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CELT, or KELT
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See also:CELT, or KELT , the generic name of an See also:ancient See also:people, the bulk of whom inhabited the central and western parts of See also:Europe. (For the sense of a See also:primitive See also: The " Alpine race " is commonly supposed to be Mongoloid in origin and to have come from See also:Asia, the See also:home of round-skulled races. But it is far more probable that they are the same in origin as the dark race south of them and the tall fair race north of them, and that the broadness of their skulls is simply due to their having been long domiciled in mountainous regions. Thus the " Celtic " ox (See also:Boa longifrons), from remote ages the See also:common type in the Alpine regions, is characterized by the height of its forehead above the orbits, by its highly-See also:developed occipital region, and its small horns. Not only do animals See also:change their physical characteristics in new environment, but modern peoples when settled in new surroundings for even one or two centuries, e.g. the See also:American of New See also:England and the See also:Boer of South See also:Africa, prove that See also:man is no less readily affected by his surroundings. The See also:northern race has ever kept pressing down on the broadskulled, brown-complexioned men of the Alps, and intermixing with them, and at times has swept right over the great mountain chain into the tempting regions of the south, producing such races as the Celto-Ligyes, Celtiberians, Celtillyrians, Celto-Thracians and Celto-Scythians. In its turn the Alpine race has pressed down upon their darker and less warlike kindred of the south, either driven down before the tall sons of the north or swelling the hosts of the latter as they swept down south. As the natives of the See also:southern See also:peninsula came into contact with these mixed people, who though differing in the shape of the See also:skull nevertheless varied little from each other in speech and See also:colour of their hair and eyes, the ancient writers termed them all "Keltoi." But as the most dreaded of these Celtic tribes came down from the shores of the Baltic and Northern Ocean, the ancients applied the name Celt to those peoples who are spoken of as Teutonic in modern parlance. The Teutons, whose name is generic for Germans, appear in See also:history along with the See also:Cimbri, universally held to be Celts, but coming from the same region as the Guttones (Goths) by the shores of the Baltic and North See also:Sea. Again, the Germani themselves first appear in the Celtic See also:host destroyed by See also:Marcellus at See also:Clastidium in 225 B.C. All the true Celtae or Galatae in France had come across the See also:Rhine; the Belgic tribes in northern France were Cimbri, who also had crossed the Rhine: in See also:Caesar's See also:day the Germans were still constantly See also:crossing that See also:river, and so-called Gauls who lived near the Germans, e.g. the Treveri, closely resembled the latter in their habits, while in later times were to come Goths and See also:Franks from beyond the great river. It is then not See also:strange that the Gallic name for a henchman (ambactus) is the same as the See also:Gothic (ambahts). The earliest invaders, under the name of Celtae, had occupied all central See also:Gaul, doubtless mixing with the aboriginal Ligurians and See also:Iberians, who, however, maintained themselves respectively in the later See also:Provence and in Aquitania. The Celts had firmly established themselves by the 7th See also:century B.C. and we know not how long before, the See also:Bituriges (whose name survives in Berri) being the dominant tribe. In the Alps and the See also:Danube valley some of the Celts had dwelt from the Stone See also:Age; there they had developed the working of See also:copper, discovered See also:bronze (an alloy of copper and See also:tin), and the See also:art of smelting See also:iron (see See also:HALLSTATT). The Umbrians, who were See also:part of the Alpine Celts, had been pressing down into See also:Italy from the Bronze Age, though checked completely by the rise of the See also:Etruscan See also:power in the See also:roth century B.C. The invention of iron weapons made the Celts henceforth irresistible. One of the earliest movements after this See also:discovery was probably that of the See also:Achaeans of See also:Homer, who about 145o inc. invaded See also:Greece (see ACHAEANS), bringing with them the use of iron and brooches, the practice of cremating the dead, and the See also:style of See also:ornament known as Geometric. Later the Cimmerian (see See also:SCYTHIA and See also:CIMMERII) passed down from the
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Cimbric See also:Chersonese, doubtless following the See also:amber routes, and then turned See also:east along the Danube, some of their tribes, e.g. the Treres, settling in See also:Thrace, and crossing into Asia; others settled in southern See also:Russia, leaving their name in the See also:Crimea; then when hard pressed by the Scythians most of them passed round the east end of the Euxine into Asia See also:Minor, probably being the people known as Gimirri on See also:Assyrian monuments, and ravaged that region, the See also:relics of the race finally settling at See also:Sinope.
At the beginning of the 6th century B.C. the Celts of France had grown very powerful under the Biturigian See also: Certain material remains found in north Italy, e.g. at Sesto Calende, may belong to this invasion. The next great See also:wave of Celts recorded was that which swept down on north Italy shortly before 400 B.C. These invaders See also:broke up in a few years the Etruscan power, and even occupied See also:Rome herself after the disaster on the See also:Allia (390 B.C.). Bought off by See also:gold they with-See also:drew from Rome, but they continued to hold a great part of northern Italy, extending as far south as Sena Gallica (Sinigaglia), and henceforward they were a See also:standing source of danger to Rome, especially in the Samnite See also:Wars, until at last they were either subdued or expelled, e.g. the See also:Boii from the plains of the Po. At the same time as the invasion of Italy they had made fresh descents into the Danube valley and the upper See also:Balkan, and perhaps may have pushed into southern Russia, but at this time they never made their way into Greece, though the Athenian ladies copied the style of hair and See also:dress of the Cimbrian See also:women. About 28o B.C. the Celts gathered a great host at the head of the Adriatic, and accompanied by the Illyrian tribe of Autariatae, they overthrew the Macedonians, overran See also:Thessaly, and invaded See also:Phocis in See also:order to See also:sack See also:Delphi, but they were finally repulsed, chiefly by the efforts of the Aetolians (279 B.C.). The remnant of those who returned from Greece joined that part of their See also:army which had remained in Thrace, and marched for the See also:Hellespont. Here some of their number settled near See also:Byzantium, having conquered the native Thracian, and made Tyle their See also:capital. The Byzantines had to pay them a yearly See also:tribute of 8o talents, until on the See also:death of the Gallic king Cavarus (some time after 220 B.C.) they were annihilated by the Thracians. The See also:main See also:body of the Gauls who had marched to the Hellespont crossed it under the leadership of Leonnorius and Lutarius. Straightway they overran the greater part of Asia Minor, and laid under tribute all west of See also:Taurus, even the Seleucid See also:kings. At last See also:Attila, king of See also:Pergamum, defeated them in a See also:series of battles commemorated on the Pergamene sculptures, and henceforth they were confined to a See also:strip of See also:land in the interior of Asia Minor, the See also:Galatia of history. Their three tribes—Trocmi, Tolistobogians and Tectosages—submitted to Rome (189 B.C.), but they remained autonomous till the death of their king Amyntas, when See also:Augustus erected Galatia into a See also:province. Their descend-ants were probably the " foolish See also:Galatians " to whom St See also:Paul wrote (see GALATIA). Ancient writers spoke of all these Gauls as Cimbri, and identified them with the Cimmerians of earlier date, who in Homeric times dwelt on the ocean next to the See also:Laestrygones, in a region of wintry gloom, but where the See also:sun set not in summer. Nor was it only towards the south and the Hellespont that the Celtic See also:tide ever set. They passed eastward to the Danube mouth and into southern Russia, as far as the Sea of See also:Azov, mingling with the Scythians, as is proved by the name Celto-scyths. Mithra-[CELTIC See also:LANGUAGES See also:dates VI. of See also:Pontus seems to have negotiated with them to gain their aid against Rome, and Bituitus, a Gallic See also:mercenary, was with him at his death. The Celts had continually moved westwards also. The See also:Belgae, who were Cimbric in origin, had spread across the Rhine and given their name to all northern France and See also:Belgium (Gallia Belgica). Many of these tribes sent colonies over into south-eastern Britain, where they had been masters for some two centuries when Caesar invaded the See also:island (see BRITAIN). But there is See also:evidence that from the Bronze Age there had been settlers in northern Britain who were broad-skulled and cremated their dead, a practice which had arisen in south See also:Germany in the See also:early Bronze Age or still earlier. It is not unlikely that, as tradition states, there were incursions of Celts from central Gaul into Ireland during the See also:general Celtic unrest in the 6th century B.C. It is certain that at a later See also:period invaders from the See also:continent, bringing with them the later' Iron Age culture, commonly called La Tene, which had succeeded that of Hallstatt, had settled in Ireland. Not only are relics of La The culture found in Ireland, but the See also:oldest Irish epics celebrate tall, fair-haired, grey-eyed heroes, armed and clad in Gallic See also:fashion, who had come from the continent. The Celts in Italy, in the Balkan, in France and in Britain, overspread the Indo-See also:European peoples, who differed from themselves but slightly in speech. The Celts represented Indo-European q by p, whilst the Greeks, Illyrians, Thracians, Ligurians, and See also:aborigines of France, Britain and Ireland represented it by k, c or qu. The Umbrian-Sabellian tribes had the same phonetic peculiarity as the Celts. Thus Gallic petor (petor-ritum, " four-See also:wheeler "), Umbrian See also:peter, Homeric viewer, Boeotian (Achaean) 7rErrapes, Welsh pedwar; but Gaelic cethir, See also:Lat. quatuor. The Celts are thus clearly distinguished from the Gaelic-speaking dark race of Britain and Ireland, and in spite of usage it must be understood that it is strictly misleading to apply the term Celtic to the latter See also:language. See also Ridgeway, Early Age of Greece, vol. i., and Oldest Irish Epic; See also:Ripley, The Races of Europe; Sergi, The Mediterranean Race. (W. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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