31
votes
How likely is it that any non-Celtic language was spoken in the British Isles when the Romans invaded?
The answer appears to be "We don't know." We're sure that there were spoken languages in the British Isles before the arrival of the Celtic languages, because the archaeology tells us that ...
- 31.4k
24
votes
Accepted
Do we have any surviving texts by Romano-Celtic authors?
Since I have a good memory, I remembered and/or looked up a few names of Roman citizens who lived in Gaul or Britain or came from Gaul or Britain to other parts of the empire, and who wrote. These ...
- 19.1k
24
votes
Was there significant interbreeding between Romans and Native Britons?
The answer to your question is actually to be found in the two articles you have mentioned.
Official figures show that the UK population was 65.6 million in June 2016. A little under 50% of the ...
- 77.3k
19
votes
Why were Germanic languages able to spread over much of northern Europe after 500BC? Did they mostly replace Celtic?
I'm seeing two different questions to address in here: What happened to the Celts, and Where did all these Germanics come from?
What happened to the Celts? They got culturally absorbed by the Romans.
...
- 118k
19
votes
Accepted
Was Celtic society promiscuous?
The perception that the Celts were promiscuous seems to be based on, at least in part, ancient writers’ interpretations of marital relationships and / or a superficial knowledge of Celtic customs and ...
- 108k
18
votes
Do we have any surviving texts by Romano-Celtic authors?
There is a certain Rutilius Namatianus who lived in the early 5th century Gaul. I do not know how much Celtic ancestry he had.
He admired Rome and considered his family part of its "sacred Genius", ...
- 4,364
17
votes
Accepted
In the biography of Turing by Hodges an ancient Celtic tradition is mentioned of killing the last to arrive
It's a well known fact (or legend), told by Julius Caesar in his Commentaries on the Gallic War (Original title, "De Bello Gallico") Chapter 5-56:
quo lege communi omnes puberes armati convenire ...
- 1,914
16
votes
Was there significant interbreeding between Romans and Native Britons?
From both a narrative (general history) and scientific (genetics), the answer is No (there was not a lot of interbreeding).
(We get more precise as we go from narrative history to genetics, as shown ...
- 6,313
16
votes
Accepted
How much did the culture of Anatolian Gallic settlers differ from their kin in Gaul?
Those Galatians, or tribes in Anatolia of Celtic origin, sometimes even Gallic origin, were part of the south-eastern migration of Celts. This migration might also be called an invasion of the Balkans ...
- 80.8k
15
votes
Accepted
Did iron age Britons still use the "ritual" sites built by their neolithic predecessors?
That is a really good question. The truth is that evidence for any sort of "cultural continuity" is scant.
One word of caution though. I generally hesitate to use the word "ritual" in an ...
- 77.3k
12
votes
Is there any evidence that Celts produced chain mail?
There is extensive documentary and archeological evidence for Celtic chain mail; one Classical writer (Varro) even specifically named the Celts as the inventors of chain mail.
You can take a look at ...
- 2,203
12
votes
Accepted
What would a Roman education include in the years 77 - 85?
Among the best primary sources for this are Institutio Oratoria by Quintilian (c.35 to c.100 BC) and Dialogus de oratoribus, usually attributed to Tacitus (c.56 to c.100). Both of these are cited ...
- 108k
11
votes
Were/are the Gaels, Picts and Britons physically distinct?
This area has evolved much in the past few decades of research. You are asking 'ethnicity' not race (there are only 3, possibly 4, 'races' of humans on the world. I should include as an edit that ...
- 2,722
11
votes
Accepted
Was there a tax on being fat in Gaul?
I think you're remembering a comment in Strabo's Geography, Book 4, Chapter 4, where he quotes Ephorus saying:
Ephorus, in his account, makes Celtica so excessive in its size that
he assigns to ...
10
votes
Did Celtic druids teach in Greece?
I don't know of any source that discusses Druids coming to Greece to teach and learn, however, there certainly were plenty of opportunities for Greek and Celtic teachers to interact. For example, the ...
8
votes
Were/are the Gaels, Picts and Britons physically distinct?
Note: I read the question this morning, then wrote my answer tonight. Somehow I came to think it included language and culture. It's now a bit of TMI, but I'm going to let it hang out there for a ...
- 3,340
7
votes
Accepted
Is there any historicity to the concept of Ghost Fences / Walls?
'Ghost walls' is a concept that is used in archaeology. But maybe not just so fanciful as in these historical fiction books:
Meanwhile, trial trenches at the north end of the adjacent long and ...
- 80.8k
7
votes
When did the round house fall out of vernacular use throughout Britain and Ireland?
The names and dates of these archaeological periods can be contested, but as a preliminary, we are concerned here with the:
Nordic Bronze Age (c. 1700 BCE - c. 500 BCE)
Pre-Roman Iron Age (c. 500 BCE ...
- 27.6k
6
votes
What age were these Britons in A.D. 43?
This is a community wiki. Feel free to add and / or improve on this answer.
As Semaphore noted in his comment, "the information simply isn't there for a lot of cases" but here are some estimates or '...
6
votes
Caesar's comments on Celts(?)
I think you're recalling a passage from Diodorus Siculus' The Library of History, Book V:
31 1 The Gauls are terrifying in aspect and their voices are deep and altogether harsh; when they meet ...
5
votes
Group term for the Celts around the Alps?
The Romans typically referred to them as Gauls, and the Roman name for the area of northern Italy they held was "Gallia Cisalpina" (or "Cisalpine Gaul" in modern English. The part of Gaul on "this ...
- 118k
5
votes
Do we have any surviving texts by Romano-Celtic authors?
There are surviving excerpts and an epitome (summary) of the Gallo-Roman historian Gnaeus Pompeius Trogus who was active during the 1st century BC. He was of the Celtic Vocontii tribe in Gallia ...
- 108k
5
votes
Accepted
Significance of division of Caledonia by Northumbrian Advance
Yes, that's roughly what he's saying. It is very difficult, if not impossible, to run a unified country, or even a unified armed resistance, between two entities separated by hostile territory.
Here'...
- 118k
5
votes
Are the English Celts?
An Ancestry study has this to say (slightly reformatted for readability):
This is according to new analysis of the genetic history of two
million people worldwide by Ancestry, the leader in ...
- 38.7k
4
votes
Were the Tuatha De Danann really from India?
The Irish (Gaelic) culture and Vedic culture are generally understood to have a common origin in the Proto-Indo-European culture. Gaelic and Sanskrit are both Indo-European languages. Some linguists ...
- 4,082
4
votes
Was there significant interbreeding between Romans and Native Britons?
1 million isn't "a lot", it's only a few percent of the male population of the British Isles. But that's not the worst that's wrong with your assertions.
Not only do you assume implicitly that no ...
- 11.3k
4
votes
Was there significant interbreeding between Romans and Native Britons?
Your question seems to answer itself.
As in yes, per your first source they have interbred to the tune of the UK having 1M or so people with Roman ancestors. Romans intermixed of course - they did so ...
- 23.2k
3
votes
Major power shift in Gaul circa 350 B.C
No, I don't think you're making this up except I'm slightly confused because the period does not match.
Is it Ambigatus, the first King of Bituriges?
He is placed within early La-Tene culture, (6th ...
- 6,313
3
votes
Why were Germanic languages able to spread over much of northern Europe after 500BC? Did they mostly replace Celtic?
A recurring theme of European history is the "drift" south--toward warmer climes. For instance, "Norsemen" left Norway and ended in Normandy, Swedes migrated to the south shore of the Baltic; Poles ...
- 104k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible