Atlas of the Celts

by Raftery, Barry

• ISBN13: 9781552975411
• ISBN10: 155297541X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-07-01
• Publisher: Firefly Books Ltd

Summary

Atlas of the Celts details (in words, illustrations and maps) the history of the Celts, their expansion, decline and modern revival, their art and religion, and their impact on the Western world. It offers the most comprehensive coverage of the Celts.The Atlas of the Celts is arranged chronologically and spread-by-spread and there is a special section on Celtic culture (such as jewelry, clothing and mythology). The conclusion discusses some of the recent debates on Celtic identity. The appendices include: a detailed timeline of key dates in Celtic history, an atlas of Celtic sites and museums, a Who's Who in the Celtic world, drawings of Celtic ornaments, glossaries of Celtic terms and names, a gazetteer, and an index.The Atlas of the Celts includes a foreword by Dr. Barry Raftery, Professor of Celtic Studies at University College Dublin. Dr. Raftery acted as principal consultant editor on the Atlas of the Celts.Additional consultation was provided by Dr. Jane McIntosh of the University of Cambridge. The consultants have ensured that the Atlas of the Celts is an indispensable reference source for home, school and college use. Its maps, color photographs, artwork and diagrams ensure that it will appeal to everybody who is interested in the enduring history of the Celts.

Table of Contents

Foreword	7	(1)
Barry Raftery
Chapter One	8	(12)
Who were the Celts?	10	(2)
Languages and the Past	12	(2)
Early Indo-European expansion	14	(2)
Labels and Material Culture	16	(2)
Celtic Languages Today	18	(2)
Chapter Two	20	(34)
Prehistoric Europe	22	(2)
Copper and Bronze	24	(2)
Middle Bronze Age (2000-1600 BC)	26	(2)
Hallstatt A and B (1200-750 BC)	28	(2)
Hallstatt C (750-600 BC)	30	(2)
Iron Technology	32	(2)
Swords	34	(2)
Hallstatt D (600-480 BC)	36	(2)
Burial Mounds	38	(2)
Greek and Etruscan Trade	40	(2)
Eastern Influences	42	(2)
La Tene	44	(2)
Early La Tene Art	46	(2)
Celtiberians	48	(2)
Celts in North Italy	50	(2)
Celtic Europe in 400 BC	52	(2)
Chapter Three	54	(50)
The Roman Empire	56	(2)
Warrior Migrants	58	(2)
Invasion of Italy	60	(2)
Balkan Expansion	62	(2)
Celtic Mercenaries	64	(2)
Raid on Delphi	66	(2)
Celtic Europe in 200 BC	68	(2)
Celtic Coinage	70	(2)
Roman conquest of Italy	72	(2)
The Romans in Spain	74	(2)
The Galatians	76	(2)
Conquest of Southern Gaul	78	(2)
Early Celtic Religion	80	(2)
Caesar's Invasion of Gaul	82	(2)
Vercingetorix and Alesia	84	(2)
Later La Tene Art	86	(2)
Oppida	88	(2)
Collapse in the East	90	(2)
Iron-Age Britian	92	(2)
Hillforts	94	(2)
La Tene Art in Britain and Ireland	96	(2)
Roman Conquest of Britain	98	(2)
Roman Britain	100	(2)
Iron-Age Ireland	102	(2)
Chapter Four	104	(44)
The Dark Ages	106	(2)
Germanic Invasions	108	(2)
Post-Roman Britain	110	(2)
Later Celtic Migrations	112	(2)
Scripted Stones	114	(2)
Christian Ireland	116	(2)
The Irish Church in Britain	118	(2)
Illuminated Manuscripts	120	(2)
Early Medieval Ireland	122	(2)
Celtic Christianity in Europe	124	(2)
Later Celtic Art	126	(2)
Arthurian Legend	128	(2)
The Viking Onslaught	130	(2)
Formation of Scotland	132	(2)
Brian Boru	134	(2)
Norman Invasions	136	(2)
Wales	138	(2)
The Bruces	140	(2)
English Plantations in Ireland	142	(2)
Oliver Cromwell and `King Billy'	144	(2)
The Union of Scotland and England	146	(2)
Chapter Five	148	(34)
The `Progressive' Centuries	150	(2)
The `Celtic Revival' and Nationalism	152	(2)
Jacobite Rebellions	154	(2)
Highland Clans	156	(2)
Scottish Poets	158	(2)
Exodus to North America	160	(2)
Language and Religion in Wales	162	(2)
Eisteddfodau and Druids	164	(2)
Scots in the British Empire	166	(2)
Tartan Traditions	168	(2)
Famine in Ireland	170	(2)
Gaulois or Francais?	172	(2)
The Irish in Britain	174	(2)
Irish Independence	176	(2)
Language and Politics	178	(2)
Ethnic Identity in the 21st Century	180	(2)
Chapter Six	182	(26)
Clothing	184	(2)
Housing	186	(2)
Farming	188	(2)
Transportation	190	(2)
Women	192	(2)
Jewellery	194	(2)
Gods	196	(2)
Druids	198	(2)
Writing	200	(2)
Armour	202	(2)
Chariots	204	(2)
Cavalry	206	(2)
Places to Visit	208	(2)
Time Chart	210	(2)
Who's Who in the Celtic World	212	(5)
Further Reading	217	(1)
Index	218	(6)
Picture Acknowledgements	224

Excerpts

Foreword South of Ireland is the Celtic Sea, a sea lacking the oil for which Ireland had hoped. Even without that oil, Ireland's economy is currently booming and has been named after that unlikely beast the 'Celtic Tiger'. But it is not just in Ireland that the 'Celts' loom large. Archaeologists, historians, philologists, anthropologists, art historians, artists, politicians, journalists, book publishers, football teams, druids and witches have all, in varying ways, concerned themselves with 'Celts' or with perceptions of 'Celts'. For many people in parts of northern and western Britain, but in Ireland especially, Celts are today a potent reality, an ancient people who invaded and settled. In Ireland, priding itself as the last bastion of European 'Celticity', Celts are accepted by all but a few scholars as the immediate ancestors of the Irish. People 'feel' themselves to be Celtic, instinctively and without reservation. In daily life, the Celtic ethos is all pervading. A full page of the commercial section of the Dublin telephone directory lists businesses proudly proclaiming their 'Celticness': Celtic Bookmakers, Celtic Cabs, Celtic Computers, Celtic Corporate Hampers, Celtic Sun Lounges to take a random selection. Celtic is thus a badge of Irishness. The rigorous scrutiny of modern scholarship, however, has looked askance at such nostalgic oversimplification. Today, there is discussion on the meaning of 'Celticity', especially among specialists in Britain and Ireland. The debate involves three distinct but interrelated components: archaeology, language and the written sources. Each can be studied independent of the other, but only by bringing together the three strands can we aspire to a fuller picture. The classical sources are quite specific. Greeks, in the 6th century make passing references to Keltoi, a people who existed north of Massilia (modern Marseilles). Romans, some time later, speak of Galli and Gallatae but also Celtae which, as Caesar tells us, was the name by which some of the tribes of Gaul described themselves. The veracity of the Roman texts, documenting great migrations led by fighting men, is scarcely in doubt. The disastrous attack on Rome, which left a lasting scar on the Roman psyche, and later the attack on Delphi, are not the stuff of fantasy. The thousands of flat cemeteries, spreading from Gaul to the Carpathians, dominated by the burials of heavily armed warriors, cannot be seen as other than the graves of these migrating peoples. So historically attested folk movements across Europe find confirmation in the material record and conventional archaeological dating is in keeping with what we may accept as historical reality. Thus, two of the three key elements -- history and archaeology -- are seen to coalesce. But what of language? It is surely axiomatic that ultimately, by our own definition, Celts are those who spoke a Celtic language. And here is the kernel of the 'Celtic' problem: even though we can identify migrating peoples both archaeologically and historically we cannot know to what extent the people in question spoke Celtic. Caesar tells us that some of the inhabitants of Gaul called themselves "Celtae", but we cannot be certain what language they spoke. The use of the term in ancient times is quite different from its usage today. For the term is a modern construct, referring to a family of languages, first recognized by the Scot George Buchanan in the late 16th century. It was purely a linguistic concept, devoid of cultural implications. We cannot say, therefore, that all those peoples involved in the mass movements were Celts. We can take it that these movements consisted of heterogeneous population, and indeed linguistic, groupings, drawn together from the melting pot of Europe, in pursuit of the common aims of land and plunder. But we do have tribal names and we do have the names