The Celts – LESSON 1

A set of vocabulary flashcards covering key peoples, cultures, sites, events and scholarly issues introduced in the lecture on the Celts.

Celts

An ancient Indo-European people who spread across much of Europe from the Late Bronze Age (c.1200–1000 BC) until their gradual conquest by Rome in the 1st century BC.

Indo-European

A family of related languages (and their speakers) that includes Celtic, Greek, Germanic, Italic and many others of Europe and the Indian sub-continent.

Hill Fort

A defended settlement built on elevated ground; over 4,000 survive in Britain and Ireland, illustrating Celtic military and social organisation.

Oppidum (pl. Oppida)

Large Iron Age Celtic fortified centres that developed c.200–100 BC as regional hubs of trade, craft and governance.

Urnfield Culture

Central European Late Bronze Age culture (c.1200–600 BC) named for its cremation burials in urns; regarded as an early precursor of Celtic society.

Hallstatt Culture

Early Iron Age culture (c.800–450 BC) centred in Austria; marked by salt-mining wealth, elite burials and the first recognisably Celtic art styles.

La Tène Culture

Later Iron Age Celtic culture (c.450 BC–AD 100) noted for its curvilinear art, long swords and wide geographic spread from Ireland to Anatolia.

Druid

A member of the Celtic intellectual and priestly class responsible for religion, law, education and advice to kings.

Bard

Professional poet-musician in Celtic society who preserved history and heroic tales through oral storytelling.

Oral Tradition

The passing of history, law and myth by spoken word rather than writing, fundamental to Celtic culture.

Appian

Greek-Roman historian whose work ‘Gallic Wars’ provides an external literary source on Celtic conflicts.

Tacitus

Roman historian whose Agricola and Annals describe Britons and Druids, portraying Celts as fierce but disunited.

Strabo

Greek geographer whose Geographica gives ethnographic details of Gaulish and British Celts.

Diodorus Siculus

1st-century BC historian who recorded Celtic customs, warfare and social hierarchy in his Bibliotheca historica.

Vercingetorix

Arvernian chieftain who united Gaulish tribes against Julius Caesar but surrendered after the siege of Alesia in 52 BC.

Cassivellaunus

British war leader who resisted Julius Caesar’s second invasion of Britain in 54 BC.

Commius

Atrebate leader first allied with Caesar, later a rebel; illustrates complex Celtic-Roman interactions.

Hochdorf Grave

Lavish 6th-century BC Hallstatt burial in Germany revealing elite status, feasting gear and wagonry.

Maiden Castle

Massive multi-rampart hill fort in Dorset, England, showing evolving Celtic defensive architecture.

Heuneburg

Early Celtic fortified hilltop on the Upper Danube exhibiting Mediterranean trade links and urban planning.

Castro de Viladonga

Galician hill fort in Spain providing evidence for late Celtic settlement and Roman contact.

Celtic Art

Distinctive abstract, swirling decoration exemplified in La Tène metalwork, stone carving and later illuminated manuscripts.

Celtic Knot

Interlaced motif symbolising eternity; derived from later Insular adaptations of earlier La Tène curvilinear art.

Sack of Rome (390 BC)

Gaulish army under Brennus defeated Romans at the Allia and occupied Rome, instilling lasting fear of northern ‘barbarians’.

Sack of Delphi (279 BC)

Raid by Galatian Celts on the Greek sanctuary of Apollo, later repelled, highlighting Celtic reach into the eastern Mediterranean.

Head Hunting

Celtic martial practice of taking enemies’ heads as trophies, cited by Greek and Roman writers to label them ‘barbarians’.

Boudicca

Iceni queen who led a major revolt against Roman rule in Britain, AD 60–61, after Druids on Anglesey were suppressed.

Druids of Anglesey

Religious centre in North Wales destroyed by Romans in AD 59–61, signalling Rome’s assault on Celtic spiritual authority.

Iron Age

Period (from c.800 BC in Europe) when iron became the dominant metal; saw the emergence and expansion of Celtic cultures.

Celtic Migration Debate

Modern scholarly dispute over whether Celtic culture spread by mass population movement or by cultural diffusion through trade and contact.