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The celts

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Who were the celts? <ul><li>How did they look like? We know from ancient writers and the evidence of portraits that the Celts wore their hair long and that men grew beards and moustaches. Roman stone reliefs show Celts wearing tunics or tabard style garments made of animal skins. Farmers are depicted wearing a knee length hooded cloak. </li></ul><ul><li>In war, the Celts used the sword and the spear. They carried an oval shield and their armies often made use of light chariots. They are known to have used a particular style of war trumpet, an instrument which curved upward from the mouthpiece and terminated several feet above the user's head. The harsh sounds issued from the mouth of a grotesque animal head design fixed at the top. </li></ul><ul><li>Little is know about the clothing of Celtic women since they do not appear in Roman carving which typically features Celtic prisoners taken in battle. </li></ul>

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<ul><li>Their money. The Celts had a coinage more than a century before their lands became part of the Roman empire. Hundreds of thousands of coins have been found and some of these have given us information on otherwise unknown rulers. The earliest found in Britain were of pure gold and imitated the stater of Philip of Macedon. Philip made use of Celtic mercenaries and this might explain the existence of these coins in Britain. </li></ul><ul><li>Celtic coins often featured pictures of horses, boars and ears of wheat. For low value coins, the Celts used an alloy of copper and tin called &quot;potin&quot;. Coins of this type were ultimately cast in long strips and they continued in circulation until the first century AD. </li></ul><ul><li>Where did they live? </li></ul><ul><li>The Celts lived on small farms or in villages </li></ul><ul><li>but could retreat when threatened to the comparative safety of a hill fort. These hill forts were constructed by digging a ditch around the top of suitable hills (or around other natural features which were easy to defend). Timber or dry stone walling was used to contain the rampart material and some of these forts had quite complex works to protect their entrances. Some hill forts are found to have remains of buildings but others have none and there is some debate about how they were used in ancient times. Domestic timber housing could be square, rectangular or circular in plan. In Britain circular houses were more common </li></ul>

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Their language <ul><li>The Celts of Gaul settled in Britain in the centuries after 600 BC. By the time that Gaul and Britain were brought into the Roman Empire (most of Britain was conquered by 85 AD) these lands shared a language which linguists call Gallo-Brittonic. This was an Indo-European language, just one of nine different branches. </li></ul><ul><li>From Gallo Brittonic descended Welsh, Cornish and Breton, the so-called P Celtic languages . The Celtic spoken in Ireland and the Isle of Man became known as Q Celtic. </li></ul><ul><li>Take note that when the Irish expansion into Pictish Britain occurred, several colonies were established in present day Wales. The local inhabitants called the Irish arrivals gwyddel savages from which comes geķdil and goidel and thus the Goidelic tounge. </li></ul>

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The celtic knotwork <ul><li>Meaning: </li></ul><ul><li>The knots appeared in repeating patterns that were used to fill borders and empty spaces in illuminated manuscripts, sculptures, and jewelry. The knots did not, generally, appear as isolated elements. </li></ul><ul><li>Origin: </li></ul><ul><li>It mostly consisted of geometrical patterns such as spirals, key patterns and step patterns. </li></ul><ul><li>It has been suggested that the Celts' religion prevented them from depicting the works of the creator, namely animals, plants, and humans. </li></ul>

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Celtic Religion <ul><li>Caesar tells us that in his day the Gauls worshipped the gods Mercury, Apollo, Mars, Jupiter and Minerva. Mercury was considered to be the most important of these and images of him were plentiful. </li></ul><ul><li>We know, however, that the Celts worshipped their own local gods alongside the Roman imports. They worshipped a goddess called Epona and a god of war called Esus as well as many minor gods and godesses associated with natural features like rivers and springs. A stone relief at Rhiems in France depicts the horned god Cernunnos wearing a neck torque. Temples were not generally thought necessary but sometimes appeared at particularly important sites. The wild boar seems to have had a religious significance and was sometimes used in the form of a war helmet crest. </li></ul><ul><li>The Druids taught that the soul does not die. The soul of a man who died in battle would pass to another body and Caesar thought that this belief partly explained the bravery of the Celts in war. When they were not busy learning their verses, the Druids would &quot;hold long discussions about the heavenly bodies and their movements, the size of the universe and of the earth, the physical constitution of the world, and the power and properties of the gods ...&quot;. They would instruct pupils in these subjects. </li></ul>

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Where did the Celts originate how far did they range? <ul><li>The area coloured blue had been settled by the Celts by around 200 BC. The date of their settlement of Britain is uncertain and may have taken place several centuries earlier. The Rhineland was a centre of iron production and skilled craftsmen made the twisted gold neck rings (torques) found in the graves of their chieftains. Industrial skills included the production of good quality weapons and this helped their expansion. </li></ul>

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<ul><li>Lea Pullerits </li></ul><ul><li>Kadrina 2004 </li></ul>