5 Things You Knew About the Celts (That are Wrong)
Our Understanding of the Celtic World has Changed Dramatically due to New Research
Few cultures have captured our imagination, fantasy, and folklore like the Celtic culture has. But many things that we’ve taken for granted for decades and even centuries, have had new light shed on them through recent discoveries. Here are some areas we used to take for granted that we now have a better understanding of.
1. The Celts Were a Culture — Not a Nation or Civilization
Since the days of the ancient Greeks, the prevailing wisdom was that a great Celtic nation started in central Europe and spread west through lightning-fast military conquest.
However, the location of the source of the Celts has recently come under question. They were originally thought to have come from areas of Switzerland and Austria. Then, evidence came that perhaps they originated in northern Italy. Later evidence suggested that perhaps Celts originated in the British Isles and moved east.
With all these widely separated places of theorized origin, scholars came to the conclusion that there never was a single Celtic nation, but rather that all the things that we define as Celtic, such as language, art, music, mythology, etc., actually were a culture, instead of a nation.
2. The Celtic Culture Spread through Trade and Immigration, not Invasion
Remember, back all the way to antiquity, the theory was that the Celtic culture spread through invasion.
Unfortunately, the evidence doesn’t support that idea. New DNA evidence gives interesting clues. Skeletal remains in locations that Celtic artifacts were found do not have genetic ties from one location to another.
Additionally, recent archaeological studies show that there was no evidence of widespread military conquest. To be sure, there is plenty of evidence that wars occurred. These tended to be very localized conflicts, usually between neighboring communities.
But there’s not the type of overwhelming destruction that you’d find in an invasion of conquest.
There is, however, evidence of journeying, travel, and trade. Scholars now believe that Celtic culture spread through the normal course of commerce and pilgrimage.
3. Druids are Celtic, but Stonehenge Probably Wasn’t
The fact that druids existed in Celtic communities is well documented by contemporary sources. For example, Julius Caesar’s book Commentaries goes into quite a bit of detail about some of the more intriguing aspects of the druids. He even describes how the druids protected their monopoly of knowledge by relying on their fantastically-trained memories, instead of writing their histories down.
However, the druids were probably as fascinated with and puzzled by Stonehenge as we are today.
The reality is that Stonehenge, and other similar megaliths, predate the Celtic peoples of Great Britain, Bretony in France, and Galatia in Spain, by nearly a thousand years.
Clearly, people existed long before the Celtic culture moved into these areas. But almost no information remains about who they were. There’s a tantalizing clue, though.
The Pyrenees mountains, between France and Spain, are home to the Basque people. Interestingly, the Basque language is not related to any other language on Earth. Perhaps the Basque were related to these mysterious people who pre-dated the Celtic cultures and languages.
Incidentally, ancient druids probably never worshipped at Stonehenge or any other megalith. Their religion believed that oak groves were the most sacred places on Earth. That’s where they held their most important rituals where sacred mistletoe was harvested with golden scythes.
4. The Celts were Christians before the Anglo-Saxons Were
Although much is made of the Celtic religion and the druids who administered it, the reality is that the Celts became Christians fairly early on.
At the time that the Roman Republic was transitioning to the Roman Empire, these were the main Celtic peoples: the Gauls of modern-day France, the Galatians of modern-day Portugal and Spain, the Gaels of Ireland and Scotland, and the Brittons of modern-day England and Wales.
Over time, the Romans conquered all these lands, except for Ireland and Scotland. And, when Rome adopted Christianity, so did all these Celtic lands.
Christianity moved to Ireland from England, where it was sheltered from the politics of the Roman empire. This becomes important, later.
By the fifth century CE, Rome was starting to have its own problems. They were facing invasions across the Rhine river from Germanic tribes and were in desperate need of legions there. So, they pulled the legions out of the British Isles, completely. Rome basically told the Brittons to look after their own defense.
At about that time, the Angle and the Saxon people arrived to colonize the area that is now southwestern England. (Ancient histories included Jute colonists, but new evidence throws doubt on whether Jutes ever existed.) The Angles and Saxons were germanic people who came from Denmark and the German lowlands. And, they were pagan.
Over time, the Angles and the Saxons combined with many of the Celtic Britton tribes and pushed many others into what is now Wales.
And, eventually, Christian missionaries from Gaelic Ireland, including St. Patrick, re-introduced Christianity to the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in what is now England.
5. Slavery was a Key Component of Celtic Economics
Celtic society was very hierarchical. This hierarchy was defined by wealth and occupation. At the top were the king and bishops, then the farmers, and finally the learned class. At the bottom were the slaves, who were treated as property, rather than as people.
Slavery was so ingrained into the Celtic culture that even their economy was defined by it. For example, the Irish Celts had a unit of economic measure called a cumal, which was defined as one cow or three slave girls. Slaves were paid as a form of currency for land, crops, valuables, and as restitution for crimes committed.
Who were the Celts’ slaves? Other Celts.
Celtic kingdoms frequently raided each other, with slaves being one of the most valuable forms of loot. In fact, even St. Patrick was a former slave.
An interesting note is that slave raids often facilitated the spread of Christianity. Pagan kingdoms sometimes raided Christian kingdoms for slaves, who then became the teachers and nursemaids of the nobles’ children. These teachers and nursemaids often taught their charges the stories of the gospel.
These 5 things are just a few samples of how our understanding of the Celtic world has changed recently. Stay tuned… more will come. New archaeological methods are uncovering new evidence all the time. And, DNA research is just getting started.
What new discoveries might come tomorrow that change even further what we know?
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