General history:

The Celts were an ancient European people that, at the height of their expansion covered most of the then known world. From Galatia in turkey, through Germany to Ireland, and south into the Iberian Peninsula and into northern Italy. They had been developing for centuries deep within Europe and were able to conquer such an area with their superior iron weapons. They were a colourful people who wore striking and unusual clothing, were master horsemen and beautifully artistic.

The term ‘Keltoí’ was first used by the Greek Hectaeus about 517bce. The name seems to have derived from a Celtic word meaning ‘hidden people’, possibly by their reluctance to store their knowledge in written form or because these enigmatic people emerged from the dark depths of pre-historic Europe into the historical period of Greece and Rome.

The Celts began an expansion around 900bce. At this early stage they possessed great skill in metal work, especially in the use of Iron. This metal was only just becoming known to the craftsmen of the ‘classical’ world.

In 390bce, they defeated the Roman armies and sacked Rome itself. It wasn’t until 345bce that the Romans regained it. The Gauls (which the Romans called the Celts) were in constant warfare with the Romans and the Romans adopted some celtic inventions like chainmail and trousers for their cavalry.

In 290bce, the Celts swept through the Greek states, smashing the greek armies and in 279bce sacked the temple of Apollo’s oracle in Delphi. They even made an attempt on Egypt during the reign of Ptolemy II Philadelphus around 277bce.

The Celts were never a real nation or empire, but held a common cultural bond through religion, language and custom which unified them from Galatia to Ireland. They were a mass of independent tribes or clans, free to act separately when they so chose, or to form confederacies for common action if necessity called.

The Romans began to subjugate the Celts from around 200bce onwards. The Celtic way of life began a slow process of ‘Romanisation’ from this point on. Julius Caesar led two expeditions to Celtic Britain in 55 and 54bce, but Britain managed to remain independent of Rome until 43ce. Ireland and most of Scotland were never conquered by Rome and it’s Celtic culture remained intact until the coming of Christianity, and later invasions.

The Celtic legacy managed through millennia of strife and warfare to survive into the modern era with it’s dwindling language and folk customs in what is commonly called ‘The Celtic Fringe’. Remnants of this once bold and mighty race can still be found today living in the most extreme westerly lands of Europe or, through famine and persecution, scattered across the globe.