries before major Celtic attacks take place
against Etruscans and Romans in Italy, a first wave of invaders
from Gaul fights many battles against the Etruscans who dwell between
the Apennines and the Alp. At this time, the Bituriges are the supreme
power amongst the Celts (who already occupy a third of the whole
of Gaul). They would be a prime example of the new-found dominance
of the Hallstatt D tribes of southern Germany, Switzerland, and
eastern France, replacing the wealthy Hallstatt C peoples as top
dogs
Livy understands that this particular tribe had formerly supplied
the king for the whole Celtic race, either suggesting a previously
more central governance of the Celts that is now beginning to fragment
or the typical assumption that one powerful king rules an entire
people. The prosperous and courageous, but now-elderly Ambigatus
is the ruler of the Bituriges, and over-population means a division
of its number is required. Ambigatus sends his sister's sons, Bellovesus
and Segovesus, to settle new lands with enough men behind them to
put down any opposition.
Following divination by the druids, Segovesus heads into the Hercynian
Forest, on the east bank of the Rhine (this forms the northern border
of the lands known to the ancient writers of the Mediterranean,
and the modern Black Forest forms its western part). He ends up
leading his groups into Carinthia (now in southern Austria) to found
the Ambisontes and Ambidravi tribes.
Bellovesus heads towards Italy, inviting fellow settlers to join
him from six tribes, the Aeduii, Ambarri, Aulerci, Arverni, Bituriges,
Carnutes, and Senones. The body of people led by Bellovesus himself
apparently consists mainly of Insubres, a canton (or sub-division)
of the Aeduii.
6th century BC :
The Harii probably belong to the Hallstatt culture of Celts, along
with the Abrincatui, Bebryces, Boii, Cotini, Helisii, Helveconae,
Manimi, Naharvali, Osi, and at least some elements of the later
Lugii. They are to be found around the central German lands, and
in Bohemia, Moravia, Slovakia, and the edges of Poland and Ukraine.
Around this time a large-scale expansion begins that sees many Hallstatt
Celts migrate outwards, towards northern Italy, Gaul, or Iberia.
The Bebryces for one are primarily cattle herders, so they take
their herds with them, greatly supplementing their diet with milk,
fatty cheese, and beef. Many others remain, and control the region
until pressure from newly-arriving Germanic tribes begins to erode
their hold in the second and first centuries BC.
![Bohemia](Bohemia_Valley01_full.jpg)
The
landscape of Bohemia is and was defined by wooded mountainsides
and extensive farming land - a green and fertile area at the centre
of Europe and of the Hallstatt culture
583
BC :
An archaeological discovery made in the upper reaches of the Danube
in 2010 reveals the undisturbed burial of an aristocratic Celtic
lady, the so-called 'Celtic princess'. The burial can be dated quite
accurately thanks to the preservation in a wet environment of oak
flooring in the large grave.
The
woman, presumed to have been Celtic nobility, is laid to rest with
large amounts of richly decorated gold and amber jewellery. She
is aged between thirty and forty years old and has remarkably good
teeth. The torso of her skeleton is found still complete, but the
head is located three metres away and her lower jaw is in another
corner of the burial site. It's still unclear what this means. A
child's body is present with her, probably one of her own children,
along with another body which may be that of a servant.
The
find indicates that the Celts have an aristocratic hierarchy by
this period, something which has previously been disputed by archaeologists
(peculiarly, given that Indo-Europeans of the Yamnaya Horizon clearly
have a warrior class that is in command some three thousand years
earlier). The burial objects also reveal some details of Celtic
society which have been unknown until now. An ornamental armour
for horses is found next to the unidentified woman, but this is
not typical of the region. This object may come from northern Italy,
whereas other elements come from the south. Celts are therefore
involved in more interregional trade than archaeologists have previously
thought.
It
is the oldest princely female grave discovered to date from the
Celtic world, and the only example of an early Celtic princely grave
with a wooden chamber. Initially dated to 609 BC, the burial has
been recalculated at 583 BC thanks to the very precise dating of
the wood, which was taken from a fir tree.
![Gold and amber jewellery](Celtic_Danube_Jewellery01_full.jpg)
The
gold and amber jewellery unearthed from the burial of the 'Celtic
princess' show that very high levels of skill were involved in their
creation in the first millennium BC
c.580
BC :
The major Etruscan centres of Padan Etruria are being founded at
this time. This region to the north-east of the Etruscan heartland
in Italy is settled up to three hundred years later than the main
Etruscan centres, and has a long tradition of interaction with the
Celtic tribes to the north that remains largely peaceful until the
late fourth century. Epigraphic inscriptions testify to the cohabitation
and intermarriage of Celts and Etruscans.
c.500
BC :
Evidence of the spread of Celtic customs and artefacts can be found
Britain for this period. More and varied types of pottery are in
use, and there is more characteristic decoration of jewellery. There
is no known invasion of Britain by the Celts; their arrival is likely
to be a more gradual infiltration into existing British society
through trade and other contacts over a period of several hundred
years, building up settlements starting along the coastline and
later migrating inwards. More Celtic settlement can soon be found
in Ireland.
To
support this influx of Continental Celts, it appears that the R-U152
in Britain can largely be traced to various movements of people
from what are today France and Belgium and whose origins are rooted
in the Iron Age La Tène Celtic peoples who are now to be found to
the west of the Rhine. Some of these peoples would have remained
around the heartland of the Seine and Marne and Mosel areas, but
between about 500 to 400 BC these areas see a dramatic decrease
in population when large numbers migrate to the east to locations
in Pomeranian, culture Poland, the modern Czech Republic, Slovakia,
Hungary, and the Balkans, and east to Ukraine.
c.500
- 335 BC :
The Chiemgau impact (or hypothesis) is a controversial assertion
that Central Europe is struck by a meteorite, with the dates used
here being the most likely period for that impact. There seems to
be a core resistance to its acceptance which dismisses it as 'an
obsolete scientific theory', but the evidence to back it up is growing
and is rather convincing to an open mind. The location is in Upper
Bavaria, part of the heartland of Celtic territory at this time
(but also incorporating Vindelici territory), with Lake Chiemsee
at its centre. The hypothesis asserts that a large cosmic body (a
comet or an asteroid) strikes the ground and leaves a large crater-strewn
field with all the relevant impact evidence that such a strike entails.
A strike like this must have a severe effect on the tribes in the
region. Much like the Tunguska strike of 1905 and the Tschebarkul
2013 super bolide of Tscheljabinsk in Russia which has been seen
far and wide even without the aid of modern communications technology,
this strike will be witnessed by a great many people. The means
of narrowing the impact date to around 500-335 BC is highly detailed
(see the link in the introduction, above), but this would certainly
serve to provide a reason for the Gauls being quoted as fearing
nothing but the sky falling on their heads (the Asterix strips
make especial use of this). In additional, and perhaps coincidentally,
it is during this period that the Second Wave migration of P-Celtic
speakers begins, with tribes moving outwards from their heartland.
5th
century BC :
The Brigantii migrate into the Cispadane Gaul region of the Alps,
arriving in an area that has already been settled for a millennium.
Strabo later states that they are a sub-tribe of the Vindelici,
who occupy territory to the north-east. This could indicate the
route taken by the Brigantii to reach their new home, but it also
raises the possibility that they are not Gauls, or perhaps only
partially so. The Vindelici have an uncertain ancestry, possibly
being a blend of Celts and Ligurians (such as the Celto-Ligurian
Orobii), making it equally possible that the Brigantii are Ligurians
who are commanded by a Gaulish elite. Even referring to the Brigantii
as Celts is merely the modern naming convention that has been inherited
from the Romans. Thinking of the term as valid or invalid may be
irrelevant. 'Celt' may simply be what some West Indo-European speakers
call themselves and others not - and with the Celts long in the
ascendance in Central Europe, some non-Celtic people may arbitrarily
adopt the term in order to fit in.
The arrival of the Brigantii probably causes some disturbance amongst
the established native tribes, and very likely some fighting. The
Brigantii soon establish a settlement called Brigantion (according
to Strabo), which becomes one of their most heavily-fortified locations.
No doubt the indigenous tribes still pose a threat.
![Cambodunum](Brigantii_Cambodunum%2001_full.jpg)
The
Brigantii settlement of Cambodunum, which was located in what is
now south-western Bavaria, which was part of the heartland of early
Celtic development and culture
Like
a stone dropped into a pool of water, the Hallstatt Celts have rippled
outwards, vastly increasing the territory that is under their influence
or control. Now that effect has faded and a new ripple effect is
taking its place, generated by the La Tène Celts, who follow the
very same path of expansion over the next five-or-so centuries.
5th
century BC :
Also dated to the fifth century BC is a Celtic warrior burial that
is unearthed by archaeologists in 2014 (discovered in a business
zone on the outskirts of Lavau in modern France's Champagne region,
close to Troyes). The 'exceptional' grave of this prince is crammed
with Greek and possibly Etruscan artefacts. The prince is buried
with his chariot in a fourteen-square-metre-large burial chamber,
at the heart of a huge mound that itself measures forty metres (130
feet) across, although the mound has not yet been opened.
The biggest find at the site has been a huge wine cauldron. Standing
on the handles of the cauldron is the Greek god Acheloos. The river
deity is shown with horns, a beard, the ears of a bull, and a triple
moustache. Eight lioness heads decorate the cauldron's edge. Inside
it, archaeologists have discovered a ceramic wine vessel, called
a oniochoe. Other interesting discoveries include a perforated silver
spoon that had been part of a set of banqueting utensils, and was
presumably used to filter the wine, and the remains of a iron wheel
from the chariot that had been buried with the prince.
![Troyes burial mound](Celts_Troyes01_full.jpg)
An
Iron Age Celtic prince lay buried with his chariot at the centre
of this huge mound in the Champagne region of France, according
to the country's National Archaeological Research Institute
Trying
to pin down the prince's tribe would be highly speculative given
that he has been laid to rest around four hundred and fifty years
before Julius Caesar records the names of Gaul's tribes in detail.
By the first century BC the Champagne region near Troyes is principally
occupied by the Tricasses, who have Augusta Tricassium (Troyes)
as their oppidum. Nearby tribes include the Catuvellauni
and Mandubii, while the larger Lingones lie to the south-east and
the mighty Aeduii to the south. The prince would have belonged to
a larger collective that has since divided (probably several times)
to produce the plethora of first century tribes.
Second
Wave Celts - P-Celtic Speakers (Gauls) / La Tène Culture :
c.450 BC - 52 BC :
Incorporating the Suetri & Tarvisii
The second wave of Celts was made up of P-Celtic speakers who settled
in Gaul, Germania and all points east. These were the Celts of the
La Tène culture, which superseded the preceding Hallstatt C culture
in southern Germany. How the shift occurred in the Celtic homeland
from Hallstatt C to La Tène is the subject of quite a bit of speculation.
Overall, it seems most likely that they were heavily influenced
by Indo-European migrants ho were arriving in the region by following
the Danube from the western shore of the Black Sea. Archaeology
has supported such a migratory trail, with such groups perhaps being
Thraco-Cimmerians (controversially perhaps), or at least neighbouring
groups which were influenced by them through a process of cultural
osmosis. At the very least, these newly-arriving Indo-European groups
shared the same cultural values, and martial equipment - and probably
language too - as the Thracians and Cimmerians, and even Scythians,
and it seems to have been they who introduced these changes into
the Celtic core homeland.
Celts who entered Iberia appear to have arrived by boat to settle
the northern and western coasts, such as the tribes of the Astures
and Gallaeci. The majority of these Celts were the Gauls who were
so well known by Rome. The Romans coined the name 'Galli' ('roosters/cockerals')
to describe Celtic tribesmen in general, and this was especially
applied to the tribes of what is now central, northern and eastern
France. From this was derived the name Gaul. Julius Caesar in his
commentaries reports that they called themselves 'Celtae', but they
could also be recorded as 'galat', and there are three regions in
Europe today that still bear this name, Galatia. Linguistics theory
points to a common origin for both forms of the name, along with
the German version, 'wealas' or 'wahl' (see main introduction, above).
Once they had settled in modern France, between the seventh and
third centuries BC, the Gauls found themselves divided from the
newly-arriving Belgae to their north by the Marne and the Seine,
and from the indigenous Aquitani to the south by the River Garonne.
They also extended eastwards, into the region that was becoming
known as Germania. The Celts ruled much of this in their heyday,
but by the middle of the first century BC they had become fragmented,
and were either in the process of being expelled by the increasingly
powerful Germanic tribes who were migrating southwards from Scandinavia
and the Baltic coast, or they were being defeated and integrated
into Germanic or other tribes.
To an extent this second wave of Celts post-dates the earliest movements
of the third wave, that of the Belgae. However, the latter only
enter Gaul around the fourth or third centuries at the earliest,
perhaps a century or so after the La Tène Celts arrive there, so
the established order stands for each of the waves of migration.
Details here for the second wave are relatively brief, however,
as the majority of their ascendancy parallels that of the Belgae,
with both being detailed side-by-side further down the page.
The Suetri were a minor Gaulish tribes of the Alpes Maritimes,
with Ptolemy noting their territory being centred around Salinae
(modern-day Le Salins). They are also named on the 'Trophy of the
Alps', a Roman monument that was erected in 5 BC at the village
of La Turbie both to commemorate the conquest of the Alps and the
submission of forty-four Ligurian tribes during Augustus' campaigns
in 25 BC, 16 BC, and 15 BC and to mark the boundary between Italy
and Gaul. The inscription is severely faded on the original monument,
but it was recorded by Pliny in his Natural History and records
a dedication to Augustus as well as a list of the subdued tribes,
amongst whom is the Suetri.
The Tarvisii were another minor Gaulish tribe which, following
the Gaulish ingress into northern Italy after 600 BC, found a home
on the Venetian plain, somewhat to the north of Venice itself and
presumably pushing back the native Adriatic Veneti to do so. The
tribal capital was at Treviso, an inland town of the modern Venetia
area.
(Information by Peter Kessler and Edward Dawson, with additional
information from The La Tene Celtic Belgae Tribes in England:
Y-Chromosome Haplogroup R-U152 - Hypothesis C, David K Faux,
from Who were the Cimmerians, and where did they come from?
Anne Katrine Gade Kristensen (Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and
Letters, Hist-fil. Medd 57), from Celts and the Classical World,
David Rankin (1996), from The Civilisation of the East, Fritz
Hommel (Translated by J H Loewe, Elibron Classic Series, 2005),
from Europe Before History, Kristian Kristiansen, from Geography,
Ptolemy, from Encyclopaedia of European Peoples, Carl Waldman
& Catherine Mason (Facts on File, 2006), and from External
Link: The Works of Julius Caesar: Gallic Wars. Other major sources
listed in the 'Barbarian Europe' section of the Sources page.)
4th
century BC :
The Celts of the La Tène culture begin expanding in all directions.
The Boii tribe migrates into the region which forms modern Czechia,
giving their name to Bohemia (itself only more recently replaced
by the Czech name). It may be the Boii or companion tribes which
expand La Tène culture into Silesia where it stops the neighbouring
Face-Urn culture from expanding. To the west, the Bellovaci cross
the Rhine in this century, settling along the rivers Oise and Somme.
They establish fresh sacred sites at Saint-Maur and Gournay-sur-Aronde,
and later mint their own coins. The Votadini of eastern Britain
also quickly exhibit La Tène burial styles.
In
his entry for 53 BC, Julius Caesar writes in his Gallic Wars
that there had formerly been a time when the Gauls excelled the
Germans in prowess, and waged war on them offensively. On account
of the great number of their people and the insufficiency of their
land, the Gauls sent colonies over the Rhine. One of these, a division
of the powerful Volcae Tectosages, had seized fertile areas of Germany
close to the Hercynian Forest, (known to the Greeks as Orcynia),
and had settled there.
![Hercynian Forest](Celts_HercynianForest01_full.jpg)
The
Riesengebirge was part of the once-vast Hercynian Forest which spread
eastwards from southern Germany and which proved a serious impediment
to Roman expansion
389
BC :
Brunnus and his Senones Celts sack Rome, with only the Capitoline
Hill standing out against them. The citizens of Rome are forced
to pay a thousand pounds in gold to buy off the Celts (a pretty
low sum by Roman standards, which perhaps outrages them more than
the city being sacked in the first place). This perhaps allows the
Etruscans themselves a respite in the incessant pressure from the
Latins, although the city of Clevsin is allied to Rome for the duration
of the Celtic incursion.
Third
Wave Celts - Belgic Speakers (Belgae) :
6th Century BC? - 1st Century BC
:
The third wave of Celts appears to have been formed of tribes who
were seaborne and lived along the North Atlantic and/or Baltic coastlines.
Known as the Belgae, they would seem to have been a branch of Celts
who established themselves in northern Europe, although precisely
where is entirely open to speculation (not to mention some heated
debate). The available evidence suggests a general settlement of
areas of northern Germany and perhaps northern Poland of the Oxhöft
culture too. This break from the main body of proto-Celts could
have happened at any time between its first arrival in Central Europe
- prior to the twelfth century BC's Urnfield culture of Central
Europe - and the height of the Hallstatt culture (c.800-450 BC).
The
differences in dialect between the Belgae and La Tène Celts highlights
the break, although perhaps it suggests a shorter break than may
be indicated by the time periods shown above. The Belgic dialect
probably used a 'b' or a 'v' sound where their southern/western
cousins in Gaul used a 'w' sound, opening up different interpretations
for their names. It is doubtful that all Belgae used the same dialect.
Some may have used pure Celtic, some Celtic mixed with various Germanic
or even Finnic influences. This alone suggests a wide ranging settlement
across Northern Europe, and possibly not even a permanent one. Julius
Caesar and other ancient authors certainly saw Germanic elements
in many of them, but also affiliations to the Gauls. Those Belgae
who were closer to the Rhine would have been less influenced by
the proto-Germanic tribes than those who were in modern Denmark
or the southern Baltic coast.
For
whatever reason, whether it was due to population pressures or movements
(the early Germanic tribes being a favourite here as they soon started
expanding into Northern Europe themselves), or to climate change,
they began to leave (or simply to continue their migratory pattern).
Many migrated west after their La Tène cousins had already established
themselves in Gaul, probably following the coastline as they went.
Others (perhaps even most) seem to have gone east, doubtless following
the Baltic coastline (and a theorised third group returned south
to become the Taurisci). The western group arrived in the Low Countries
and northern Gaul in the fourth and third centuries, although their
initial arrival probably took place in the late fifth century. Some
of these may not even have travelled beyond the Rhine, remaining
in Northern Europe to be progressively Germanised, such as (possibly)
the Sicambri and the Semnones. Belgae also landed on the east coast
of Britain from about the fourth century BC (or perhaps a little
later - providing an exact date is impossible), these groups obviously
splitting away from the rest as they reached the Atlantic. These
British Belgae slowly infiltrated the south-east of the country
so that, by the first century BC, they had formed the Belgae, Cantii,
Catuvellauni, Iceni, Parisi, and Trinovantes. The eastern group,
known later as the Venedi, reached the Vistula and founded permanent
settlements along its east bank, in what the Romans thought of as
Sarmatia (with Germania to the west).
Theoretically
speaking, the migration away from Northern Europe may also have
deposited Belgae in Germany, Bohemia, Moravia and Poland to emerge
as the Boii and other similar Central European Celtic tribes. Indeed,
it may be the case that the Belgic dialect was simply the Celtic
dialect to the east of Gaul and the Rhine - a general 'eastern Celtic'
(although the term 'Eastern Celts' could instead be applied to a
specific group of Belgae along the Vistula - see feature link, right).
When
it comes to determining the meaning of the name 'Belgae', Pokorny
gives these roots in Gaulish from a proto-Indo-European base, with
the latter's 'bhelg̑h-' and 'bhelg̑h-' descending into
Gaulish as 'bolg-' and 'bulga'. The first of these, 'Bhelg̑h-',
means to 'swell up'. But the crucial word from this root does not
seem to come from Gaulish. Instead it seems to stem from the Anglo-Saxon
verb, 'belgan', meaning 'to swell up, or be angry'. This supports
the contention that the Belgae were a Celtic-Germanic mix. The Irish
description of Cucullaine when his madness is on him comes to mind,
swelling up with rage, transforming from a normal man to a monster
(apparently borrowed from the Irish for use as the Incredible Hulk!).
However,
given the consonant shift proposed above, then 'Belgae' would indicate
that its 'b' replaced an older (?) form of a 'w' sound. This supplies
'Welgae' as a possible older form of the name, and rather astonishingly
that 'wel-' sounds incredibly similar to what the Germans call Celts!
So the possibility is raised that the original ethnic name was 'Wel',
and while the Belgae were in northern Central Europe this mutated
into 'vel' and then 'bel'; and in the west and south the 'w' of
'wel' acquired a hard 'k' or 'g' in front of it, to form 'kwel'
or 'gwel', therefore giving rise to words such as 'celtae' and 'galati'
(Galatians). Belgae, minus the Latin plural suffix is 'belg'. If
Belgic speech hardened a 'w' sound then 'belg' would have been 'welg'.
The 'g' on the end may simply be an '-ig' suffix that is still in
use today in Latin and English variants, '-ic' and '-ish' respectively.
So Belg would be Belig/Belic. If the Germans adopted their word
for Celts from the proposed Celts' own word for themselves, 'wel',
then 'belg' (belig) and 'welsh' (waelisc) are exact cognates, the
same word in different pronunciations. Whether they were Celts,
Belgae, Galatians or Welsh, it was all the same word mutated by
several centuries of progress.
(Information
by Peter Kessler and Edward Dawson, with additional information
from Continuity and Innovation in Religion in the Roman West,
R Haeussler, Anthony C King & Phil Andrews, from Liber Prodigiorum,
Julius Obsequens, from Periocha, Livy, from Res Gestae,
Ammianus Marcellinus, from Valerius Maximus, Pseudo-Quintilian,
and Paulus Orosius, from Epitome of Roman History, Florus,
Historia Romana, Cassius Dio, from Flavius Eutropius, from
Strategemata, Frontinius, from 'Breviary', Sextus
Festus, from St Jerome Emiliani (Hieronymus), from Getica,
Jordanes, from The Celts in Macedonia and Thrace, G Kazarov,
from The Origin of the Gundestrup Cauldron, Antiquity, Vol 61,
1987, A K Bergquist & T Taylor, from The Getae in Southern
Dobruja in the Period of the Roman Domination: Archaeological Aspects,
S Torbatov, from On the Ocean, Pytheas of Massalia (work
lost, but frequently quoted by other ancient authors), from Geography,
Ptolemy, and from External Links: Journal of Celtic Studies
in Eastern Europe and Asia-Minor, and Scordisci Swords From Northwestern
Bulgaria, and The Works of Julius Caesar: Gallic Wars, Perseus Digital
Library, and Polybius, Histories, and the Indo-European Etymological
Dictionary, J Pokorny, and Geography, Strabo (H C Hamilton
& W Falconer, London, 1903, Perseus Online Edition).)
5th
century BC :
The
Veneti are a tribe (or possibly confederation) of Belgae who occupy
a (semi-theoretical) swathe of territory in Northern Europe. Differences
in their dialect from the La Tène Celts suggests that they have
picked up some influences after settling here, most notably from
the proto-Germanic tribes of Scandinavia. Although not universally
accepted, generally it is thought that the Belgae begin to migrate
around this time, one part heading west towards the Atlantic coast
and the other heading east, probably following the Baltic coastline.
![Jutland](Denmark_Jutland01_full.jpg)
Belgic
settlement in, or migration across, Northern Europe almost certainly
involved some of them entering the Cimbric Peninsula where they
interacted with early German tribes there, influencing them and
being influenced by them
The
Atlantic coast division of Belgae settles on territory in the modern
southern Netherlands, Belgium, northern France and Brittany (and
are termed Veneti for the sake of clarity here). The Baltic division
reaches the Vistula and founds permanent settlements along its east
bank, in what the Romans later think of as Sarmatia (with Germania
to the west). Also for the sake of clarity, they are termed the
Venedi.
4th
century BC :
According
to Julius Caesar, the Belgic tribe of the Atrebates invades northern
Gaul from their territory in what would become Germania. They repeat
the invasion in the second century, probably to settle there permanently.
c.325
BC :
Pytheas
of Massalia undertakes a voyage of exploration to north-western
Europe, becoming the first scholar to note details about the Celtic
and Germanic tribes there. One of the tribes he records is the Ostinioi
- almost certainly the Osismii - who occupy Cape Kabaïon, which
is probably pointe de Penmarc'h or pointe du Raz in western Brittany.
This means that the tribe has already settled the region by the
mid-fourth century, probably alongside their neighbours of later
years, the Veneti, Cariosvelites, and Redones.
![Ptolemy's map of Britain](Rome_PtolemyMap01_full.jpg)
The
details recorded by Pytheas were interpreted by Ptolemy in the second
century AD, and this 1490 Italian reconstruction of the section
covering the British Isles and northern Gaul shows Ptolemy's characteristically
lopsided Scotland at the top
<
c.300
BC :
By
this time, a little-known Etruscan city near the modern town of
Marzabotto, close to Bologna, has greatly declined. Founded in the
sixth century BC, the city had been built on a north-south grid,
with paved streets and civic and sacred buildings in the Acropolis.
Prosperous until the late fourth century BC, its role suddenly declines
to the status of a military outpost following massive Celtic incursions
into the Po Valley.
The
last stages of Hallstatt culture sees Celts involved in a great
expansion into southern and Eastern Europe. Tribes infiltrate across
the Danube to enter the land on the southern edge of the Eastern
Alps, in the form of the Latovici, Serapili, Sereti, and Taurisci.
The native communities in the hinterland of the Adriatic between
Carinthia and Carniola are relatively rapidly assimilated by the
Celtic newcomers, soon losing their identity completely. The migration
turns into a powerful juggernaut as it enters the Balkans to come
up against the Thracian and Greek kingdoms in 279-277 BC.
282
- 281 BC :
The
Etruscan city of Pupluna suffers badly during Rome's wars against
the Boii, this being the group that migrated into Italy in the fourth
century BC. Having seen the expulsion by Rome of the Senones in
the previous year, the Boii raise a general levy which includes
Etruscans and set out to meet the Romans on the battlefield. Near
Lake Vadimonis the battle sees the Etruscans suffer the loss of
more than half their men, while hardly any of the Boii escape alive.
The following year the Boii and Etruscans try again. This time everyone
is armed, including youths who have only just reached manhood. Again
they are decimated and completely defeated, and this time they surrender,
sending ambassadors to Rome to conclude a treaty. Polybius writes
that constant defeats at the hands of the Gauls had inured the Romans
to the worst that could befall them, so that they are able to fight
the Boii on this occasion like trained and experienced gladiators.
The Gauls maintain peace with Rome for forty-five years following
this event.
![Camillus Rescuing Rome from Brennus](Rome_BrenniusSacking389BC_01_full.jpg)
Dictator
Marcus Furius Camillus may have been instrumental in persuading
Brennus and his Gauls to leave Rome following its sacking in 389
BC, as painted around 1716-20
279
- 277 BC :
Celtic tribes are arriving in the Balkans and Asia Minor by this
time. In one encounter with the peoples already there, the Antigonid
empire successfully smashes an invasion of Celts into Greece.
Caesar
later notes in his journals that 'sometime' before the first century
BC the Belgic tribes had emigrated from east of the Rhine. In fact,
according to many authors, the archaeological record argues for
an earlier date for the first Belgic settlers in northern Gaul.
Artefacts of Continental origin which date from the third century
BC strongly suggest that the Belgae cross into Britain at about
the same time as they settle in northern Gaul. They appear to arrive
as fairly small warrior groups that quickly integrate into the elite
of the local communities. Other groups seem to remain behind, in
northern Germany, to be assimilated by Germans - such as the Marsigni.
Tribes
who belong to the Belgae included the Ambiani, Atrebates, Bellovaci,
Caleti, Morini, Menapii, Nervii, Remi, Suessiones, Veliocasses,
and Viromandui. Caesar states that one tribe, the Atuatuci, are
descended from the Germanic Cimbri and Teutones, and describes four
others, the Caerosi, Condrusi, Eburones, and Paemani, as German
tribes (although Ambiorix, a later leader of the Eburones, has a
Celtic name). Other tribes that may be included among the Belgae
are the Leuci, Mediomatrici, Treveri, and Tungri. The Remi are the
most prominent tribe and their capital, Durocortum (modern Reims
in France), becomes the capital of the Roman province of Gallia
Belgica.
273
- 214 BC :
The Celts invade Thrace again, destroying the Thracian kingdom and
forcing the Greek aristocracy to escape to the colonies bordering
the Black Sea. The kingdom of Galatia is created in Thrace by the
victorious Celts, only to be destroyed by the Thracians in 214 BC
and forced to concentrate itself entirely in Anatolia. The remaining
bulk of Celts in the Balkans settles into the powerful Scordisci
confederation.
c.250
BC :
Germanic settlements have spread only a little farther south-westwards
along the North Sea coastline, and eastwards into the heart of modern
Poland and northern Germany. One exception to this is the tribe
of the Bastarnae (whose ethnic background is highly uncertain, but
evidence tends to support the idea that they are originally Celtic).
They have already reached the Balkans by this time.
Between this point and the beginning of the first century AD, Germanic
expansion and migration continue this slow progression, extending
into modern Belarus, Russia and Ukraine, and southwards towards
modern Switzerland, central Germany, and Czechia, Slovakia and Hungary.
All the while, Celtic tribes are being edged out or absorbed.
![Belgae](Celtic_Belgae01_full.jpg)
Many
Belgic groups showed marked Germanic influences, so were they Celts
with German words and warriors, or Germans with Celtic words and
warriors? The truth probably lies somewhere in between
236
BC :
The Gauls in northern Italy have maintained an unbroken peace with
Rome for forty-five years, the last battles having being fought
against the Boii. A new generation is now in command of the tribes
and is eager to test itself against the common enemy. These tribal
chiefs inflate trivial excuses in their cause, and invite the Alpine
Gauls to join the impending fray.
This
is the first that the majority of the tribesmen know of the intended
renewal of hostilities, and the Boii immediately form a conspiracy
against their own leaders, as well as against the newcomers. A Gaulish
king who acts without the support and consent of his own people
places considerable risk on his own safety. Atis and Galatus of
the Boii are put to death, and the tribe cuts itself to pieces in
a pitched battle. Rome, alarmed at the threatened invasion, is able
to recall its dispatched army.
232
BC :
Five years after the threat of war between Gauls and Rome had ended
in Gaulish internecine battle, during the consulship of Marcus Aemilius
Lepidus, Rome divides the territory of Picenum, from which the Senones
had been ejected in 283 BC. For many of the Gauls, and especially
the Boii whose lands border this territory, this is an act of war.
The tribes are now convinced that Rome wants to destroy and expel
them completely.
231
- 225 BC :
Over the next six years or so, the two most extensive tribes, the
Boii and Insubres, send out the call for assistance to the tribes
living around the Alps and on the Rhone. Rather than each of the
tribes sending their own warriors, it appears that individual warriors
are hired from the entire Alpine region as mercenaries. Polybius
calls them Gaesatae, describing it as a word which means 'serving
for hire'. They come with their own kings, Concolitanus and Aneroetes,
who have probably been elected from their number in the Celtic fashion.
![Celtic warriors](Celts_Warriors02_full.jpg)
While
most of the Gauls of the third century BC fought fully clothed,
their Gaesatae mercenaries tended to fight with nothing more than
their weapons, and not even the trousers shown here
The
Gaesatae are offered a large sum of gold on the spot and the wealth
of Rome is also pointed out - wealth that can be theirs if they
stick to their task. The mercenaries are easily persuaded, and are
proud to remind the other Gauls of the campaign that had been undertaken
by their own ancestors in which they had seized Rome. This strongly
suggests that a proportion of the Gaesatae (probably including their
kings) are descended from members of the Senones tribe, as it was
this tribe that had led the occupation of Rome in 389 BC.
Rome has been informed of what is coming, and hurries to assemble
the legions. Even its ongoing conflict with the Carthaginians take
second place, and a treaty is hurriedly agreed with Hasdrubaal,
commander in Iberia, which virtually confirms Carthaginian rule
there. Such is Rome's haste that they approach the Gaulish frontier
before the Gauls have even stirred.
It is 225 BC when the Gaesatae forces cross the Alps and enter the
valley of the Padus with a formidable army, furnished with a variety
of armour. The Boii, Insubres, and Taurini accompany them but the
Cenomani and Veneti are persuaded to side with Rome, forcing the
Gauls to detach a force to guard their flank. Despite this, their
main army consists of about a hundred and seventy thousand foot
and horse, which petrifies the Romans and reminds them of 389 BC.
As well as the four new legions, they are accompanied by Etruscans,
Sabines, Sarsinates, and Umbri, and more Cenomani and Veneti. Defending
Rome and its territories are Ferrentani, Iapygians, Latins, Lucanians,
Marrucini, Marsi, Messapians, Samnites, and Vestini, plus two more
legions on Sicily and in Tarentum.
The first battle, when it comes, is near Faesulae, outside the subjugated
Etruscan city of Clevsin. The Romans are decimated and routed by
superior Gaulish tactics. A fresh army under Lucius Aemilius arrives,
and Aneroetes counsels retreat with their booty and army intact,
ready to launch a fresh attack when ready. Consul Gaius Atilius
lands at Pisae with the Sardinian legion and the Gauls find themselves
caught between two Roman armies. The battle is fierce, and the Gauls
gain the head of Gaius Atilius. However, the battle turns against
them and large numbers of Gauls are cut down or taken prisoner,
including Concolitanus. Aneroetes is able to flee with his band
of followers, and they commit suicide together.
224
BC :
Buoyed by its victory, Rome attempts to clear the entire valley
of the Padus. Two legions are sent under the command of the consuls
of that year, and the Boii are terrified into submission. However,
incessant rain and an outbreak of disease prevents the legions from
achieving anything greater.
223
BC :
Two fresh consuls lead two more legions into the Padus, marching
through the territory of the Anamares, who live not far from Placentia
(some readings of the original text translate this as the Ananes
and their home in the Marseilles region, which would be impossible
given the nature of this campaign). They secure the friendship of
this tribe and cross into the country of the Insubres, near the
confluence of the Adua and Padus. Some skirmishing aside, peace
is agreed with this tribe, and the Romans head for the River Clusius.
There they enter Cenomani lands, with these allies providing some
reinforcements. Then the Romans return to the Insubres and begin
laying waste to their land. The tribe is faced with no choice but
to fight, and their defeat is all but inevitable.
222
BC :
With peaceful overtures by the Insubres being firmly rejected by
Rome, the tribe calls on the Gaesatae once more. Together they fight
the Romans and withdraw intact to Mediolanum. The stronghold is
stormed by the Romans and, following some hard fighting, the Insubres
are left with no option but to surrender, their unnamed chief making
a complete submission to Rome. This act effectively ends the Gallic
War in northern Italy, as Rome now dominates all of the tribes
there.
![Western Alps](Modern_Alps01_full.jpg)
The
Celtic tribes of northern Italy were large and dangerous to the
Romans, unlike their fellow Celts in the Western Alps, who were
relatively small in number and fairly fragmented, although they
made up for that by being even more belligerent than their easterly
cousins
156
BC :
Having
recently defeated the Macedonian kingdom in the Third Macedonian
War, Rome appears to be dominant in south-eastern Europe. Little
resistance is expected from the various tribes of Greece, Thrace,
and the Balkans. And yet it takes a century and-a-half to fully
subdue both the hard-fighting Thracian tribes and the Dacians and
Celts of the Balkans - especially the Celts of the Scordisci confederation.
In this year a minor clash takes place between Rome and the Scordisci,
although the details and location are unknown.
c.150
BC :
Metal coinage comes into use in Britain. There is now widespread
contact with the Continent through the southern Celtic tribes in
the country.
133
BC :
With the fall of the Celtic city of Numantia in Iberia, the Celtiberians
are conquered by Rome. To achieve this, it has taken sixty-two years
of Roman fighting since the first Celtic submission to them in the
Iberian peninsula.
119/117
BC :
Although generally ascribed to 119 BC, Kazarov places this event
in 117 BC. After a general period of peace lasting for more than
fifteen years, the Scordisci manage to push all the way through
the Roman defences in the southern Balkans, reaching the Aegean
coast. The Roman governor of Macedonia, Pompeius, is killed during
an attack on Argos. A force led by Quaestor Marcus Annius finally
ends their adventure, pushing them back. A subsequent attack by
the Scordisci together with the Thracian Maedi tribe is also repulsed.
The
involvement of the Maedi tribe in the second attack marks the beginning
of a new, more widespread involvement in the frequent campaigns
between Romans and barbarians. While the Celts in Thrace and the
lower Balkans continue to offer the biggest threat to Roman expansion,
the native Balkan tribes frequently support them, especially the
Bastarnae, Dardani, and the free Thracian tribes (the Bessoi, Denteletes,
Maedi, and Triballi). It takes this Macedonian raid to make Rome
fully aware of the severity of the threat to its security in the
region. The war between Rome and the tribes in the Balkans rumbles
on for decades, becoming increasingly bloody and vicious.
113
- 102 BC :
In Franconia, members of the Celto-Germanic Helvetii peoples join
a large-scale migration of Germanic Teutones and Cimbri from their
homeland in what later becomes central and northern Denmark. The
wandering tribes enter Gaul from Germany in 109 BC, causing chaos
amongst the Celtic tribes there and rendering critical the situation
in the region. It is almost certainly this invasion that sparks
a migration of Belgic peoples from the Netherlands and northern
Gaul into south-eastern Britain, although such a migration may already
have started on a smaller scale.
1st
century BC :
By the first century BC the Venedi are known to occupy a great swathe
of territory that stretches from East Prussia and modern Kaliningrad,
to western Belarus and western Ukraine. They may even have absorbed
other Belgic groups that have migrated with them, although the lack
of any written evidence makes their history extremely uncertain
and open to interpretation.
![Vistula](Modern_Vistula02_full.jpg)
For
a seagoing people like the Belgae, it would have been a fairly simple
process to sail along the southern waters of the Baltic and enter
a wide river mouth such as the Vistula - settlement quickly followed,
spreading south along the river's east bank between the fifth or
fourth centuries BC and the first and second AD
c.60
BC :
Diviciacus of the Suessiones (not to be confused with Diviciacus
of the Aeduii) holds sway not only among a large proportion of the
Continental Belgic tribes but also over parts of south-eastern Britain,
according to Julius Caesar. This would suggest a form of high kingship
over the Belgic tribes that had recently migrated there, such as
the Belgae, Cantii, and perhaps the Catuvellauni and Trinovantes.
This unity of tribes is reflected in their characteristic triple-tailed
horse coins from about 60 BC.
c.60
- 40 BC :
From the latter part of the first century BC and into the next century,
various historians mention a variety of tribes and their affiliates
which are uniformly identified as being Taurisci, together with
a variety of other Cisalpine tribes which include the Norici and
Iapydes (not all of which are Celtic in origin). Strabo mentions
the Taurisci in his Natural History as being strictly Celtic,
as does Livy writing the History of Rome around 10 BC. Pliny
the Elder, writing his own Natural History in the mid-first
century AD, does the same, along with Apian and Cassius Dio in the
second and third centuries AD, saying that the Taurisci are a warrior-like
tribe that often plunders Roman territory in the hinterlands of
Tergestica (modern Trieste) - this at a time when the various Celtic
peoples have largely been Romanised or Germanised.
The
other tribes mentioned as individual groups of the Taurisci confederation
include: the Carni, who occupy the Carnian Alps, on the edge of
the south-eastern Alps; the Latovici between Krka and Sava; the
Varciani along the Sava towards Sisak; the Serapili and Sereti along
the River Drava on the edge of Pannonia; and the Iasi towards Varaždin.
Ancient
authors also list several smaller indigenous communities, such as
the Illyrian Colapiani along the River Kolpa, the Celtic Ambisontes
in the Soča Valley, the Subocrini around Razdrto, and the Rundicti
in the Kras and Notranjska regions. The Great Tauriscan tribal community
with some identified smaller tribes (such as the Latovici) has never
developed into a state formation.
60
- 58 BC :
The
Helvetii begin an invasion of the lowlands of Gaul, and Julius Caesar
recruits two new legions to face the threat. After some skirmishing,
the two sides face each other at the Battle of Bibracte in 58 BC,
and the Helvetii are mercilessly crushed by six Roman legions. Their
shattered remnants are forced back to their homeland, but are now
unable to fight off Germanic incursions that could also threaten
Gaul. Julius Caesar allows the relatively hospitable Boii to settle
a buffer zone to the north of the Helvetii and east of the Aeduii,
but even this shift leaves gaps for Germanic incursions, and one
is already underway to the north. Caesar receives a federation of
chiefs from tribes that include the Sequani, all of whom are suffering
thanks to the Suebic invasion under Ariovistus. It is this campaign
and its mixed outcome, despite victory in battle, that triggers
Julius Caesar's campaigns in Gaul from this point onwards, which
result in the eventual annexation of the entire land into the Roman
state.
In
the Balkans, and following a recent success in battle at Histria,
relations between the Getae and their neighbours undergoes a notable
deterioration. Suddenly, under the leadership of Burebista, who
is apparently guided by a wizard called Deceneus, the Getae launch
a succession of brutal attacks on their former allies. The Celts
seem to be first on the list, although the Eravisci escape unscathed.
The territory of the Boii and Taurisci are laid waste, with the
Boii especially being almost genocidally exterminated by Burebista's
brutal onslaught. Their territory is subsequently known as the deserta
Boiorum (effectively meaning the Boii wastelands, with 'deserta'
meaning 'empty lands', or at least land that is sparsely populated).
The Scordisci in Thrace follow, their previously unassailable heartland
laid open. Next to face Burebista's onslaught are the Bastarnae
in Dobruja, who are apparently 'conquered', and then the largely
defenceless western Greek Pontic cities. This period coincides with
the end of local coin production by the Celts and Bastarnae, showing
that the cultural and economic status quo has been fatally disrupted.
![Battle of Bibracte Romans](Army_Bibracte01_full.jpg)
The
Roman troops of Julius Caesar prepare to face the Helvetii and their
allies (which probably include some Boii elements) at the Battle
of Bibracte in 58 BC, outside the oppidum of the Aeduii tribe
58
BC :
The Gallic Wars of Julius Caesar begin when he becomes governor
of Gaul. Over the course of the next decade or so, he conquers all
of the Gaulish tribes. His efforts begin with a showdown against
Ariovistus of the Suevi at the Battle of Vosges. The Suevi host
lines up in units of tribal groups starting with the Harudes, Marcomanni,
Triboci, Vangiones, Nemetes, Sedusii and the core of the Suebi themselves.
Superior Roman tactics breaks that line and the Suevi host makes
a run for the Rhine. Ariovistus makes it across, but many of his
allies now turn on him and the Suebi. It is Caesar who records the
existence of the Suebi, differentiating them from the tribe of the
Cherusci, but now they avoid the Rhine for generations, concentrating
on building a fresh confederation in central Germania.
57
BC :
The
Belgae enter into a confederacy against the Romans in fear of Rome's
eventual domination over them. They are also spurred on by Gauls
who are unwilling to see Germanic tribes remaining on Gaulish territory
and are unhappy about Roman troops wintering in Gaul. The Senones
are asked by Julius Caesar to gain intelligence on the intentions
of the Belgae, and they report that an army is being collected.
Caesar marches ahead of expectations and the Remi, on the Belgic
border, instantly surrender, although their brethren, the Suessiones
remain enthusiastic about the venture. The Bellovaci are the most
powerful among the Belgae, but the confederation also includes the
Ambiani, Atrebates, Atuatuci, Caerosi, Caleti, Condrusi, Eburones,
Menapii, Morini, Nervii, Paemani, Veliocasses, and Viromandui, along
with some unnamed Germans on the western side of the Rhine.
Caesar
encourages his ally, Diviciacus of the Aeduii, to attack the Bellovaci
and divert part of the Belgic forces. The remaining Belgae march
against the Romans en masse, attacking the Remi town of Bibrax along
the way. Rather than face such a large force with a reputation for
uncommon bravery, Caesar elects to isolate them in groups using
his cavalry. He confronts the Bellovaci in battle, during which
they learn that Diviciacus and the Aeduii are approaching their
territories. They leave the battlefield in some disorder to attempt
to head off the Aeduii, but Roman troops are able to follow them
and cut down large numbers of men before breaking off.
The
next day, Caesar leads his army into the territories of the Suessiones,
to capture the town of Noviodunum. With this victory, the Suessiones
surrender and Caesar marches on the surviving Bellovaci, who take
refuge in their town of Galled Bratuspantium. Diviciacus of the
Aeduii pleads for the former allies of his people, whose leaders
in the confederacy against Rome had already fled to Britain. With
the Bellovaci subdued, Caesar receives the surrender of the Ambiani,
while the Nervii, refusing any surrender, assemble with the Atrebates
and Viromandui to offer battle. The Atuatuci are expected to join
them, but the Nervii launch an early surprise attack at the Battle
of the Sabis (probably the River Selle). The Romans are supported
by auxiliaries sent by the Treveri, while the Nervii are backed
up by the Atrebates. The attack surprises the Romans, but they rally
and turn potential defeat into a near-massacre of the Nervii. The
Atuatuci, who had been marching to the assistance of the Nervii,
return home once they hear that they have missed the battle. They
are attacked there by the Romans and are completely defeated. The
region inhabited by the Atuatuci on the western side of the Rhine
is left entirely depopulated when Caesar sells all surviving tribal
members into slavery, which amounts to something like fifty-three
thousand individuals.
According
to Caesar, the Aulerci, Cariosvelites, Osismii, Redones, Sesuvii,
Venelli, and Veneti, all of whom are located along the Atlantic
coast, are subdued by the legion of Publius Licinius Crassus. With
this action, northern Gaul has been brought under Roman domination,
while the victorious legions winter amongst the Andes, Carnutes,
and Turones.
56
BC :
Following
his successful campaign against the Belgae in the previous year,
Caesar heads for Italy. He sends Servius Galba ahead with the Twelfth
Legion and part of the cavalry to secure the way. The pass through
the Alps has been dominated by the Nantuates, Seduni, and Veragri
tribes, making the route a dangerous one for Roman merchants, and
now is the time to end that danger. Galba conducts a few successful
battles and storms several of their forts, until the tribes send
embassies and hostages, and peace is concluded.
Galba
stations two cohorts among the Nantuates, and sets up camp with
the legion's remaining cohorts in the village of Octodurus, which
belongs to the the Veragri. The village is situated in a valley
with a small plain, and is bounded on all sides by very high mountains.
Galba takes the unoccupied half of the village as winter quarters
for his troops, and fortifies it with a rampart and ditch.
Several
days later, the tribe has vanished from the village and has assembled
in the mountains overlooking the valley with a very large force
of Nantuates and Seduni. The legion, which is reduced in size after
detachments have been made, appears vulnerable to the Celts, who
are convinced that the Romans want to conquer all of Gaul. The Romans
decide to defend their position, and are hard-pressed by the superior
numbers attacking them, perhaps 30,000 in all. The six hour battle
ends when the exhausted Romans make a last-ditch sally that takes
the Celts by surprise and inflicts heavy casualties on them, forcing
them to withdraw. Having survived the onslaught the Romans withdraw
in good order, heading westwards into the territory of the Allobroges
where they settle into safer winter quarters.
With
Gaul now apparently at peace, Caesar sets out for Illyricum. Once
he has left, war flares up again, triggered by Publius Licinius
Crassus and the Seventh Legion in the territory of the Andes. With
supplies of corn running low, he sends scavenging parties into the
territories of the Cariosvelites, Esubii, and the highly influential
Veneti. The latter revolt against this infringement of their lands
and possessions, and the neighbouring tribes rapidly follow their
lead, including the Ambiliati, Diablintes, Lexovii, Menapii, Morini,
Namniti, Nannetes, and Osismii. The Veneti also send for auxiliaries
from their cousins in Britain. Julius Caesar rushes back to northern
Gaul, to a fleet that is being prepared for him by the (Roman-led)
Pictones and Santones on the River Loire. The Veneti and their allies
fortify their towns, stock them with corn harvests from the surrounding
countryside, and gather together as many ships as possible. Knowing
that the overland passes are cut off by estuaries and that a seaward
approach is highly difficult for their opponents, they plan to fight
the Romans using their powerful navy in the shallows of the Loire.
Before
engaging the Veneti, Caesar sends troops to the Remi, Treveri, and
other Belgae to encourage them to keep to their allegiance with
Rome and to hold the Rhine against possible incursions by Germans
who may be planning to join the Veneti. This works, with even the
previously militant Bellovaci remaining subdued during this revolt.
Crassus is sent to Aquitania and Quintus Titurius Sabinus to the
Cariosvelites, Lexovii and Venelli, to prevent them sending reinforcements
to the Veneti. Sabinus finds that Viridovix of the Venelli has joined
the revolt, along with the Aulerci and Sexovii, who have killed
their magistrates for wanting to remain neutral. Sabinus remains
in his well-fortified camp, resisting the taunts of the Venelli
and their allies until they venture too far forwards, allowing a
Roman sally across the defensive ditch and into the fleeing Celtic
ranks. This area of the revolt is instantly extinguished.
![Romans attack a Veneti vessel](Celts_Veneti01_full.jpg)
Roman
auxiliaries in the form of the Aeduii attack a Veneti vessel in
Morbihan Bay on the French Atlantic coast during the campaign of
56 BC
The
campaign by Caesar against the Veneti is protracted and takes place
both on land and sea. Veneti strongholds, when threatened, are evacuated
by sea and the Romans have to begin again. Eventually the Veneti
fleet is cornered and defeated in Quiberon Bay by Legate Decimus
Junius Brutus Albinus. The Veneti strongholds are stormed and much
of the Veneti population is either captured and enslaved or butchered.
The confederation is destroyed and Roman rule is firmly stamped
upon the region.
Entering Aquitania, Crassus recruits auxiliaries from the Gaulish
regions of Tolosa, Carcaso, and Narbo (which includes the tribes
of the Bebryces, Sordones, and Volcae) before entering the territory
of the Sotiates. That tribe has gathered together a large force
which attacks the Romans in a drawn-out and vigorously-contested
engagement. The Romans are only just victorious, having outlasted
their hot-headed Celtic opponents in terms of stamina. The tribe's
oppidum is besieged and they eventually surrender, despite
an attempt by Adcantuannus to lead his personal retinue into a death
or glory attack and other Celts undermining the siege towers (thanks
to the presence of copper in the region these Celts are expert miners).
Crassus marches into the territories of the Vocates and Tarusates.
They prove to be a rather more difficult opponent. The campaign
against the Sotiates has given them time to raise troops from northern
Iberia, many of which had fought with Quintus Sertorius, a rebellious
governor of Spain who defied Rome for a decade, and they have learnt
a great deal from that experience. They outnumber Crassus perhaps
by ten-to-one and hold a very strong position which prevents him
from gathering supplies for his men. The only option (aside from
an unthinkable retreat) is to engage them in battle, despite the
odds. Pinning them down at the front, he sends cavalry around to
their rear to scout out any weakness. Their entirely unguarded rear
is attacked and, with Romans pressing from two sides, the Aquitani
are forced to surrender with heavy casualties. When news of this
defeat spreads, the majority of the tribes of Aquitania surrender
to Crassus, including the Ausci, Bigerriones, Cocosates, Elusates,
Garites, Garumni, Preciani, Suburates, Tarbelli, Tarusates, and
Vocasates (and presumably the unmentioned Oscidates).
Now only the Morini and Menapii remain in opposition to Rome, never
having sent their ambassadors to agree peace terms. Caesar leads
his army to their territory but they withdraw into the forests and
marshes, having realised that head-on conflict will be fruitless.
However, guerrilla warfare simply results in the Romans decimating
the countryside and burning the villages, and the invaders return
to winter quarters amongst the Aulerci and Lexovii and other recently
conquered tribes, having seen off the latest threat.
55
BC :
As recorded by Julius Caesar in his work, Commentarii de Bello
Gallico, the Germanic Tencteri and Usipetes tribes cross the
Rhine from Germania and attack first the Belgic Menapii and then
the Condrusi and Eburones. The tribes of the Caerosi, Condrusi,
Eburones, and Paemani are Belgic peoples who are sometimes thought
by scholars to be Germanic, although much of the evidence seems
to suggest that they are either Celts, or are ruled by a Celtic
nobility.
![Germanic warriors](Germanics_General02_full.jpg)
This
romanticised illustration of Germanic warriors bore little similarity
to the rough and ready warriors of the Germanic tribes along the
Rhine
It
has been suggested (by Rübekeil) that the Tencteri name could be
Germanic or Celtic, meaning 'the faithful' in both tongues, but
while Julius Caesar calls them Germans, simply because they came
from the eastern side of the Rhine, it seems that both they and
the Usipetes belonged culturally to the La Tène, making them Celts,
or possibly Celts with a Germanic warrior elite commanding them.
The Ambivariti are mentioned only once, by Julius Caesar, and then
only vaguely. Their location is not given, except by association
with the Menapii, to whom they seem to be neighbours. This is in
connection with a raid on them by Germans in 55 BC, at which time
they are probably based between modern Breda and Antwerp. Thereafter
they disappear from history, not to be mentioned by any other classical
writer.
54
BC :
Julius Caesar starts the year by visiting Illyricum to put down
incursions by the Pirustae. He raises a local force that readies
itself to repel the invaders, forcing the Pirustae to negotiate
a peace. From there, he returns to Gaul and assembles a fleet at
Port Itius, intent on a second expedition to Britain.
Before leaving, he visits the Treveri with four legions, as an internal
power struggle has developed between Cingetorix, who is pro-Roman,
and Indutiomarus, who opposes him. Indutiomarus persuades his people
to join the revolt led by Ambiorix of the Eburones, and declares
Cingetorix to be an enemy of the tribe. His property is duly confiscated.
The Treveri and their allies manage to defeat a Roman legion during
the revolt, but Cingetorix presents himself to Caesar's legate,
Titus Labienus, who defeats and kills Indutiomarus in a cavalry
engagement. Cingetorix is forced upon the tribe as its new ruler,
with the result that leading groups of Treveri apparently cross
the Rhine and settle amongst the Germanic tribes there.
Returning to Port Itius, Caesar discovers that forty ships that
had been built in the country of the 'Meldi' had been driven back
by a storm and have returned to port. Caesar intends to take with
him most of the Gallic leaders, but Dumnorix of the Aeduii attempts
to flee the Roman camp before he can be embarked. He is pursued
and cut down. The expedition to Britain goes ahead, bringing Caesar
into contact with the Insular Atrebates, Cantii, Catuvellauni, and
Trinovantes. Following his return, he is forced to winter his troops
in different quarters in Gaul owing to the poor harvests of that
year. One legion is given to Caius Fabius to be quartered in the
territories of the Morini, while Quintus Cicero takes another to
the Nervii, Lucius Roscius takes one to the lands of the Essui,
and Titus Labienus goes to the Remi 'in the confines of the Treveri'.
Three more legions are stationed amongst the Belgae and one with
the Eburones who are commanded by Ambiorix and Cativolcus.
The
recent assassination of Tasgetius of the Carnutes, born of very
high rank and a descendant of chiefs of the tribe, raises the fear
in the Romans that the tribe will revolt. Lucius Plancus takes a
legion to winter amongst them, but his investigations into the murder
are interrupted. About fifteen days after the legions enter winter
quarters, Ambiorix and Cativolcus of the Eburones instigate the
revolt mentioned above, prompted primarily by pressure from their
people. A legion under Quintus Titurius Sabinus and Lucius Aurunculeius
Cotta is defeated, with both generals being killed and the survivors
committing suicide in their fort to avoid capture. Only a few men
escape to relate the news to Caesar. Ambiorix marches his cavalry
to the Atuatuci, with the infantry following on. The Atuatuci are
roused by tales of his victory and then so are the Nervii. Together
they launch an attack on the legion of Cicero, razing much of his
fort and hard-pressing the defenders.
![South Limberg](Belgium_Limberg01_full.jpg)
The
gentle rolling landscape of the Limberg region would have made idea
pasture and farming land for the Belgic tribes, but its proximity
to the Maas would have provided the woods and swamps which served
as a refuge in times of need
Word
of this reaches Marcus Crassus amongst the Bellovaci, just twenty-five
miles away, and Caius Fabius also marches from the lands of the
Morini, with both forces having to negotiate their way through the
lands of the Continental Atrebates along the way. Caesar arrives
to relieve Cicero and is attacked by about 60,000 Gauls. Despite
the massive disparity in numbers compared to Caesar's own 7,000,
the Gauls are put to flight with great losses, although the Romans
suffer casualties of ten per cent.
Although the situation is calmed by this victory, Cavarinus of the
Senones is condemned to death by his people and is forced to flee
to the Romans for protection. This serves as a commitment by the
tribe to oppose Julius Caesar during his Gallic campaigns. His replacement
at the time is unknown, but within three years the tribe is being
led by Drappes. The act seems to rally support from amongst most
of the Gauls, except the Aeduii and Remi, who remain loyal to Rome,
although the Gauls are unable to encourage the Germans to cross
the Rhine and support them due to the recent defeats of Ariovistus
of the Suevi and of the Tencteri expedition, something that has
dissuaded them from a third attempt. However, following the death
of Indutiomarus of the Treveri, no further action is taken against
the Romans in this year.
53
BC :
Having left a strong guard with the Treveri following the conclusion
of their revolt, Caesar again crosses the Rhine to deal with their
German supporters. The Ubii reaffirm their loyalty to him while
Caesar discovers that the auxiliaries that had joined the Treveri
had been sent by the Suevi. They are drawing together units of infantry
and cavalry from all across their vast domain and, having learned
of Caesar's approach, they withdraw to the vast wood called Bacenis
(a thick forest of beech trees which has been equated with the Harz),
which separates the Suevi from the Cherusci. Unwilling to follow
them, Caesar fortifies the bridge that connects to the Ubii and
stations twelve cohorts there.
Caesar then enters the country of the Eburones, supported by a contingent
of Senones cavalry led by the exiled Cavarinus, their former puppet
king. Despite having the cavalry of the Treveri in support, the
rebellious Ambiorix flees before the Romans and Cativolcus commits
suicide by poisoning. Despite this apparent capitulation, the country
of the Eburones proves difficult for the Romans, being woody and
swampy in parts. Caesar invites the neighbouring people to come
and plunder the tribe and, after stubborn resistance, Caesar burns
every village and building that he can find in their territory,
drives off all the cattle, and confiscates all of the tribe's grain.
The Germanic Sicambri take the opportunity to cross the Rhine and
surprise many of the plunderers, seizing a large part of the Eburones'
cattle. The Eburones are destroyed by this action and no further
mention is made of them in history. Their land is occupied by the
Tungri.
The Sicambri, emboldened by their sudden gains, are easily persuaded
to attack the main Roman camp with the promise of further riches
and little opposition from the small garrison and a large number
of invalids. After being surprised, the Roman defenders manage to
rally under Sextus Baculus. They are reinforced by the returning
foraging party and the Sicambri withdraw, seeing that they will
not now prevail. They withdraw across the Rhine with their plunder
and Caesar is able to settle his men into winter quarters.
![Romans versus Gauls](Celts_Vercingetorix01_full.jpg)
Organising
the various tribes of Gaul into a unified resistance took some doing,
but Vercingetorix of the Arverni appears to have held a level of
authority that made him a leader not to be refused, and thousands
of warriors flocked to join him
However,
greater events are afoot. On 13 February 53 BC the disaffected Carnutes
had massacred every Roman merchant who had been present in the town
of Cenabum, as well as killing one of Caesar's commissariat officers.
This is the spark that ignites a massed Gaulish rebellion. While
Julius Caesar has been occupied in the lands of the Belgae, Vercingetorix
has renewed the Arverni subjugation of the Aeduii. He has also restored
the reputation of Arverni greatness by leading the revolt that is
building against Rome.
Despite his former allegiance to Julius Caesar, in the winter of
53-52 BC Commius of the Atrebates uses his contacts with the Bellovaci
to convince them to contribute 2,000 men to an army. This army will
join other Gauls to form a massive relief force at Alesia in the
last stage of the revolt. The Lemovices are also amongst the first
tribes to commit to joining Vercingetorix, contributing 10,000 men.
The Mediomatrici send 5,000 men, and the Andes, Ruteni, and Turones
are also amongst the first to commit. The warriors of the Pictones
decide to supply 8,000 warriors, but their chief, Duratios, stands
firm in his desire to maintain his alliance with Rome, and this
difference of opinion causes a split in the tribe. The warriors
join the chief of the Andes who heads for Lemonum to besiege Duratios.
The king sends a messenger to the Roman legate, Caius Caninius,
who comes to his aid from the territory of the Ruteni. This small
force is soon backed up by a more effective unit under Caius Fabius
and a Pictonii civil war is averted.
52
BC :
The Aulerci, Cadurci, Lemovices, Parisii, Pictones, Senones, and
Turones have all joined Vercingetorix of the Arverni, as do all
of the tribes that border the ocean. The Treveri support the revolt
but are pinned down by German tribes.
Vercingetorix
sends Lucterius of the Cadurci into the territory of the Ruteni
to gain their support, and marches in person to the Bituriges. The
latter, under the protection of the Aeduii, send to them for help
to resist the Arverni but are forced to join the revolt. Lucterius
continues to the Gabali and Nitiobroges and wins their support,
collecting together a large force ahead of an advance into the province
of Narbonensis. Caesar gets there first and rallies the garrisons
among the Ruteni and Volcae Arecomisci, and Lucterius is forced
to retreat. From there Caesar circles through the territory of the
generally pro-Roman Helvii (who provide auxiliaries) to reach that
of the Arverni, despite deep winter snows in the mountains.
Vercingetorix,
after sustaining a series of losses at Vellaunodunum, Genabum, and
Noviodunum, summons his men to a council in which it is decided
that the Romans should be prevented from being able to gather supplies.
A scorched earth policy is adopted, and more than twenty towns of
the Bituriges are burned in one day, although their oppidum
at Avaricum is spared. The Boii have little with which to support
the Romans, and the Aeduii are showing little enthusiasm for it,
but Caesar secures all the supplies he needs when he besieges and
storms Avaricum, despite a formidable Gaulish defence. From there,
the two sides gravitate towards an eventual confrontation at Gergovia,
a town of the recently resettled Boii. Now the chief of the generally
pro-Roman Aeduii, Convictolitavis, is free to end his equivocation
and leads a force not in support of Caesar at Gergovia but against
him. The Nitiobroges also send troops to aid Vercingetorix there.
Caesar loses the siege after having to split his forces to face
the unexpected threat, a rare defeat for him in Gaul.
![The site of Alesia](Celts_Alesia01_full.jpg)
The
site of Alesia, a major fort belonging to the Mandubii tribe of
Celts, was the scene of the final desperate stand-off between Rome
and the Gauls in 52 BC
Labienus
marches with four legions to the Parisii town of Lutetia. Gauls
from the neighbouring states immediately gather to oppose him, under
the leadership of the aged but still very wise Camulogenus of the
Aulerci. Labienus pulls back to Melodunum of the Senones, takes
the town by force, and marches again against Camulogenus. The ensuing
battle sees the Gauls defeated and Camulogenus killed. Labienus
joins Caesar while Vercingetorix levies troops from the Aeduii and
Segusiavi. These he places under the command of the brother of Eporedirix
and orders them to attack the Allobroges. The Gabali and the easternmost
Arverni cantons are sent to fight the Helvii, and the Cadurci and
Ruteni are told to lay waste the territories of the Volcae Arecomisci.
The Helvii are defeated and their leaders slain, including Caius
Valerius Donotaurus, the son of Caburus. The Allobroges manage to
defend their frontiers successfully, but Caesar finds that he is
hard-pressed to counter Vercingetorix's superiority in cavalry.
He calls for cavalry and light infantry from the loyal German tribes
(which undoubtedly includes the Ubii), and this helps him greatly
in the battle which follows.
Vercingetorix, his cavalry routed in that battle, withdraws in good
order to Alesia, a major fort belonging to the Mandubii. The remaining
cavalry are dispatched back to their tribes to bring reinforcements.
Caesar begins a siege of Alesia, aiming on starving out the inhabitants.
Indeed, matters become so bad inside the fort that the Mandubian
women and children are ejected (possibly in the hope that the Roman
lines will part to let them pass), but Caesar effectively traps
them in the no-man's-land between the opposing forces and allows
them to starve.
Four relief forces amounting to a considerable number of men and
horses are assembled in the territory of the Aeduii by the council
of the Gaulish nobility. Demanded from the tribes of Gaul are thirty-five
thousand men from the Aeduii and their dependents, the Ambivareti,
Brannovices, and Segusiavi; an equal number from the Arverni in
conjunction with the Cadurci, Eleuteti, Gabali, and Vellavi, who
are accustomed to following Arverni commands; twelve thousand each
from the Bituriges, Carnutes, Ruteni (mostly archers), Santones,
Senones, and Sequani; ten thousand each from the Bellovaci, Helvetii
and Lingones; eight thousand each from the Helvii (despite the tribe's
pro-Roman standing), Parisii, Pictones, and Turones; six thousand
combined from the tribes of Armorica (including the Ambibari, Caleti,
Cariosvelites, Lemovices, Osismii, Redones, Venelli, Veneti); five
thousand each from the Ambiani, Mediomatrici, Morini, Nervii, Nitiobroges,
Petrocorii, and Suessiones; the same number from the Aulerci Cenomani;
four thousand from the Atrebates; three thousand each from the Aulerci
Eburovices, Bellocassi, Lexovii, and Veliocasses; plus substantial
numbers sent by the Boii and Raurici. Of all of these the Bellovaci
withhold their contribution, claiming that they would wage war against
the Romans on their own account, free of external command. However,
at the request of Commius of the Atrebates, they send two thousand
men in consideration of a tie of hospitality which exists between
them and him. Commanders are appointed, one of which is Vercassivellaunos,
who teams up with Sedullos of the Lemovices.
Together they attempt to relieve Vercingetorix at the siege of Alesia,
but the combined relief force is soundly repulsed by Julius Caesar's
remarkable strategy of simultaneously conducting the siege of Alesia
on one front whilst being besieged on the other. Marcus Antonius
(Mark Anthony) and Caius Trebonius marshal the troops for the rearward
defence. Sedullos of the Lemovices is slain, and Vergasillaunus
of the Arverni is captured. Seeing that all is lost, Vercingetorix
surrenders to Caesar. The garrison is taken prisoner, as are the
survivors from the relief army. They are either sold into slavery
or given as booty to Caesar's legionaries, apart from the Aeduii
and Arverni warriors who are released and pardoned in order to secure
the allegiance of these important and powerful tribes.
During the revolt, the Bituriges Cubi fall back to their main oppidum
of Avaricum. Although they put up a desperate resistance, their
hill fort ultimately falls to a Roman assault and all its surviving
inhabitants are put to the sword. The Carnutes make their own situation
worse by attacking the Bituriges Cubi, whom Caesar aids. As a reminder
of their part in the rebellion, the Carnutes town of Cenabum is
left in ruins and the location is garrisoned by two Roman legions.
Vercingetorix is imprisoned in the Tullianum in Rome for five years
and Gaul falls to the republic. After the surrender of Alesia, Commius
of the Atrebates returns north and joins Correus of the Bellovaci.
The two men command the last major Gallic army to directly oppose
Caesar, and for some time they manage to hold off the Romans until
defeat finally ends their resistance.
Celts
in the Roman Republic & Empire / Gaul :
52 BC - AD 500 :
The end of the Roman republic and the start of the Roman empire
was not a clear-cut crossover between the two. Instead it was a
period of gradual transition, in which the supporters of republic
plotted to end the rule of Rome by a single family and bring about
a return to republican ways, but who gradually saw their ambitions
fade as key supporter after supporter was either assassinated or
fell by the wayside. By the late first century AD the fact that
Rome now had an empire that was ruled by a single emperor was accepted
by almost all.
The Celts of this period were still not entirely under Roman control.
While Caesar's conquest of Gaul, claimed by him in his Commentaries
as being complete, was an effective domination of the territory,
it was incomplete in regards to fully subjugating the Gaulish tribes.
It is apparent to modern scholars that many tribes completely or
partially fled Gaul for Britain and Ireland. It was not in Caesar's
interests to list tribes whose members have sailed away, thumbing
their noses in his general direction. This fleeing instead of submitting
continued when the Romans conquer Britain.
It would take several generations for those Continental tribes that
had been conquered to be fully assimilated into Roman culture, and
many tribes still had not been fully conquered. Resentment and revolt
flared up on more than one occasion. The Alpine tribes still maintained
a good deal of independence, and the Celts of the Balkans were still
a serious threat to Roman security. The most serious revolt was
that of AD 69-70, during the troublesome 'Year of Four Emperors',
but afterwards the Celts within the empire were largely peaceful
and supportive of Roman administration, culture, and security. There
were also some places in which Roman rule did not weigh heavily,
such as Armorica and Wales, and some where it didn't reach at all
- at least not permanently - such as Pictland and Ireland, but on
the whole, Rome ruled the Celts for the best part of five centuries.
(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information by Edward
Dawson, and from External Link: Geography, Strabo
(H C Hamilton & W Falconer, London, 1903, Perseus Online Edition).)
46
BC :
Following
five years of imprisonment, Vercingetorix of the Arverni is publicly
displayed at Julius Caesar's triumph. Afterwards, back in his cell,
he is executed by strangulation. This removes the figurehead of
Gaulish independence and with this action, Gaul's dreams of independence
have been ended by Roman domination, and the history of its population
of Celts is tied to that of the empire.
![Vercingetorix and Caesar in 52 BC](Celts_Vercingetorix02_full.jpg)
Having
surrendered with honour to Caesar in 52 BC, Vercingetorix remained
a potent symbol of resistance to Roman domination, so his murder
in 46 BC dealt a terminal blow to hopes of renewed Celtic freedom
<
35
- 33 BC :
Eastern Tauriscan tribes are defeated by Octavian between these
dates, while the western tribes that border the Carni come under
the dominion of the 'Kingdom of Noricum'. This means that the rarely-mentioned
Norici dominate and effectively absorb the western Taurisci, although
perhaps only because the confederation as a whole has been defeated
by Rome.
The
Roman state gradually absorbs the Celtic and indigenous populations
and completely Romanises them through a combination of military
force, economic pressure, political organisation, and their own
way of life. The indigenous population survives in the towns and
village settlements, whose names frequently denote the area of a
specific tribal group (such as, for example, Praetorium Latobicorum
(modern Trebnje), and Municipium Flavium Latobi-corum Neviodunum
(modern Drnovo, near Krško)).
28
BC :
A
second campaign by Crassus in Thrace is designed to 'punish' the
Scordisci tribes of north-western Bulgaria (namely the Serdi, Meldi
and Artacoi). Cassius Dio states that these tribes have 'never been
captured and would not acknowledge his [Crassus] authority, priding
themselves greatly upon this point and at the same time inspiring
in the others both anger and a disposition to rebel'.
It
seems strange that these tribes are only now mentioned, three decades
after the Scordisci had been broken by Burebista. It suggests that
the confederation itself had been broken by the attack, and that
these three tribes may now be the only ones capable of mounting
any serious resistance to Rome, but on an individual basis rather
than as elements of the confederation. The campaign apparently does
little more than push them into the hinterland, out of Rome's reach.
Archaeological evidence shows a Celtic migration into the mountains
from Thrace during this final period of Roman conquest over the
more hospitable terrain.
27
BC - AD 14 :
During the period of office of Augustus in Rome, the Aquitani tribes
are incorporated into the newly-formed province of Aquitania. The
province extends from the Liger (the modern Loire) to the Pyrenees,
and is bound on the northern side by Mons Cevennus. This is one
of the three divisions of the Gauls, the others being Gallia Lugdunensis
and Belgica.
25
- 15 BC :
Augustus determines that the Alpine tribes need to be pacified in
order to end their warlike behaviour, alternately attacking or extracting
money from Romans who pass through the region, even when they have
armies in tow. He wages a steady, determined campaign against them,
and in a period of ten years he 'pacifies the Alps all the way from
the Adriatic to the Tyrrhenian seas' (written by Augustus himself).
The Brigantii and their immediate neighbours are defeated by 15
BC, with Brigantion being captured.
16
BC :
The
Celts of the former Scordisci confederation have one last surprise
remaining for Rome. As imperial Rome stamps its authority on the
Balkans, Celtic tribes swoop down from the Thracian mountains. They
swarm into Macedonia and lay waste to the Roman province once again.
The attack surely comes from the Rhodope Mountains in south-western
Bulgaria, making it the last hurrah of the Scordisci and providing
Rome with a brutal reminder that although the cities and plains
may be civilised, the mountains of central and western Thrace are
still areas to be feared.
![Scordisci weapons](Celts_ScordisciWeapons01_full.jpg)
This
photo displays material that were gathered from the Scordisci warrior
burial at Montana in north-western Bulgaria - former Thrace - which
was part of their territory at this time
c.8 - 6 BC :
Various Germanic tribes can be located within the area of the Przeworsk
culture at this time, including the Lugii and Vandali, along with
the (possibly) Belgic Venedi of Eastern Europe. The Burgundians
are also linked to the region prior to their migration. Arguments
have existed for some time over whether the Przeworsk is the result
of Germanic, proto-Slavic, or Celtic influence. The truth is probably
that all three contribute. The Lugii especially are known to cross
the boundary between Germanic and Celtic, while little is known
of the proto-Slavs except that they first emerge between southern
Poland and western Ukraine.
1st
century AD :
The interior of Croatia is dominated by tribal peoples, with the
Celts and native Elyrs (modern Kosovars and Albanians) most significant
just before the Roman conquest. The Celtic Norican kingdom, which
covers modern Austria, Slovenia and part of northern Croatia, briefly
survives the conquest as a Roman tributary. Celts also occupy territory
alongside Germanic peoples in Galicia.
AD
23 :
Strabo describes a tribal federation which appears to include the
Butones (a questionable name, perhaps a misspelling of Gutones),
Lugii, Mugilones, Senones, Sibini and Zumi.
AD
43 - 44 :
The Roman invasion of Britain brings them into direct contact with
the Atrebates, Belgae, Cantii, Catuvellauni, Dobunni and Trinovantes.
Within a year they have also conquered, subjugated, or becomes overlords
to the Corieltavi, Cornovii, Durotriges, Iceni, and Parisi.
47
- 79 :
With the south and east of Britain subdued, the Roman campaign against
the hardy tribes of Wales begins. The Deceangli are attacked first,
followed by the Ordovices and Silures. The Demetae appear to be
subdued in AD 51 but complete conquest is not effected until AD
79. The Dumnonians are also subdued by AD 55.
59
- 61 :
Once
Prasutagus of the Iceni dies, the Romans begin to ignore the terms
of the Iceni's client-statehood. Stirred up by imperial heavy-handedness,
Boudicca leads a powerful uprising involving the Iceni, the Trinovantes
and other tribes. It results in the loss to the Romans of lower
eastern Britain. After sacking and burning Campulodunum, Londinium,
and Verulamium (St Albans), the Celts are confronted by a fresh
Roman army under Governor Gaius Suetonius Paulinus and are defeated.
Boudicca's fate is unknown, but it is presumed that she commits
suicide rather than allow herself to fall into Roman hands.
69
- 70 :
Under the authority of self-proclaimed emperor, the Lingones noble,
Julius Sabinus, Gaius Julius Civilis leads a Batavian insurrection
against a Rome which is distracted by the events of the 'Year of
the Four Emperors'. He is supported by the Bructeri, Canninefates,
Chauci, Cugerni, and Tencteri, while the Sinuci are also mentioned
as a people who live in the region (although their involvement in
the revolt is uncertain). The tribes send reinforcements and Civilis
is initially successful. Castra Vetera is captured and two Roman
legions are lost, while two others fall into the hands of the rebels.
In AD 70 the Chatti, Mattiaci, and Usipetes join in, besieging the
legionary fortress at Mogontiacum (modern Mainz).
Eventual
Roman pressure, with aid from the Mediomatrici, Sequani, and Tungri,
forces Civilis to retreat to the Batavian island where he agrees
peace terms with General Quintus Petilius Cerialis. His subsequent
fate is unknown, but the Batavi are treated with great consideration
by Emperor Vespasian. During the revolt, the Roman fortress ceases
to be used (for obvious reasons) and the Oppidum Batavorum is razed.
Quintus Petilius Cerialis soon gains the post of Governor of Britain
in reward for his triumph.
![Celts](Celts_Warriors01_full.jpg)
The
Gaulish and Germanic Batavian revolt of AD 69-70 was a major contributor
to the instability experienced in the Roman empire during the 'Year
of Four Emperors'
98
:
By the later part of the first century BC, the Venedi are neighboured
even farther east by a collection of Finno-Ugric tribes and to the
north-east by the Aesti and eastern Balts. To the west the situation
is less certain, and is changing rapidly. Noted by Tacitus, a host
of Germanic tribes have occupied territory on the southern coast
of the Baltic Sea in the past century or so, including the Gepids,
Goths, Heruli, Scirii, and Vandali. Farther south, in modern southern
Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary and western Ukraine, the situation
is even less clear, with elements of former Celtic tribes existing
alongside encroaching Germanic tribes, including the Boii and Lugii
for the former, and the Buri, Marcomanni, and Quadi for the latter.
Tacitus
does not use the Vistula as a boundary, or even describe a boundary
between Germania and the lands to its east. He does describe the
Venedi as living along the eastern fringe of Germania, inferring
some kind of borderland, but is uncertain of their ethnic identity.
He refers to them as having borrowed from Sarmatians in their habit
of plundering the mountainous and wooded country that lies between
the Peucini to the south (in the Balkans) and the Finni to the north
(generally accepted as being the Finns).
Even
so, he says that they should be classed as Germans thanks to their
settled houses, the shields they carry, and their fondness for travelling
fast on foot, as opposed to the horse-riding Sarmatians. Clearly
he was linking them with the nearest, most similar people without
being aware of their migration and relationship to the Belgae of
the Low Countries.
300s
:
The Tabula Peutingeriana dates from the fourth century AD.
It mentions Venedi who are located on the northern bank of the Danube,
some way upstream of the river's mouth into the Black Sea. It also
mentions the Venadi Sarmatae along the Baltic coast. The latter
are the Venedi of Sarmatia, this being the main body of Venedi along
the east bank of the Vistula. The Venedi near the Danube would appear
to be a migratory group that has followed the Vistula into modern
Slovakia and then has probably skirted the Carpathians by travelling
through modern western Ukraine towards the Black Sea.
c.340
:
A Celtic kingship is established in Armorica, the former territory
of the Vannetais, apparently by early migrants from southern Britain.
How independent this kingship is during a period in which Roman
central control is beginning to crumble is not known.
386/387
:
Remarkably, the Treveri still exist as a recognisable group after
nearly four hundred years of inclusion within the Roman empire.
The best-known piece of evidence for Late Gaulish is found in St
Jerome's (331-420) commentary on St Paul's letter to the Galatians,
written in the year 386/387 (the calculation is somewhat imprecise).
In it he says that the language of the Treveri in the Belgica is
similar to that of the Galatians. Apart from the Greek language,
which is spoken throughout the entire east of the empire, the Galatians
have their own language which is almost the same as that of the
Treveri. It serves to confirm that, whatever their mixed origins,
the Treveri (and by extension all Belgae) spoke Celtic, not Germanic.
468
- 469 :
Riothamus,
'King of the Britons' (with possible links to Cadbury Castle), crosses
the Channel to Gaul, bringing 12,000 ship-borne troops. He remains
in the country for a year or more, perhaps reinforced by Armorican
Bretons, and is able to advance to Bourges (the ancient territory
of the Bituriges) and even further.
![Cadbury Castle](Badon_CadburyCastle02_full.jpg)
Even
today, Cadbury Castle on the West of England presents the image
of a powerful and defensible location, with views across the whole
of Somerset giving it a level of strategic importance, and it could
have links to Riothamus
Gaul's
imperial prefect, the deputy of the Western Roman emperor, treacherously
undermines him by apparently dealing with the Visigoths, probably
to try and divert the Visigothic king to attacking the Breton territories
to the benefit of Roman holdings. In the end, both Riothamus and
the imperial army are defeated in separate battles, and Bourges
falls to the Visigoths. Romano-Celtic Soissons and Armorica are
cut off from Rome.
487
:
Romano-German general and emperor, Odoacer, destroys the Germanic
tribe of the Rugians in central eastern Germany. The Langobards
initially fill this vacuum, until they conquer much of Italy in
568, and then a new confederation, the Bavarii, forms in their place,
perhaps consisting of elements of the Celtic Boii tribe.
8th
century :
The Venedi gradually disappear between the sixth and eighth centuries.
Pressure from Germanic groups to their west, but more especially
from migrating Slavs from the east sees them assimilated. The northernmost
parts of their territory are absorbed by various natives which include
the Prussians and Lithuanians, while the Veleti Union lying on the
west bank of the Oder, bordering the Pomeranians, slowly becomes
Slavicised. That name is the same as 'Galati', but without the 'w'
to 'gw' to 'g' shift that long ago produced Galati. Instead this
'Veleti' is either the original 'w' pronunciation (which seems most
likely) or a Belgic-style 'w' to 'v' pronunciation. What this 'Veleti'
means is that the Venedi and other Celts in this region are recorded
not by tribal name but by ethnic identity. These Celtic descendants
eventually adopt Slavic speech before being incorporated into the
German empire, and the majority of the north is slowly amalgamated
by early Poland.
Thanks to that assimilation, Germans largely see the new Slav masters
of the Venedi as being of the same group, and the Venedi name is
transferred to them (although they do not use it to describe themselves).
In the German tongue they are called Wends (Wenden or Winden), while
further south the early Carinthians and Styrians (later to form
part of Austria) refer to them as Windische. This helps to show
just how great a territory had been settled by the Venedi in the
millennium or more of their settlement east of the Vistula.
![Wends](Early_Wends01_full.jpg)
A
personification of the early Wends was presented by a gospel book
of 990 which showed them as the Sclavinia (early Slavs, of which
the westernmost groups were known as Wends), plus Germania, Gallia,
and Roma, all of whom were bringing tribute to Holy Roman emperor
Otto III
The
vocabulary of the proto-Slavic language shows signs of adoption
from multiple sources, with evidence of loan words from Indo-European
languages of Eastern Europe. Naturally the Venedi have been suggested
as one of those sources. Given the probable origins of the Slavs
between the rivers Bug and Dnieper (the latter of which runs through
Belarus and Kiev in Ukraine before draining into the Black Sea),
the two groups have probably interacted long before the Slavs become
dominant, in much the same way as Germans and Gauls interacted across
the Rhine in the second and first centuries BC.
The heyday of the Celts may be over by this stage, but Celts remain
independent in Wales until the eleventh to thirteenth centuries,
while those in Cornwall and Brittany enjoy a good deal of autonomy,
as do those of Strathclyde. The older communities of Ireland, formed
of a mixture of Neolithic hunters, and proto-Celtic and Celtic settlers,
retain their independence until the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.
Apart from the Strathclyde Britons, all of these groups retain a
strong Celtic identity in modern times, the only Celts across Europe
to do so.
Source
:
https://www.historyfiles.co.uk/
KingListsEurope/BarbarianCelts.htm#Urnfield