You are on page 1of 3

10 Awesome Facts About The Celts

LEONIUS OCTOBER 16, 2013The Celts are a misunderstood bunch, shrouded in mystery
, intrigue, and (unfortunately) lies. There are plenty of misconceptions and fal
se truths about them, but we re going to clear up a few.10 OriginsCelts 1Frankly,
nobody really knows where they came from. (Sorry!) Some historians claim that th
ere were Celts in Britain about 1180 B.C., while others argue that it was earlie
r. However, it is generally accepted that the Celts started to migrate from Cent
ral Europe in 400 B.C. They spread in all directions, that is, until they came f
ace to face with the Romans. The problem was that their Roman neighbors were a s
ingle, unified empire, while the Celts were made up of dozens of tribes, who fou
ght against each other as often as they joined together to fight the Romans. Eve
ntually, some of these tribes were completely wiped out, some agreed to be ruled
by the Romans, while others were driven to the far corners of the known world s
uch as Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. (These communities of modern Celts are stil
l around today, and strive to preserve Celtic culture via The Celtic League.) So
me of these travelling Celts even ended up way as far away as Egypt and Greece.
9 They Didn t Fight Nakedbraveheart
Mention the Celts to anyone and they ll probably tell you something along the line
s of Oh, were those the guys that fought naked with a gold band (called a torc) a
round their neck? Sigh.After performing the necessary number of facepalms, you sh
ould enlighten them with the truth. This is one of the biggest misconceptions ab
out the Celts, which is absolutely ridiculous if you put some thought to it. (Ev
en Mel Gibson wasn t fooled by this one come on, guys.) So who do we have to blame f
or spreading this false truth? Well, you can thank the Romans for that. Since al
most all of the evidence that we have on the Celts is in the form of accounts by
Roman historians, it s practically safe to assume that the Romans were exaggerati
ng a bit. You see, when all records of you were written by your enemy, you can g
uarantee that your enemy will make themselves look good, while you end up being
described as a simple-minded savage. This is exactly what happened to the Celts,
since let s face it, history is written by the victor (Would you trust your worst
enemy to write the only records of your existence?).One could also look at this
from another angle; the Celts lived during a period known as the Iron Age. This
was a time when iron was used instead of bronze, to craft weapons, armor, and t
ools. The Celts had access to a variety of weapons such as swords, axes, javelin
s, and two-handed hammers, as well as leather padding, metal plates, and chain m
ail to use as armor. Knowing this, fighting naked seems a bit daft and unlikely.
8 DruidsDruidsCeltic Druids were like the badasses of their day. Aside from run
ning around in long white robes and offering human sacrifices, they did some pre
tty neat stuff as well. They advised the chiefs and kings to enact new laws (kin
d of like how the British government advises the Queen today sure they re her laws,
but everyone knows that the government runs the country), and they even acted as
judges to enforce their own laws. Druids were considered to be the wisest of th
e bunch because they spent 20 years in training for their positions. Their knowl
edge ranged from astronomy and Celtic lore to natural philosophy. Since they wer
e the wisest men around, the Druids would often advise villagers on when to plan
t their crops, and even predicted their futures (or so they believed).Additional
ly, the Celtic Druids gave us a tradition that is still with us to this very day
. Druids considered the oak tree to be very holy, since they believed that their
gods were everywhere in streams, rocks, trees anywhere, really. According to the Dr
uids, the only thing holier and more magical than the oak was the mistletoe that
grew on it. Today, people still believe this and that s why we have the Christmas
tradition of kissing under the mistletoe. So next time you re awkwardly standing
alone under the mistletoe during Christmas, blame the Druids. 7 Celtic WomenWoma
n in red robes against a celtic backgroundSince the Romans wanted us the believe
that the Celts were a bunch of uncivilized savages, one would assume that life
must have been pretty grim for Celtic women, right? Women could have power, own
land, and even divorce in Celtic society, which was unheard of in the classical
world. (Unlike their Roman counterparts, Celtic women could also climb up the so
cial ladder, either by inheriting status, or by achieving it.) Landowners were e
xpected to fight if their chief went to war, and if the landowner happened to be

a woman, then she was expected to fight as well. In fact, women warriors could
teach young girls and boys how to fight.They could even become Druids, who wrote
laws that safeguarded all of Celtic society, including the elderly, disabled, a
nd children. What s really interesting about the latter is that children were prot
ected under Celtic law because of their innocence. This is quite a contrast to t
he Roman world, in which unwanted children were abandoned and left to die in rub
bish dumps. Turns out the Celts weren t as bad as the Romans wanted us to believe
after all. 6 They Built Excellent RoadsCeltic RoadRoman engineers are usually cr
edited to be the first to build a reliable network of roads that connected all o
f Europe together. After all, it s a historical fact, right? Wrong again! Contrary
to popular belief, the Celts actually had a pre-Roman network of wooden roads t
hat connected the settlements of various Celtic tribes so that they could engage
in trade. The problem with wooden roads is that, due to their nature, very litt
le evidence remains of them since most of them have rotted away. However, a few
planks have been discovered to be preserved in bogs in Ireland, England and Fran
ce. Since the Romans never actually conquered Ireland, we can safely say that th
ese old planks were actually part of a Celtic road system. Additionally, one can
view more information about Celtic roads by learning about Corlea Trackway, sit
uated in Ireland. Here, many parts of an old road were recovered, and a section
of the road has been reconstructed to give an idea of how it might have looked l
ike back in its golden days. 5 Weird Helmetshelmet
Now that you know that the Celts had actual metal armor and chain mail, you d prob
ably guess that they had some pretty sweet helmets to go with their armor as wel
l. And you d be right. In fact, the Celts had a bunch of really crazy helmet desig
ns, one of which was discovered in Ciumesti, Romania (remember, the Celts were w
idespread across all of Europe). Here, an old Iron Age cemetery was discovered,
in which 34 graves in total were excavated. Turns out these graves belonged to a
rich Celtic chieftain, who was buried there along with many objects such as bro
nze weapons and armor (supposedly to aid him in the afterlife). Among these obje
cts a rather odd helmet was found it consisted of a large bird of prey perched on
top, with its bronze wings spread out for all to see.What s really cool about this
helmet is that the wings were also hinged, which meant that they could flap up
and down. Historians believe that the chieftain would only wear the helmet on sp
ecial occasions, as a flapping helmet would prove to be quite an annoyance in ba
ttle. This helmet ended up being one of the most known and reproduced pieces of
Celtic art. One only needs to look at a picture of Asterix and Obelix to see the
resemblance.4 They Loved A FightCeltic SoldierOn top of their far-reaching trav
els, the Celts loved a fight and would fight for anyone at a price. Celtic mercena
ries were famed for their reputation in combat, and they were known to have been
recruited by Ptolemy II, king of Ptolemaic Egypt. The mercenaries were so good
that the king feared that they might take over Egypt for themselves, so he had t
hem marooned on a deserted island in the Nile. The Greeks also met the Celts, wh
o at the time were expanding their territories. This is known as the Gallic Inva
sion of the Balkans, and the Battle of Delphi was the highlight of this invasion
, which resulted in a Celtic defeat. Here, the Greeks were organized and fought
together as a team, so they could easily defeat the disorganized Celts, who foug
ht as individuals. Thus, the Celts ended up being pushed out of Delphi in 279 B.
C.3 Headhunting115864436
If I had to choose one thing the Celts are most famous for, it would probably be
the fact that they were headhunters. They believed that the greatest prize in b
attle was their enemy s head. This could come from the fact that the Celts had a r
eligion similar to animism, in which they believed that spirits and gods resided
in streams, rocks, trees, mistletoe you get the idea. The human head was no excep
tion, as they believed that a person s soul lived inside their heads.To the Celts,
having a collection of heads was a sign of great honor and prestige, plus it ga
ve them bragging rights. Thus, they would even go as far as to decorating their
saddles and the doors of their houses with the severed heads of their enemies. F
or a comparison, it s kind of like owning a lot of expensive cars. We would brag a
bout owning a rare Ferrari or something of the sort, while the Celts would brag
about owning the severed head of a very powerful enemy leader.2 They Were Extrem

ely Rich160372282
Here s a little back story: The year is 58 B.C., and the Romans and Celts are all
living peacefully in their respective territories. Now imagine you re Julius Caesa
r. Your political career is mediocre so far, you have large amounts of debt, and
you need to really prove that you are somebody. What would you do? Why of cours
e, invade the simple and barbaric Celts surely they wouldn t mind.The Gallic Wars are
often regarded as Julius Caesar s greatest military victory. This was the beginnin
g of the rapid expansion of the Roman empire, in which Caesar systematically def
eated several Celtic tribes to gain control over the area. This Roman victory wo
uld decide the fate of the area known as Gaul (modern-day France), which was rul
ed by several Gallic tribes. This resulted in Caesar earning plenty of glory and
praise for his military triumphs. But why did he exactly invade Gaul? According
to Caesar himself, he was just pushing back the invading barbaric tribes, but n
ow, historians have learned otherwise. One of these invading tribes were the Hel
vetii, which were initially located near the Alps. This tribe were planning to m
igrate to France under the protection of Caesar, but when he refused, they decid
ed to pass through Gallic territory. Caesar then stated that Rome had to protect
the Celts that were already in France, which he protected by massacring more than
a quarter of a million people of the invading tribes. He continued protecting the
se tribes until they were eventually all wiped out. Gaul ended up falling to the
Romans.What does this have anything to do with the Celts being rich? Simple: Fi
rst and foremost, Caesar was a politician. He desperately needed cash to pay his
debts, and he needed a military conquest to boost his political career. Celtic
Gaul would provide him with both, as he knew that the area was rich in gold depo
sits. Although it was known that the Celts had gold coins and jewelery, up until
recently it was only believed that they had acquired them through trade. Turns
out that in Gaul alone, there were over 400 Celtic gold mines. Thus, the Celts w
ere extremely wealthy-no wonder why Caesar wanted to get his hands on their mine
s. Funnily enough, the Romans started to mint their own gold coins after the con
quest of Gaul. 1 They Weren t Simpletons
By now, most of you should have picked up on the fact that the Romans would make
you look bad, especially if you were their enemy. So far, we have learned that
the Celts weren t as bad as the Romans made them out to be (with the possible exce
ption of the whole headhunting thing). However, the Celts may have had one thing
which was vastly superior over the Romans: a calendar. Sure the Romans had the
Julian calendar, but the Celts had what is known as a Coligny calendar. It was f
ound in Coligny, France (hence the name) back in 1897. Apart from looking awesom
e, the calendar is made up of a number of mysterious metal pieces decorated with
intricate markings, such as lines, holes, numbers, and a couple of Greek, Roman
, and Celtic letters. Apart from knowing that it was some kind of calendar, scho
lars were baffled for over a century. However, in 1989, the calendar was finally
deciphered. It was found to be a lunar-solar calendar, which calculated the tim
e of year based on the cycles of the sun and moon. This very accurate calendar w
as way ahead of its time, as it could accurately predict the position of the sun
at any given month in the future. In the above video, the professor who cracked
the calendar s mystery attempts to explain the system (just after the 12-minute m
ark). You have been warned though, as in the words of the confused presenter, Cal
endars are terribly complicated things. Perhaps more importantly, this calendar is
living proof that the Celts were capable of mathematical and scientific thought
. Just to show how accurate this thing was, let s compare it to the Roman calendar
. The contemporary Roman calendar was also considered to be quite accurate for i
ts day, since it erred from the real solar calendar by only 11.5 minutes a year.
However, after centuries have passed, even a small inaccuracy adds up over time
. The Coligny calendar was so advanced compared to its Roman counterpart that th
e Romans would be celebrating the beginning of spring in the middle of August, w
hile the Celts version still remained true to the real solar calendar. Take that,
Romans.

You might also like