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icymist

(15,888 posts)
Thu Jan 5, 2012, 11:11 PM Jan 2012

Ancient Celts

The ancient Celts were an enchanting and mysterious pre-Christian people with a romantic and legendary history – a people of heroes, wizards, and fairies. Julius Caesar stated that the Celts (Gauls) were “brave, but headstrong and impetuous.” These indomitable clans, identified by their language and culture, migrated from Central Europe and populated much of Western Europe, Britain, and Ireland until they were supplanted by the Romans, and later, Christianity.

The origins of the Celts in Britain are lost in remote antiquity, but many scholars now believe these mysterious tribes made their earliest appearance in Britain somewhere around 1500-1000 BC. Their migration to Britain occurred progressively over hundreds of years as they populated and ruled the modern day regions we know as England, Ireland, Scotland, Cornwall, Brittany, the Isle of Man, and Wales. The Celtic languages today are split into two camps: P-Celtic is the old Briton, similar to Welsh, Cornish and Breton; Q-Celtic is Scots Gaelic, Irish, Manx, and the extinct Celtiberian of Spain.

The Celtic social structure was a mix of religious cosmology, animism, and democratic idealism with each tribe holding its own territory consisting of agricultural, forest, and wilderness lands. Other lands were worked in common for the chieftain, priests, the sick, and the poor. They were a fearless people; both men and women were trained as warriors.
http://ancientcivilizationss.com/ancient-celts/

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