Celts as Seen by Ancient Greeks and Romans

Описание: In the 6th and 5th centuries BC, European lands north of the alps were for the first time properly urbanized. The area stretching around Rhine and Moselle rivers was a host to large settlements that rose on plateaus and were surrounded with mighty ramparts. These were centers of prehistoric life, from political to religious aspects. Diverse infrastructure types were homes to stratified society, led by the ruling class that was buried in rich tumuli. The most exquisite among them were buried with large, four-wheeled wagons or carriages, and other treasures of local and foreign origin, the latter brought from the Mediterranean civilizations.

These people beyond the alps were referred by contemporary Greek authors as Celts.

There are many problems with the term “Celtic”. When it comes to art, language and even people, there is no such thing as singularly Celtic. Celtic identity has always been a mixture of local and foreign, a developing idea and a reinvention. Individual elements and even habits linked communities across Europe, but there was no singular art style, nor culture, nor people.

Even to this day we cannot be really sure what the people we call Celts today, actually called themselves at the time of the Iron Age. They left us no written historical records of their own. The word Celt, however, is not of Greek or Latin origin, suggesting that the early writers adopted an indigenous term for these groups of people. With time, the term became more and more muddled, until it became a general term for barbaric people of western Europe, also called Gauls, in order to distinguish them from the barbarians of the east, who were all considered Scythians. To what extent these people considered themselves to be ethnically related, is impossible to say today.

To Greeks and Romans, the Celts were barbarians and savages. And yet, even they could recognize virtues worthy of respect in them.

Hecataeus of Millet, Herodotus, Polybius, Plato, Aristotle, Poseidonius, Julius Caesar, Diodorus of Sicily and other ancient writers would leave us many remarks about Celts, all skewed by their personal opinion but they still give us a precious insight into the nature of Celts.

The perception of Celts by Greeks and Romans were based on first-hand accounts, as well as stereotypes developed through centuries. As such, the relation and ratio between truth and prejudice is difficult to discern even today.


Sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1m...

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