Bez tytulu slajdu

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THE CELTS
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The Celts were a group of peoples that occupied
lands stretching from the British Isles to
Gallatia. The Celts had many dealings with other
cultures that bordered the lands occupied by
these peoples, and even though there is no
written record of the Celts stemming from their
own documents, we can piece together a fair
picture of them from archeological evidence as
well as historical accounts from other cultures.
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The first historical recorded encounter of a
people displaying the cultural traits associated
with the Celts comes from northern Italy around
400 BC, when a previously unkown group of
barbarians came down from the Alps and displaced
the Etruscans from the fertile Po valley, a
displacment that helped to push the Etruscans
from history's limelight. The next encounter
with the Celts came with the still young Roman
Empire, directly to the south of the Po. The
Romans in fact had sent three envoys to the
beseiged Etruscans to study this new force. We
know from Livy's The Early History of Rome that
this first encounter with Rome was quite
civilized
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The Celts told the Roman envoys that this was
indeed the first time they had heard of them,
but they assumed the Romans must be a courageous
people because it was to them that the
Etruscans had turned to in their hour of need.
And since the Romans had tried to help with an
embassy and not with arms, they themselves would
not reject the offer of peace, provided the
Etruscans ceded part of their seperfluous
agricultural land that was what they, the
Celts, wanted.... If it were not given, they
would launch an attack before the Romans' eyes,
so that the Romans could report back how
superior the Gauls were in battle to all
others....The Romans then asked whether it was
right to demand land from its owners on pain of
war, indeed what were the Celts going in Etruria
in the first place? The latter defiantly
retorted that their right lay in their arms To
the brave belong all things.
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The Roman envoys then preceded to break their
good faith and helped the Etruscans in their
fight in fact, one of the envoys, Quintas
Fabius killed one of the Celtic tribal leaders.
The Celts then sent their own envoys to Rome in
protest and demand the Romans hand over all
members of the Fabian family, to which all three
of the original Roman envoys belonged, be given
over to the Celts, a move completely in line
with current Roman protocol. This of course
presented problems for the Roman senate, since
the Fabian family was quite powerful in Rome.
Indeed, Livy says that
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The party structure would allow no resolution to
be made against such noblemanm as justice would
have required. The Senate...therefore passed
examination of the Celts' request to the popular
assembly, in which power and influence naturally
counted for more. So it happened that those who
ought to have been punished were instead
appointed for the coming year military tribunes
with consular powers (the highest that could be
granted).
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The Celts saw this as a mortal insult and a host
marched south to Rome. The Celts tore through
the countryside and several battalions of Roman
soilders to lay seige to the Capitol of the
Rom an Empire. Seven months of seige led to
negotiations wherby the Celts promised to leave
their seige for a tribute of one thousand pounds
of gold, which the historian Pliny tells was
very difficult for the entire city to muster.
When the gold was being weighed, the Romans
claimed the Celts were cheating with faulty
weights. It was then that the Celts' leader,
Brennus, threw his sword into the balance and
and uttered the words vae victis "woe to the
Defeated". Rome never withstood another more
humiliating defeat and the Celts made an initial
step of magnificent proportions into history.
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Other Roman historians tell us more of the Celts.
Diodorus notes that Their aspect is
terrifying...They are very tall in stature, with
ripling muscles under clear white skin. Their
hair is blond, but not naturally so they bleach
it, to this day, artificially, washing it in
lime and combing it back from their foreheaads.
They look like wood-demons, their hair thick and
shaggy like a horse's mane. Some of them are
cleanshaven, but others - especially those of
high rank, shave their cheeks but leave a
moustache that covers the whole mouth and, when
they eat and drink, acts like a sieve, trapping
particles of food...The way they dress is
astonishing they wear brightly coloured and
embroidered shirts, with trousers called bracae
and cloaks fastened at the shoulder with a
brooch, heavy in winter, light in summer. These
cloaks are striped or checkered in design, with
the seperate checks close together and in various
colours
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The Celts wear bronze helmets with figures
picked out on them, even horns, which made them
look even taller than they already are...while
others cover themselves with breast-armour made
out of chains. But most content themselves with
the weapons nature gave them they go naked into
battle...Weird, discordant horns were sounded,
they shouted in chorus with their deep and
harsh voices, they beat their swords rythmically
against their shields.
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The Celtic settlement of Britain and Ireland is
deduced mainly from archaeological and
linguistic considerations. The only direct
historical source for the identification of an
insular people with the Celts is Caesar's
report of the migration of Belgic tribes to
Britain, but the inhabitants of both islands
were regarded by the Romans as closely related
to the Gauls
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LANGUAGE
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There was a unifying language spoken by the
Celts, called not suprisingly, old Celtic.
Philogists have shown the descendence of Celtic
from the original Ur-language and from the
Indo-European language tradition. In fact, the
form of old Celtic was the closest cousin to
Italic, the precursor of Latin.
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THE SERPENT'S STONE
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The Serpent's Stone is a symbol of an ancient
wisdom and fidelity touchstone of universal
truths. The complexity of earthly life sometimes
obscures a simple truth. The four serpent heads
emerge from the labyrinth of Creation to point
the way through self-examination. The brilliant
colours convey a sense of drama and intrigue. As
a meditative glyph, it endorses the need for
self-examination. Thus when truth becomes
entangled in a moral dilemma, evoke the secret
wisdom of the Serpent's Stone.
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WRITING
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The ancient Celts had a form of writing called
ogham (pronounced OH-yam). It was the writing
of Druids and Bards. Ogham is also called 'Tree
Alphabet' because each letter corresponds to a
tree and an associated meaning. The letters were,
in fact, engraved onto sticks as well as larger
standing stones.
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CALENDAR
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There are many questions arising as to what
calendrical practice was used by the Celtic
people. Regarding this issue there are three
primary schools of thought. These three theories
all attempt to offer us a better understanding
of the Celtic calendar. To use the term 'Celtic
calendar' is somewhat inaccurate, as it were the
Druids who were primarliy concerned with
calendar-keeping.
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DRUIDS
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The Druids, who were occupied with
magico-religious duties, were recruited from
families of the warrior class but ranked higher.
Thus Caesar's distinction between Druides (man
of religion and learning), eques (warrior), and
plebs (commoner) is fairly apt. As in other
Indo-European systems, the family was
patriarchal.
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ECONOMY
The basic economy of the Celts was mixed farming,
and, except in times of unrest, single
farmsteads were usual. Owing to the wide
variations in terrain and climate, cattle
raising was more important than cereal
cultivation in some regions.
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CLOTHING
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There aren't a lot of textile remains found for
Celtic clothing from prehistoric times through
the 16th century we mostly have to rely on
manuscripts and descriptions of what was worn at
various times. However, I will make some
educated guesses based on textile construction
techniques from the few Celtic finds available,
as well as evidence from the bog finds in
Denmark, which could arguably be either Celtic
or Teutonic. Obviously, fashions varied from
place to place and time to time, so Celtic
clothing wasn't universally the same in all
places over the thousand or so years I'm
spanning however, similar techniques of
constructing and decorating clothing were used
throughout Europe, and results can be inferred
from these.
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HOMES
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Hill forts provided places of refuge, but
warfare was generally open and consisted of
single challenges and combat as much as of
general fighting.
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WARRIORS
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Celtic warriors were drawn from what we would
describe as the middle and upper class. The
warrior class did the actual fighting the free
poor served as chariot drivers. The Celt was a
warrior in the heroic sense. Everything had to
be larger than life. He lived for war. His
glorification of bravery often led him to
recklessness. Part of a warriors ritual was to
boast of his victories, and fighting between
warriors was an important part of life.
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Jewelry
Cloak pin. This is an early clothes fastener
that developes into the Penannular Brooch
Fibula Brooch. This starts as a bent wire pin
and develops a sprung pin and catch. First
safety pin?
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Bow back fibula. This is a follow on from the
previous pin and gives scope for elaborate
decoration.
Wrist bangles. Worn by both sexes.
Jet Necklace. A variety of materials are used
and jet is a fossil of common coal. In Britain
it is only found in its raw form on the N.East
coast of Yorkshire.
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Gold Torc. Worn around the neck, a Torc was a
status symbol. Those for the ladies were light
weight, whilst those worn by the men could be
very large and heavy, and perhaps only worn on
festive occasions.
Glass Beads. The Celts were producing high
quality ceramic glass long before the Greeks
and Romans.
Gold Lunar. High class necklace from Ireland,
not found in mainland Britain.
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Pottery Ceramics
This is to give you an idea of the range of
styles and sizes the pots are made in. The
smallest can be less than 2 cms and the largest
over 1 metre tall! Decoration tends to be local
designs - but there are always exceptions.
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Most pottery finds are 'sherds' or pieces of
broken pots. It can be quite a challenge to fit
them together.
Some of the finest decorations on pottery in
Britain come from the area around Glastonbury
in Somerset. Two villages have been excavated
from the marshes, the first known as the
Glastonbury Lake Village, and the second as the
Meare Lake village. They are only 2 kilometres
apart.
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TOOLS
Adze head. A hand tool used for smoothing and
shaping wood.
Plough Share- or - Ard tip. The iron point from
an ancient type of plough.
Axe head. Used as a chopping tool for felling
and shaping timbers.
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Bill hook. A hand tool used in cutting small
rods (coppicing), and splitting wood for making
woven panels. (Hurdles)
Chisel used with a mallet for cutting holes.
Draw knife. A shaping tool used by drawing the
sharp edge towards you whilst pulling on two
handles.
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Wooden Objects
Spokes for a Chariot or a Cart Wheel. Turned on
a pole lathe, and the tenon cut with a saw and
a chisel.
Mallet. Wooden hammer for knocking joints
together, or hammering chisels. The wooden head
does not cause any damage to the woodwork.
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Handle for a hand saw. The blade fits into the
slot at the right hand end. The hand saw looks
like a modern pruning saw, and cuts on the pull
!
This is a spoon turned on a pole-lathe to get
the basic shape. One side is then cut away and
hollowed out to create the bowl of the spoon.
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Chariots
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Historical evidence.Celtic chariots were a form
of warfare that the Romans had serious problems
with. It took them some time to find a way of
dealing' with the devastating the effect the
chariot had. Polybius, in his accounts of the
lead up to the battle of Telamon in 225 BC.,
reports that the Gauls had 20,000 cavalry and
chariots. This was the last reference to the use
of chariots on the mainland. By the time Caesar
encountered them in Britain, the method of
fighting against the chariot had been forgotten.
Diodorus said that the chariot was drawn by two
horses, and could carry a driver and a warrior.
In battle the driver controlled the chariot,
whilst the warrior would throw javelins at his
opponents. The warrior would then dismount and
fight on foot while the driver would take the
chariot away to a safe distance. At the first
sign of difficulties, the driver would dash into
the battle, pick up the warrior, and withdraw to
safety. Caesar's account is similar, but adds
that chariots were used against cavalry with
great effect, and only against infantry in short
skirmishes. Caesar admired the charioteer's
skills, and described warriors running along the
chariot pole and standing on the yoke over the
horse's shoulders