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BRITAIN (Gr. Hperavuml vi7vot, Bperra...

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Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 583 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BRITAIN (Gr. Hperavuml vi7vot, Bperravia; See also:Lat. Britannia, rarely Britannia) , the anglicized See also:form of the classical name of See also:England, See also:Wales and See also:Scotland, sometimes extended to the See also:British Isles as a whole (Brilannicae Insulae). The See also:Greek and See also:Roman forms are doubtless attempts to reproduce a See also:Celtic See also:original, the exact form of which is still See also:matter of dispute. See also:Brittany (Fr. Bretagne) in western See also:France derived its name from Britain owing to migrations in the 5th and 6th See also:century A.D. The personification of Britannia as a See also:female figure may be traced back as far as the coins of See also:Hadrian and See also:Antoninus See also:Pius (See also:early 2nd century A.D.); its first See also:appearance on See also:modern coins is on the See also:copper of See also:Charles II. (see See also:NuMIsMATIcs). In what follows, the archaeological See also:interest of early Britain is dealt with, in connexion with the See also:history of Britain in Pre-Roman, Roman, and Anglo-Saxon days; this See also:account being supplementary to the articles ENGLAND; See also:ENGLISH HISTORY; SCOTLAND, &C. PRE-ROMAN BRITAIN Geologists are not yet agreed when and by whom Britain was first peopled. Probably the See also:island was invaded by a See also:succession of races. The first, the Paleolithic men, may have died out or retired before successors arrived.

During the See also:

Neolithic and See also:Bronze Ages we can dimly trace further immigrations. Real knowledge begins with two Celtic invasions, that of the Goidels in the later See also:part of the Bronze See also:Age, and that of the Brythons and See also:Belgae in the See also:Iron Age. These invaders brought Celtic See also:civilization and dialects. It is uncertain how far they were themselves Celtic in See also:blood and how far they were numerous enough to absorb or obliterate the races which they found in Britain. But it is not unreasonable to think that they were no See also:mere conquering See also:caste, and that they were of the same See also:race as the Celtic-speaking peoples of the western See also:continent. By the age of See also:Julius See also:Caesar all the inhabitants of Britain, except perhaps some tribes of the far See also:north, were Celts in speech and customs. Politically they were divided into See also:separate and generally warring tribes, each under its own princes. They dwelt in See also:hill forts with walls of See also:earth or See also:rude See also:stone, or in villages of See also:round huts sunk into the ground and resembling those found .in parts of See also:northern See also:Gaul, or in subterranean chambered houses, or in hamlets of See also:pile-dwellings constructed among the marshes. But, at least in the See also:south, See also:market centres had sprung up, See also:town See also:life was beginning, houses of a better type were perhaps coming into use, and the See also:southern tribes employed a See also:gold coinage and also a currency of iron bars or ingots, attested by Caesar and by surviving examples, which weigh roughly, some two-thirds of a See also:pound, some 23 lb, but mostly ri lb. In See also:religion, the See also:chief feature was the priesthood of See also:Druids, who here, as in Gaul, practised magical arts and barbarous See also:rites of human See also:sacrifice, taught a See also:secret See also:lore, wielded See also:great See also:influence, but, at least as Druids, took ordinarily no part in politics. In See also:art, these tribes possessed a native See also:Late Celtic See also:fashion, descended from far-off Mediterranean antecedents and more directly connected with the La-Tene culture of the See also:continental Celts. Its characteristics were a flamboyant and fantastic treatment of plant and See also:animal (though not of human) forms, a See also:free use of the geometrical See also:device called the " returning See also:spiral," and much skill in enamelling.

Its finest products were in bronze, but the See also:

artistic impulse spread to humbler See also:work in See also:wood and pottery. The late Celtic age was one which genuinely delighted in beauty of form and detail. In this it resembled the See also:middle ages rather than the Roman See also:empire or the See also:present See also:day, and it resembledthem all the more in that its love of beauty, like theirs, was mixed with a feeling for the fantastic and the See also:grotesque. The Roman See also:conquest of northern Gaul (57-50 B.C.) brought Britain into definite relation with the Mediterranean. It was already closely connected with Gaul, and when Roman civilization and its products invaded Gallia Belgica, they passed on easily to Britain. The British coinage now begins to See also:bear Roman legends, and after Caesar's two raids (55, 54 B.c.) the southern tribes were regarded at See also:Rome, though they do not seem to have regarded themselves, as vassals. Actual conquest was, however, delayed. See also:Augustus planned it. But both he and his successor Tiberius realized that the greater need was to consolidate the existing empire, and absorb the vast additions recently made to it by See also:Pompey, Caesar and Augustus.

End of Article: BRITAIN (Gr. Hperavuml vi7vot, Bperravia; Lat. Britannia, rarely Britannia)

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