CELTIC NATION

ALEXEI KONDRATIEV'S LOREKEEPERS COURSE 1.0

Track One - Section Four - C

Introduction 

This track is designed to give the student a sense of Celtic history and the chronological development of Celtic culture. It has been divided up into an introduction and a series of sections dealing with different historical periods. Each section has an introductory text for general orientation; this is to be supplemented by (for each section) a bibliography for research and some examination questions (mostly essay questions).

QUESTIONS  

A. General.  

Identify the following and indicate where they belong geographically:

Tylis

Noricum

Allobroges

Aedui

Insubres

Ordovices

Atrebates

Gallaeci

Tolistobogii

Carnutes

Morini

Salyes

Scordisci

Boii  

Identify the following figures and discuss their historical role:

Vercingetorix

Dumnorix

Diviciacus

Acichorius

Deiotaros

Bellovesus and Segovesus

Viriathus

Commius

Caratacus

Boudicca  

Discuss the circumstances that led to Caesar's campaign in Gaul. What tribal migration precipitated Roman intervention?  

Which Celtic community in Spain resisted Rome with particular fierceness? Name it and place the story of its defeat in historical context.  

Describe the historical circumstances of Celtic military expeditions to: a) Rome; b) Greece; c) Asia Minor.

Compare the battles of Gergovia and Alesia in the context of the conquest of Gaul.      

What happened to Celtic communities in Eastern Europe in the course of the 1st century BCE?

What archaeological sites illustrate the political importance of the region between the Marne and the Moselle after the mid-5th century BCE? Describe some of the evidence.  

What is the Arras culture? What makes it particularly distinctive in its contemporary context?

Why did Barry Raftery subtitle his book "The Enigma of the Irish Iron Age"? What distinguishes Ireland during this period?  

B. Society  

From the information in Classical sources, describe a typical political unit of the late Iron Age Celtic world. In what ways is it like a "tribe", and in what other ways is it like a "state"?  

What does the evidence from burial sites tell us about Celtic society at this time?  

From both archaeological and Classical sources, describe typical houses of the period. What might have distinguished aristocratic from commoners' houses?  

Compare the fortifications of the following settlement types:1) a broch; 2) a wheelhouse; 3) a ringfort; 4) an oppidum. What does this suggest about the social arrangements implied in each model?  

What were the principal crops being farmed? What types of animals were domesticated?  

Fosterage was an important institution in aristocratic Celtic communities of the Early Middle Ages. What evidence suggests that it may already have been in practice in the Later Iron Age?  

C. Warfare  

Describe the typical panoply of a Celtic warrior in terms of: a. helmet; b. shield; c. sword. How (if at all) did the shape and size of these articles change between the 5th and the 1st century BCE, and what were some of the regional variations? What would distinguish ornamental or ceremonial weapons from practical ones?  

Which Celtic practices in battle struck Classical writers as particularly unusual or alien?  

What was it that bound Celtic warriors together as a unit? Describe the similarities and differences between warrior-bands defending a territory, and warrior-bands on an expedition for plunder. Give specific examples of both.  

Give examples of the importance of cavalry in Celtic warfare, and describe archaeological evidence of the relationship between warriors and their horses (especially in the realm of adornment).  

Discuss chariot warfare. What historical evidence do we have of it? What later literary evidence?  

What was it that the Romans called a _murus gallicus_?  

D. Religion   

What are the Classical sources that refer to the Druids? Which parts of the Celtic world do they concern?  

According to the Classical sources, what were the specifically religious duties of the Druids?  

Describe what it is that convinces us of the religious associations of the following archaeological sites:

Entremont

Roquepertuse

Ribemont

Gournay-sur-Aronde

Fellbach-Schmiden

Hayling Island  

E. Art and Technology  

What is the "Vegetal Style"? Describe its origins and its evolution within the Celtic world.

Describe metalworking techniques of the Celtic Iron Age.  

List at least six kinds of animals commonly represented in Celtic art, giving specific examples for each one. What, given the context of the representation, might each animal symbolize?  

Give examples of the use of the disembodied human head as a decorative motif.

Which motifs in Iron Age Celtic art have a clearly Oriental origin? How did they change when they became a part of Celtic tradition?  

Discuss some of the images used on Celtic coins. What are their Classical models, and how do the Celtic representations diverge from them? Name some of the motifs that were used as distinguishing images in the coinage of different Celtic groups.  

Compare styles of pottery from different parts of the Iron Age Celtic world.  

Describe evidence of extensive road-building in the pre-Roman Celtic world. What other very important aspect of Celtic technology developed in tandem with this project?  

What was Late Iron Age clothing like? What textiles were used?

By Alexei Kondratiev

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Last Updated: 04/03/11