CELTS

Critical Summary of Celtic Identity

Critical Summary of Celtic Identity

Introduction

In a broad sense, Celts is the term used by linguists and historians to describe the people, or set of peoples of the Iron Age who spoke Celtic languages belonging to a branch of the Indo-European languages (Ellis, 2003, pp. 119-145). In this sense, the term is, therefore, no ethnic or archaeological, for many of the peoples who spoke Celtic languages, if the Goidels of Ireland, were never part of the cultural currents materials Hallstatt.

However, there is a narrower concept of the term, referred to this case the so-called historical Celts. Celts shared a material culture began in the first Iron Age (1200 - 400 BC.) around the Alps (period Hallstatt) and later in the late iron, and so called by the Greek and Roman geographers. In this group are assigned the continental Celtic Gaul, northern Italy, Germany and Bohemia, the Celts of Iberia, the Galatians of Anatolia, eastern and central Romania and now with greater reluctance by the British and Irish historians insular Celts.Authors

Inclined to belligerence, quirky and brave, the ancient Celts were fearsome reputation. For five hundred years, they dominated the lands north of the Alps, before practically absorbed by the Roman Empire. Celtic culture survived and experienced a tremendous flourishing in the post-Roman at the dawn of the Christian era. Today, the Celtic influence, can be found in art, legends, topography and even languages.

In this generously illustrated introduction to the world of the Celts, Simon James portrays their way of life from agriculture to the celebrations, through their wars, their gods and their superb craft skills in the manipulation of metal, wood and stone. It also highlights issues traditionally obvious as the Celtic life under the power of Rome, especially in Gaul and Britain, and Irish traditions that remain from the year 400 AD when the Celtic revival led to heroic stories, masterpieces of enamelled metalwork and illuminated manuscripts renewed. This is a fresh and imaginative witness an inventive and influential people (James, 2005, 125-140).

Muddled mythologies apart, the beginning of a serious interest in folk music reflected in the number of “Scottish” compositions by composers such as Haydn, Beethoven, and Mendelssohn also point to the re-creation of the Scottish Celts as a symbol of the new Europe of “the age of the democratic revolution.” Within Britain, the rediscovery of this mythical Celtic past coincided with the destruction of the Scottish highlands after the 1745 ...