The celts rapidshare

As the Roman world was expanding, they came in direct contact with the Celts on their northern borders, however, these classical texts are incomplete as they were often copied long after the event.

Therefore, the information we have provides, at best, an occasional 'snapshot' of the Celts. First mention of the Celts was made by the Greeks authors between and BC. But the most valuable insights are provided by Roman authors - as the Roman world was expanding, they came in direct contact with the Celts on their northern borders.

It is believed that the Celts were a collection of tribes which originated in central Europe. Although separate tribes, they had the same culture, traditions, religious beliefs and language in common.

None of the Classical texts refer to the peoples of Britain and Ireland as Celts. Therefore, as the Celts were a collection of tribes, they were more generally known by the name of those tribes or societies as opposed to a collective nation or empire.

Early sources place Celts in western Europe and also occupying land near the headwaters of the Danube River. Their home territories have often been traced to central and eastern France, extending across southern Germany and into the Czech Republic. Classical writers had recorded a large-scale migration of Celts soon after BC, this migration took the Celts from central Europe into Northern Italy and Eastern Europe.

Their legacy continues today where examples of the language, culture and traditions continue to exist. Today, Wales is seen as a Celtic nation. The Welsh Celtic identity is widely accepted and contributes to a wider modern national identity. During the 1st centuries BC and AD, however, it was specific tribes and leaders which were named.

By the time of the Roman invasion of Britain, four tribal peoples occupied areas of modern day Wales:. To understand how Celts first came to be associated with Wales, we must turn to the historical development of Celtic linguistics the study of languages. Tracing the beginnings of Celtic languages is difficult.

Most agree that they derive from an earlier language known as 'proto-Indo-European'. This probably reached western Europe through the movement of peoples, possibly from Central Asia between and BC.

Unfortunately, there is little agreement over precisely when this occurred and when and how Celtic languages subsequently developed.

On current understanding, Celtic languages have their origins at some time between and BC, with the earliest known inscriptions in a Celtic language being found in Northern Italy and dating to the 6th century BC. George Buchanon, a 16th-century scholar, suggested that the peoples of continental Europe had once spoken a related group of Gallic languages.

Since modern Welsh, Irish and Scots Gaelic were similar to these ancient languages, the people of Britain, it was argued, originally came from France and Spain. The Brythonic languages were assumed to have come from Gaul France , whilst the Goidelic languages were given an Iberian Spain, Portugal origin. During the 18th century, people who spoke Celtic languages were seen as Celts. The ancient inhabitants of Wales, were therefore increasingly known as Celts.

The native tongue of Wales known as Cymru by the Celts , is Welsh. Welsh is a Celtic language and is still widely spoken in Wales and across the world.

In Cornwall some although very few still speak Corning, which is from the same linguistic strand as Welsh and Breton. In Scotland, the Scots Gaelic is also still spoken, although by not as many as Welsh speakers. It is also worth noting that the origin of the Bagpipes, a famous musical instrument from Scotland can be traced to Celtic times as well. Looking again at the recordings by Roman literature, the Celts were described as wearing brightly coloured clothes, with some having used blue dye from the woad plant to paint patterns on their bodies.

They are known for their colourful wool clothing and later on the Scottish Tartan. The clothes the Celts would wear showed status and importance within the tribe.

There were obviously no supermarkets during the time of the Celts, they would grow their own plants, farm and hunt animals for food. Their diet would include, wild foods such as mushrooms, berries, nettles, wild garlic and apples they would also eat Spinach, Onions, Leeks, Carrots and Parsnips, Blackberries, Gooseberries and Blueberries.

Hazelnuts and walnuts as well as grains for bread and porridge would also feature in their diet. As for meat, they would hunt deer, foxes, beavers, wild boars and bears as well as farm domesticated animals such as chickens, goats, sheep, pigs and cattle. They would also fish for Salmon, Trout or Mackerel. They would also eat eggs from hens and wild birds, along with insects and honey from bees. More information about the food the Celts would eat during the Iron Age can be seen in our Daily life of the Celts learning resource.

The appearance of a new style of art during the 5th century BC and its later spread across much of Europe has frequently been interpreted by archaeologists as evidence for a common Celtic culture or identity.

Celtic art was recognised and named by British scholars during the mid 19th century. However, it was not until that the earliest objects decorated in this style were traced to a common cultural area of north-east France, southern Germany and the Czech Republic. More recently, British archaeologists have become increasingly dissatisfied with the idea of Celts invading Britain and of a 'Celtic' society sharing language, art, religious belief and identity.

There is little conclusive evidence amongst the archaeological remains for large-scale arrivals of a new people from the Continent. The archaeology of the Iron Age in Britain is suggesting a mosaic of regional societies, each with their own distinctive identity. Top cast Edit. John Morgan Narrator as Narrator. Barry Cunliffe Self as Self.

Michel Egloff Self as Self. Kurt Zeller Self as Self. Markus Egg Self as Self. John Koch Self as Self. Jorg Biel Self as Self. Anne Ross Self as Self. Christopher Knusel Self as Self. Peter Reynolds Self as Self.

Bettina Arnold Self as Self. Barry Raftery Self as Self. Peter Connolly Self as Self. Colin Renfrew Self as Self.

Centuries later, after the Roman Empire had conquered several Celtic tribes in the Iberian Peninsula Portugal and Spain that the Romans called the Gallaeci , Julius Caesar embarked on the nine-year Gallic Wars to defeat the Celts and various other tribal kingdoms in Gaul modern France. Caesar wrote about the conquest of Gaul with a mix of disgust and respect for his Celtic enemies. The Celts were far from savages, as evidenced by the intricate metalwork and jewelry excavated from ancient Celtic hill forts and burial mounds across Europe.

One such mound near Hochdorf, Germany, held the remains of a Celtic chieftain and a wealth of artifacts pointing to a complex and stratified Celtic society. C, what archeologists call the late Hallstatt period, when Celtic culture was concentrated in Central Europe.

The chieftain was laid out on a long bronze couch with wheels and dressed in gold finery including a traditional Celtic neck band called a torc. He was surrounded by ornate drinking horns and a large bronze cauldron, which still held the remains of high-proof honey mead. Arnold says that the wheeled couch was replaced in later Celtic burial mounds by two-wheeled chariots that carried the honored dead into the afterlife.

The drinking equipment points to the critical role of feasting as a sociopolitical tool to the Celts. And that continued in the great beyond. A sign of a good leader was generosity. The ancient Celts were famous for their colorful wool textiles, forerunners of the famous Scottish tartan. And, while only a few tantalizing scraps of these textiles survived the centuries, historians believe that the Celts were one of the first Europeans to wear pants.

The Celtic religion, for example, required animal and human sacrifices to a pantheon of gods, but that esoteric knowledge was restricted to Celtic priests called Druids and passed on orally from generation to generation. Druids were figures of great respect and honor in Celtic society and were among the few who could safely travel among warring tribes, says John Koch, a historical linguist specializing in early Celtic languages at the University of Wales.

Even though the Celtic tribes never unified politically under one kingdom, their oral traditions helped to create and maintain a cultural unity across great geographical distances.