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  The appearance of the word "Celtic" in English language happened in the 17th century. The Oxford-based Welsh linguist Edward Lluyd drew attention to the similarities inherent in the languages ​​spoken in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall and Brittany. He called these languages ​​"Celtic" - and the name stuck. The word "Celtic" is also used to describe the "curl" style of various decorations sold in souvenir shops in Ireland. However, there is no evidence that such a design was created by an ethnically homogeneous group of people.

  Story

  Internecine wars, weakening the Celts, contributed to the invasion of the Germans from the east and the Romans from the south. The Germans pushed back part of the Celts in the 1st century BC. e. for the Rhine. Julius Caesar in 58 BC e. - 51 BC e. conquered all of Gaul. Under Augustus, the Romans conquered the regions along the upper Danube, northern Spain, Galatia, and under Claudius (mid-1st century AD) - a significant part of Britain. The Celts, who wished to remain in the territory of the Roman Empire, underwent strong Romanization.

  Contacts with ancient civilizations

  The Celts were one of the most warlike peoples in Europe. To intimidate the enemy before the battle, the Celts uttered deafening cries and blew into battle pipes - carnyxes, the bells of which were made in the form of animal heads.

  The Eastern Celts, settled along the Danube valley, penetrated far to the east in 281 BC. e. to Thrace in northern Greece, the Greeks called them Galatians.

  Settling, the Celts mixed with local tribes: Iberians, Ligurians, Illyrians, Thracians, but some of them long time managed to maintain their identity (lingons, boii), which was one of the reasons for their small number. So, for example, in 58 BC. e., according to Julius Caesar, there were 263,000 Helvetii and only 32,000 Boii [here the argument is debatable, because with the Boii about 60 BC. e. mercilessly dealt with the Dacian king Burebista]. The Celts of southern France developed in conditions of active interaction with the ancient city-states and therefore differed most high level culture. Displaced by the Romans in the 2nd century BC. e. from the north of Italy (from the so-called Cisalpine Gaul), the Celts settled in central and northwestern Bohemia (these were the Boii tribes, from which the territory received the name Boiohaemum - the birthplace of the Boii - Bohemia).

  The most numerous tribes of the Celts were the Helvetians, Belgis, Arverns.

  It should also be noted that the Celtic origin of the Arverni is still in question, and most of tribal union the Belgians had Germanic roots; in any case, most specialists consider their tribes as having, probably, a mixed, Germano-Celtic origin. The Biturigs and Volci were also not originally Celtic tribes. However, the very formulation of the question of origin needs to be clarified, formulating which scientists come to the conclusion that during the migrations of the Bronze and Iron Ages, aliens (in different historical periods it could be the Celts, Germans and others) not so much displaced (or exterminated) the defeated autochthonous population, but were included with them in the process of mutual assimilation, the result of which was the formation of new ethnic groups that retained one of the former ethnonyms.

  Celtic beliefs

  Irish Law

  The distinctive national law that has been in force in Ireland since ancient times was in early XVII century was abolished by the English government and doomed to oblivion, like everything that could remind the Irish of their former national existence. But in 1852, the British government commissioned Irish scientists to find and publish monuments of ancient Irish law.

  It is believed that the rules contained in Great Book of Ancient Law, formed under the influence of the Bregons, approximately 1st century AD, and legal treatises, which serve as the basis of the collection and the subject of the later gloss, were compiled in the era of the introduction of Christianity in Ireland, that is, in the first half of the 5th century, then for several centuries were preserved oral tradition, and in the VIII century were recorded. The oldest manuscript that has come down to us belongs to XIV century. For the study of the original foundations and evolution of primitive Indo-European law, there is no other source - with the possible exception of the laws of Manu - that would surpass in its importance the ancient Irish laws. Senhus-Mor consists of 5 books, of which the first two are about legal proceedings, the last three are about raising children, about various forms lease and about the relationship of different persons among themselves, as well as to the church.

  The material for the book of Aicillus, another source of information about Celtic law, was two works, of which one belongs to King Cormac (about 250 AD), and the other to Cennfelads, who lived four centuries later; its manuscripts are not older than the 15th century, but the book itself was compiled much earlier, and the institutions described in it belong to the remotest antiquity.

  In addition to these two main sources, other monuments of ancient Irish literature can serve, especially church texts - the confession of St. Patrick, Collatio canonum hibernica, etc.

  All these monuments find the people in a state of tribal life, the highest manifestation of which was the clan. Along with tribal relations, and sometimes in addition to them, a dependence similar to the vassal relations of the feudal system was established by renting land. At the basis of the lease, which, however, could be free, that is, not to establish dependent relationships between the tenant and the owner, there was actually a return for the use of not land, but livestock (the so-called shetel, cheptel, from the Celts. chatal or chetal - livestock).

  The proprietor in name was in reality only the steward of the general family estate burdened with duties in favor of the family. Marriage was concluded through the purchase of wives, and before the introduction of Christianity, apparently, could be made for one year. The ransom for the daughter went in favor of the father, but in subsequent marriages, a certain part of it, which gradually increased with each new marriage (the law provides for 21 marriages), turned in favor of the daughter. When a father was replaced by a brother, he received half of what was due to his father. When the spouses were equal both in social status and in the contributions they made to the compilation of the common property fund, the wife enjoyed the same rights with her husband and one without the other could not enter into transactions; in the case of an unequal marriage, priority in domestic affairs belongs to the spouse who made the contribution. Along with these cases, Senhus-Mor provides 7 more forms marital relations, reminiscent of the wrong marital unions, which are spoken of in the laws of Manu. When the spouses are separated, each takes his contribution in full, while the acquired property is distributed between them on the basis of special rules with the smallest details.

  There was a very complex system of kinship relations that applied not only to the distribution of hereditary property, but also to the distribution of monetary fines that took the place of blood feuds: relatives were called upon to pay and receive these fines in the same manner as for inheritance. The reward for killing a free person (the price of blood, eric) was determined at 7 slaves (a slave is a common unit of value among the Celts) or 21 dairy cows. In addition, there was also the price of honor (enechlann), the size of which depended on the state and social position of the victim. It depended on the relatives of the criminal either to pay for him, or to abandon him and doom him to exile. Accidental killing did not exempt from the payment of remuneration; killing secretly or from an ambush entailed a double fine. There was a rate of fines for injuries and beatings. The amount of compensation for damages was in direct relation to the rank of the victim and inversely to the rank of the harmer. The initial stage of the process was the arrest, which was imposed by the plaintiff on the property (livestock) of the defendant and at the same time served as a security for the claim. If the defendant did not have any property, then he was subjected to personal detention and taken to the plaintiff with chains on his legs and a chain around his neck; the plaintiff was obliged to give him only a cup of broth a day. If the plaintiff and defendant belonged to different tribes and the seizure of the property of the latter was inconvenient, the plaintiff could detain any person from the tribe of the defendant. The hostage paid for his compatriot and had the right to claim back from him. If it was impossible to induce the defendant to appear in court by arresting property, then the case ended in a duel, the conditions of which were established by custom, and which, in any case, took place in the presence of witnesses.

  The court belonged to the head of the clan or the people's assembly, but generally had the character of an arbitrator. In making his decision, he was guided by the opinion bregons(actually brithem, then brehon - judge), which in the pagan era belonged to the number fillet(filé - clairvoyant, prophet) - to the category of priests who directly followed the druids; in the Middle Ages they became a hereditary corporation. The Bregons are the broadcasters of law, the custodians of the formulas and rather complex rites of the process, which was distinguished by the formalism common in antiquity; in their conclusions, they do not create law, but only reveal and formulate those legal norms that lie in the legal consciousness of the people. The Bregons were also poets and were at the head of schools in which law was studied by oral transmission along with rules. poetic creativity. In the pagan era, the belonging of the Bregons to the number of priests informed the conclusions of their religious authority, especially since supernatural power was attributed to the fillet, the ability to bring down all sorts of troubles on the recalcitrant. Then at the head of the estate of the fillet was the so-called ollaw (ollaw), corresponding in his position to the supreme druid of the Gauls. And after the introduction of Christianity, the conclusions of the Bregons did not lose their mystical connotation: various magical actions of Oregon were performed at the court, which were supposed to cause supernatural revelations. Then the judicial duel, the oath, the ordeals, the support of the jurors served as evidence.

  Celtic names in modern Europe

  • Amiens - on behalf of the Gallic tribe of the Ambians;
  • Belgium - on behalf of the Belgian tribe;
  • Belfast - in Celtic "bel fersde" - "sandbank ford";
  • Bohemia (an obsolete name for the historical region of the Czech Republic) - on behalf of the Boii tribe;
  • Brittany (region in France) - named after the tribe of Britons;
  • Britain - too;
  • Bourges - on behalf of the Biturigi tribe;
  • Galatia (historical region on the territory of modern Turkey) - from the Greek name of the Celts "Galatians";
  • Galicia (province in Spain);
  • Galicia (historical region on the territory of Ukraine);
  • Gaul - (a historical region on the territory of modern France, Belgium, parts of Switzerland, Germany and Northern Italy);
  • Dublin - in Irish "black lake";
  • Kemper - in Breton "confluence of rivers";
  • Cambrian mountains - from the ancient self-name of the Welsh "Cimry";
  • Langr - from the name of the Gallic tribe of the Lingons;
  • Lyon - "Lug Fortress", from the ancient name "Lugdunum" (Lug - the Gallic god of the Sun, Gall. "dun" - a fortress, a hill);
  • Nantes - on behalf of the Namnet tribe;
  • Auvergne - on behalf of the Arvern tribe;
  • Paris - from the name of the Celtic tribe Parisii;
  • Perigord is a historical region in France;
  • Poitiers - from the name of the tribe of Pictons (Pictaves);
  • Seine (river in France), from Gaulish Sequana;
  • Tur - on behalf of the Turon tribe;
  • Trois - on behalf of the Tricas tribe.

  Modern Celtic peoples

  • Irish (self-name - Irish Muintir na hÉireann or Irish na hÉireannaigh, singular - Éireannach, name of the language - An Ghaeilge, name of the state - Poblacht na hÉireann (Republic of Ireland))
  • Welsh (self-name - Wall. Cymry, singular - Cymro, name of the language - Cymraeg, name of the country - Cymru, name of the administrative-territorial entity - Tywysogaeth Cymru (Principality of Wales))
  • Scots (self-name - Gaelic Albannaich, language name - Gàidhlig, country name - Alba, name of the administrative-territorial entity - Rìoghachd na h-Alba (Kingdom of Scotland))
  • Bretons (self-name - Bret. Brezhoned, language name - Brezhoneg, province name - Breizh)
  • Kornians (self-name - Kernowyon, name of the language - Kernowek, name of the county - Kernow (
• Where did the Celts live

  King Arthur and knights round table, the wise wizard Merlin, the fabulous elves from Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings", all these semi-legendary characters well known to us actually came to modern popular culture straight out of ancient Celtic folklore. In those distant times, when ancient civilizations flourished in the south of Europe, in the Mediterranean, and in the north of Europe lived mysterious people Celts. Mysterious largely due to the fact that having developed culture, rich in mythology, interesting traditions, did not leave behind any written evidence. All that we know about the Celts from written sources is mainly the works of ancient Roman historians, which cannot be objective due to the fact that the Romans and the Celts often fought, and the Celts themselves were seen by the Romans as such savages, barbarians who must be conquered and " civilize".

  Where did the Celts live

  At the time of the heyday of their civilization, the ancient Celts lived in vast European territories, occupying modern Ireland, England, France, Belgium, part of Germany and Austria.

  

  Settlement map of the Celts.

  However, being lovers of wandering, some Celtic tribes wandered even into Asia Minor, were in the Balkans and in Spain. As for our country Ukraine, there is a hypothesis according to which the Celts lived in the Carpathians and in particular our Hutsuls are distant descendants of the Celts. But this is just a hypothesis, an assumption, there is no direct evidence that the Hutsuls are descendants of the Celts. But the modern Irish, Scots, Bretons, Welsh - really are the distant descendants of those same ancient Celts.

  Origin of the Celts

  First of all, it is worth noting that the very name of this people "Celts" is not true. So the ancient Greeks called them, the Romans called them Gauls, which means "roosters", probably because of the warlike nature characteristic of the Celts, they say, they are as pugnacious as roosters. Unfortunately, we do not know how the Celts called themselves, since they did not have a written language, and they did not leave any written sources about themselves.

  Also, we do not know the exact place where the Celts appeared on the historical scene. The first mention of the Celts in the writings of the "father of history" Herodotus, according to him, they lived in the upper reaches of the Danube, and coexisted with the Cynetes, the extreme western tribe, according to the Greeks. However, archaeological evidence tells us that already in the 5th century BC. e. the Celts inhabited a vast territory, from England to the upper reaches of the Danube, where the source of the appearance of the Celtic civilization, alas, is not known for certain.

  

  History of the Celts

  Throughout its history, the Celtic civilization seemed to compete with the ancient, in the face of ancient rome. Moreover, it competed, at times, very successfully, so when Rome was just gaining strength, the Celts invaded northern Italy, won a number of brilliant victories and even laid siege to the "eternal city". And they would have captured and plundered it, if not for the geese, according to legend, the Celts decided to launch a night assault when the Roman guard fell asleep. But the unwanted guests were noticed by geese from the temple of the goddess Vesta and raised such a fuss that the whole city was on its feet, ready to repel the attack. This is where the saying “Geese saved Rome” came from. Although, most likely it's just a poetic legend.

  

  But back to the Celts, in addition to Italy, they invaded both the Balkans and the territory ancient greece, and to Asia Minor, for example, the king of Bithynia (modern Turkey) Nicomedes I hired a large army of Galatian Celts for wars with local nomads. And Alexander the Great, speaking on his famous campaign against, concluded the so-called non-aggression pact with the Celts, thus securing his rear, since the raids of the Celts on the territory of Greece were quite real.

  Meanwhile, Rome was gaining its strength and power, subjugating all of Italy, it began external expansion, and now the Roman troops were invading the Celtic lands, conquering first Gaul (modern France), and then Britain. Roman legionnaires and Celtic tribes on the Danube and the Balkans are successfully pushing.

  Why, then, were the Celts unable to repel the Roman invasion and, as a result, were conquered by the Romans, because they were always brave and courageous warriors, at the same time they owned significant territories, used great influence in Europe at that time? Probably the whole point is the lack of unity and discipline, living from Britain to the Balkans, having common culture, religion, traditions, rituals, customs, the Celts could not create a single centralized state. The Celts were divided, while the Romans, on the contrary, created a strong centralized state. Also in military affairs, yes, the Celts were strong and brave warriors, but, like other barbarian tribes, they could not do anything against the well-coordinated Roman legion.

  

  Celts vs Romans.

  The Celts conquered by the Romans gradually adopted their culture, customs, learned writing, and later many of them themselves entered the Roman service. Of course, sometimes there were also uprisings of the Celts against Roman rule, the largest such uprising was the uprising in Gaul in 54 BC. e. under the leadership of the Gallic leader Vercingetriks. The talented Roman commander and future Roman emperor Julius Caesar managed to suppress this uprising. It was he who broke the final resistance of the Celts, in addition to Gaul, having also conquered Britain. Since then, the Celtic civilization has left the historical stage forever.

  Celtic culture

  Although the Celts did not leave us written sources about themselves, nevertheless we know a lot about the culture of the ancient Celts from numerous archaeological finds throughout Europe. In particular, we know that:

  • The Celts were among the first to learn how to obtain iron and steel.
  • The Celts were the first to learn how to extract copper, mercury, lead and tin from deep deposits.
  • The Celtic horse-drawn carts were the best in the ancient world.
  • The Celts were the first to start mining gold on the Alpine rivers.

  This is just a small part historical facts about the Celts, obtained through archeology. We also know that the Celts were skilled architects: for example, only in the territory of modern Bavaria, the Celts erected 250 cult temples and founded eight large cities. In particular, it was the Celts who founded such famous modern cities like Paris, Turin and Budapest.

  And the most famous architectural monument of the Celts is, of course, the famous Stonehenge in England.

  

  Scientists are still arguing about the purpose of this grandiose structure. And the fact that the position of the Stonehenge stones can be linked to astronomical phenomena speaks of the deep knowledge of the ancient Celts in astronomy, and some scientists even believe that Stonehenge itself was not only a temple, but also a giant observatory.

  Now let's give the floor to the Roman historians and chroniclers, according to their description, all the Celts were born horsemen, their women were distinguished by panache, they shaved off their eyebrows, wore narrow belts. Women in Celtic society enjoyed great freedom in particular, they could easily obtain a divorce and even take their dowry from their husband. Men wore mustaches and gold rings around their necks, while women wore bracelets on their legs.

  

  An interesting fact: the Celts had a law according to which everyone should be thin, and those who did not fit a standard belt were fined for being overweight. Therefore, in order to avoid a fine, everyone went in for sports intensively.

  At the head of the Celtic society were special people- Druids, who were not just priests - priests in Celtic society, but also performed many other important public functions, in particular they were:

  • healers, as they were well known on various medicinal herbs,
  • judges, resolving disputes between ordinary members of the community,
  • teachers for those who were going to become a druid in the future,
  • historians, more precisely the keepers of ancient tales, legends, stories about the past. All information was transmitted orally, so the druids must have had a very good memory.

  

  Celtic Druids.

  As we wrote above, the Celts did not have a single state, at most they created tribal unions, while each tribe was headed by a leader. But the power of the leader was not absolute, in their decisions the leaders of the Celts often consulted with the druids, and it so happened that the last word was with the druids, who in certain matters had even more power than the leaders.

  In general, the comic image of the Celts is very cheerfully conveyed in the good old French cartoon "Asterisk and Obelisk".

  

  Celtic Art

  Surely many works of Celtic art have not survived to this day. But according to those things that have survived, we can safely say that the Celts were very skilled in terms of artistic ornamentation on metal. The ornamentation on metal products was carried out by engraving, and later relief images began to be made. The Celtic ornaments themselves are dominated by geometric, floral and zoomorphic elements.

  

  There was a strong influence in Celtic sculpture ancient art, although there are also original Celtic works.

  

  Religion of the Celts

  The Celts had their own pagan religion, many gods they worshiped, rich mythology. True, the mythology of the Celts, in contrast to ancient Greek mythology alas, not so hyped and popular, but this makes it no less interesting.

  Among the gods of the Celtic pantheon, one can note such characters as:

  • Lug is the patron god of crafts and arts. Including the art of war, so the Celts called many military fortresses after him, for example French city Lyon, also founded by the Celts, in ancient times was called Lugundun - the Fortress of the Lug.
  • Taranis is the god of thunder, the patron of natural elements: winds, storms, thunderstorms, rain. Depicted with a hammer in his hands, in many ways similar to ours Slavic god Perun.
  • Cernun is the patron god of the forest kingdom, trees and all plants and animals.
  • Brigid - the female goddess of love, fertility and healing, the Celts believed that it was Brigid who helps women during childbirth.

  In addition to the gods, the Celts also revered some plants, such as the evergreen mistletoe, which was considered sacred. The Druids, considering the miraculous properties of mistletoe, cut it off with a special golden sickle at a strictly defined astronomical time, in order to then use it in certain cleansing ceremonies.

  

  Very interesting were the beliefs of the Celts about afterlife In particular, they, like the Hindus, believed in reincarnation, the rebirth of the soul after death in another body. But according to the Celtic religion, the soul is not reborn immediately, but ends up in the afterlife, some paradise islands, where it indulges in heavenly bliss until it is reborn in our material world.

  • The well-known Halloween holiday actually has Celtic roots, its original Celtic name is Samhain (or Samhain or Shroud). According to the beliefs of the Celts on this day, October 31, the doors between the world of the living and world of the dead. With the advent of Christianity, this holiday acquired a Christian coloring, it began to be called "All Saints' Day" (All Hallows eve), and the tradition of going to cemeteries and remembering dead relatives comes from Celtic beliefs.
  • The commemoration of the Celts is strikingly different from those of other nations, if it is usually customary to cry at the commemoration, then the Celts had everything exactly the opposite, at the commemoration they frantically rejoiced, celebrating the return of the soul of the deceased to the afterlife, where heavenly bliss awaits him. In our time interesting tradition to have fun at the commemoration was preserved by the Irish - descendants of the Celts.
  • The crying of newborn babies was also very interestingly explained by the Celts in accordance with their beliefs about afterlife, they say, they cry for the lost other world and the heavenly bliss in which they stayed after death until the moment of their new birth - reincarnation.
  • The Celts believed in the existence of different magical creatures, elves, trolls, gnomes. Now you know where English writer and the linguist John Tolkien took ideas for his writings. True, Tolkien elves and elves in Celtic beliefs, of course, have many differences. The same goes for gnomes, trolls and other goblins.

  Celts, video

  And finally, we invite you to watch an interesting documentary about the Celts.

  
  

Celts- one of the most famous and mysterious ancient peoples. There was a time when the scope of their military activity covered most of Europe, but by the beginning new era independence was preserved only by a tiny part of this people in the very north-west of the continent. During the period of maximum power ancient celts their speech was from Spain and Brittany in the west to Asia Minor in the east, from Britain in the north to Italy in the south. Celtic culture refers to the basic foundations of a number of cultures of modern Western and Central Europe. Some of the Celtic peoples still exist today. The peculiar art of the Celts still amazes both professional art critics and wide circle connoisseurs, and the religion that embodied their subtle and complex worldview remains a mystery. Even after the unified Celtic civilization left the historical stage, its heritage in various forms experienced a revival more than once.

These people were called Celts, the Romans called them galls(roosters), but how they called themselves, and whether they had a single name is unknown. The ancient Greek and Latin (Roman) authors probably wrote more about the Celts than about other peoples of Europe, which is consistent with the significance of these northern neighbors in the life of ancient civilization.

Map. Celts in Europe in the 1st millennium BC



The entry of the Celts into the historical arena

First news about the ancient Celts V written sources found around 500 BC. e. It says that this people had several cities and were warlike neighbors of the Ligurians - a tribe that lived near Greek colony Massalia (now the French city of Marseille).

In the work of the "father of history" Herodotus, completed no later than 431 or 425 BC. e., it was reported that the Celts inhabited the upper reaches of the Danube (moreover, according to the Greeks, the source of this river is in the Pyrenees), their proximity to the kinets is mentioned, most Western people Europe.

Around 400 BC e. the tribes of this people invaded Northern Italy and occupied it, subjugating the Etruscans, Ligurians, Umbrians who lived here. Around 396 BC. e. The Celts-Insubras founded the city of Mediolan (now Italian Milan). In 387 BC. e. the Celtic people, led by Brennus, defeated the Roman army at Alia, and then. True, the city Kremlin (Capitol) could not be captured. This campaign is associated with the origin of the Roman proverb " Geese saved Rome". According to legend, the Celts moved at night to storm the Capitol. The Roman guard was asleep. But the invaders were noticed by geese from the temple of the goddess Vesta. They made a noise and woke the guards. The attack was repulsed, and Rome was saved from capture.



In those years, the Celtic raids reached the south of Italy, until Rome put a limit to them, striving for hegemony in Italy and relying on a reformed army. Faced with such a rebuff, some groups in 358 BC. e. moved to Illyria (north-west of the Balkan Peninsula), where their movement ran into a counter onslaught of the Macedonians. And already in 335 BC. e. Celtic ambassadors entered into negotiations with Alexander the Great. Probably, the concluded agreement on the division of spheres of influence allowed the Macedonians and Greeks to go to 334 BC. e. to the conquest of Persia, without fear for their rear, and gave the Celts the opportunity to establish themselves on the Middle Danube.

From 299 BC e. the military activity of the Celts in Italy resumed, they managed to defeat the Romans at Clusium, to attach a number of tribes dissatisfied with Rome. However, four years later, in 295 BC. e., the Romans took revenge, uniting and subjugating a significant part of Italy. In 283 BC. e. they occupied the lands of the Senon Celts, cutting off their other tribesmen access to the Adriatic Sea. In 280 BC. e. inflicted a crushing defeat on the northern Italian Celts with the allies on Lake Vadimon.

Then it intensified military expansion of the Celts in southeastern Europe. Perhaps it was the outflow of forces in this direction that weakened their onslaught in Italy. By 298 BC. e. include information about their penetration into the territory of modern Bulgaria, though unsuccessful. In 281 BC. e. numerous Celtic detachments flooded a number of regions of the Balkan Peninsula, and the 20th thousandth army of the Galatian Celts was hired by Nicomedes I, king of Bithynia (on the territory of modern Turkey), for the war in Asia Minor. Huge army Celts under the leadership of Brenn in 279 BC. e. , plundering, among other things, the sanctuary in Delphi, especially revered by the Greeks. And although the barbarians managed to be ousted from Greece and Macedonia, they remained the dominant force in more northern regions Balkans, establishing several kingdoms there. In 278 BC. e. Nicomedes I again invited the Galatians to Asia Minor, where they strengthened themselves by establishing in 270 BC. e. in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bmodern Ankara, a federation under the control of 12 leaders. The federation did not last long: after the defeats of 240-230. BC e. she lost her independence. The same or some other Galatians in the second half of the 3rd or at the beginning of the 2nd c. BC e. appear among the tribes that threatened Olbia on the northern coast of the Black Sea.

In 232 BC. e. again conflict broke out and the Celts in Italy, and in 225 BC. e. the local Gauls and the relatives called by them from behind the Alps were brutally defeated. At the site of the battle, the Romans built a memorial temple, where many years later they thanked the gods for the victory. This defeat was the beginning of the decline of the military power of the Celts. The Carthaginian commander Hannibal, who moved in 218 BC. e. from Africa through Spain, southern France and the Alps to Rome, counted on an alliance with the Celts in Italy, but the latter, weakened by previous defeats, could not help him to the extent that he expected. In 212 BC. e. uprisings of the local population put an end to Celtic domination in the Balkans.

Having finished the wars with Carthage, the Celtic people. In 196 BC. e. defeated the Insubres, in 192 BC. e. - Boii, and their center Bononia (modern Bologna) was destroyed. The remnants of the Boii went north and settled on the territory of the present Czech Republic (the name of one of the regions of the Czech Republic - Bohemia - came from them). By 190 BC. e. all the lands south of the Alps were captured by the Romans, later (82 BC) establishing the province of Cisalpine Gaul here. In 181 BC. e. not far from modern Venice, Roman colonists founded Aquileia, which became strong point to expand Roman influence in the Danube region. During another war, by 146 BC. e. the Romans took possession of Iberia (present-day Spain) from the Carthaginians, and by 133 BC. e. finally subjugated the Celtic-Iberian tribes living there, taking their last stronghold - Numatia. In 121 BC. e. under the pretext of protecting Massalia from the raids of its neighbors, Rome occupied the south of modern France, subduing the local Celts and Ligures, and in 118. BC e. the province of Gallia Narbonne was created there.

At the end of the II century. BC e. Roman historians wrote about the onslaught on the Celts from their northeastern neighbors - the Germans. Shortly before 113. BC e. the Boii repulsed the attack of the Germanic tribe of the Cimbri. But they moved south, united with the Teutons (who were probably Celts), defeated a number of Celtic tribes and Roman armies, but in 101 BC. e. The Cimbri were almost completely destroyed by the Roman general Marius. Later, other Germanic tribes nevertheless ousted the Boii from the Czech Republic to the Danube regions.

By 85 BC. e. The Romans broke the resistance of the Scordisci, who lived at the mouth of the Sava, the last stronghold of the Celts in the north of the Balkans. About 60 BC e. The Dacians under the leadership of Burebista almost destroyed the Tevrisci and Boii, which is probably part of the events associated with the expansion of the Thracian tribes, which crushed the Celtic domination in the territory to the east and north of the Middle Danube.



Shortly before 59 BC. e., taking advantage of civil strife in Gaul, the Suebi and some other Germanic tribes, led by Ariovistus, captured part of the territory of the Sequans, one of the strongest Celtic tribes. This was the reason for the intervention of the Romans. In 58 BC. e. Julius Caesar, then proconsul of Illyria, Cisalpine and Narbonne Gaul, defeated the union of Ariovista, and soon basically took control of the rest, "shaggy", Gaul. In response, the ancient Celts rebelled (54 BC), but in 52 BC. e. fell Alesia, the base of the most active leader of the rebels - Vercingetorix, and by 51 BC. e. Caesar crushed the resistance of the Celts completely.

During a series of campaigns from 35 to 9 BC. e. the Romans established themselves on the right bank of the Middle Danube, conquering the Celtic and other local tribes. Later, the province of Pannonia arose here. In 25 BC. e. Galatia in Asia Minor submitted to Rome, having lost the remnants of independence, but the descendants of the Celts continued to live in these lands, preserving their language for several more centuries. In 16 BC. e. part of the Roman state became the "kingdom of Norik", uniting their possessions in the Upper Danube, in 16 AD. e. Here the Roman provinces of Noricus and Raetia were formed.

Following waves of Celtic settlers, the Romans also came to Britain. Julius Caesar visited there in 55 and 54. BC e. By 43 AD e., under the emperor Caligula, the Romans, having crushed the stubborn resistance of the Celts, captured South Britain, and by 80, during the reign of Agricola, the border of Roman possessions on these islands took shape.

Thus, in the I century. the Celts remained free only in Ireland.

The Celts are a people formed from tribes that have lived in Western Europe since time immemorial. They were the descendants of a once single prehistoric people, which is commonly called Indo-European. From this one ancient race there were subsequently Slavs, Germans, Persians, Latins, Goths (an extinct people) and even Indians. And just as Russians, Serbs and Belarusians, for example, are descendants of the Slavs, so are modern Scots, as well as Welsh, Bretons and Irish have common Celtic ancestors.

Five thousand years ago, a single, genetically homogeneous people, the Indo-Europeans, lived on the territory of modern Krasnodar Territory Russia.
At first Bronze Age this people managed to unravel the mystery of not only the creation of bronze weapons, but also domesticate the horse and invent the wheel. This led to a revolutionary breakthrough. Armed fast cavalry, convoys with provisions, the latest weapons, such were the Indo-Europeans. They began to expand, seized new territories in Europe and Asia, and subsequently became one of the most widespread groups of peoples on earth.

The Indo-Europeans of Western Europe formed a new community of the CELTS.
The center of the Celtic world was in the Alps, so the Celtic language group also called alpine.

The largest Celtic people - the Gauls - even during the Roman Empire, it was strongly influenced by Latin, practically losing its language. Then the Celtic kingdoms were attacked by the Germans - the tribe of the Franks invaded from the north into the territory of modern France.
The situation was different in Britain. Due to their remoteness, the Celts of Britain escaped enslavement by Rome and retained their language and culture. Three thousand years ago, the Celts had a religious cult of the Druids. Huge stones placed vertically served the druids as altars, as in Stonehenge. The druid class had sacred immunity, the druids ruled the Celtic society.

In Britain, the Celts appeared at the dawn of the Iron Age, about 600 years before the birth of Christ. They were disparate groups that did not recognize themselves as a single people.
Historical information about the Celts was first documented by the Romans, who invaded Foggy Albion two thousand years ago. They portray the Celts as dense barbarians, while the Romans naturally positioned themselves as an enlightened people. It is hardly possible to trust such information, because the Celts were their enemies. The Celts were excellent warriors, living on robberies and raids, they were at enmity with the Romans and among themselves. The Celts did not have a single political center, in other words, they did not have kings, and each group of Celts was subordinate only to the leader of the clan.
This people created some of the greatest monuments of the ancient world, three thousand years before the advent of Rome, they built stone fortifications, massive tombs and built the most famous ancient monument in Europe - Stonehenge. . The pagan tribes of the Celts did not have a written language, so we have few clues left to understand how they built these incredible structures, but even five thousand years later, evidence of their art still stands on the ground.

Indo-European origin, in ancient times at the turn of the eras, they occupied a vast territory in Western and Central Europe.

origin of name

The appearance of the word "Celtic" in the English language occurred in the 17th century. The Oxford-based Welsh linguist Edward Lluyd drew attention to the similarities inherent in the languages ​​spoken in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall and Brittany. He called these languages ​​"Celtic" - and the name stuck. The word "Celtic" is also used to describe a specific and highly recognizable ornamental style with a complex hierarchical structure of elements of various scales: spirals, woven ribbons, human figures and fantastic animals. Special interest represent fractal constructions, unique in the world history of ornament. However, there is no evidence that such a design was created by an ethnically homogeneous group of people.

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Story

Internecine wars, weakening the Celts, contributed to the invasion of the Germans from the east and the Romans from the south. The Germans pushed back part of the Celts in the 1st century BC. e. for the Rhine. Julius Caesar in 58 BC e. - 51 BC e. conquered all of Gaul. Under Augustus, the Romans conquered the regions along the upper Danube, northern Spain, Galatia, and under Claudius (mid-1st century AD) - a significant part of Britain. The Celts, who wished to remain in the territory of the Roman Empire, underwent strong Romanization.

Contacts with ancient civilizations

The Celts were one of the most warlike peoples in Europe. To intimidate the enemy before the battle, the Celts uttered deafening cries and blew into battle pipes - carnyxes, the bells of which were made in the form of animal heads. In the 1st millennium BC. e. Celts to increase the strength of the wheels of their chariots began to use a metal rim. The wheel is an attribute of Taranis, the Celtic god of thunder.

The Eastern Celts, settled along the Danube valley, penetrated far to the east in 281 BC. e. to Thrace in northern Greece, the Greeks called them Galatians.

Settling, the Celts mixed with local tribes: Iberians, Ligurians, Illyrians, Thracians, but some of them managed to maintain their identity for a long time (Lingons, Boii), which was one of the reasons for their small number. So, for example, in 58 BC. e. , according to Julius Caesar, there were 263,000 Helvetians and only 32,000 boii (here the argument is controversial, since the Dacian king Burebista mercilessly dealt with the boi around 60 BC). The Celts of southern France developed in conditions of active interaction with the ancient city-states and therefore were distinguished by the highest level of culture. Displaced by the Romans in the 2nd century BC. e. from the north of Italy (from the so-called Cisalpine Gaul), the Celts settled in central and northwestern Bohemia (these were the Boii tribes, from which the territory received the name Boiohaemum - the birthplace of the Boii - Bohemia).

The most numerous tribes of the Celts were the Helvetians, Belgis, Arverns.

It should also be noted that the Celtic origin of the Arverni is still in question, and most of the tribal union of the Belgae had Germanic roots; in any case, most specialists consider their tribes as having, probably, a mixed, Germano-Celtic origin. The Biturigs and Volci were also not originally Celtic tribes. However, the very formulation of the question of origin needs to be clarified, formulating which scientists come to the conclusion that during the migrations of the Bronze and Iron Ages, the newcomers (in different historical periods it could be the Celts, Germans and others) did not so much displace (or exterminate) the defeated autochthonous population , how many were included with them in the process of mutual assimilation, the consequence of which was the formation of new ethnic groups that retained one of the former ethnonyms.

Celtic beliefs

Irish Law

The original national law that had been in force in Ireland since ancient times was abolished by the English government at the beginning of the 17th century and doomed to oblivion, like everything that could remind the Irish of their former national existence. But in 1852, the British government commissioned Irish scientists to find and publish monuments of ancient Irish law.

It is believed that the rules contained in Great Book of Ancient Law, were formed under the influence of the Bregons, approximately in the 1st century AD, and the legal treatises, which serve as the basis of the collection and the subject of the later gloss, were compiled in the era of the introduction of Christianity in Ireland, that is, in the first half of the 5th century, then for several centuries were preserved by oral tradition , and in the VIII century were recorded. The oldest manuscript that has come down to us dates back to the 14th century. For the study of the original foundations and evolution of primitive Indo-European law, there is no other source - with the possible exception of the laws of Manu - that would surpass in its importance the ancient Irish laws. Senhus-Mor consists of 5 books, of which the first two are about legal proceedings, the last three are about the upbringing of children, about various forms of rent, and about the relationship of different people to each other, as well as to the church.

The material for the book of Aicillus, another source of information about Celtic law, was two works, of which one belongs to King Cormac (about 250 AD), and the other to Cennfelads, who lived four centuries later; its manuscripts are not older than the 15th century, but the book itself was compiled much earlier, and the institutions described in it belong to the remotest antiquity.

In addition to these two main sources, other monuments of ancient Irish literature can serve, especially church texts - the confession of St. Patrick, Collatio canonum hibernica, etc.

All these monuments find the people in a state of tribal life, the highest manifestation of which was the clan. Along with tribal relations, and sometimes in addition to them, a dependence similar to the vassal relations of the feudal system was established by renting land. The basis of the lease, which, however, could also be free, that is, not to establish dependent relations between the tenant and the owner, was actually the return for use not of land, but of livestock (the so-called shetel, cheptel, from the Celts. chatal or chetal - livestock) .

The owner by name was in reality only the manager of the common family estate, burdened with duties in favor of the family. Marriage was concluded through the purchase of wives, and before the introduction of Christianity, apparently, could be made for one year. The ransom for the daughter went in favor of the father, but in subsequent marriages, a certain part of it, which gradually increased with each new marriage (the law provides for 21 marriages), turned in favor of the daughter. When a father was replaced by a brother, he received half of what was due to his father. When the spouses were equal both in social status and in the contributions they made to the compilation of the common property fund, the wife enjoyed the same rights with her husband and one without the other could not enter into transactions; in the case of an unequal marriage, priority in domestic affairs belongs to the spouse who made the contribution. Along with these cases, Senchus-Mor provides for 7 more forms of marital relations, reminiscent of the wrong marital unions, which are mentioned in the laws of Manu. When the spouses are separated, each takes his contribution in full, while the acquired property is distributed between them on the basis of special rules that provide for the smallest details.

There was a very complex system of kinship relations that applied not only to the distribution of hereditary property, but also to the distribution of monetary fines that took the place of blood feuds: relatives were called upon to pay and receive these fines in the same manner as for inheritance. The reward for killing a free person (the price of blood, eric) was determined at 7 slaves (a slave is a common unit of value among the Celts) or 21 dairy cows. In addition, there was also the price of honor (enechlann), the size of which depended on the state and social position of the victim. It depended on the relatives of the criminal either to pay for him, or to abandon him and doom him to exile. Accidental killing did not exempt from the payment of remuneration; killing secretly or from an ambush entailed a double fine. There was a rate of fines for injuries and beatings. The amount of compensation for damages was in direct relation to the rank of the victim and inversely to the rank of the harmer. The initial stage of the process was the arrest, which was imposed by the plaintiff on the property (livestock) of the defendant and at the same time served as a security for the claim. If the defendant did not have any property, then he was subjected to personal detention and taken to the plaintiff with chains on his legs and a chain around his neck; the plaintiff was obliged to give him only a cup of broth a day. If the plaintiff and the defendant belonged to different tribes and the seizure of the latter's property was inconvenient, then the plaintiff could detain any person from the defendant's tribe. The hostage paid for his compatriot and had the right to claim back from him. If it was impossible to induce the defendant to appear in court by arresting property, then the case ended in a duel, the conditions of which were established by custom, and which, in any case, took place in the presence of witnesses.

The court belonged to the head of the clan or the people's assembly, but generally had the character of an arbitrator. In making his decision, he was guided by the opinion bregons(actually brithem, then brehon - judge), which in the pagan era belonged to the number fillet(filé - clairvoyant, prophet) - to the category of priests who directly followed the druids; in the Middle Ages they became a hereditary corporation. The Bregons are the broadcasters of law, the custodians of the formulas and rather complex rites of the process, which was distinguished by the formalism common in antiquity; in their conclusions, they do not create law, but only reveal and formulate those legal norms that lie in the legal consciousness of the people. The Bregons were also poets and were at the head of schools in which law was studied by oral transmission along with the rules of poetic creativity. In the pagan era, the belonging of the Bregons to the number of priests informed the conclusions of their religious authority, especially since supernatural power was attributed to the fillet, the ability to bring down all sorts of troubles on the recalcitrant. Then at the head of the estate of the fillet was the so-called ollaw (ollaw), corresponding in his position to the supreme druid of the Gauls. And after the introduction of Christianity, the conclusions of the Bregons did not lose their mystical connotation: various magical actions of Oregon were performed at the court, which were supposed to cause supernatural revelations. Then the judicial duel, the oath, the ordeals, the support of the jurors served as evidence.

Celtic names in modern Europe

• Amiens - on behalf of the Gallic tribe of the Ambians;
• Belgium - on behalf of the Belgian tribe;
• Belfast - in Celtic "bel fersde" - "sandbank ford";
• Bohemia (an obsolete name for the historical region of the Czech Republic) - on behalf of the Boii tribe;
• Brittany (region in France) - named after the tribe of Britons;
• Britain is the same
• Bourges - on behalf of the Biturigi tribe;
• Galatia (historical region on the territory of modern Turkey) - from the Greek name of the Celts "Galatians";
• Galicia (province in Spain);
• Galicia (historical region on the territory of Ukraine);
• Gaul - (a historical region on the territory of modern France, Belgium, parts of Switzerland, Germany and Northern Italy);
• Dublin - in Irish "black lake";
• Kemper - in Breton "confluence of rivers";
• The Cambrian Mountains - from the ancient self-name of the Welsh "Cimry";
• Langr - from the name of the Gallic tribe of the Lingons;
• Lyon - "Lug Fortress", from the ancient name "Lugdunum" (Lug - the Gallic god of the Sun, Gall. "dun" - a fortress, a hill);
• Nantes - on behalf of the Namnet tribe;
• Auvergne - on behalf of the Arvern tribe;
• Paris - from the name of the Celtic tribe Parisii;
• Perigord is a historical region in France;
• Poitiers - from the name of the tribe of Pictons (Pictaves);
• Seine (river in France), from Gaulish Sequana;
• Tur - on behalf of the Turon tribe;
• Trois - on behalf of the Tricas tribe.

Modern Celtic peoples

• Irish (self-name - Irish Muintir na hÉireann or Irish na hÉireannaigh, singular - Éireannach, name of the language - An Ghaeilge, name of the state - Poblacht na hÉireann (Republic of Ireland))
• Welsh (self-name - Wall. Cymry, singular - Cymro, name of the language - Cymraeg, name of the country - Cymru, name of the administrative-territorial entity - Tywysogaeth Cymru (Principality of Wales))
• Scots (self-name - Gaelic Albannaich, language name - Gàidhlig, country name - Alba, name of the administrative-territorial entity - Rìoghachd na h-Alba (Kingdom of Scotland))
• Bretons (self-name - Bret. Brezhoned, language name - Brezhoneg, province name - Breizh)
• Kornians (self-name - Kernowyon, name of the language - Kernowek, name of the county - Kernow (