Why were Celts primitive or barbarian?
How did Greeks describe the Celts?
What did Celtic warriors want?
How did Romans describe Celts?
Where did Celts spread?
Why did Celts move?
Wednesday, 23 March 2011
Sunday, 20 March 2011
Hillforts
What were they built for?
What were they made of?
Do you think they served their purpose?
Thursday, 10 March 2011
Read carefully !
Celtic Britain
(The Iron Age) c. 600 BC - 50 AD
________________________________________
Who were they?
The Iron Age is the age of the "Celt" in Britain. The “Celts” were warring tribes who certainly wouldn’t have seen themselves as one people at the time. The "Celts" as we traditionaly regard them exist largely in the magnificence of their art. The Celtic peoples were described as barbarians and the Romans as a great civilizing force.
Where did they come from? What we do know is that the people we call Celts gradually infiltrated Britain over the course of the centuries between about 500 and 100 B.C. There was probably never an organized Celtic invasion.The Celts were a group of peoples loosely tied by similar language, religion, and cultural expression. They were not centrally governed, and quite as happy to fight each other as any non-Celt. They were warriors, living for the glories of battle and plunder. They were also the people who brought iron working to the British Isles.
Celtic family life. The basic unit of Celtic life was the clan, a sort of extended family. The term "family" is a bit misleading, for by all accounts the Celts practiced a peculiar form of child rearing; they didn't rear them, they farmed them out.
Clans were bound together very loosely with other clans into tribes, each of which had its own social structure and customs, and possibly its own local gods.
Housing. The Celts lived in huts of arched timber with walls of wicker and roofs of thatch. The huts were generally gathered in loose hamlets.
Farming. The Celts were farmers when they weren't fighting. One of the interesting innovations that they brought to Britain was the iron plough.
Women. Celtic lands were owned communally, and wealth seems to have been based largely on the size of cattle herd owned. The lot of women was a good deal better than in most societies of that time. They were technically equal to men, owned property, and could choose their own husbands.
Druids. Another area where oral traditions were important was in the training of Druids. They were a curious lot; a sort of super-class of priests, political advisors, teachers, healers, and arbitrators.
Religion. The Celts from held many of their religious ceremonies in woodland groves and near sacred water, such as wells and springs. The Romans speak of human sacrifice as being a part of Celtic religion. One thing we do know, the Celts revered human heads.
The Celts at War. The Celts loved war. If one wasn't happening they'd be sure to start one. They arrayed themselves as fiercely as possible, sometimes charging into battle fully naked, dyed blue from head to toe, and screaming like banshees to terrify their enemies.
The Celts were great users of light chariots in warfare. From this chariot, drawn by two horses, they would throw spears at an enemy before dismounting to have a go with heavy slashing swords.
They beheaded their opponents in battle and it was considered a sign of prowess and social standing to have a goodly number of heads to display.
The main problem with the Celts was that they couldn't stop fighting among themselves long enough to put up a unified front. Each tribe was out for itself, and in the long run this cost them control of Britain.
Check words you don't know in the dictionary!
A good on-line dictionary is:
wordreference.com
(The Iron Age) c. 600 BC - 50 AD
________________________________________
Who were they?
The Iron Age is the age of the "Celt" in Britain. The “Celts” were warring tribes who certainly wouldn’t have seen themselves as one people at the time. The "Celts" as we traditionaly regard them exist largely in the magnificence of their art. The Celtic peoples were described as barbarians and the Romans as a great civilizing force.
Where did they come from? What we do know is that the people we call Celts gradually infiltrated Britain over the course of the centuries between about 500 and 100 B.C. There was probably never an organized Celtic invasion.The Celts were a group of peoples loosely tied by similar language, religion, and cultural expression. They were not centrally governed, and quite as happy to fight each other as any non-Celt. They were warriors, living for the glories of battle and plunder. They were also the people who brought iron working to the British Isles.
Celtic family life. The basic unit of Celtic life was the clan, a sort of extended family. The term "family" is a bit misleading, for by all accounts the Celts practiced a peculiar form of child rearing; they didn't rear them, they farmed them out.
Clans were bound together very loosely with other clans into tribes, each of which had its own social structure and customs, and possibly its own local gods.
Housing. The Celts lived in huts of arched timber with walls of wicker and roofs of thatch. The huts were generally gathered in loose hamlets.
Farming. The Celts were farmers when they weren't fighting. One of the interesting innovations that they brought to Britain was the iron plough.
Women. Celtic lands were owned communally, and wealth seems to have been based largely on the size of cattle herd owned. The lot of women was a good deal better than in most societies of that time. They were technically equal to men, owned property, and could choose their own husbands.
Druids. Another area where oral traditions were important was in the training of Druids. They were a curious lot; a sort of super-class of priests, political advisors, teachers, healers, and arbitrators.
Religion. The Celts from held many of their religious ceremonies in woodland groves and near sacred water, such as wells and springs. The Romans speak of human sacrifice as being a part of Celtic religion. One thing we do know, the Celts revered human heads.
The Celts at War. The Celts loved war. If one wasn't happening they'd be sure to start one. They arrayed themselves as fiercely as possible, sometimes charging into battle fully naked, dyed blue from head to toe, and screaming like banshees to terrify their enemies.
The Celts were great users of light chariots in warfare. From this chariot, drawn by two horses, they would throw spears at an enemy before dismounting to have a go with heavy slashing swords.
They beheaded their opponents in battle and it was considered a sign of prowess and social standing to have a goodly number of heads to display.
The main problem with the Celts was that they couldn't stop fighting among themselves long enough to put up a unified front. Each tribe was out for itself, and in the long run this cost them control of Britain.
Check words you don't know in the dictionary!
A good on-line dictionary is:
wordreference.com
Watch the video carefully
Find ten things from the video you have read about previously or discussed in class
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