The common perception that comes to mind when one is to think of the Celts is that of a

large, hairy barbarian with long hair, a beard, smothered with blue paint, and covered with

animal pelts. Much of this perception comes from contemporaneous Roman authors, who

declared the Celts to be hot-tempered warriors with a great thirst for wine. However, by time of

Caesar most of the Celtic world was already under Roman control, only Northern Gallia, Galatia,

and Britannia standing out as notable exceptions. In our modern eye, it seems that this event, the

annexation and pacification of Gaul seems to be the coup de grace to Cetlic civilization,

incorporated into the Roman Republic, but in actuality, the perception of Celtic peoples by the

Romans seems to have changed little from before to after this event. The outside perception of

who the Celts were seems to have changed little over time, even to this very day, paralleled by

the increasing loss of cultural identity, no longer being Celts and instead becoming Romans.

In order to discuss any alteration of opinion towards the Celtic peoples, it is first

important to define exactly what it is that this means. From Professor O’Donnell’s lectures we

can attribute that, “the modern concept of the Celts equates three categories of evidence: (first)

people called Keltoi by the Greeks, (second) the ancient Celtic languages, and (third) the

Hallstatt and La Tene archaeological cultures.” The Celts had many commonalities in culture,

religion, and practices, but the most defining characteristic is that of a common language. Celtic

is an Indo-European language which has a number of sub-families within it, namely Hispano-

Celtic, Gallic, Lepontic, Goidelic, and Brythonic, the latter two having sub-classifications as

well. (James 10) It was not known until the seventeenth century that the peoples of Ireland and

Britain were even related to those in modern-day France, much less those who had lived much

further off. Indeed, the Gauls at the time had considered the Britons to be crude, who in turn

considered the Goidelic peoples of Ireland to be primitive.

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In fact, the name by which we refer to these people, the Celts, is derivative from the

Greek term Keltoi, which was the Greek term for the people living in the northern

Mediterranean. Another term that they utilized was Galatai, which is derived from the Greek

gala, or “milk”. It is likely that the Mediterranean Hellenes were very taken by the fair

complexion of the comparatively northern Celts. The Romanized versions of these names are

Celtae and Galli respectively, from which we get the modern terms of Celt and Gaul.

Henceforth, Celt will refer to any and all Celtic peoples, whereas Gaul will refer to those living

in modern France and northern Italy, with terms such as Celtiberian and Galatian referring to

specific peoples and/or locations.

To further the understanding of who is being referred to, it is important to note which

areas the Celtic people inhabited, as to understand the scope of their influence and whom the

contemporaneous authors would be referring to. Herodotus stated in his Histories that, “The

Danube traverses the whole of Europe, rising among the Celts… [who] dwell beyond the Pillars

of Hercules… [and] who are the westernmost of all nations inhabiting Europe.” (Herodotus 4,49

and 2,33) The most obvious area is that of Gaul, divided up by Roman authors into Gallia

Cisaplina in Northern Italy, and then Gallia Narbonensis, Aquitania, Celtica (Lugdenensis), and

Belgica. The next most notable area would be the entirety of the British Isles, and then most all

of Spain, excepting the easternmost coast. However, this is not nearly all, for they inhabited

southern Germany and Bohemia, and stretched all the way to the Euxine Pontus and nearly to

Macedonia. In fact, in 279BC a sizable migration of Celts swept into Greece and were barely

turned away from looting the temple of Delphi, soon moving into Anatolia were they founded

the exonymically named Kingdom of Galatia. On top of this, Celtic warriors were prized as

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Mercenaries and were imported by many to be used as mercenaries, including but not limited to

the Carthaginians, Antigonids, Bithynians, and both the Seleucid and Ptolemaic Empires.

There is little in the way of surviving Latin literature in regards to the Celts just prior to

the pacification of Gallia Celtica and Belgica by Caesar, but one such surviving example is from

Cicero, who in his Pro Fonteio stated that, “All Gaul is filled with traders, is full of Roman

citizens. No Gaul does any business without the aid of a Roman citizen; not a single sesterce in

Gaul ever changes hands without being entered in the account books of Roman citizens.” (Cicero

33) Published in 72/73BC, some fifteen to twenty years before Caesar’s expedition in Gaul,

Cicero seems to make the implication that the whole region was already Romanized, and indeed

it likely was. Independently of Roman development but perhaps aided by Greek settlement and

trade, the Gauls developed large population centers and had innumerable mines, from which one

may infer a great deal of wealth. For instance, Diodorus Siculus mentions a particular

community in Britain in his Bibliotheka Historia, which, “are especially hospitable to strangers

and have adopted a civilized manner of life because of their intercourse with merchants and other

peoples… they work tin into pieces the size of knucklebones and convey it to an island” where it

is transported through Gaul to the Mediterranean world. (Diodorus 5.22.1-4)

This also led to the importation of many products, particularly luxury goods and wine, for

which the Celts highly enjoyed. Diodorus Siculus even stated that “The Gauls are exceedingly

addicted to the use of wine … and since they partake of this drink without moderation … they

fall into a stupor or a state of madness. Consequently many of the Italian traders … receive for it

an incredible price; for in exchange for a jar of wine they receive a slave. (Diodorus 5.26.2-3)

While this portrays them as reckless and drunkards, two things must be taken into consideration;

first that their native brew consists of fermented beer which was not made for its taste, and

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secondly that the Gauls were huge traders in slaves, and to them an amphora of was likely to

actually be more valuable than a paltry human slave. This was written concurrently with the

campaign in Gaul, but Dionysus of Halincarnassus in his Roman Antiquities writes slightly later,

a Greek under Augustus’ rule. However, he gives a similar perception of Celtic drunkenness in

his reasoning for why a Celtic host under Brennus was riled to enter Italy and cause great

grievances to Rome itself. The story starts that a man is banished to Gaul, and takes with him

many skins of wine. “The Gauls at that time had no knowledge of wine … [but drank instead] a

foul-smelling liquor made from barley rotted in water.” (Dionysus 13.16) He then goes on to

state that the stranger convinces them to invade Italy, just so that they may procure olives and

wine. There seems to be little change in opinion to this regard.

If one must look for other sources in order to ascertain this position, namely the Hellenic

authors of the time, selected from 146BC when Greece was officially made part of the Roman

Republic, notably an instances where Diodorus Siculus has detailed the sacking of Rome by

Celts led by Brennus. Interestingly, given the proliferation of the name Brennus or one similar is

used by Classical sources for Celtic leaders, it is likely that this is not actually a name but rather

a transliteration of a title meaning “king” or “chieftain” into Greek and Latin. Diodorus arguably

seems to place blame on the Romans for the initiation of hostilities, as that Roman envoys sent to

spy on the Celts took up arms against them, siding with their enemies. When the Celts

demanded the aggressors, the Romans initially offered money, then caved in, but later changed

their minds yet again and brought unprovoked hostilities against the Celts. This is the pretext to

the Celtic attack on Rome in 390. He also states much earlier in the work that one of the major

tribes of the Celts in Gaul, the Aedui, themselves with many client states beneath them, were,

“…standing on terms of kingship and friendship with the Romans, a relationship which has

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endured from ancient times down to our own day.” (Diodorus 5.25.1) Even in matters as grave

as the sacking of Rome, Diodorus, who was born in Sicily under Roman rule, seems to treat the

Celts with at least a modicum of respect. It should also be kept in mind that, “Since the Romans

did not subscribe to the modern ideas of race, they tended to treat individuals of different

national and ethnic origins, even people of colour, as they would anyone else of the same social

status.” (Ward 50)

However, most reference from the classical world about the Celts seems to revolve

around one conflict with them or another, and Polybius is no exception to this, making particular

note of their conflict with the Romans that arose in the midst of the Second Punic War against

Carthage. In a preface to this actual event, he explains in his Histories that the Gauls in conflicts

prior to the Second Punic war decide to cut their losses and, “[retire] quite safely from the

Roman territory,” but then goes on to explain that upon returning home they fought amongst

each other over the plunder and decimated their own forces. He continues, “This is quite a

common event among the Gauls, when they have appropriated their neighbour's property, chiefly

owing to their inordinate drinking and surfeiting.” (Polybius 19) Again is mentioned the Celts

love for drink. Soon thereafter he makes mention of their barbarity, that, “When Manius sent

legates to Gaul to treat for the return of the prisoners, they were treacherously slain”. (Polybius

19) However, he does stipulate one benefit from this conflict, that when they soon thereafter

entered conflict with Pyrrhus of Epirus, they had “become accustomed to be cut up by Gauls,

they could neither undergo nor expect any more terrible experience”. (Polybius 20)

Polybius paints a picture that the Celts should be debased, but also makes mention to

their courage and expertise in war, as well as the sheer terror they inspired in the Romans. After

the onset of the Second Punic War, the Romans had heard that a massive force of Gauls was

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preparing to make their way down into Italy. They had, “at times march[ed] to the frontier, as if

the enemy had already invaded their territory, while as a fact the Celts had not yet budged from

their own”. (Polybius 22) This had worried the Romans so much that they ceased their interests

in Spain the middle of the war, allowing Carthage to take much of it without resistance. When

the Gauls do invade, they demonstrate tactical acumen by lighting their campfires but having

only a few men remain at the camp such that the Romans believe most of them had fled, leading

them into an ambush. Later, when confronted with two armies, “King Aneroëstes expressed the

opinion, that having captured so much booty … they should not give battle again nor risk the

fortune of the whole enterprise, but return home in safety”. (Polybius 26) Again the Celts show

that they would be happy with merely booty, that they are not mindlessly wonton for the heat of

battle.

Unfortunately for the Celts, the Romans were able to entrap them, but, “were terrified by

the fine order of the Celtic host and the dreadful din, for there were innumerable horn-blowers

and trumpeters, and, as the whole army were shouting their war-cries at the same time, there was

such a tumult of sound that it seemed that not only the trumpets and the soldiers but all the

country round had got a voice and caught up the cry.” This in general frightened them, but also

the Gaesetae, whose name roughly translates into “spearmen”, gáe itself meaning “spear” or

“javelin”. It is alleged that they received this name for the great distance and accuracy with

which they were able to throw their javelins. Polybius continues, “Very terrifying too were the

appearance and the gestures of the naked warriors in front, all in the prime of life, and finely

built men, and all in the leading companies richly adorned with gold torques and armlets. The

sight of them indeed dismayed the Romans”. (Polybius 29) They went into battle naked as the

embodiment of the Greek ideal, that all they should need to protect themselves is their own skill

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with sword and shield. Polybius states that their lack of clothing was their own downfall, but the

Gaesetae were just as well armoured as the majority of the rest of the Celtic warband, so it is

more likely faulty reasoning.

It is interesting to note here some specific references to the arms of the Celts mentioned

here. The Gaesetae, as well as their Boii and Insubres employers in this battle, “though being

almost cut to pieces, they held their ground, equal to their foes in courage, and inferior only, as a

force and individually, in their arms.” (Polybius 30) It is certainly true that while most all of the

Roman army at this time the lorica hamata, a chain-mail hauberk derived from the original

Celtic invention, most of the Celts had only a wooden shield similar to that used by the Romans,

with few having more armour than that. However, it is interesting to note that Polybius explains

that, “from the way their swords are made … only the first cut takes effect; after this they at once

assume the shape of a strigil, being so much bent both length-wise and side-wise that unless the

men are given leisure to rest them on the ground and set them straight with the foot, the second

blow is quite ineffectual.” (Polybius 33) The Celts were some of the earliest ironworkers in

Europe, so one would be led to assume that they would have mastered the art of ironwork, and

by many accounts they were highly skilled in such, and Polybius may perhaps just be

exaggerating slight bends in the blade upon striking metal. However, one should also take into

consideration the work done by the archaeologist David Sim, where he has discovered that a

great deal of Roman iron was purified to a degree that is of the same quality of modern steel,

thought not to have been invented until the nineteenth century. By comparison, any other iron

blade would seem of incredibly poor quality.

There are three extant versions of the sack of Rome by Brennus in 389BC, one of which

written before the Gallic Wars, another written by Dionysus of Halicarnassus in his Roman

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Antiquities under the reign of Augustus. All three versions have different parts to the story told,

or told in different ways, but the overall perception of the Celts remain the same, and

interestingly that in none of them are they truly portrayed as primitive savages, described moreso

as one would have described another Italian people, very generalized. However, all three make

mention of the story where they attempt to scale the cliffs leading up to the citadel, and would

not have been detected if it were not for the sacred geese of Juno, causing all manner of clamor.

Livy too told of Brennus and the sack of Rome, but seems to give them the same

treatment as he does many of Rome’s enemies in Ab Urbe Condita, to make them noble and

worthy foes, for had Rome been forced into hostilities against anything less? In fact, the initial

meeting between them seems to have the stereotypical roles reversed, Livy even prefacing it with

that it was, “A peaceable enough mission, had it not contained envoys of a violent temper, more

like Gauls than Romans.” (Livy 5.36) In the Gallic response to the terms set forth by the Roman

envoys, they gave the addendum, “if territory is refused us we shall fight, whilst you are still

here, that you may report to those at home how far the Gauls surpass all other men in courage."

(Livy 5.36) This phrase, that “Gauls surpass all other men in courage”, is used time and again in

literature used to reference them. If nothing else, this is the constant on the perception of the

Celts.

There is mention made by Livy to the envoys fighting against the Gauls, but he makes no

mention of the Romans initially trying to give money in reparations to them, but instead shifts

immediately to the engaging of hostilities. The Gauls, upon hearing that they’d been spurned,

were said to have, “Burn[ed] with rage-as a nation they cannot control their passions-they seized

their standards and hurriedly set out on their march.” (Livy 5.37) Again here there is the

reference to unbridled passion of the Celts, which is also mentioned upon the actual razing of

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Rome, where, “one of the patricians … roused the passion of a Gaul, who began to stroke his

beard -which in those days was universally worn long-by smiting him on the head with his ivory

staff.” (Livy 5.41) It should be noted that very few Celts traditionally wore beards, instead

usually wearing only a mustache or no facial hair at all, so it is likely that the concept of a long

flowing beard was very foreign to the warrior. The Celts themselves by in large used a lye-based

compound, likely similar to what they would have used to make soap, in order to wash away all

unwanted body hair.

It also bears mentioning the influx of mention to Celtic religious practices following the

pacification of Gaul, for while the Romans were likely tertiarily aware of Druidism and other

Celtic religious practices, the incorporation of a large body of Celtic people who previously had

no direct contact with the Romans dramatically expanded communication of these effects. Livy

ties this religious belief into their general fervor, stating that, “they were restrained by religious

feelings, for as a nation they are by no means inattentive to the claims of religion.” (Livy 5.46)

Cicero, still regarding them as inferior, likens the practices of Druids to Augers of Hellenic and

Roman religions, explain in his De Divinatione that, “Nor is the practice of divination

disregarded even among uncivilized tribes … [One] claimed to have that knowledge of nature

which the Greeks call 'physiologia,' and he used to make predictions, sometimes by means of

augury and sometimes by means of conjecture. (Cicero, 1.41) Strabo too makes mention of their

religious practices, avowing that, “The heads of enemies [were] embalm[ed] in cedar-oil [to]

exhibit to strangers, and they would not deign to give them back even for a ransom of an equal

weight of gold. But the Romans put a stop to these customs, as well as to all those connected

with the sacrifices and divinations that are opposed to our usages.” (Strabo 4.4.5)

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Pliny the Elder makes multiple mentions to practices performed in Celtic religious rites,

in his Natural History asserting that, “The Gallic provinces too were pervaded by the magic art,

and … even down to a period within memory”. However, he states that the rites performed by

those on Britannia are far more mystical, making it seem as a land of magic, continuing that, “the

Roman people, for having put an end to those monstrous rites … to murder a man was to do an

act of the greatest devoutness, and to eat his flesh was to secure the highest blessings of health.

(Pliny 30.4) Here the implication is made that they engage in human sacrifice and eat the flesh

of man, though there is little evidence other than scant writings such as this that cannibalism ever

took place. However, human sacrifice was definitely a part of Celtic religious practice, Caesar

writing in the Commentarii de Bello Gallico that, “unless the life of a man be offered, the mind

of the immortal gods will not favor them.” It is even believed that there have been sacrifices as,

“volunteers to be messengers to the gods.” (James 97)

Strabo, being a geographer rather than a historian, actually gives a different insight into

the Celtic peoples, notably that he mentions things other than invasions that the Celts had taken

place in. For instance, he describes in his Geography how to lands of Gaul produce a large

quantity of a variance of foodstuffs, and that, “none of the country is untilled except parts where

tilling is precluded by swamps and woods. Yet these parts too are thickly peopled – more

because of the largeness of the population than because of the industry of the people; for the

women are not only prolific, but good nurses as well, while the men are fighters rather than

farmers.” (Strabo 4.1.2) Here Strabo intends to make a distinction between the Romans and

Celts, that the Romans are all famers and the Celts warriors, yet the Roman are still superior in

arms. He also continues the theme of their hot-temperedness and ready to go into conflict,

stating that, “The whole race which is now called both "Gallic" and "Galatic" is war-mad, and

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both high-spirited and quick for battle”. (Strabo 4.4.2) Yet it is interesting to note that he makes

reference to a change in the people, that there are, “many things about [the Celts] that do not fit

the facts of to-day. The following, also, is a thing peculiar to them, that they endeavour not to

grow fat or pot-bellied, and any young man who exceeds the standard measure of the girdle is

punished.” (Strabo 4.4.6) It is interesting that there is the standard of fitness required for all men

which has gone slack in recent years, perhaps due to the increased Romanization of the Celtic

peoples.

Strabo also makes note of others aggrandizing their accomplishments in Celtiberia,

conquering three hundred cities where they have only tamed villages. He emphasizes that,

“even those who assert that there are more than one thousand cities in Iberia seem to me to be led

to do so by calling the big villages cities; for, in the first place, the country is naturally not

capable … for those who live in villages are wild (and such are most of the Iberians), and even

the cities themselves cannot easily tame their inhabitants when these are outnumbered by the folk

that live in the forests for the purpose of working mischief upon their neighbours. (Strabo 3.4.13)

There is one important note to take from this, and the reason why it took so long to tame the

Iberian peninsula, that the peoples living there, just like those in Germania, where still much less

socially developed and resorted to guerilla warfare. After all, it is much harder to pacify a forest

than a house. For this exact reason the Gauls were so easily pacified, that they had already

undergone a long period of parallel development to the Greeks and Romans, augmented by trade

relations with them. They already lived in cities, traded, and had craftsmen and arts. They were

easily integrated into Roman civilization because they were already civilized.

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James, Simon. The World of the Celts. London: Thames & Hudson, 1993

Ward, Allen M., Fritz M. Heichelheim, and Cedric A. Yeo. A History of the Roman People. 4th

ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, 2003. Print.

Amor, Kristen. "Forging Into History." Minerva 7 Aug. 2011. Web. 8 Nov. 2011.

<http://www.kirstenamor.co.uk/blog/195/forging-into-history-david-sim-interview/>.

O'Donnell, Charles J. "Was the Atlantic Zone the Celtic Homelan." University of Wales.

University of Edinburgh. 2008. Web. 8 Nov. 2011.

<http://www.wales.ac.uk/Resources/Documents/Research/ODonnell.pdf>.

Caesar, Julius. Comentarii de Bello Gallico

Cicero. De Divinatione

Dionysus of Halicarnassus. Roman Antiquities

Herodotus. Histories

Livy. Ab Urbe Condita

Pliny the Elder. Natural History

Polybius. The Histories

Siculus, Diodorus. Bibliotheka Historia

Strabo. Geography

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