II. Celts Celts are tribes of Indo-European origin: Helvetians, Belgians, Sequani, Lingons, Aedui, Bituringi, Arverni, Allobroges, Senones, Treveri, Bellovaci. The Celts reached their greatest power in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e. The priests enjoyed great influence among the Celts -

Celts The ancient Celts believed that war was a very feminine matter. A medieval Irish text recalling distant pagan times reads: “The work which the best of women had to do was to go to battle and the battlefields, to take part in

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Normanists believe that the Celts belong to the Germanic tribes. Let's look at how the term “Celts” came about. Neither the Romans nor the Greeks indicate this. They were first mentioned by the Romans and the Celts were called “Selts”. In later times, under Julius Caesar, the Celts were characterized as “a ferocious people, terrible with their axes,” who were difficult to defeat. They were a harsh and warlike tribe. From Roman authors, the nickname of this little-known people (who lived to the northwest of the Greeks) passed on to the Greeks and began to be pronounced by them in their own way, according to the phonetic features of the language - Keltoi (according to Strabo - Keltai).

When the Greek language became scientific and classical, this word entered history. This is how the Latin “Celta” was replaced by the Greek “Celta”. According to the concepts of ancient authors, the Selts are descendants of the Cymry or Cimmerians (some called them the Cimbri), but these are features of the phonetics of different languages.

Before the advent of the Romans as conquerors of Europe, it was believed that the Celts were a numerous people of Europe, which they inhabited all over, from the north of Germany to the “Pillars of Hercules” or Gibraltar. When Rome took possession of all of Europe, capturing lands up to the Rhine, this territory was divided into three main regions: Celtica, Gaul and Belgica, each of which was divided into provinces, districts and other small entities.

Since the war of Julius Caesar with the Selts-Gulli-Belgae, a lot of different peoples and tribes have appeared in history, ending in “chi”: Lemovichi, Lyakhovichi, Norichi, Illyrichi, etc., and then with “i”, “y”: Belovaki , Wends, Rutheni, Belgians. Then the Lemovichs turned into Poles, the Noriches into Noriks, etc. At first they were all considered Celts. When the division into regions began, they began to be considered either Seltians or Gauls, and those who managed to flee across the Rhine to Germany were considered Germans. It is known that the Lyakhovichs at one time lived to the southwest of the Sequani (Seine) River, the Lyutichs to the east of them along the same river (their main city is Lutetia, now Paris).

Under the onslaught of the Roman legions, the Poles went to the sources of the Danube River and settled along its tributary Lyakhu, which was named by them and their neighbors by their personal nickname. The sources of the Danube River were in Germany. The Lyakhovichs became Poles and, moreover, Germans.

The Lyutichs went to the lower reaches of the Danube, later we find them next to the Tivertsi near the Black Sea.

Until the third or second centuries BC. Rutenes, Lemovichs, Kadurians, Gebals lived north of the Pyrenees along the Garumna River and its tributaries. They still live there. These are the Rusyns, Lemkos (Lemko Rus), Khabals and Kadurians, being on the way of the Huns, they were captured by them and, apparently, disappeared into them. In present-day Hungary, two villages of Khabaly and Kakadury have survived. IN Leningrad region in the Kingisepp (Yamsky) district there is Lake Khabalovskoye and the Khabalovka River. This is all that remains of these tribes.

Along the Liger River (now Laura) lived the Boii, and to the south, east of Garumna (now the Garona River) lived the “Tectosagi wolves.” This was in the 3rd – 2nd centuries. BC These peoples also lived in other places. So the Boii became Bohemians, and the “Tektosaga wolves” became Moravians who settled along the Morava River. All these peoples, called Celts or Selts, living in the south of present-day France (in ancient times - Seltia), turned out to be close to us in language. Their languages ​​became part of the Slavic language group. We must not forget the testimony of ancient authors that the Selts were European descendants of the Cymrs or Cimmerians, whose lands are occupied by the Russian People today. They became part of it as the most ancient and basic ethnic element. We must also remember the instructions of the author of the Book of Veles that the Kimry are our fathers. F.M. Appendini pointed out that the Celts and Getae spoke a Slavic language.

That the Celts are Slavs is confirmed by the instructions of some chronicles, where it is said that Scythian swears the highest gods and the sword, in particular Zamolok - the god of the wind. The nickname of the Celts as Celts existed in German chronicles in the 7th century. and referred to the Sorbs or Sorabes of Lusatia and the Sorbs in the city of Sorava.

The ending “chi” exists only in Slavic dialects (Rusichi, Bodrichi, Lyutichi, etc.).

The Romans called the Celts Celto-Scythians, and the Scythians were the ancestors of the Slavs. Even German chronicles speak about this. Therefore, this once again confirms that the Celts were Slavs. “Shut up” is a Slavic word denoting the good attitude of the deity when it stopped blowing fiercely.

Most of the Celtic cities and tracts near Nitara bear Slavic names. For example: Chepyana, Ruda, Tula, Lake Plesso, Mount Shar, Bryansk, Brislavl.

The closest connection between the Slavs, Veneti, Celts, which can be traced at all times - from the 3rd millennium BC. e. until the Middle Ages, the absence of a clear ethnic and geographical boundary reflected in the works of A. G. Kuzmin and A. L. Nikitin.

The famous discovery by archaeologist V.V. Khvoiko of the Tripoli culture 20 versts from Kyiv on the right bank of the Dnieper fully confirms the kinship of the Selts with the Cimmerians, for these Selts were actually Cimmerians who moved to the west. These new places for them were called by the Greek word Germany - “foreign land”. This is the most important discovery of V.V. Khvoiko, changing the entire initial history of Europe and proving that the Russian people had a different initial story, different from the one that was invented for us. The discovery was, of course, rejected by the Normanists and is not recognized to this day.

The Slavs spread to various Eurasian destinations. This is evidenced by recent discoveries. Thus, the famous British historian Howard Reed proved that the character of knightly legends, King Arthur, the owner of the famous Round Table, was a Slavic-Russian prince. He is in the 2nd century. AD Together with his squad, he was part of the army of Emperor Marcus Aurelius and crossed from the continent to the British Isles. Before that, he was the leader of one of the South Russian Slavic tribes, famous for its tall and blond horsemen, who terrified the steppe inhabitants.

Arthur's cavalrymen, as the 8,000th “barbarian” auxiliary detachment, were taken into imperial service, participated in many battles, and after the conquest of Britain remained on its territory. Howard Reid's main evidence is: previously unpublished fragments of Geoffrey of Monmouth's poem about King Arthur, as well as comparative analysis symbolism from ancient burials on the territory of Russia and in the drawings of the banners under which the warriors of the legendary Arthur, the Russian prince, fought.

Archaeologists have traced the path of these Cimmerian or Celt migrants through open ancient settlements or villages, which goes straight to the west, towards Germany. All this is synchronized chronologically by things, the remains of the residential layer of these settlements. Foreign scientists claim that the Cimmerians left the Trypillian culture, and our Normanists say that this culture cannot belong to the Russian People.

Later, new monuments of this culture were discovered in the village of Usatovo, in the village of Vladimirovka and many other places. The study of the remains of the residential layer indicated that there was a continuous connection between this and later cultures right up to the time of the glades. This consistently progressive culture with the addition large quantity new phases of development.

Now we know that with Balkan Peninsula to the Ister River, and then the Scythians came further. Their movement went on for centuries and was noted in the residential layers and their stratigraphy, which is documented. Over time, the Scythians merged with the Cimmerians, and the descendants of the Suromatians also joined them. The Krivichi, northerners and other peoples passing by also left their traces. All this is our beginning, our initial history. This is the initial history of the Russian south.

On the Ancient Valdai Upland, where most of the rivers of European Russia originate, there was a new, but equally ancient Fatyanovo culture. It starts south of the Sukhona River, goes along the Sheksna River to the Mologa River, covers the region of the cities of Yaroslavl, Kostroma, descends to Tver and Suzdal, covers Moscow, extends to the Ugra River and is lost in Transnistria. Both cultures developed around the time of the Neolithic and Bronze Ages. How many cultures have not yet been discovered?

According to the testimony of a linguist, a specialist in ancient languages ​​(Sumerian, Assyrian, Celtic, Cuman (Pechenegs), Gypsy and ancient dialects of the German language) Professor of Columbia University John D. Prince - the Celts or Selts in language belong to Slavic group, close in religion and customs.

To confirm interethnic ties and contacts of tribes of the Neolithic and Bronze Ages, the finds on our lands of centers of the Aryan and Ural culture, called Andronovskaya (2nd millennium BC), are especially indicative. They are found in vast areas right up to the Right Bank of the Dnieper, where they were located surrounded by Slavic settlements.

In addition to the similarity of the language and religious cults of the Aryans and Slavs, over the centuries a common sign system of symbols and magical designs was developed before the written period, which were included in the ornament of utensils and other types of decorative, applied and fine arts.

At the turn of the 2nd–1st millennium BC. in the middle Dnieper region there was a Chernoless culture, certainly defined as Proto-Slavic, around the core, which formed a strong union of Slavic tribes in the lands from the Dnieper to the Bug. The tribes of this union are known in history under the name Skolote, already used by Herodotus, who reports on the deep rivers of this land along which they swim big ships, and about large villages and cities.

On the Valdai Hills, along the rivers that originate here, there were tribes of Belarusians, Gelonians, Nerves, Roxolans, Yatzigs, Ludotsi and others. The Romans called them Sarmatians, and the Greeks Scythians, Suromatians - all these were Russian tribes.

The Lutich tribe came to the Baltic coast at the very beginning of our era from the Sequana River (the Seine River in present-day France) from the area where modern Paris is located, and from its banks. Here they had the city of Lutetia. In ancient times, this tribe was part of the 12 tribal federation of the state of Rasena, or as the Romans called them - Etruria, with its center in the city of Lutsa (Luka) on the Auzer (Ozer) river. From here the Latins drove them out and captured the city of Rasen. The Etrurians went to the Gaul Transpadida, settled for a short time near the city of Milinus, and then left with the Cymrogalls to the Sequane River. They apparently came to Russian territory in the 7th or early 8th centuries. AD from the Baltic Sea, where several of their tribes lived. Some of them remained in place, while others went east to the Russian lands. On Russian territory they lived in a corner of the northwestern coast of the Black Sea and were known as Ulichi. From here, during the time of the Grand Dukes Igor and Svyatoslav, they moved to the region of the Carpathian Mountains. Another part of them settled in central and northern Rus'.

About 400g. BC the Celts moved east from the Rhine and Upper Danube regions. They moved in several waves down along the Danube and its tributaries.

Around 380–350 BC The Celts settled the area of ​​Lake Balaton. The settlements of Vindoboka (modern Vienna), Singidunum (Belgrade), and others were built. At the beginning of the 3rd century. BC one of the streams of Celts headed to the Balkan Peninsula.

In 279 BC under the leadership of Brennus, they passed through the lands of Illyria, devastated Macedonia, invaded Thrace and Greece and reached Delphi, where they were defeated by the Greeks.

Another group of Celts (Gauls) around 270. BC settled in Anatolia, in the area of ​​modern Ankara, where she formed the state of Galatia. From Greece, Brenn's warriors retreated to the north and settled in the Danube region, between the Sava and Morava rivers. Here arose the state of the Celtic tribe of Scordisci with the main city of Singidun.

In the first half of the 3rd century. BC some of the Celts settled in Transylvania, Olteni and Bukovina, and others on the lower Danube. The Celts easily mixed with the local population and spread the La Tène culture everywhere.

In the II century. BC Another group of Celts crossed the Carpathians and settled in Silesia and the upper reaches of the Vistula, coming into contact with the Slavs.

The name La Tène culture comes from the settlement of La Tène near Lake Neuchâtel in Switzerland.

In the V–I centuries. BC The Celts made a great contribution to the development of metallurgy and metalworking. Celtic metallurgy became the basis for the development of all subsequent Central European metallurgy. The Celts had developed blacksmithing. They created an iron plow, scythes, saws, pliers, a file, spiral drills, scissors, and improved axes. Invented door locks and keys. They also developed glass making. The Celts invented lathe, fertilizer and liming of soils were used in agriculture.

The strongest influence of the Celts on the development of the tribes of the Podklesche culture occurred in the 2nd century. BC As a result, a new culture was created - Przeworskaya. It was named after the remains found near the city of Przeworsk in southeastern Poland. The culture spread and covered the areas of the middle reaches of the Oder and the upper reaches of the Vistula. The Przeworsk culture existed until the first half of the 5th century. AD Under the influence of the Celts, new types of weapons became widespread in the Przeworsk environment: double-bladed swords, spear tips with a wavy edge, and hemispherical umber shields.

Research last decades showed that the Slavic blacksmith craft of the 1st millennium AD. in its characteristics and technological culture it is closest to the metalworking production of the Celts and the provinces of the Roman Empire.

The area of ​​the Przeworsk culture is from the right bank of the Oder in the west to the headwaters of the Bug in the east. Western neighbors are Germans. The settlements are not fortified. The buildings are cumulus, unsystematic, which were common in the Slavic world and in subsequent times in Rus'. Sometimes they were built in rows along river banks. The buildings were above ground, pillared or semi-dugout. This culture had a two-field farming system. The Slavs sowed rye. The Germans adopted the cultivation of rye from them.

The Przeworsk culture in Polish scientific literature began to be called “Wendish”.

The Veneds are the largest tribe of European Sarmatia. According to Ptolemy (second half of the 2nd century AD), it is located in the Vistula region. From the south, Sarmatia was limited by the Carpathians and the northern shore of the Pontus (Black Sea). From the north – Venedsky Bay of the Sarmatian Ocean (Baltic Sea).

In the last third of the third century. BC the Celts developed the Zarubinets culture 2.3–1.7 thousand years ago (in the village of Zarubinets in the bend of the Dnieper). It covers Pripyat Polesie, the middle Dnieper region and adjacent lands of the upper Dnieper region.

P.N. Tretyakov draws attention to the presence of local Scythian and Milograd components in the Zarubinets antiquities. He considers the formation of Zarubinets culture as a synthesis of local Dnieper and alien Western elements. This culture is characterized by semi-dugout buildings, sank into the ground up to 1 meter. In the middle Dnieper region, above-ground dwellings were built with the floor lowered into the ground up to 30–50 centimeters. The walls were frame-wattle and covered with clay. All dwellings were square or rectangular in shape. Heating was carried out by open fireplaces. Most settlements consisted of 7–12 dwellings; large ones are also known - up to 80 residential buildings. The burial grounds were without burial mounds; cremation existed. Found were pottery, iron knives, sickles, scythes, chisels, chisels, drills, eyed needles, dart and arrow tips. The main occupation of the inhabitants was agriculture, and cattle breeding was also developed. In the southern regions of the middle Dnieper region, blacksmiths knew how to make steel; this skill came to them from the Scythians.

The Zarubinets culture in the Upper Dnieper region ended at the end of the 1st and beginning of the 2nd centuries. AD Part of the population near the middle Dnieper region at the beginning of the 3rd century. became part of the Kyiv culture. Most researchers consider the Zarubinets culture as early Slavic. This was first expressed by V.V. Khvoiko at the beginning of the twentieth century.

At the end of the 2nd century. in the Central Black Sea basin, through excavations of burial grounds, the Chernyakhov culture of the Slavs was discovered 1.8–1.5 thousand years ago (in the village of Chernyakhovo in the Kiev region). In the III–IV centuries. it spread from the lower Danube in the west to the northern Donets in the east. The tribes of this culture developed metalworking, pottery production and other crafts. The villages were located in 1, 2 or 3 rows along the coastline. Dwellings were built in the form of semi-dugouts with an area of ​​10–25 sq.m. Large dwellings of 40–50 sq.m. are known. Above-ground Chernyakhov dwellings were large - 30–40 sq.m. The walls were frame-and-post. In the southern part of the habitat, stone dwellings were built with wall thicknesses from 3.5 to 50 cm. The dwellings were surrounded by a rampart and a ditch. The basis of the economy is agriculture and animal husbandry. They sowed wheat, barley, millet, peas, flax, and hemp. The bread was harvested with sickles. Blacksmiths mastered the technology of processing iron and steel. They also made plows with iron tips. A calendar was found with marked Vedic holidays associated with agricultural rituals. The year was divided into 12 months of 30 days each.

The history of the Sarmatians begins from the 1st–8th centuries. BC The Sarmatians were allies of Mithridates, who fought with Rome. They destroyed Olbia. No chronological gap was found between the Sarmatian and Chernyakhov cultures. The bulk of the Sarmatian population belongs to the Chernyakhov culture.

In Volyn from the end of the 2nd century. AD lived tribes of the Wielbar culture. Its population included Slavs, Western Balts, Goths and Goth-Gepids.

Antami, known by historical works VI–VII centuries, was the name of a group of Slavs that formed under the conditions of Slavic-Iranian symbiosis, mainly in the Podolsk-Dnieper region of the Chernyakhov culture.

The early medieval Penkov culture (V-VII centuries), formed on the basis of the remains of the Chernyakhov culture, is identified with the Antes and spreads, according to Procopius of Caesarea, from the northern bank of the Danube to Sea of ​​Azov. It is known that in the 4th century. The Antes repelled the attack of the Goths, but after some time the Gothic king Venitarius defeated the Antes and executed their prince God with 70 elders.

The Chernyakhov culture ceased to exist after the invasion of the Huns.

All of the listed cultures were created by our ancestors, the superethnos from which all the peoples of Europe and a significant part of the peoples of Asia descended.

Celts are the name given to tribes of Indo-European origin in ancient times and at the turn of the era, who occupied vast areas in Western and Central Europe. They were a very warlike people, who in 390 BC. even captured and sacked Rome. But internecine wars weakened the warlike people. As a result, the Germans and Romans drove the Celts out of their lands. These tribes remained surrounded by numerous secrets, intrigues, and therefore myths. Let's try to understand who they really were.

The Celts lived in what is now Britain and Ireland. It is difficult to say anything definitive about the origins of the Celts. Some historians believe that they inhabited Britain as early as 3,200 years ago, while others believe that they inhabited Britain long before that. But one thing is clear - the migration of the Celts began around 400 BC. from Central Europe. The tribes began to spread in all directions, but to the south they had to face the strong Romans. It turned out that the warlike but disparate Celts were opposed by a single unified empire. The tribes constantly fought with each other, without thinking about uniting against a common enemy. As a result, some of the tribes were completely destroyed, others submitted to the Romans, adopting their culture, and others generally went to the remote corners of that world - to Ireland, Scotland and Wales. There are still communities of modern Celts there who even strive to preserve their culture. And in their travels, the Celts even reached Greece and Egypt.

The Celts fought naked. Whenever the Celts are mentioned, there is always someone who will mention their tradition of fighting naked with a gold band around their neck, a neck-crown. This myth about the Celts is one of the most popular. But once you think about such a statement, its absurdity immediately becomes clear. And this false statement appeared thanks to the Romans. Today, almost all the information we have about these ancient tribes comes from the records of Roman historians. There is no doubt that they exaggerated their exploits, and described the enemy as absolutely primitive savages. In this case, history was made by the victors; was it worth expecting honesty from it towards the vanquished? But there is another side to this story. The Celts lived during a period of history called the Iron Age. Then, instead of bronze, they just started using iron. It was used to make armor, weapons and tools. The Celts had the opportunity to arm themselves with swords, axes, hammers, create metal armor, chain mail, and rivet leather. Given the existence of armor, it would be foolish to assume that warriors abandoned them and fought naked.

Druids were ancient wizards. For that time, the Celtic Druids were truly powerful characters. They didn't just wear white clothes and do human sacrifice, but they did really incredible things. Druids acted as advisers to tribal leaders and even kings. With their help, laws were born, just as today the English Parliament “invites” the Queen to sign acts. Druids often acted as judges, ensuring compliance with the rules they themselves introduced. For the Celts, the Druids were the personification of wisdom. No wonder you had to study for 20 years to earn such a title. The Druids had knowledge in the field of astronomy, they preserved folk legends and cultivated natural philosophy. Celtic wise men told villagers when they should start sowing. The Druids even believed that they could predict the future.

Celtic traditions died with them. Thanks to the Celtic Druids, one interesting tradition which we still know today. The fact is that in those days the oak was considered a sacred tree. The Druids believed that the gods lived in everything that surrounds us, including rocks, water, and plants. No less sacred a thing than the oak tree was the mistletoe, which grew on it. Beliefs in the powers of these plants continue to this day. It is no coincidence that in the English-speaking world there is a Christmas tradition of kissing under the mistletoe.

Celtic women were sullen. Based on the assumption that the Celts were savages (thanks to the Romans!), it is logical to consider their women gloomy and downtrodden. But this is a myth. In fact, Celtic women could be quite powerful and influential, owning their own land and even divorcing at will. For those times, such freedoms seemed incredible. Roman women were essentially limited in their rights, but among the Celts, women could make a career by climbing the social ladder. High status could be either inherited or acquired through merit. Among the Celts, landowners followed their leader into battle. If it turned out to be a woman, then she too went into battle. In fact, among the Celts, female warriors even taught boys and girls the art of war. Women could even become druids, creating the laws of society. These norms protected everyone in the Celtic tribe, including the elderly, the sick and infirm, and children. It was believed that the latter were still innocent, and therefore they should be protected. But in Roman society, children were often abandoned, left to die hungry in garbage dumps. So the Celts were not savages at all, as the Romans would have us believe.

The Celts didn't build roads. It is difficult to argue with the fact that it was thanks to Roman engineers that a network of roads appeared that enveloped the whole of Europe. In fact, we cannot agree with this. After all, long before the Romans, the Celts built a whole network of wooden roads that connected neighboring tribes. These lines of communication allowed the Celts to trade with each other. It’s just that wooden roads turned out to be short-lived, there was practically nothing left of this material - it rotted. But today, in the marshes of France, England and Ireland, some wooden planks, parts of the road, are still found. Based on the fact that the Romans were never able to conquer Ireland, we can safely assume that the old planks were created by the Celts as part of the road surface. In the same Ireland there is the Corlea Trail, on which there are many parts of the old road. In some places it was even reconstructed so that you could see which way the Celtic tribes moved at one time.

The Celts had strange, but uniform helmets. Based on the fact that the Celts had metal armor, it is logical to assume the existence of helmets corresponding to it. They were often unusual - the Celts were not shy about experimenting with design. One such piece of equipment was found in the Romanian village of Cumesti, where these tribes also went. Here archaeologists found an old cemetery dating back to the Iron Age. Among the 34 graves there was one that belonged to a Celtic leader. He was buried along with numerous items, including bronze axes and rich armor. It was believed that they were supposed to help the deceased in the afterlife. But an unusual helmet stood out among all the vestments. On it an unknown master forged a large bird of prey, spreading her bronze wings. The design of this decoration looks unusual - the bird's wings were suspended on hinges, so when the owner of the helmet walked, the creature seemed to be flying. Historians believe that the fluttering helmet in battle was still rather impractical and the leader wore it only in special cases. But the helmet became one of the most famous and copied masterpieces of Celtic art. Even Asterisk and Obelix have something similar.

The Celts thought only about who to fight with. This people became famous not only for their travels, but also for their love of battles. However, the Celts fought on anyone’s side, but not for free. Even King Ptolemy II, a representative of the glorious Egyptian dynasty, took these warriors as mercenaries. And the European tribes turned out to be such good soldiers that the king was afraid that they might take over his country. Ptolemy therefore ordered the Celts to land on desert island in the Nile. The Greeks also met with the Celts. At that time, the tribes were just expanding their territories. Those events are known in history as the Gallic invasion of the Balkans. Its culmination was the Battle of Delphi, which ended in the defeat of the uninvited guests. The fact is that once again the scattered Celts were opposed by trained united armies. So in 270 BC. The Celts were expelled from Delphi.

The Celts cut off the heads of their enemies. This fact is almost the most famous about the Celts, but it is still true. Indeed, the tribes conducted a real headhunt. It was this part of the body of a defeated enemy that was considered the most coveted trophy for the Celts. The reason for this is religion, which asserts the existence of spirits in all things. Likewise, the human head was imagined as a place where the souls of defeated enemies live. The warrior who had such a collection was surrounded by honor. And the heads of enemies around gave the Celts self-confidence and a sense of importance. It was customary to decorate saddles and house doors with the severed heads of enemies. It was something of owning a collection of luxury luxury cars in modern world. Today people boast about a new stylish car, but back then they boasted about the head of a powerful, hostile leader appearing in their collection.

The Celts were a poor people. To debunk this myth, it’s worth diving into history a little. For the time being, the Celts and Romans coexisted peacefully next to each other. But then Julius Caesar appeared on the scene. His political career did not work out, and he was burdened with burdensome debts. It seemed obvious that a small, victorious war against the primitive barbarians, the Celts, could improve the situation. The Gallic Wars are often considered the most important military manifestation of the genius of Julius Caesar. Thanks to that campaign, the border of the empire began to expand rapidly. At the same time, Caesar defeated the Celtic tribes one after another and captured their territories. This victory changed the fate of that area, known in ancient world, like Gaul, with the Celtic tribes living on it. Caesar himself gained fame and influence. But why exactly did he attack Gaul? The Roman himself wrote that he tried to push back the barbarian tribes that threatened Rome. But historians see the reasons somewhat differently. One of these invading tribes were the Helvetii, who lived near the Alps. Caesar promised them protection when moving to Gaul. But then Rome changed its mind, and the barbarians decided to act on their own. Caesar stated that it was necessary to protect the Celts living in Gaul. As a result, the Romans exterminated more than a quarter of a million “invaders,” and in the process of defending their territories, almost all the Celts were destroyed. Gaul itself became part of a powerful empire. And this has a lot to do with wealth. Caesar needed money to pay off his debts and gain influence for his career. Not only did Gaul bring him fame as a commander, this territory was very rich in gold deposits. The Celts were known to have gold coins and jewelry, but these were thought to have been obtained through trade. But Caesar did not believe it. It turned out that there were more than four hundred gold mines on the territory of Gaul. This testified to the incredible wealth of the Celts, which was the reason for Caesar’s interest in them. Interestingly, Rome began minting its gold coins just after the conquest of Gaul.

The Celts were poorly educated. Once again, it is worth understanding that the Romans did their best to cast their rivals in the worst possible light. In fact, these people were not at all as simple-minded as they are imagined. Moreover, the Celts owned something that even the Romans did not have - accurate calendar. Yes, it existed Julian calendar, but the Celts had their own calendar from Coligny. It was found in this French city back in 1897, which gave its name to the discovery. Not only does it have an unusual appearance, but the calendar turned out to be made of mysterious metal plates with numerous marks: holes, numbers, lines, a set of Greek and Roman letters. For a hundred years, scientists could only understand that they were dealing with a calendar, but the principle of its operation remained a mystery. Only in 1989 was the invention of the Celts able to be deciphered. It turned out that the find was a solar-lunar calendar, which calculated the time of year based on the cycles of the appearance of celestial bodies. For that state of civilization, the calendar was very accurate, being an advanced invention. With its help, the Celts could predict where the sun would be in the sky in future months. This find clearly proved that the Celts had developed scientific and mathematical thinking. It would be interesting to compare the invention of the “barbarians” with the calendar used by the Romans. It was also considered quite accurate for its time, having an error with the actual solar calendar of only 11.5 minutes per year. But over centuries, this error quickly accumulates. As a result, in our time the Romans would celebrate the beginning of spring when it would be August in our yard. But the Celtic calendar, even today, would be able to correctly predict the time of year. So the Romans had a lot to learn from the “uneducated” barbarians.

This one is Celts mysterious people The ancient Greeks called them Gauls, and the Romans called them Gauls. Settling throughout the territories, they gave their names to the localities: Gaul in France, Galicia in Spain, Belgium, Bohemia, the cities of London and Lyon.

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There is no more vague concept for modern Europeans than the concept of "Celtic civilization", if they even suspect it. Therefore, the pressing question is the definition: who are the Celts? How, by what means, using what criteria, can they be identified? Here we are confronted with a very pressing problem that owes its origin exclusively to modernity: the concept of nationality. Should we consider as Celts those who were or wanted to be by virtue of their language and self-name inherited from the distant past, or those who are still them, although often did not want to be them?

Do the Helvetii, who have turned into Swiss and speak German or French, continue to remain Celts, and if so, then to the extent that they can be considered the Dublin Irish who speak Irish, or the Bretons from Upper Brittany who use Romance language for ten centuries now? The first, broad approach to this problem includes among the Celts almost all of Europe from Bavaria to Bohemia or from Belgium to Northern Italy; in the second, the vast majority of the Irish and Scots are English-speaking without much original features, and the Celts remained only in the remote areas of Kerry and Donegal.

French textbooks that mention “our ancestors of the Gauls” most often forget to specify who these Gauls were in relation to the other Celts, who are inevitably defined so generally that the definition borders on imprecision. The Romans called them Celtae, Galli, Celtici, but until the time of Caesar and Tacitus, that is, until the first century AD, the ancients confused them with the Germans, and, unfortunately, there are many French who, without blinking an eye, agree with this that the name Galli is derived from the Latin gallus, thus supporting the dubious pun "Gallic rooster". Even in the 20th century, the Gaelic language was easily attributed to the Gauls, and Welsh literature to the Bretons. We will keep silent about bad novels that describe adventures of Verkingetorix or Caesar about which history says absolutely nothing and which could hardly have taken place at all. Is it difficult to understand that the ethnonym Celts designates a set of ethnic groups, while other ethnonyms: Gauls, Welsh, Bretons, Galatians, Gaels - are used to designate different peoples? As for the term Gallo-Romans, it does not define any people other than the Gauls, who lost their linguistic, ethnic and religious characteristics over a period of time that is very difficult to evaluate and accurately define.

A simple semantic definition of the word Celtic, applied either to ethnic groups or to languages, has long been the work of specialists. Just think how small the elite is for whom this word has a certain value that does not depend on their personal feelings and preferences! In modern French it is almost impossible to maintain the correct distinction between the terms Celt (a noun defining an ethnicity) and Celtic (an adjective defining a linguistic and religious affiliation). “Celtic language” is a misnomer, while “Celtic woman” is a term possible only within the framework of feminism, of which we have not found the slightest trace in our written sources (see pp. 76-78). As for “celtitude”3, a dubious neologism, its suffix is ​​very reminiscent of “negritude” and the xenophobic contempt that is associated with this term.

Nevertheless, the Celts occupy a huge place in the history of ancient and medieval Europe: it can be said that they are the main characters in the protohistory of all of Western and Central Europe and belong to the number of peoples who most interested ancient historians. Such a statement may seem paradoxical in our era, when the Celts are reduced to small historical or linguistic communities in the far west of Europe. However, in Gaul before its conquest by Caesar, the Celtic settlement cannot be explained without taking into account neighboring countries- Spain, Great Britain, Northern Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, Central Europe and the Danube regions. Is the participation of the Britons, island and continental, in Merovingian politics, the role of Scotland in the politics of the English kings, the role of the Dukes of Brittany, the allies of Burgundy and the Holy Roman Empire at the end of the 15th century, always fairly assessed and recognized? Forgetting the role of the Celts is common place a European historiography unwilling to admit that these late Christianized “barbarians” saved classical culture from the night of Merovingian times, and which perceives post-medieval Celtic survivals as a false note of history.

Turning to the basic definitions, we see that the concept of “Gallia” as a geographical and “national” (in the modern sense of the word) unit is indeed very ancient. But what was it like as a “homeland” for the Gauls? We are not sure that Camille Julian, in his History of Gaul, gives us the correct answer. And what was the geographical extent of Gaul, recognized by the Celts themselves in ancient times? Between the concept of a single Gaul, reduced to its “natural boundaries,” and the multitude of heterogeneous linguistic and archaeological facts that fit within the same boundaries, there is a contradiction that sounds like a real alarm bell. From our point of view it is not always appropriate to identify a general term with its specific application, confining the Celts of the first century BC to the space limited by the Garonne and the Seine. As a brief illustration, we could say that in the debate about whether the bearers of the Hallstatt culture were or were not Celts between the 10th and 5th centuries. BC, makes no more sense than the question of whether Clovis was of French nationality at the beginning of the 6th century. Clovis was a Frenchman, since Gaul became France, but in his era they hardly thought about it, because the historical future is the unknown that you do not expect. The Celts spoke Celtic, but they never had a unified Celtic empire.

The Celtic Empire undoubtedly existed, but it was not a political, but a linguistic, religious and artistic community; Nor was it a historical formation, since only insignificant fragments have reached us from the events that accompanied its long existence, and at the same time this formation was very influential. We have sufficient proof of its legendary reality: the first of these proofs is the Celticum Ambigata, described by Titus Livius, who reports the founding of Milan (Mediolanum) in Cisalpine Gaul; Through this meeting of Celtic myth with Roman historian, the position of the Celts in relation to history begins to be determined.