Celtic Druids :: European History Essays

Evidence of the Celts first came about 400 BCE from Northern Italy. More evidence or encounters were found during the young Roman Empire. Many of the accounts we hear of them come from Greek and Roman writers, such as Julius Caesar and Diodorus. There were various tribes to this group, many of them called Galli by the Romans and Galataoir Keltoi by the Greeks, these terms meant Barbarian. The Greek word Keltoi was what Celts came from, this is the reason the C is pronounced as a K. As languages went there was one language that tied all of them together, Old Celtic which is the descendent of the original Ur-Lnaguage. "Welsh, Breton the language of Brittany, in France- and the variants of Gaelic spoken in Ireland and Scotland are all Celtic languages"(Stokstad 485). Celtic Druids Evidence of their culture is basically archeological, it has also come from oral tradition, dating back to shortly before the fifth century AD. Knowledge of all the Druids besides the Celtic ones has been found from and around the third century BC to the fourth century AD. Blacksmithing was an important craft to the Celts. Tools of knives, shears and axe-heads were made to stock patterns across the Celtic World. Iron was also used to make decorative and functional pieces which were very elaborate. Iron again was used for spears, swords and defensive mounting of wooden shields. Bronze workers used a lot of copper and tin to make their intricately designed ornaments. The theme of the Celtic warrior played an important part, with the practice of single combat, the warriors feast and the prize of severed heads of defeated foes. Writing in the Celtic society was sort of restricted, it was not used for imaginative or traditional literature. Before the Roman conquest a state of conditional literacy intermittently existed among the Gaulish upper classes (Piggott 51). Greek letters were occasionally used. However in Celtic societies other than the Druids it seemed opposite. Greek Letters were used in the Book of Mathew, Book Of Kells , in Stoktads book there is an example of how finely the craftsmanship is with the Chi Rho Iota page. This translated into "Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about" (Mathew 1:18).Many abbreviations of Latin words were used as well which had to be memorized by scribes. The page seems abstract at first glance but if you look closely you can see the fine detail of figures in it.