Alexander/Macedonia king/336BC/Rare ancient Greek coin Hereacles club bow quiver

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Alexander/Macedonia king/336BC/Rare ancient Greek coin Hereacles club bow quiver:
$36.88

721an

Alexander III the Great - King of Macedonia 336-323 B.C.
AE 17-18mm. 6.44gm. circa 336BC
Obv./ Head of Hercules right, wearing lion skin headdress.
Rev./ AΛEΞANΔΡOY, between Heracles club and Bow and quiver.

Authenticity guaranteed.

Alexander III of Macedon, popularly known to history as Alexander the Great, (\"Mégas Aléxandros\") was an Ancient Greek king (basileus) ofMacedon. Born in 356 BC, Alexander succeeded his fatherPhilip II of Macedon to the throne in 336 BC, and died inBablyon in 323 BC at the age of 32.

Alexander was one of the most successful military commanders of all time and it is presumed that he was undefeated in battle. By the time of his death, he had conquered theAchaemenid Persian Empire, adding it to Macedon\'s European territories; according to some modern writers, this was much of the world then known to the ancient Greeks (the \'Ecumene\'). His father, Philip, had unified most of thecity-states of mainland Greece under Macedonianhegemony in theLeague of Corinth. As well as inheriting hegemony over the Greeks, Alexander also inherited the Greeks\' long-running feud with theAchaemenid Empire ofPersia. After reconfirming Macedonian rule by quashing a rebellion of southern Greek city-states, Alexander launched a short but successful campaign against Macedon\'s northern neighbours. He was then able to turn his attention towards the east and the Persians. In aseries of campaigns lasting 10 years, Alexander\'s armies repeatedly defeated the Persians in battle, in the process conquering the entirety of the Empire. He then, following his desire to reach the \'ends of the world and the Great Outer Sea\', invaded India, but was eventually forced to turn back by the near-mutiny of his troops.

Alexander died after twelve years of constant military campaigning, possibly a result of malaria, poisoning,typhoid fever, viralencephalitis or the consequences of alcoholism. His legacy and conquests lived on long after him and ushered in centuries of Greek settlement and cultural influence over distant areas. This period is known as theHellenistic period, which featured a combination ofGreek,Middle Eastern andIndian culture. Alexander himself featured prominently in the history and myth of both Greek and non-Greek cultures. His exploits inspired a literary tradition in which he appeared as a legendaryhero in the tradition of Achilles.

Alexander fighting Persian king Darius III. From Alexander Mosaic, from Pompeii, Naples, Naples National

In theancient Greekreligion, Zeuszewszooss;Ancient Greek: Ζεύς;Modern Greek: Δίας, Dias) was the \"Father of Gods and men\" (πατὴρ ἀνδρῶν τε θεῶν τε) who ruled the Olympians ofMount Olympus as a father ruled the family. He was thegod of sky andthunder inGreek mythology. HisRoman counterpart isJupiter andEtruscan counterpart isTinia.

Zeus was the child ofCronus andRhea, and the youngest of his siblings. In most traditions he was married toHera, although, at the oracle ofDodona, his consort wasDione: according to the Iliad, he is the father ofAphrodite by Dione.[2] He is known for his erotic escapades. These resulted in many godly and heroic offspring, includingAthena,Apollo andArtemis,Hermes,Persephone of Troy,Minos, and theMuses (byMnemosyne); by Hera, he is usually said to have fathered Ares,Hebe andHephaestus.[5]

AsWalter Burkert points out in his book, Greek Religion, \"Even the gods who are not his natural children address him as Father, and all the gods rise in his presence.\"[6] For the Greeks, he was theKing of the Gods, who oversaw the universe. AsPausanias observed, \"That Zeus is king in heaven is a saying common to all men\".[7] In Hesiod\'s Theogony Zeus assigns the various gods their roles. In the Homeric Hymns he is referred to as the chieftain of the gods.

His symbols are thethunderbolt,eagle,bull, andoak. In addition to his Indo-European inheritance, the classical \"cloud-gatherer\" also derives certain iconographic traits from the cultures of theAncient Near East, such as thescepter. Zeus is frequently depicted by Greek artists in one of two poses: standing, striding forward, with a thunderbolt leveled in his raised right hand, or seated in majesty.

Etymology The Chariot of Zeus, from an 1879 Stories from the Greek Tragedians by Alfred Church

In Greek, the god\'s name is Ζεύς Zeús/zdeús/ or/dzeús/ (Modern Greek/ˈzefs/) in thenominative case andΔιός Diós in thegenitive case. The earliest forms of the name are theMycenaean Greek di-we and di-wo, written inLinear b syllabic script.[8] With the apparent interchangeability of \"z\" and \"d\", Zeus can also beDeus.

Zeus, poetically referred to by thevocative Zeu pater (\"O, father Zeus\"), is a continuation of *Di̯ēus, theProto-Indo-European god of the daytime sky, also called *Dyeus ph2tēr (\"Sky Father\").[9] The god is known under this name inSanskrit (compare Dyaus/Dyaus Pita),Latin (compare Jupiter, from Iuppiter, deriving from theProto-Indo-European vocative *dyeu-ph2tēr[10]), deriving from the basic form *dyeu- (\"to shine\", and in its many derivatives, \"sky, heaven, god\").[9] And inGermanic mythology (compare *Tīwaz >Old High German language Ziu,Old Norse Týr), together with Latin deus, dīvus and Dis (a variation of dīves[11]), from the related noun *deiwos.[11] To the Greeks and Romans, the god of the sky was also the supreme god. Zeus is the only deity in the Olympicpantheon whose name has such a transparent Indo-European etymology.[12]

Zeus in myth Zeus, at the Getty Villa, A.D. 1 - 100 by unknown Birth

Cronus sired several children byRhea:Hestia,Demeter,Hera, Hades, andPoseidon, but swallowed them all as soon as they were born, since he had learned fromGaia andUranus that he was destined to be overcome by his own son as he had overthrown his own father— an oracle that Zeus was to hear and avert. When Zeus was about to be born, Rhea sought Gaia to devise a plan to save him, so that Cronus would get his retribution for his acts against Uranus and his own children. Rhea gave birth to Zeus in Crete, handing Cronus a rock wrapped in swaddling clothes, which he promptly swallowed.

Infancy

Rhea hid Zeus in a cave onMount Ida in Crete. According to varying versions of the story:

He was then raised by Gaia.
He was raised by a goat named Amalthea, while a company of Kouretes— soldiers, or smaller gods— danced, shouted and clashed their spears against their shields so that Cronus would not hear the baby\'s cry (see cornucopia).
He was raised by a nymph named Adamanthea. Since Cronus ruled over the Earth, the heavens and the sea, she hid him by dangling him on a rope from a tree so he was suspended between earth, sea and sky and thus, invisible to his father.
He was raised by a nymph named Cynosura. In gratitude, Zeus placed her among the stars.
He was raised by Melissa, who nursed him with goat\'s-milk and honey.
He was raised by a shepherd family under the promise that their sheep would be saved from wolves.

King of the gods

After reaching manhood, Zeus forced Cronus to disgorge first the stone (which was set down atPytho under the glens ofParnassus to be a sign to mortal men, theOmphalos) then his siblings in reverse order of swallowing. In some versions,Metis gave Cronus anemetic to force him to disgorge the babies, or Zeus cut Cronus\' stomach open. Then Zeus released the brothers of Cronus, theGigantes, theHecatonchires and theCyclopes, from their dungeon inTartarus, killing their guard,Campe.

As a token of their appreciation, the Cyclopes gave himthunder and the thunderbolt, orlightning, which had previously been hidden by Gaia. Together, Zeus and his brothers and sisters, along with the Gigantes, Hecatonchires and Cyclopes overthrew Cronus and the other Titans, in the combat called theTitanomachy. The defeated Titans were then cast into a shadowy underworld region known as Tartarus. Atlas, one of the titans that fought against Zeus, was punished by having to hold up the sky.

After the battle with the Titans, Zeus shared the world with his elder brothers, Poseidon andHades, by drawing lots: Zeus got the sky and air, Poseidon the waters, and Hades the world of the dead (the underworld). The ancient Earth,Gaia, could not be claimed; she was left to all three, each according to their capabilities, which explains why Poseidon was the \"earth-shaker\" (the god of earthquakes) and Hades claimed the humans that died (see also Penthus).

Gaia resented the way Zeus had treated the Titans, because they were her children. Soon after taking the throne as king of the gods, Zeus had to fight some of Gaia\'s other children, themonstersTyphon andEchidna. He vanquished Typhon and trapped him under Mount Etna, but left Echidna and her children alive.

Zeus and Hera

Zeus was brother and consort ofHera. By Hera, Zeus siredAres,Hebe andHephaestus, though some accounts say that Hera produced these offspring alone. Some also includeEileithyia andEris as their daughters. The conquests of Zeus among nymphs and the mythic mortal progenitors ofHellenic dynasties are famous. Olympian mythography even credits him with unions withLeto, Demeter,Dione andMaia. Among mortals wereSemele,Io,Europa andLeda (for more details, see below).

Many myths render Hera as jealous of his amorous conquests and a consistent enemy of Zeus\' mistresses and their children by him. For a time, anymph namedEcho had the job of distracting Hera from his affairs by talking incessantly, and when Hera discovered the deception, she cursed Echo to repeat the words of others.

The Celts were anIndo-European andethno-linguistically diverse group oftribal societies inIron Age andRoman-eraEurope who spokeCeltic languages.

The earliest archaeological culture that may justifiably be considered asProto-Celtic is the Late Bronze AgeUrnfield culture ofcentral Europe from the last quarter of the second millennium BC. Their fully Celtic descendants in central Europe were the people of the Iron AgeHallstatt culture (c. 800-450 BC) named for the rich grave finds inHallstatt, Austria.By the laterLa Tène period (c. 450 BC up to the Roman conquest), this Celtic culture had expanded over a wide range of regions, whether bydiffusion ormigration: to theBritish Isles (Insular Celts), France andThe Low Countries (Gauls), much ofCentral Europe, theIberian Peninsula (Celtiberians,Celtici andGallaeci) andnorthern Italy (Golaseccans and Cisalpine Gauls) and following theGallic invasion of the Balkans in 279 BC as far east as central Anatolia (Galatians).

The earliest directly attested examples of a Celtic language are theLepontic inscriptions, beginning from the 6th century BC.Continental Celtic languages are attested only in inscriptions and place-names.Insular Celtic is attested from about the 4th century inogham inscriptions, although it is clearly much earlier. Literary tradition begins withOld Irish from about the 8th century. Coherent texts ofEarly Irish literature, such as the Táin Bó Cúailnge (The Cattle Raid of Cooley), survive in 12th-century recensions.

By mid 1st millennium AD, following the expansion of theRoman Empire and theGreat Migrations (Migration Period) ofGermanic peoples, Celtic culture andInsular Celtic had become restricted toIreland, to the western and northern parts ofGreat Britain (Wales,Scotland,Cornwall and theIsle of Man), and to northernFrance (Brittany). Between the fifth and eighth centuries the Celtic-speaking communities of the Atlantic regions had emerged as a reasonably cohesive cultural entity. In language, religion, and art they shared a common heritage that distinguished them from the culture of surrounding polities.[7] TheContinental Celtic languages ceased to be widely used by the 6th century.

Insular Celtic culture diversified into that of theGaels (Irish,Scottish andManx) and theBrythonic Celts (Welsh,Cornish, andBretons) of the medieval and modern periods. A modern \"Celtic identity\" was constructed in the context of the RomanticistCeltic Revival in Great Britain, Ireland, and other European territories, such asGalicia.[8] TodayIrish,Scottish Gaelic,Welsh, andBreton remain spoken in parts of their historical territories, and bothCornish andManx are currently undergoing revival.

Names and terminology

The first recorded use of the word Celts (Κελτοί) to refer to an ethnic group was byHecataeus of Miletus, the Greek geographer, in 517 BC,[9] when writing about a people living near \"Massilia\" (Marseille).[10] According to the testimony ofJulius Caesar andStrabo, the Latin name \"Celtus\" (pl. \"Celti\" or \"Celtae\") and the Greek (Κέλτης pl.Κέλται or Κελτός pl. Κελτοί) were borrowed from a native Celtic tribal name.[11][12]Pliny the Elder referred it as being used inLusitania as a tribal surname[13] which epigraphic findings confirm.[14][15]

Latin \"Gallus\" might originally be from a Celtic ethnic ortribal name, perhaps borrowed into Latin during the Celtic expansions into Italy of the early 5th century BC. Its root may be theCommon Celtic \"*galno\", meaning power or strength. Galli, Gallaeci and Galatae most probably go with Old Irish gal \'boldness, ferocity\' and Welsh gallu \'to be able, power\'.[16] The Greek \"Galatai\" seems to be based on the same root, borrowed directly from the same hypothetical Celtic source which gave us \"Galli\" (the suffix \"-atai\" is an Ancient Greek inflection).[17](see Galatia in Anatolia)

The English word \"Celt\" is modern, attested from 1707 in the writings ofEdward Lhuyd whose work, along with that of other late 17th-century scholars, brought academic attention to the languages and history of these early inhabitants of Great Britain.[18] The English form \"Gaul\" (first recorded in the 17th century) and \"Gaulish\" come from the French \"Gaule\" and \"Gaulois\", which translate Latin \"Gallia\" and \"Gallus, -icus\" respectively. In Old French, the words \"gualeis\", \"galois\", \"walois\" (Northern French phonetics keeping /w/) had different meanings: Welsh or the Langue d\'oïl, etc. On the other hand, the word \"Waulle\" (Northern French phonetics keeping /w/) is recorded for the first time in the 13th century to translate the Latin word Gallia, while \"gaulois\" is recorded for the first time in the 15th century, and the scholars use it to translate the Latin words Gallus / Gallicus. The word comes from Proto-Germanic *Walha- (seeGaul: Name). The English word \"Welsh\" originates from the word wælisċ, theAnglo-Saxon form of *walhiska-, the reconstructed Proto-Germanic word for \"foreign\"[19] or \"Celt\" (South GermanWelsch(e) \"Celtic speaker\", \"French speaker\", \"Italian speaker\"; Old Norse \"valskr\", pl. \"valir\" \"Gaulish\", \"French\"), that is supposed to be derived of the name of the \"Volcae\",[20] a Celtic tribe who lived first in the South of Germany and emigrated then to Gaul.[21]

The notion of an identifiable Celticcultural identity or \"Celticity\", though problematic, generally centres on language, art and classical texts,[22] though can also include, material artifacts,social organisation,homeland andmythology.[23] Earlier theories were that this indicated a common racial origin but more recent theories are reflective of culture and language rather than race. Celtic cultures seem to have had numerous diverse characteristics but the commonality between these diverse peoples was the use of a Celtic language.[citation needed].

\"Celtic\" is a descriptor of afamily of languages and, more generally, means \"of the Celts\", or \"in the style of the Celts\". It has also been used to refer to several archaeological cultures defined by unique sets of artifacts. The link between language and artifact is aided by the presence of inscriptions.[24](seeCeltic (disambiguation) for other applications of the term)

Today, the term Celtic is generally used to describe the languages and respective cultures of Ireland, Scotland, Wales,Cornwall, theIsle of Man andBrittany, also known as theSix Celtic Nations. These are the regions where four Celtic languages are still spoken to some extent as mother tongues:Irish Gaelic,Scottish Gaelic,Welsh, andBreton, plus two recent revivals,Cornish (one of theBrythonic languages) andManx (one of theGoidelic languages). There are also attempts to reconstruct theCumbric language (a Brythonic language fromNorthwest England and Southwest Scotland). \'Celtic\' is also sometimes used to describe regions ofContinental Europe that claim a Celtic heritage, but where no Celtic language has survived; these areas include the westernIberian Peninsula, i.e. Portugal, and north-central Spain (Galicia,Asturias,Cantabria,Castile and León,Extremadura).[25](seeModern Celts)

\"Continental Celts\" refers to the Celtic-speaking people of mainland Europe. \"Insular Celts\" refers to the different Celtic-speaking peoples of the British and Irish islands and to their descendants. The Celts of Brittany derive their language from migrating insular Celts mainly from Wales andCornwall and so are grouped accordingly.[26]

Origins

TheCeltic languages form a branch of the largerIndo-European family. By the time speakers of Celtic languages enter history around 400 BC, they were already split into several language groups, and spread over much of Western continental Europe, theIberian Peninsula, Ireland and Britain.

Some scholars think that theUrnfield culture of WesternMiddle Europe represents an origin for the Celts as a distinct cultural branch of the Indo-European family.[2] This culture was preeminent in central Europe during the lateBronze Age, fromca. 1200 BC until 700 BC, itself following theUnetice andTumulus cultures. The Urnfield period saw a dramatic increase in population in the region, probably due to innovations in technology andagricultural practices. The Greek historianEphoros of Cyme inAsia Minor, writing in the 4th century BC, believed that the Celts came from the islands off the mouth of theRhine and were \"driven from their homes by the frequency of wars and the violent rising of the sea\".

The spread ofiron-working led to the development of theHallstatt culture directly from the Urnfield (ca. 700 to 500 BC).Proto-Celtic, the latestcommon ancestor of all known Celtic languages, is considered by this school of thought to have been spoken at the time of the late Urnfield or early Hallstatt cultures, in the early 1st millennium BC. The spread of the Celtic languages to Iberia, Ireland and Britain would have occurred during the first half of the 1st millennium BC, the earliestchariot burials in Britain dating to c. 500 BC. Other scholars see Celtic languages as covering Britain and Ireland, and parts of the Continent, long before any evidence of \"Celtic\" culture is found in archaeology. Over the centuries the language(s) developed into the separateCeltiberian, Goidelic andBrythonic languages.

The Hallstatt culture was succeeded by theLa Tène culture of central Europe, which was overrun by the Roman Empire, though traces of La Tène style are still to be seen inGallo-Roman artefacts. In Britain and Ireland La Tène style in art survived precariously to re-emerge inInsular art. EarlyIrish literature casts light on the flavour and tradition of the heroic warrior elites who dominated Celtic societies. Celtic river-names are found in great numbers around the upper reaches ofthe Danube and Rhine, which led many Celtic scholars to place theethnogenesis of the Celts in this area.

Diodorus Siculus andStrabo both suggest that the Celtic heartland was insouthern France. The former says that the Gauls were to the north of the Celts but that the Romans referred to both as Gauls. Before the discoveries at Hallstatt and La Tene, it was generally considered that the Celtic heartland was southern France, seeEncyclopædia Britannica for 1813.

Linguistic evidence

TheProto-Celtic language is usually dated to the Late Bronze Age.[2] The earliest records of a Celtic language are theLepontic inscriptions ofCisalpine Gaul, the oldest of which still predate theLa Tène period. Other early inscriptions areGaulish, appearing from the early La Tène period in inscriptions in the area ofMassilia, in theGreek alphabet.Celtiberian inscriptions appear comparatively late, after about 200 BC. Evidence ofInsular Celtic is available only from about 400 AD, in the form ofPrimitive IrishOgham inscriptions. Besides epigraphical evidence, an important source of information on early Celtic istoponymy.[27]

Archaeological evidence

Before the 19th century, scholars[who?] assumed that the original land of the Celts was west of the Rhine, more precisely in Gaul, because it was where Greek and Roman ancient sources, namely Cesar, located the Celts. This view was challenged by Jubainville[citation needed] who placed the land of origin of the Celts east of the Rhine. Jubainville based his arguments on a phrase of Herodotus´ that placed the Celts at the source of the Danube, and argued that Herodotus had meant to place the Celtic homeland in southern Germany. The finding of the prehistoric cemetery of Hallstat in 1846 by Johan Ramsauer and almost ten years later the finding of the archaeological site of La Tène by Hansli Kopp in 1857 draw attention to this area. The concept that the Hallstatt and La Tene cultures could be seen not just as chronological periods but as “Culture Groups”, entities composed of people of the same ethnicity and language, started to grow by the end of the 19th century. In the beginning of the 20th century the belief that those “Culture Groups” could be thought in racial or ethnic terms was strongly held byGordon Childe whose theory was influenced by the writings ofGustaf Kossinna.[28] Along the 20th century the racial ethnic interpretation of La Tene culture rooted much stronger, and any findings of “La Tene culture” and “flat inhumation cemeteries” were directly associated with the celts and the celtic language.[29] The Iron AgeHallstatt (c. 800-475 BC) andLa Tène (c. 500-50 BC) cultures are typically associated with Proto-Celtic and Celtic culture.[30]

In various[clarification needed]academic disciplines the Celts were considered a Central European Iron Age phenomenon, through the cultures of Hallstatt and La Tène. However, archaeological finds from the Halstatt and La Tène culture were rare in the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern France, northern and western Britain, southern Ireland and Galatia[31][32] and did not provide enough evidence for a cultural scenario comparable to that of Central Europe. It is considered equally difficult to maintain that the origin of the Peninsular Celts can be linked to the preceding Urnfield culture, leading to a more recent approach that introduces a \'proto-Celtic\' substratum and a process of Celticisation having its initial roots in the Bronze AgeBell Beaker culture.[33]

The La Tène culture developed and flourished during the late Iron Age (from 450 BC to the Roman conquest in the 1st century BC) in Eastern France, Switzerland, Austria, southwest Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. It developed out of the Hallstatt culture without any definite cultural break, under the impetus of considerable Mediterranean influence fromGreek, and laterEtruscan civilisations. A shift of settlement centres took place in the 4th century.

The western La Tène culture corresponds to historicalCeltic Gaul. Whether this means that the whole of La Tène culture can be attributed to a unified Celtic people is difficult to assess; archaeologists have repeatedly concluded that language, material culture, andpolitical affiliation do not necessarily run parallel. Frey notes that in the 5th century, \"burial customs in the Celtic world were not uniform; rather, localised groups had their own beliefs, which, in consequence, also gave rise to distinct artistic expressions\".[34] Thus, while the La Tène culture is certainly associated with theGauls, the presence of La Tène artefacts may be due to cultural contact and does not imply the permanent presence of Celtic speakers.

Historical evidence

Polybius published ahistory of Rome about 150 BC in which he describes the Gauls of Italy and their conflict with Rome.Pausanias in the 2nd century BC says that the Gauls \"originally called Celts\", \"live on the remotest region of Europe on the coast of an enormous tidal sea\".Posidonius described the southern Gauls about 100 BC. Though his original work is lost it was used by later writers such asStrabo. The latter, writing in the early 1st century AD, deals with Britain and Gaul as well as Hispania, Italy and Galatia.Caesar wrote extensively about hisGallic Wars in 58-51 BC.Diodorus Siculus wrote about the Celts of Gaul and Britain in his 1st-century history.

Minority views

Martín Almagro Gorbea[35] proposed the origins of the Celts could be traced back to the 3rd millennium BC, seeking the initial roots in theBell Beaker culture, thus offering the wide dispersion of the Celts throughoutwestern Europe, as well as the variability of the different Celtic peoples, and the existence of ancestral traditions an ancient perspective. More recently, John Koch[36] and Barry Cunliffe[37] have suggested that Celtic origins lie with theAtlantic Bronze Age, roughly contemporaneous with the Hallstatt culture but positioned considerably to the West, extending along the Atlantic coast of Europe.

Stephen Oppenheimer[38] points out that Herodotus seemed to believe the Danube rose near thePyrenees.

DistributionContinental CeltsGaul

At the dawn of history in Europe, the Celts then living in what is now France were known as Gauls to the Romans. The territory of these peoples probably includedthe low countries, the Alps and what is now northern Italy. Their descendants were described by Julius Caesar in his Gallic Wars. Eastern Gaul was the centre of the western La Tène culture. In later Iron Age Gaul, the social organisation was similar to that of the Romans, with large towns. From the 3rd century BC the Gauls adopted coinage, and texts with Greek characters are known in southern Gaul from the 2nd century.

Greek traders founded Massalia in about 600 BC, with exchange up theRhone valley, but trade was disrupted soon after 500 BC and re-oriented over the Alps to the Po valley in Italy.The Romans arrived in the Rhone valley in the 2nd century BC and encountered a Gaul that was mostly Celtic-speaking. Rome needed land communications with its Iberian provinces and fought a major battle with the Saluvii at Entremont in 124-123 BC. Gradually Roman control extended, and theRoman Province ofGallia Transalpina was formed along the Mediterranean coast. The remainder was known as Gallia Comata - \"Hairy Gaul\".

In 58 BC, the Helvetii planned to migrate westward but were forced back by Julius Caesar. He then became involved in fighting the various tribes in Gaul, and by 55 BC, most of Gaul had been overrun. In 52 BC,Vercingetorix led a revolt against the Roman occupation but was defeated at the siege of Alesia and surrendered.

Following the Gallic Wars of 58-51 BC, Caesar\'s Celtica formed the main part of Roman Gaul. This territory of the Celtic tribes was bounded on the south by the Garonne and on the north by the Seine and the Marne.[39] Place and personal name analysis and inscriptions suggest that the Gaulish Celtic language was spoken over most of what is now France.[40]

Iberia Triskelion and spirals on a Galician torc terminal (Museu do castro de Santa Tegra).

Until the end of the 19th century, traditional scholarship dealing with the Celts did acknowledge their presence in the Iberian Peninsula[41][42] as amaterial culture relatable to theHallstatt andLa Tène cultures. However, since according to the definition of theIron Age in the 19th century Celtic populations were supposedly rare in Iberia and did not provide a cultural scenario that could easily be linked to that of Central Europe, the presence of celtic culture in that region was generally not fully recognised. Three divisions of the Celts of the Iberian Peninsula were assumed to have existed: theCeltiberians in the mountains near the centre of the peninsula, theCeltici in the southwest, and the celts in the northwest (in Gallaecia andAsturias).[43]

Modern scholarship, however, has clearly proven that Celtic presence and influences were most substantial in what is today Spain and Portugal (with perhaps the highest settlement saturation in Western Europe), particularly in the central, western and northern regions.[44][45] The Celts in Iberia were divided into two main archaeological and cultural groups,[46] even though that division is not very clear:

One group was spread out along Galicia[47] and the Iberian Atlantic shores. They were made up of the Proto / Para-Celtic Lusitanians (in Portugal)[48] and the Celtic region that Strabo called Celtica in the southwestern Iberian peninsula,[49] including the Algarve, which was inhabited by the Celtici, the Vettones and Vacceani peoples[50] (of central-western Spain and Portugal), and the Gallaecian, Astures and Cantabrian peoples of the Castro culture of northern and northwestern Spain and Portugal.[51]
The Celtiberian group of central Spain and the upper Ebro valley.[52] This group originated when Celts (mainly Gauls and some Celtic-Germanic groups) migrated from what is now France and integrated with the local Iberian people.

The origins of the Celtiberians might provide a key to understanding the Celticisation process in the rest of the Peninsula. The process of Celticisation of the southwestern area of the peninsula by the Keltoi and of the northwestern area is, however, not a simple Celtiberian question. Recent investigations about the Callaici[53] and Bracari[54] in northwestern Portugal are providing new approaches to understanding Celtic culture (language, art and religion) in western Iberia.[55]

John T. Koch of the University of Wales-Aberystwyth suggested thatTartessian inscriptions of the 8th century BC might already be classified as Celtic. This would mean that Tartessian is the earliest attested trace of Celtic by margin of more than a century.[56]

Alps and Po Valley

It had been known for some time that there was an early, although apparently somewhat limited, Celtic (Lepontic, sometimes called Cisalpine Celtic) presence inNorthern Italy since inscriptions dated to the 6th century BC have been found there.

The site ofGolasecca, where theTicino exits fromLake Maggiore, was particularly suitable for long-distance exchanges, in which Golaseccans acted as intermediaries betweenEtruscans and theHalstatt culture of Austria, supported on the all-important trade in salt.

In 391 BC Celts \"who had their homes beyond the Alps streamed through the passes in great strength and seized the territory that lay between theAppennine mountains and the Alps\" according toDiodorus Siculus. ThePo Valley and the rest of northern Italy (known to the Romans asCisalpine Gaul) was inhabited by Celtic-speakers who founded cities such asMilan.[57] Later the Roman army was routed at thebattle of Allia and Rome was sacked in 390 BC by the Senones.

At thebattle of Telamon in 225 BC a large Celtic army was trapped between two Roman forces and crushed.

The defeat of the combinedSamnite, Celtic and Etruscan alliance by the Romans in theThird Samnite War sounded the beginning of the end of the Celtic domination in mainland Europe, but it was not until 192 BC that the Roman armies conquered the last remaining independent Celtic kingdoms in Italy.

Eastward expansion

The Celts also expanded down theDanube river and its tributaries. One of the most influential tribes, theScordisci, had established their capital atSingidunum in 3rd century BC, which is present-day Belgrade,Serbia. The concentration of hill-forts and cemeteries shows adensity of population in theTisza valley of modern-dayVojvodina,Serbia, Hungary and intoUkraine. Expansion intoRomania was however blocked by theDacians.

Further south, Celts settled inThrace (Bulgaria), which they ruled for over a century, andAnatolia, where they settled as theGalatians (see also:Gallic Invasion of Greece). Despite theirgeographical isolation from the rest of the Celtic world, the Galatians maintained their Celtic language for at least 700 years.St Jerome, who visited Ancyra (modern-dayAnkara) in 373 AD, likened their language to that of the Treveri of northern Gaul.

For Venceslas Kruta, Galatia in central Turkey was an area of dense celtic settlement.

The Boii tribe gave their name toBohemia,Bologna and possiblyBavaria, and Celtic artefacts and cemeteries have been discovered further east in what is now Poland andSlovakia. A celtic coin (Biatec) from Bratislava\'s mint was displayed on the old Slovak 5-crown coin.

As there is no archaeological evidence for large-scale invasions in some of the other areas, one current school of thought holds that Celtic language and culture spread to those areas by contact rather than invasion.[58] However, the Celtic invasions of Italy and theexpedition in Greece and western Anatolia, are well documented in Greek and Latin history.

There are records of Celtic mercenaries inEgypt serving thePtolemies. Thousands were employed in 283-246 BC and they were also in service around 186 BC. They attempted to overthrow Ptolemy II.

Insular Celts Main article: Insular Celts Further information: Iron Age BritainandCeltic immigration to the British Isles Further information: Iron Age tribes in Britain,Goidelic substrate hypothesis,andO\'Rahilly\'s historical model

All Celtic languages extant today belong to theInsular Celtic languages, derived from the Celtic languages spoken inIron Age Britain. They were separated into aGoidelic and aBrythonic branch from an early period.

Linguists have been arguing for many years whether a Celtic language came to Britain and Ireland and then split or whether there were two separate \"invasions\". The older view of prehistorians was that the Celtic influence in the British Isles was the result of successive invasions from the European continent by diverse Celtic-speaking peoples over the course of several centuries, accounting for theP-Celtic vs.Q-Celtic isogloss. This view is now generally discredited in favour of a phylogeneticInsular Celtic dialect group.

Celtic arrival in Britain is usually taken to correspond toHallstatt influence and the appearance ofchariot burials in what is now England from about the 6th century BC. Some Iron Age migration does seem to have occurred but the nature of the interactions with the indigenous populations of the isles is unknown. In the lateIron Age Pryor estimates that the population of Britain and Ireland was between 1 and 1.5 million, upon which a smaller number of Celtic-speaking immigrant populations would have installed themselves as asuperstrate.

By about the 6th century (Sub-Roman Britain), most of the inhabitants of the Isles were speaking Celtic languages of either theGoidelic or theBrythonic branch.

After Caesar\'s conquest ofGaul in the 50s BC, someBelgic people seem to have come to central southern Britain.[59] Though there was a tribe calledParisi in Eastern Yorkshire, these were probably a British people with cultural links to the continent. It has been claimed that there were a tribe ofIverni in Ireland who spoke a Brythonic language.

In Ireland as in Great Britain, beginning Celtic influence is taken to correspond to the beginningIron Age. The adoption of Celtic culture and language was likely a gradual transformation, brought on by cultural exchange with Celtic groups in the mainland or otherwise southwest continental Europe.

Romanisation

Under Caesar the Romans conquered Celtic Gaul, and fromClaudius onward the Roman empire absorbed parts of Britain. Roman local government of these regions closely mirrored pre-Roman tribal boundaries, and archaeological finds suggest native involvement in local government.

The native peoples under Roman rule became Romanised and keen to adopt Roman ways. Celtic art had already incorporated classical influences, and surviving Gallo-Roman pieces interpret classical subjects or keep faith with old traditions despite a Roman overlay.

The Roman occupation ofGaul, and to a lesser extent ofBritain, led to Roman-Celticsyncretism. In the case of the continental Celts, this eventually resulted in alanguage shift toVulgar Latin, while the Insular Celts retained their language.

There was also considerable cultural influence exerted by Gaul on Rome, particularly in military matters and horsemanship, as the Gauls often served in the Roman cavalry. The Romans adopted the Celtic cavalry sword, the spatha, andEpona, the Celtic horse goddess.[60]

Society Stone head from Mšecké Žehrovice, Czech Republic, wearing a torc, late La Tène culture.

To the extent that sources are available, they depict a pre-Christian Celticsocial structure based formally on class and kingship. Patron-client relationships similar to those of Roman society are also described by Caesar and others in the Gaul of the 1st century BC.

In the main, the evidence is of tribes being led by kings, although some argue that there is also evidence ofoligarchicalrepublicanforms of government eventually emerging in areas which had close contact with Rome. Most descriptions of Celtic societies portray them as being divided into three groups: a warrior aristocracy; an intellectual class including professions such asdruid, poet, and jurist; and everyone else. In historical times, the offices of high and low kings in Ireland and Scotland were filled by election under the system oftanistry, which eventually came into conflict with the feudal principle ofprimogeniture in which succession goes to the first born son.

Little is known of family structure among the Celts. Patterns of settlement varied from decentralised to urban. The popular stereotype of non-urbanised societies settled inhillforts andduns,[62] drawn from Britain and Ireland (there are about 3,000hill forts known in Britain)[63] contrasts with the urban settlements present in the core Hallstatt and La Tene areas, with the many significant oppida of Gaul late in the first millennium BC, and with the towns ofGallia Cisalpina.

Slavery, as practised by the Celts, was very likely similar to the better documentedpractice in ancient Greece and Rome.[64] Slaves were acquired from war, raids, and penal and debt servitude.[64] Slavery was hereditary[citation needed], thoughmanumission was possible. TheOld Irish word for slave, cacht, and the Welsh term caeth are likely derived from the Latin captus, captive, suggesting thatslave trade was an early venue of contact between Latin and Celtic societies.[64] In the Middle Ages, slavery was especially prevalent in theCeltic countries.[65] Manumissions were discouraged by law and the word for \"female slave\", cumal, was used as a general unit of value in Ireland.[66]

Archaeological evidence suggests that the pre-Roman Celtic societies were linked to the network of overlandtrade routes that spanned Eurasia. Archaeologists have discovered large prehistoric trackways crossing bogs in Ireland and Germany. Due to their substantial nature, these are believed to have been created for wheeled transport as part of an extensive roadway system that facilitated trade.[67] The territory held by the Celts containedtin,lead, iron,silver andgold.[68] Celtic smiths and metalworkers created weapons andjewellery forinternational trade, particularly with the Romans.

The myth that the Celticmonetary system consisted of wholly barter is a common one, but is in part false. The monetary system was complex and is still not understood (much like the late Roman coinages), and due to the absence of large numbers of coin items, it is assumed that \"proto-money\" was used. This is the collective term used to describe bronze items made from the early La Tene period onwards, which were often in the shape ofaxeheads,rings, orbells. Due to the large number of these present in some burials, it is thought they had a relatively highmonetary value, and could be used for \"day to day\" purchases. Low-value coinages ofpotin, a bronze alloy with high tin content, were minted in most Celtic areas of the continent and in South-East Britain prior to the Roman conquest of these lands. Higher-value coinages, suitable for use in trade, were minted in gold, silver, and high-quality bronze.Gold coinage was much more common thansilver coinage, despite being worth substantially more, as while there were around 100 mines in Southern Britain and Central France, silver was more rarely mined. This was due partly to the relative sparcity of mines and the amount of effort needed for extraction compared to the profit gained. As the Roman civilisation grew in importance and expanded its trade with the Celtic world, silver and bronze coinage became more common. This coincided with a major increase in gold production in Celtic areas to meet the Roman demand, due to the high value Romans put on the metal. The large number of gold mines in France is thought to be a major reason why Caesar invaded.

The Dying Gaul, a Roman marble copy of a Hellenistic work of the late 3rd century BC Capitoline Museums, Rome

There are only very limited records from pre-Christian times written in Celtic languages. These are mostly inscriptions in the Roman and sometimes Greek alphabets. The Ogham script, anEarly Medievalalphabet, was mostly used in early Christian times in Ireland and Scotland (but also in Wales and England), and was only used for ceremonial purposes such as inscriptions on gravestones. The available evidence is of a strong oral tradition, such as that preserved by bards in Ireland, and eventually recorded bymonasteries. The oldest recorded rhyming poetry in the world is of Irish origin[69] and is a transcription of a much olderepic poem, leading some scholars to claim that the Celts invented rhyme. Celtic art also produced a great deal of intricate and beautiful metalwork, examples of which have been preserved by their distinctive burial rites.

In some regards the Atlantic Celts were conservative: for example, they still used chariots in combat long after they had been reduced to ceremonial roles by the Greeks and Romans. However, despite being outdated, Celticchariot tactics were able to repel the invasion of Britain attempted by Julius Caesar.

According to Diodorus Siculus:

The Gauls are tall of body with rippling muscles and white of skin and their hair is blond, and not only naturally so for they also make it their practice by artificial means to increase the distinguishing colour which nature has given it. For they are always washing their hair in limewater and they pull it back from the forehead to the nape of the neck, with the result that their appearance is like that of Satyrs and Pans since the treatment of their hair makes it so heavy and coarse that it differs in no respect from the mane of horses. Some of them shave the beard but others let it grow a little; and the nobles shave their cheeks but they let the moustache grow until it covers the mouth. —Diodorus SiculusClothing The Waterloo Helmet

During the later Iron Age the Gauls generally wore long-sleeved shirts ortunics and long trousers (called braccae by the Romans).[70] Clothes were made of wool orlinen, with somesilk being used by the rich.Cloaks were worn in the winter.Brooches andarmlets were used, but the most famous item of jewellery was the torc, a neck collar of metal, sometimes gold. The hornedWaterloo Helmet in theBritish Museum, which long set the standard for modern images of Celtic warriors, is in fact a unique survival, and may have been a piece for ceremonial rather than military wear.

Gender and sexual norms

According toAristotle, most \"belligerent nations\" were strongly influenced by their women, but the Celts were unusual because their men openly preferred male lovers (Politics II 1269b).[71] H. D. Rankin in Celts and the Classical World notes that \"Athenaeus echoes this comment (603a) and so doesAmmianus (30.9). It seems to be the general opinion of antiquity.\"[72] In book XIII of his Deipnosophists, the Roman Greek rhetorician and grammarianAthenaeus, repeating assertions made byDiodorus Siculus in the 1st century BC (Bibliotheca historica 5:32), wrote that Celtic women were beautiful but that the men preferred to sleep together. Diodorus went further, stating that \"the young men will offer themselves to strangers and are insulted if the offer is refused\". Rankin argues that the ultimate source of these assertions is likely to bePoseidonius and speculates that these authors may be recording male \"bonding rituals\".[73]

The sexual freedom of women in Britain was noted byCassius Dio:[74]

...a very witty remark is reported to have been made by the wife of Argentocoxus, a Caledonian, to Julia Augusta. When the empress was jesting with her, after the treaty, about the free intercourse of her sex with men in Britain, she replied: \"We fulfill the demands of nature in a much better way than do you Roman women; for we consort openly with the best men, whereas you let yourselves be debauched in secret by the vilest.\" Such was the retort of the British woman. —Cassius Dio

There are instances recorded where women participated both in warfare and in kingship, although they were in the minority in these areas.Plutarch reports that Celtic women acted as ambassadors to avoid a war among Celts chiefdoms in the Po valley during the 4th century BC.[75]

Very few reliable sources exist regarding Celtic views towards gender divisions and societal statues, though some archaeological evidence does suggest that their views towardsgender roles may differ from contemporary and lessegalitarian classical counterparts of the roman era.[76][77]

There are some general indications from Iron Age burial sites in the Champagne and Bourgogne regions of NorthEastern France which suggest that women may have had roles in combat during the earlier portions of the La Tène period. However, the evidence is far from conclusive.[78] Examples of individuals buried with both female jewellery and weaponry have been identified, such as theVix Grave, and there are questions about the sexing of some skeletons that were buried with warrior assemblages. However, it has been suggested that \"the weapons may indicate rank instead of masculinity\".[79]

Among the insular Celts, there is a greater amount of historic documentation to suggest warrior roles for women. In addition to commentary byTacitus aboutBoudica, there are indications from later period histories that also suggest a more substantial role for \"women as warriors\" in symbolic if not actual roles.Posidonius andStrabo described an island of women where men could not venture for fear of death, and where the women ripped each other apart.[80] Other writers, such asAmmianus Marcellinus andTacitus, mentioned Celtic women inciting, participating in, and leading battles.[81] Poseidonius\' anthropological comments on the Celts had common themes, primarilyprimitivism, extreme ferocity, cruel sacrificial practices, and the strength and courage of their women.[82]

UnderBrehon Law, which was written down inearly Medieval Ireland afterconversion to Christianity, a woman had the right to divorce her husband and gain his property if he was unable to perform his marital duties due to impotence, obesity, homosexual inclination or preference for other women.[83]

Celtic art

Celtic art is generally used by art historians to refer to art of the La Tène period across Europe, while theEarly Medieval art of Britain and Ireland, that is what \"Celtic art\" evokes for much of the general public, is calledInsular art in art history. Both styles absorbed considerable influences from non-Celtic sources, but retained a preference for geometrical decoration over figurative subjects, which are often extremely stylised when they do appear; narrative scenes only appear under outside influence. Energetic circular forms,triskeles and spirals are characteristic. Much of the surviving material is in precious metal, which no doubt gives a very unrepresentative picture, but apart fromPictish stones and the Insularhigh crosses, largemonumental sculpture, even with decorative carving, is very rare; possibly it was originally common in wood.

Theinterlace patterns that are often regarded as typical of \"Celtic art\" were in fact introduced to Insular art from theanimal Style II of GermanicMigration Period art, though taken up with great skill and enthusiasm by Celtic artists in metalwork andilluminated manuscripts. Equally, the forms used for the finest Insular art were all adopted from the Roman world:Gospel books like theBook of Kells andBook of Lindisfarne, chalices like theArdagh Chalice andDerrynaflan Chalice, andpenannular brooches like theTara Brooch. These works are from the period of peak achievement of Insular art, which lasted from the 7th to the 9th centuries, before the Viking attacks sharply set back cultural life.

In contrast the less well known but often spectacular art of the richest earlier Continental Celts, before they were conquered by the Romans, often adopted elements of Roman, Greek and other \"foreign\" styles (and possibly used imported craftsmen) to decorate objects that were distinctively Celtic. After the Roman conquests, some Celtic elements remained in popular art, especiallyAncient Roman pottery, of which Gaul was actually the largest producer, mostly in Italian styles, but also producing work in local taste, includingfigurines of deities and wares painted with animals and other subjects in highly formalised styles.Roman Britain also took more interest inenamel than most of the Empire, and its development ofchamplevé technique was probably important to the laterMedieval art of the whole of Europe, of which the energy and freedom of Insular decoration was an important element.

Warfare and weapons Parade Helmet, Agris, France. 350 BC, with stylistic borrowings from around the Mediterranean. Main articles: Celtic warfare and Celtic sword

Principal sites in Roman Britain, with indication of the Celtic tribes.Tribal warfare appears to have been a regular feature of Celtic societies. While epic literature depicts this as more of a sport focused on raids and hunting rather than organised territorial conquest, the historical record is more of tribes using warfare to exert political control and harass rivals, foreconomic advantage, and in some instances to conquer territory.[citation needed]

The Celts were described by classical writers such asStrabo,Livy,Pausanias, andFlorus as fighting like \"wild beasts\", and as hordes.Dionysius said that their \"manner of fighting, being in large measure that of wild beasts and frenzied, was an erratic procedure, quite lacking inmilitary science. Thus, at one moment they would raise their swords aloft and smite after the manner ofwild boars, throwing the whole weight of their bodies into the blow like hewers of wood or men digging with mattocks, and again they would deliver crosswise blows aimed at no target, as if they intended to cut to pieces the entire bodies of their adversaries, protective armour and all\".[84] Such descriptions have been challenged by contemporary historians.[85]

Polybius (2.33) indicates that the principal Celtic weapon was along bladed sword which was used for hacking edgewise rather than stabbing.Celtic warriors are described by Polybius and Plutarch as frequently having to cease fighting in order to straighten their sword blades. This claim has been questioned by some archaeologists, who note that Noric steel, steel produced in CelticNoricum, was famous in theRoman Empire period and was used to equip theRoman military.[86][87] However, Radomir Pleiner, in The Celtic Sword (1993) argues that \"the metallographic evidence shows that Polybius was right up to a point\", as around one third of surviving swords from the period might well have behaved as he describes.[88]

Polybius also asserts that certain of the Celts fought naked, \"The appearance of these naked warriors was a terrifying spectacle, for they were all men of splendid physique and in the prime of life.\"[89] According to Livy this was also true of the Celts of Asia Minor.[90]

Head hunting A Gallic statue of a Celtic warrior, in the Museum of Brittany

Celts had a reputation ashead hunters. According toPaul Jacobsthal, \"Amongst the Celts thehuman head was venerated above all else, since the head was to the Celt the soul, centre of the emotions as well as of life itself, a symbol of divinity and of the powers of the other-world.\"[91] Arguments for a Celtic cult of the severed head include the many sculptured representations of severed heads in La Tène carvings, and the surviving Celtic mythology, which is full of stories of the severed heads of heroes and the saints whocarry their decapitated heads, right down to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, where theGreen Knight picks up his own severed head after Gawain has struck it off, just asSt. Denis carried his head to the top ofMontmartre.

A further example of this regeneration after beheading lies in the tales ofConnemara\'sSt. Feichin, who after being beheaded by Viking pirates carried his head to the Holy Well onOmey Island and on dipping the head into the well placed it back upon his neck and was restored to full health.

Diodorus Siculus, in his 1st century History had this to say about Celtic head-hunting:

They cut off the heads of enemies slain in battle and attach them to the necks of their horses. The blood-stained spoils they hand over to their attendants and striking up a paean and singing a song of victory; and they nail up these first fruits upon their houses, just as do those who lay low wild animals in certain kinds of hunting. They embalm in cedar oil the heads of the most distinguished enemies, and preserve them carefully in a chest, and display them with pride to strangers, saying that for this head one of their ancestors, or his father, or the man himself, refused the offer of a large sum of money. They say that some of them boast that they refused the weight of the head in gold

In Gods and Fighting Men,Lady Gregory\'sCeltic Revival translation ofIrish mythology, heads of men killed in battle are described in the beginning of the story The Fight With The Fir Bolgs as pleasing to Macha, one aspect of the war other European Iron Age tribal societies, the Celts practised apolytheistic religion.[92] ManyCeltic gods are known from texts and inscriptions from the Roman period. Rites and sacrifices were carried out by priests known as druids. The Celts did not see their gods as having human shapes until late in the Iron Age. Celticshrines were situated in remote areas such as hilltops, groves, and lakes.

Celtic religious patterns were regionally variable; however, some patterns of deity forms, and ways of worshipping these deities, appeared over a wide geographical and temporal range. The Celts worshipped both gods and goddesses. In general, Celtic gods were deities of particular skills, such as the many-skilled Lugh andDagda, while goddesses were associated with natural features, particularly rivers (such asBoann, goddess of theRiver Boyne). This was not universal, however, as goddesses such asBrighid andThe Morrígan were associated with both natural features (holy wells and the River Unius) and skills such as blacksmithing and healing.[93]

Triplicity is a common theme in Celtic cosmology, and a number of deities were seen as threefold.[94] This trait is exhibited by The Three Mothers, a group of goddesses worshipped by many Celtic tribes (with regional variations).[95]

The Celts had literally hundreds of deities, some of which were unknown outside a single family or tribe, while others were popular enough to have a following that crossed lingual and cultural barriers. For instance, the Irish god Lugh, associated withstorms,lightning, and culture, is seen in similar forms as Lugos in Gaul andLleu in Wales. Similar patterns are also seen with the continental Celtic horse goddessEpona and what may well be her Irish and Welsh counterparts,Macha andRhiannon, respectively.[96]

Roman reports of the druids mention ceremonies being held insacred groves. La Tène Celts built temples of varying size and shape, though they also maintained shrines atsacred trees andvotive pools.[92]

Druids fulfilled a variety of roles in Celtic religion, serving as priests and religious officiants, but also as judges, sacrificers, teachers, and lore-keepers. Druids organised and ran religious ceremonies, and they memorised and taught thecalendar. Other classes of druids performed ceremonial sacrifices of crops andanimals for the perceived benefit of the community.[97]

Gallic Calendar

TheColigny calendar, which was found in 1897 inColigny,Ain, was engraved on a bronze tablet, preserved in 73 fragments, that originally was 1.48 m wide and 0.9 m high (Lambert p.111). Based on the style of lettering and the accompanying objects, it probably dates to the end of the 2nd century.[98] It is written in Latin inscriptional capitals, and is in theGallic language. The restored tablet contains 16 vertical columns, with 62 months distributed over 5 years.

The French archaeologist J. Monard speculated that it was recorded bydruids wishing to preserve their tradition of timekeeping in a time when theJulian calendar was imposed throughout theRoman Empire. However, the general form of the calendar suggests the public peg calendars (or parapegmata) found throughout the Greek and Roman world.[99]

Roman Influence

The Roman invasion of Gaul brought a great deal of Celtic peoples into the Roman Empire. Roman culture had a profound effect on the Celtic tribes which came under the empire\'s control. Roman influence led to many changes in Celtic religion, the most noticeable of which was the weakening of the druid class, especially religiously; the druids were to eventually disappear altogether. Romano-Celtic deities also began to appear: these deities often had both Roman and Celtic attributes and combined the names of Roman and Celtic deities. Other changes included the adaptation of theJupiter Pole, a sacred pole which was used throughout Celtic regions of the empire, primarily in the north. Another major change in religious practice was the use of stone monuments to represent gods and goddesses. The Celts had only created wooden idols (including monuments carved into trees, which were known as sacred poles) previously to Roman conquest.[95]

Celtic Christianity Main article: Celtic Christianity A Celtic cross.

While the regions under Roman rule adopted Christianity along with the rest of the Roman empire, unconquered areas of Ireland and Scotland moved fromCeltic polytheism to Christianity in the 5th century. Ireland was converted under missionaries from Britain, such asPatrick. Later missionaries from Ireland were a major source ofmissionary work in Scotland, Saxon parts of Britain, and central Europe (seeHiberno-Scottish mission). The termCeltic Christianity has been applied to the forms of Christianity that took hold in Britain and Ireland at this time, with especial reference to its traditions that were distinct from the rest of Western Christianity. The development of Christianity in Ireland and Britain brought an earlymedieval renaissance ofCeltic art between 390 and 1200 AD.[100][101] Many of the styles now thought of as typically \"Celtic\" developed in this period, and are found throughout much of Ireland and Britain, including the northeast and far north of Scotland,Orkney andShetland. Notable works produced during this period include theBook of Kells and theArdagh Chalice.Antiquarian interest from the 17th century led to the term Celt being extended, and risingnationalism broughtCeltic revivals from the 19th century.

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