@@metatronyt I just love the idea of the Romans landing on these islands, with the white cliffs and the haunted reputation, and facing armies from the long past, with chariots that were only mentioned in history books. what an image.
I would like to remind everyone to also consider: they thought it looked cool. Never underestimate the power of people liking how something looks as being the reason it exists.
I think every Elder Scrolls player can concur. We won't even see our characters that often but we often spend hours trying to pick out how our characters look lol
Did they have any connection with the Egyptians, they connected the color blue with the sky, the solar cycle, and rebirth. Druids were said by Caesar to have believed in reincarnation, and the Egyptians did too, everything they knew and experienced was part of a cycle, from the annual flood of the Nile River that nourished their land to the daily rising and setting of the sun. Even their own lives were a cycle, which moved from birth to death to rebirth.
@@patricklapointe4979 The Sumerian word "Ur-sag" means Warrior, in Sumerian, Ur means Dog, Sag means Head, meaning Dog-Head. Bau, Bau is the sound the dog makes, Goddess of War and Healing, mother of god of Rebirth, The Swine Star, head of the Dragon Draco, Damu "The Child", it means Blood, Brother and Relative, son of The Chief Ancestor Pabilsag, we call Sagittarius, husband to the Urgula, the Dog-Headed, Goddess Bau-Gula, The She Goat Star we call Vega. Urgula means both Lion and Great Dog. Taweret the Hippo/Lion/Crocodile goddess of Rebirth was seen as Draco, God Of Chaos was her husband, we know as Set, Thigh of the Ox Leg, the 7 stars of the Big Dipper. Sagittarius is known as the Hips(Hippo) and Thighs. Sagittarius stands at the Golden Gate of the Gods, Taweret is also known as Reret The Sow. Ur-bar-ra Ur-sag means "Wolf Warrior". The word 'bar' means Son, and Ra is the Sun, but in Irish "rá" means Saying, utterance and Lion means Net. Alla or Alla-gula the sukkal (attendant deity) of Ningishzida, the god of the underworld, was a dying god similar to Dumuzi and Damu. Alla-gula, "Alla the great," is also attested. Additionally, the god list An = Anum indicates that he could be referred to with the Sumerian epithet Lugal-sapar, "lord of the net." The net is well attested as a divine weapon. My name is Weylyn Lewallyn McCullough, their meaning in order "Son of the Wolf", "Like a Lion/Ruling", "Son of the Boar". Wyrd isn't it, but Cool, is was born under the star Alula, the paw at the end of Ursa Major's back leg, it means "First Born". McCullough's Irish meaning is "Son of the Hound of Ulster", the Hound of Ulster was Cú Chulainn.
The Britans being stuck in time is interesting, maybe the reason continental Celts sent their druids to Britain to study, as the religion would not have been so "diluted", having less exposure to other religions. Excellent video, whenever I visit an iron age hill fort, I often think how shocked the inhabitants must have been when the Romans let loose.
That's what I was thinking. It's also common for a culture that travels to a new area to be more insular and old fashioned. The same happens with languages as well. Likely proximity to the Mediterranean also influenced the Gauls earlier - by the time of Caesar they aren't all that different from the early Romans really and in terms of language and some aspects of culture there's a lot of crossover. There was mutual intelligibility between the Gauls and Romans for example. Moreso than either had with Germanic peoples.
Wtf r we talking about just cause ppl stayed and puppy guarded the old country doesn't mean much they apparently lost as much as the 1s that traveled off where ever then we can't even agree on any of that's lol 🙃😅
Glad Metatron pointed out that Gauls and other Celtic tribes didn’t always just charge in wildly. It certainly happened more often, that kind of charge. But they also had spearmen fighting in formation sometimes.
Celtic tribes adapted through time, he made it very clear in the video, but as far as discipline and drilling go, even later Gaulish mercenaries (mainly cavalry auxiliary) where considered undisciplined for Roman standard and would sometimes charge without orders.
Yea when the Gauls sack Rome invade Greece and serve Hannibal they’re essentially a superior equipped heavy infantry force that is useful for frontal charge. By Vercengetorix they don’t have the technological advantage anymore so they’re using the same type of infantry as Rome but inferior plus heavy cavalry like the Germanics but in fewer numbers because they’re fighting on their own land and need horses for agriculture. Vercengetorix goes scorched earth to reallocate resources but he only has a few flashes of tactical brilliance like a lucky cavalry charge at Gergovia.
Also, remember that the Romans that saw the warpaint first hand were trying their best not to die. When something reminds you of a stressful and terrifying time, you can't help but think of it as ghastly, terrifying and horrible.
As a Welshman I'm constantly trying to find history about my ancestors, and unfortunately they wrote nothing of themselves so it makes it difficult, but this video has done an amazing job of teaching many things I didn't know. Thank you!
"they didn't have writing" keep in mind, The Christian Church sought out and eradicated any an all traces of the previous "heathen" cultures they could find, and they had a lot of time to do it.
There are a number of poems and short pieces in old welsh. you can google it. it's usually not given a lot of credit, historically or by scholars, but neither were the Greenland chronicles until they found Norse settlements in Canada.
Some specimens of Poetry by the Ancient Welsh Bards Celtic bards were employed by their patrons as verse-makers and a mans pedigree was his land title so we have a wealth of written information about them.
Japan had rice cultivation and various iron working technologies from china, it also got guns ahead of china, in general it depends on the time. A more accurate representation was the Ainus
@@sarchlalaith8836 Yeah, that kind of what happens when the island next door keeps trying to invade you. But nowadays it's not a thing anymore, back in the middle ages "son of English" was an insult, but nowadays we find the English to be pretty cool if anything else. The only thing we'll bash the English on is their cuisine, but that's hardly something that comes up often. We tend to bash (often unjustly) Americans rather than English people, we respect the later much more than the former.
@@Knoloaify in fairness in the past the islands, and continent on two sides constantly invaded us... Likewise French was generally a word used to describe cowards, but that's not so common any more. I know, and that still happens even though English cheese beat French in France at good fares, that's a lingering thing from rationing in WW2, which still hasn't really let mutton back on the menu, sadly. Interestingly champaign is English, methodoise de champenoise 1664. British beef and lamb is considered the finest in the world, and rightly so, but we never stop getting s**t on for our food. Yeah much of this amnity is rooted in the recent past and ancient past, it really should stay there. Oh and, we definitely agree there, on both counts. Those dammed colonials ;)
In Ireland we didn't have a Roman or Anglo Saxon invasion, so the more ancient Celtic fighting style was still used into the Viking period. Even in the early Medieval period guerilla warfare was the preferred tactics of the Irish.
Ireland fought Rome in 3 wars, The Great Conspiracy 367-368 AD, Welsh insurrection in 391-393, and the Irish invasion and seizure of Western Briton in 401 AD. "ancient Celtic fighting style" probably not correct as the Irish used Weapons such as War hammers, Great Axes and even two handed swords in the late 300's which outclassed the Roman and Greece fighting systems since they relied on shield protection and metal armor designed against spears. Also a big reason why Roman lost so many Emperors in Britain and why is had such a large portion of the Western Roman Army and Navy
@@bmc7434 Can you provide a reference for information on these war hammers, great axes and two handed swords being used by the Irish, I would be very interested in reading more about it ? The Irish raided Roman Britain, traded with Romans and served as mercenaries for Rome in Britain. There was plenty of contact between the two groups. In fact Irish sword design was based more on the gladius and spatha because of this contact. However, Irish tactics called for lightly armed men and maneuverablity. Spears were the most common weapon and shields were small to aid speed and maneuverability. This remained so until the Vikings arrived with their heavier weapons.
@@Anaris10 how did you deduce that? Surely anyone familiar with the adventures of Asterix would also know those historical figures, as they're all mentioned in the books. Is that not the beauty of such works, that they present ideas to an audience, to give them at least a little knowledge which may then lead on to further enquiries? After all, we're all now watching Metatron!
Their woad warpaint may have covered their faces and bodies entirely, this blue would have given them a corpse like appearance, it would have looked like being attacked by an army of the dead and this maybe the explanation for Caeser describing them as horrible.
As Caesar said ' check out these Clowns ,they look like an explosion in a paint factory.....muppets ' of course it's much funnier in the original latin and loses someting in translation..
@@alicelund147 _Its because Julius Gaius Caesar had higher priorities in Gaul, but Paulinus and Agricola came later and kicked ass in Brittania and up north in Caledonia.
I grew up in lands once belonging to the Silures, and they gave the Romans no end of trouble back in the day. The land is well suited to ambushes and not so much for pitched battles. One can easily see why the legions had such difficulty subduing the Silures given their irregular tactics and use of the terrain, and probably explains why they became inclined to send auxiliaries in place of their heavier infantry when trying to stamp them out.
6:54 That pronunciation was actually pretty good for someone who doesn't speak German (but still very funny😂). It translates to "the stuff that yoghurt is made of"
I've been looking forward to a video like this one, as I am very fascinated by the Ancient Celts, particularly the Isular Celts (Britons, Gaels, and Picts).
@@DeReAntiqua I actually have been learning a lot from research I've done on my own time; I'm just saying that I've been looking forward to a Metatron video on the Celts as well.
@@matthewmuir8884 look up a channel name Survive The Jive he talks about a lot of Indo-European stuff (Celtics, Germanics, Italics, Slavics, Baltics, Greeks, And Anatolian & Tocharian History
@@ronjayrose9706 that guy is a germanophile you arent going to get alot of stuff about the celts outta him lol. He does have some interedting stuff on his channel about neolithic and bronze age britain tho.
@@edi9892 I've seen that reported a few times over the last year, but I don't like research that starts with a hypothesis and only seeks to corroborate that, disregarding anything else.
@@avd-wd9581 I remember reading of a study on this, they did a test with a tribe that still didn't have a word for blue, and they saw blue as another tint of green
The problem I have with the channel is that outside Welsh and Irish tales, the information is very basic. The guy doesn't know anything about archaeology, especially from the stuff discovered on the continent.
this video was definitely not long enough would love a podcast with you guys from the "sword" community all getting together and chatting about arms and armour from various periods
Love hearing about our ancient cultures, i often get jealous of the Maori's for still holding their Moko's in such high regard, face painted modern celtic nations would just look out of place now, which is a shame,
Hello Metatron, great video, as always! At 8:57 when you mention the description of Publius Ovidius one could also see this as indirect proof that the paint could've indeed been tattoos, particulary because he mentioned the colour green. This is a theory that I've come up due to conjecture on how the tattoos look in my country on some of the older people here. To put this in perspective, we've been a communist country and tattoos were frowned upon if not illegal and there were no specialised shops to produce them. What I have seen is that people that were young in those days and had tattoos done to them, in an underground or non-professional way have a green tinge to their tattoos now, in their older days, quite similar in colour to copper oxide, due to aging and sun exposure. When I asked about why that is they told me they changed colour from blue/dark blue/black as they've aged. Of course, I don't know what pigments were used and there is a two millenia difference between ancient times and modern day and without a doubt the invetion of artificial pigments and syntetic products could twart my theory. But taking into account the fact that the people who had them in the days of communism were tattooed in an underground fasion it wouldn't be far fetched to assume that they had plant based pigments used instead of synthetic products. It would also make sense since Caesar said that they were blue, since he saw them in battle and young people go to battle, thus the pigment wouldn't have had time to oxidise.
I must say, as a follower of Gallo-Roman custom (religion, ancestor worship, worldview, etc) this was a beautifully respectful introduction to Celtic history, simple but precise. It would be also interesting to discuss the relation between Romans and Celts at the times of the republic and before, both from the theory of a shared Italo-Celtic origin, the fact the Aedui called Romans "blood brothers", and the fact they had strong diplomatic ties and many famous Roman figures, like Cicero, being friends with Celtic magistrates (like Diviciacus). Also, Britons were highly steemed in large part due to their conservatism, closer to the "mos maiorum", which Optimates in Rome would have 100% sympathized with.
I remember my first video from you. „Knife fights beware of lies“. First I thought that you are a criminal who stab people. But I found out You are a very nice guy delivering interesting, unbiased information. Thank You and good luck!
Me, an Austrian by birth, do not understands, what you are up about. Because " Der Stoff aus dem Joghurt gemacht ist" translates to "The stuff,yoghurt is made of", or short "milk". What kind of curse is milk? Sorry for my bad english.
Can you do a video on the Celts of Hispania as well? They are criminally neglected and underappreciated when it comes to discussion and analysis of the Celts, despite being by far the group of Continental Celts who resisted the Romans for longest. Their warfare was incredibly diversified, different tribes used different tactics, weapons and armour, some like the Arevaci closer to the Gaulish close formation and phalanx combat, others like the Gallaeci more alike the Brittons using light weaponry and skirmish tactics. Even their use of cavalry is diverse, the Arevaci were described as having cavalry just as nimble as the famous Numidian one, but much sturdier, being the favoured shock cavalary used by the Carthaginians. On the other hand the Cantabrians were more famous for their lighter skirmisher cavalry, which pretty impressive considering they inhabited an incredibly mountainous and rugged place. They also greatly influenced their nearby people, with the Roman Gladius and the Iberoi Falcata being adaptations of the swords and sickle-swords these Celts used. While at that, can you also look up on the Atlantic Seaboard Theory for the origin of the Celts from the Atlantic Bronze Age, proposed ten years ago by Professor Sir Barry Cunliffe? With the advancements of archeology and genetics, there have been increasingly higher amounts of new evidence contradicting the centuries old dogma of the Central European thesis, and so far i have not seen any work refuting Sir Cunliffeit's work or even confirming the old thesis. It honestly feels like the innertia of questioning old beliefs is leading a lot of people simply sweeping the new propositions under the rug without actually engaging with them. If you don't have the time to read up on the Atlantic Theory, Can you at least acknowledge that the issue of the origin of the Celts is a disputed issue?
Yea Atlantic Bronze Age needs to be further popularized. It’s so obvious that all the Atlantic seaboard celts interact with Rome much different than their inland cousins. Generally they compromise with the Romans because I think they were far more mobile and mercantile
Metatron is still clinging to outdated theories that Hallstatt and La Tene were Celtic because Herodotus did not know where the Danube truly started. He is woefully uninformed and simply trusting popular sources instead of listening to the President of the International Congress for Celtic Studies, Dr. Patrick Sims-Williams in his paper "An Alternative to 'Celtic from the East' and 'Celtic from the West'" where the thoroughly refutes any notion that Celts were Central Europeans and connected to Hallstatt and La Tene. The people who called themselves Celts were Lusitanians (shocking, I know) and the Celtici tribes all around them, encompassing all of Iberia except for Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior. They had trading posts and settlements in southern and central France. That is it for the Celts.
Tattoos often have a religious/semi-religious meaning and often showed something of someone's identity. We don't know enough about exactly how the Celtic and Germanic peoples used this, there is a little more on the old Slavic peoples. There is a lot more tradition remaining in Africa and North America, but the Polynesians have the most sophisticated tattoo culture
There are a few records about the warriors of my Frisian ancestors wearing their hair in plumes on top of the head and then shaving and tattooing the sides with plant and animal motives. These are records from their enemies during the Frisian Freedom (roughly 995 to 1400, but ended at different times in different parts), so take with a pinch of salt. But it does fit with the pictures we have of Frisian crusaders. Can´t see the tattoos there, but the hair is consistent.
There were more celtic peoples, other than Gauls and Britons, so this was a look at two subcultures rather than a explanation of what a celtic warrior was. Still Good Video
That was excellent! I still remember my first exposure to the concept of The Celts from a 1978 book form school. On the cover was a chariot with a driver and a warrior, both Britons and in full regalia, spiked hair, tartan pants and with full war paint...broad swirls of woad...that image made a deep impact and even more so when I realized....these are my ancestors, my people! It's interesting that the Britons were a culture frozen in time....because, as you said, they were on an island and didn't have to worry about invasion.....until the Romans set their eyes on it's shores...
@@crusaderACR Read Patrick Sims-Williams's paper entitled "An Alternative to 'Celtic from the East' and 'Celtic from the West'". He is the current President of the International Congress of Celtic Studies. Long story short: The British, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Cornish, Bretons, were never called Celts historically. The same Greeks who lived among the Celts of Iberia and southern France also visited Britannia and Hibernia (Ireland) and they never identified the people there as Celts, even though they sometimes called even the Basques and Lusitanians Celts. The British, Irish, etc, only started calling themselves Celts with the Romanticism movement of the 18th century which had lasting influences in academia up until today. These Romanticist ideas were usually associated with Biblical origins - hence the idea that the British are Celts is inherently tied with British Israelism - as well as with Nordic people - hence the idea that the British are Celts is inherently tied with Nordicism. The now-known erroneous association between Celts and Hallstatt and La Tene came from only three facts, all of which have come to be refuted: (1) Herodotus was misread to have located the Celts "at the source of the Danube river" which is correctly in modern-day southern Germany, when instead he said the opposite, i.e. he was trying to locate not the Celts by referring to the river Danube, but instead he was trying to locate the source of the river Danube by referring to the Celts. In other words, he had the location of the Celts secure in his mind, and the location of the source of the Danube was the thing in question which he was guessing where it started. Hence why he says with certainty that the Celts were the [1] westernmost people, [2] living beyond (western of, from the perspective of Greek sailors) the Straits of Gibraltar, and [3] neighbors of the Cynetes (who lived in modern-day southern Portugal), hence locating the Celts with 3 separate references without needing the source of the river Danube to locate them, and locating the Celts in Lusitania where currently the highest number and density of individuals named Celti have been found in local inscriptions, where it appears over a hundred times and which appears nowhere else more than once, and which also shows the idea of who was a Celt was not based on what language they spoke, but on blood relations. Therefore, Herodotus was not locating the Celts in southern Germany, but instead he was incorrectly locating the source of the Danube river in the Pyrenees (he says "Pyrene" also incorrectly), "in the land of the Celts" which he just described to be Iberia with 3 other references as I explained above. (2) the "Celtic town of Nyrax" in one of the old Greek texts was incorrectly assumed to be the old town of Noreia in modern-day Austria. However, it turned out to be a town in Sardinia, again keeping with the theme of Celts being southwestern Europeans like southern French and western Iberians. In Sardinia there are many towns called Nura, Nora, Nurac, and Nurace. (3) the Celtic place names in southern Germany and Austria were thought to be among the oldest, thereby proving the origin of the Celts to be there; however, those place names turned out to actually be among the most recent, from a Roman-time eastern migration of southeastern French Gauls. Finally, the so-called Celtic languages were named incorrectly based on the now-known wrong conception that the modern-day Bretons are the direct descendants of the Gauls when in fact they are Medieval-Age British transplants from Britain. Indeed, the so-called Celtic languages were first called "Gallic languages" and if this had remained so, the British, Irish etc would have wrongly associated their identity with Gauls instead of wrongly associating it with Celts. As well, being a speaker of a language family does not make one that name of that language - for instance, being a Romance speaker does not make the Iberians or the Romanians "Romans". Just like speaking Latin did not make the Romans "the Latini" - instead, they knew they spoke the language of the tribe of the Latini, showing that language names came from people names, not the other way around. Hence, speaking a Celtic language cannot make the British, Irish etc "Celts" not only because Romance speakers are not "Romans", but because whatever language the Irish speak has to be called a word derived from the name of the Irish, hence "Irish" is also the name of their version of Gaelic, and should also be the name of their language family - something like Britanno-Hibernian would be fine. People name languages; languages do not name people. I tried my best to summarize why the name "Celts" does not belong in any way, shape or form to the British and Irish etc according to the latest research which I cited above and invited you to read.
This Blue or Green paint thing is interesting, as living in America, and growing up near Chicago, in "cook county", some highways are painted with "Orange" Lines, well the signage says "Orange lines" but in reality the paint is much closer to Yellow!
Thanks for creating this video! I'm going into Celtic Studies in University and any information like this I can gather is really helpful. I would love to see a second part to this video!
The Gallic tribe the Ueniti of Armorica and Celt-Iberian tribes were involved in Atlantic trade with Britons and the Irish for centuries before and even at the time of Caesar's invasion of Gaul. I'm certain the insular Celts must have been heavily influenced by these trade contacts. They were not in anyway isolated. I wonder why they did not learn more advanced fighting methods. Was it important to insular Celtic culture to be able to show individual prowess in battle ? Thank you for a great video!
The spiral symbol is found at pre-Celtic sites like Newgrange in Ireland. I've wondered for a long time what the significance was and if it was original to the pre-Celtic stone age people or if the site was modified by proto Celtic bronze or iron age people. Either way, the spiral seems to have some sort of religious significance possibly connected to an ancestor cult since it is found near tombs. Perhaps the body paint made the warriors feel connected with their ancestors, making them unafraid of death, similar to how the north men felt when they associated themselves with Odin.
There is no evidence of Celts using the spiral triskelion, that is found at Newgrange, to decorate themselves. It is a pre Celtic symbol that isnt found inscribed anywhere in Europe after 2000 BCE. The people that built Newgrange died out almost completely. Historians are unsure what caused this. But we know the Celtic people living in Ireland and Britain at this time, are not their descendants.
@@TheEggmaniac They are the descendants of Bronze Age beaker people, though, who did not build Newgrange and other sites but did use or re-use them, so it may have had some meaning to them too. I am not sure about the 'died out completely' either; we don't have enough samples yet. A Neolithic woman from northern Ireland seems to have matches with living people. The Neolithic y-chromosome, however, did seem to mostly vanish.
@@sonofherne The Beaker People didnt reach Ireland And Britain until around 2500 BCE. Thats at least 500 years after Newgrange was built. They were late reaching those parts, having been around in the rest of Western Europe for a while. We dont know who the people that built Newgrange were but geneticists have discovered that 90% of their population was replaced by these people from the continent. We dont know whether the Beaker People killed the inhabitants they found there, or if they died from disease or starvation caused by some natural event. How Celtic really is the Triskelion spiral design? It can be found on the Newgrange neolithic monument in Ireland. Dated to about 5000 years ago. It was carved about 2000 years before there were any Celts in Ireland. It was found in other parts of Europe about that time period too. Today its really just a Reconstructionist Neo Pagan symbol that was used to represent Celts from the 19th Century onwards. There is no evidence the ancient Celts used it.
7:30 This quote makes it sound like they dyed their skin blue, to look as if their skin colour were entirely blue and that would look pretty wicked in battle
This was great!! I loved the addition of reading the old latin and translating/paraphrasing it during the video where we can make the connections between the words they used and the modern significance of that particular word choice. Great video sir
They probably had loads of them sitting around and never adapted to go heavy cavalry like the Gauls did by the time of their service of Hannibal. Idk how they would’ve been effective against Roman infantry. They probably just served to inspire the common troops and communicate that it was a serious fight that the Britons were bringing out all their resources did.
Very nice and interesting take on the impact of Mediterranean cultures on Celtic warfare. I have read elsewhere about the impact of Mediterranean culture through trade on Celtic art and architecture, so it also makes sense that there was also and impact on military tactics. Perhaps in your next video on weapons, you could also discuss how this back and forth influenced the Romans, too. On a side note, I recommend Stephen Allen's "Lords of Battle: The World of the Celtic Warrior" for those interested in Celtic warrior culture.
Absolutely loved this video. Keeping an eye out for more content about continental celts. Would love to hear in particular about the celts and proto-celts from Iberia (Hispania).
A lot of Roman armor and weaponry came from Celts. Their Gaulish helmets, the Celtic oval shield, the maille that came from Celts. The short-swords from Iberian Celts, and the spatha from long bladed Celtic and Germanic swords.
accorduing to roman writers, the Lorica Hamat, the roman mail armour was also derived from the celts and the forhorned sattle was certainly adopted from the celts
I know, but I couldn’t recall the Latin term for it. Also aware of the four pommeled saddles being Celtic. Heard that one from Lindybeige of all people.
Watched the general's wife's episode, and now watching the general's video. A perfect balance of brilliance. Also, thank you so much for using Bc as your abbreviation. I know it has nothing to do with religion for you, but it really means a lot to me, and I respect you even more for it. I'm really looking forward to your next Celtic video(s), as they're my favorite group in history, and one of the few groups I've read hours and hous worth of long-winded historian articles on
Most germans speak ,Zäsar/ Cäsar' , but ,Kaiser' is true. In history lesson another pupil said ,Käsar', most pupils laughed, but the teacher said Kaiser comes from Caesar, so this Käsar is not wrong. Attention: A Käser is a cheesemaker
First I must commend you on the tasteful and on topic way of promoting your girlfriend! The video itself was very interestin as well, the continental celts using a phalanx was something I've never thought about before. And the Britons being time-locked was absolutely fascinating! Thanks for a great video! Now I'm off to watch a makeup video.
Recently some geneticists have advanced the theory that rather than the Celts surging forth and replacing the indigenous people of the British Isles, a relatively small ruling class was superimposed upon the natives. Over time, the culture and language became Celtic while the original Celts became British. It's not unlikely that something similar happened in various parts of the continent as well. If true, then it's not surprising that the various Celts shared a language and culture but didn't consider themselves the same people.
Yeah, when a people conquer another people, the original inhabitants don't disappear. We see it when the Romans conquer a place, when the Germanic Tribes conquered places, etc. The Ruling Class, Official Culture, Religion, and Laws may change, but the Ruled People are still there.
Geneticists advancing a theory about languages? Not really their field. Actually it is much simpler, they linked the changes observed in the genetic pool of British population during the transition to the Bronze Age to the indo-european theory. But beyond that, the origin of the Celtic languages is still mysterious.
It's funny that if you mistranslate the first latin bit it means "They poluted themselves with woad which turned them blue and made them horrible in battle". Now being blue in Germans means being drunk af which is actually fitting since the Germans also make liquor from woad roots. So it could be "they painted themselves blue and were fierce warriors" or "They got completely knackered on woad liquor which made them horrible fighters".
Considering the Brits love for both drink and a scrap when it suits them it could still be either translation, or "they got drunk on woad beer and that made them fierce fighters" after all drink does numb pain perception and make people more willing to take greater risks.
When you mentioned the two possible colors referring to the one account usage of the word “green”, it reminded me of your video debunking the ancient Greeks not being able to see blue and the categorization of certain colors in certain color groups.
As someone from the U.K. (England) Iv always found the relationship between the Romans and our ancestors interesting. 400 years of being under Roman Rule and as soon as they leave we went back to being tribes and petty kingdoms ruled by Roman influenced British warlords.
@@arx3516 For the most part the tribal chiefs and kings become romanised, city’s were also hubs for Roman culture and trade, but apart from that Roman culture did not reach the majority of Britons who lived in the countryside.
To make a parallel to the end of the 16th-20th century empires of Europe and their collapse if Dacia and Iberia became a full on settler colony like Australia and New Zealand where native languages go extinct, Gaul became South Africa or Algeria with large colonist populations and use of the colonial language even after the troops leave then Britannia was like the Congo or the Northwest Territory on the Afghan border. very light colonial influence outside limited settlements and forts and traditions come back hard the minute the colonial troops leave.
An excellent analysis, I come from a near-unbroken chain of generations of men and sometimes boys who have made it their profession to trade in blood and misery, hailing from lands whose people are glorified and famous for the same, and the shadow it has cast over my genetics has accompanied me throughout my life as both a source of great strength and weakness. When you don the crusaders' armour or the predators' pelts, when you tie the trinkets and baubles to your clothing, when you wash and purify yourself, when you chant, paint, imbibe or yell, it is all just a ritual to cast aside aspects of your self that will become a burden to you in battle, and to convene with or summon those aspects of yourself that will become your power, and allow them to possess you entirely - you can't go to war as Dave the family man, but you can definitely go to war with fury, rage, hyper-focus, hunger, as a wolf or a lion, as your ancestors, as a god. Unfortunately, it's also true that you can commit unspeakable acts of evil with/as all of those aformentioned things.
Appreciation your pronunciation. I flinched whenever I was at a conference back in the 90s when speakers were saying Seltic and Sithian instead of Keltic and Skythan.
@@ronjayrose9706 yeah in german it is scythisch pronounced skytish. One of my buddies from eastern europe pronounced it skyphan. No Siths anywhere but in the english world that I am aware of. Like Kerberos the spotted dog not Serberos. English speakers love getting this wrong for some reason.
As a British Celt, I was taught that the paint and patterns represent the different gods in order to invoke their protection, strength or wisdom in battle.
@@jboss1073 I’m going to guess you’re going to say something like “the Celts were a tribe that lived in Gaul / north of Greece, they were never in Britain” Is that right?
@@Inquisitor_Vex Not even close. There was no tribe called Celts in Gaul that we can attest to directly, only indirectly via Strabo, the Keltai (whom he says are the tribes after whom all of the Keltoi were generally called by the Greeks). However, people who called themselves Celts did exist during the Iron Age, numbering close to one million total. Now tell me how the British were ever Celts.
its believed that at most 500 Celts migrated to Britain during Late antiquity period. Given the Gaulic items found in a lake in Wales which pre-date the migration its believed that the similarities in culture and such come from trade and other interaction between the Brythonic peoples and the peoples of Ireland and Northern France. Interestingly enough neither the Britons nor the Romans referred to them as Celts, the claim of Britons (or at the very least the Welsh(Cymru)) being Celtic to my knowledge first came from a Historian in the 18th century when he was exploring the similarities between the Welsh and Bretons ofcourse Brittany came about when the Britons (Welsh, Cornish, Bretons etc) migrated West during the Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain "Welsh" itself is a term that comes from the Anglo word "Welh" which meant "Foreigner/stranger" its a term that they used to label all Brythonic people (sometimes it was used to refer to a slave of Brythonic origin) There has always been a connection between the Brythonic peoples though, during the Glyndwr uprising Brythonic people from all over Britain and Brittany travelled to Wales to join in.
The term "Celtic" is a label used to describe the language and culture that existed in Britain and Ireland. Welsh is a Celtic language and is related to other P Celtic languages.
@@seanhiatt6736 No that is the modern term of Celtic used within the last 300 years. And in my opinion they should have chosen a different word for it since its easy to confuse "Celtic culture" with the actual self proclaimed Celts of Southern Gaul (As noted by Caeser).
Horrible and Horrifying used to be synonymous. Same went for Terrible and Terrifying. The former of each changed over time to be used when referring to quality, so a distinction needed to be made. A similar thing happened with the word Awful. Before it described something that exuded awe, now it means something that is of poor quality, malignant or otherwise bad in some way.
I have always loved Roman history and, I love your show. Caesar said the Guals considered the Romans short and week from his commentaries on the gallic wars. But of course you are right.
Very interesting; for a long time I have believed that the Celts fought primarily without armor and in stereotypical barbarian fashion, war paint included. I am curious to learn that my previous conception is incorrect, thank you for enlightening me.
How's the 6 chumps that dislike this video. A free, in-depth and accurate history lesson brought to you with clear and precise delivery. Without ego or condescension. Yeah that sounds about right.... SMH
fascinating!
Hey sir knight! Great to have you here :)
@@metatronyt I just love the idea of the Romans landing on these islands, with the white cliffs and the haunted reputation, and facing armies from the long past, with chariots that were only mentioned in history books. what an image.
I agree. Ive been studying the Gauls for some time and learned a few new things! Thank you Metatron.
@@ModernKnight For the Romans, it might have felt like stepping into a time warp.
Hey bro, why did Germanics conquer Celts? Why not vice versa?
I would like to remind everyone to also consider: they thought it looked cool. Never underestimate the power of people liking how something looks as being the reason it exists.
This is important for all warriors. Past and present.
I think every Elder Scrolls player can concur. We won't even see our characters that often but we often spend hours trying to pick out how our characters look lol
That explains why so many people have stupid tattoos.
Did they have any connection with the Egyptians, they connected the color blue with the sky, the solar cycle, and rebirth. Druids were said by Caesar to have believed in reincarnation, and the Egyptians did too, everything they knew and experienced was part of a cycle, from the annual flood of the Nile River that nourished their land to the daily rising and setting of the sun. Even their own lives were a cycle, which moved from birth to death to rebirth.
@@patricklapointe4979 The Sumerian word "Ur-sag" means Warrior, in Sumerian, Ur means Dog, Sag means Head, meaning Dog-Head. Bau, Bau is the sound the dog makes, Goddess of War and Healing, mother of god of Rebirth, The Swine Star, head of the Dragon Draco, Damu "The Child", it means Blood, Brother and Relative, son of The Chief Ancestor Pabilsag, we call Sagittarius, husband to the Urgula, the Dog-Headed, Goddess Bau-Gula, The She Goat Star we call Vega. Urgula means both Lion and Great Dog.
Taweret the Hippo/Lion/Crocodile goddess of Rebirth was seen as Draco, God Of Chaos was her husband, we know as Set, Thigh of the Ox Leg, the 7 stars of the Big Dipper. Sagittarius is known as the Hips(Hippo) and Thighs. Sagittarius stands at the Golden Gate of the Gods, Taweret is also known as Reret The Sow.
Ur-bar-ra Ur-sag means "Wolf Warrior". The word 'bar' means Son, and Ra is the Sun, but in Irish "rá" means Saying, utterance and Lion means Net. Alla or Alla-gula the sukkal (attendant deity) of Ningishzida, the god of the underworld, was a dying god similar to Dumuzi and Damu. Alla-gula, "Alla the great," is also attested. Additionally, the god list An = Anum indicates that he could be referred to with the Sumerian epithet Lugal-sapar, "lord of the net." The net is well attested as a divine weapon.
My name is Weylyn Lewallyn McCullough, their meaning in order "Son of the Wolf", "Like a Lion/Ruling", "Son of the Boar". Wyrd isn't it, but Cool, is was born under the star Alula, the paw at the end of Ursa Major's back leg, it means "First Born". McCullough's Irish meaning is "Son of the Hound of Ulster", the Hound of Ulster was Cú Chulainn.
We need to buy Metatron some scrolls to use as props when he needs to consult the sources.
The Britans being stuck in time is interesting, maybe the reason continental Celts sent their druids to Britain to study, as the religion would not have been so "diluted", having less exposure to other religions. Excellent video, whenever I visit an iron age hill fort, I often think how shocked the inhabitants must have been when the Romans let loose.
That's what I was thinking. It's also common for a culture that travels to a new area to be more insular and old fashioned. The same happens with languages as well. Likely proximity to the Mediterranean also influenced the Gauls earlier - by the time of Caesar they aren't all that different from the early Romans really and in terms of language and some aspects of culture there's a lot of crossover. There was mutual intelligibility between the Gauls and Romans for example. Moreso than either had with Germanic peoples.
Probably. I mean, that would make sense. 🤔
Britain wasn’t insulted, there was a lot of trade and contact between Gaul (and Belgae) and Britain and then Rome and Britain.
Wtf r we talking about just cause ppl stayed and puppy guarded the old country doesn't mean much they apparently lost as much as the 1s that traveled off where ever then we can't even agree on any of that's lol 🙃😅
Glad Metatron pointed out that Gauls and other Celtic tribes didn’t always just charge in wildly. It certainly happened more often, that kind of charge. But they also had spearmen fighting in formation sometimes.
Celtic tribes adapted through time, he made it very clear in the video, but as far as discipline and drilling go, even later Gaulish mercenaries (mainly cavalry auxiliary) where considered undisciplined for Roman standard and would sometimes charge without orders.
Yea when the Gauls sack Rome invade Greece and serve Hannibal they’re essentially a superior equipped heavy infantry force that is useful for frontal charge. By Vercengetorix they don’t have the technological advantage anymore so they’re using the same type of infantry as Rome but inferior plus heavy cavalry like the Germanics but in fewer numbers because they’re fighting on their own land and need horses for agriculture. Vercengetorix goes scorched earth to reallocate resources but he only has a few flashes of tactical brilliance like a lucky cavalry charge at Gergovia.
"the Gauls sent their droids to Britannia" wow it's amazing how much technology we lost in the dark ages lol
Roger roger
Yes, I knew I wasn't the only one that heard 'droids'.
... were Caesar's legions Clones then? They wre pretty uniform after all.....
Roman: Titus, send in the legio Cybernetica
@@kettlehead8994 *ENGAAAGE THE LINKAGE OMNISSIIIIIAH*
I clearly heard "druid", but your comment made me imagine the game Kenshi in real life
Also, remember that the Romans that saw the warpaint first hand were trying their best not to die. When something reminds you of a stressful and terrifying time, you can't help but think of it as ghastly, terrifying and horrible.
As a Welshman I'm constantly trying to find history about my ancestors, and unfortunately they wrote nothing of themselves so it makes it difficult, but this video has done an amazing job of teaching many things I didn't know. Thank you!
Read fairy tales about gnomes and other stunted fantasy creatures if you want a more detailed history of the welsh
"they didn't have writing"
keep in mind, The Christian Church sought out and eradicated any an all traces of the previous "heathen" cultures they could find, and they had a lot of time to do it.
There are a number of poems and short pieces in old welsh. you can google it. it's usually not given a lot of credit, historically or by scholars, but neither were the Greenland chronicles until they found Norse settlements in Canada.
BTW, my mom's maiden name is Wakefield. i'm welsh too...:)
Some specimens of Poetry by the Ancient Welsh Bards Celtic bards were employed by their
patrons as verse-makers and a mans pedigree was his land title so we have a wealth of written
information about them.
6:56 it means (quite literally translated) "the stuff of wich yogurt is made of". 😂 salve!✋
I conveniently got an ad for Icelandic yoghurt (skyr) on this video 😂
Just call him milk! XD
I mean. There's worse things to compare yourself too...
So his username is milk🤣🤣🤣
It’s pretty interesting how Celtic Britain was kind of like the isolated Japan.
Knock knock, it's the Imperium Romanum.
@@majora4prez543 ooooof
@@majora4prez543 1800 years later: knock knock its the british empire, you get imperialized 😎😎
Japan had rice cultivation and various iron working technologies from china, it also got guns ahead of china, in general it depends on the time. A more accurate representation was the Ainus
@@yonathanrakau1783 C Rose was probably referring to the Tokugawa Shogunate's Sakoku.
"The Britons were thought highly by the Gauls." Oh how things have changed!
We still do, it's the Britons who don't think highly of the Gauls.
@@Knoloaify Oh come on, you guys have spat on us for centuries.
@@sarchlalaith8836 Yeah, that kind of what happens when the island next door keeps trying to invade you. But nowadays it's not a thing anymore, back in the middle ages "son of English" was an insult, but nowadays we find the English to be pretty cool if anything else. The only thing we'll bash the English on is their cuisine, but that's hardly something that comes up often.
We tend to bash (often unjustly) Americans rather than English people, we respect the later much more than the former.
@@Knoloaify in fairness in the past the islands, and continent on two sides constantly invaded us...
Likewise French was generally a word used to describe cowards, but that's not so common any more.
I know, and that still happens even though English cheese beat French in France at good fares, that's a lingering thing from rationing in WW2, which still hasn't really let mutton back on the menu, sadly. Interestingly champaign is English, methodoise de champenoise 1664.
British beef and lamb is considered the finest in the world, and rightly so, but we never stop getting s**t on for our food.
Yeah much of this amnity is rooted in the recent past and ancient past, it really should stay there.
Oh and, we definitely agree there, on both counts. Those dammed colonials ;)
@@Knoloaify Is there even such a thing as English/British cuisine? Isn't that an oxymoron, like military intelligence?
In Ireland we didn't have a Roman or Anglo Saxon invasion, so the more ancient Celtic fighting style was still used into the Viking period. Even in the early Medieval period guerilla warfare was the preferred tactics of the Irish.
Ireland fought Rome in 3 wars, The Great Conspiracy 367-368 AD, Welsh insurrection in 391-393, and the Irish invasion and seizure of Western Briton in 401 AD. "ancient Celtic fighting style" probably not correct as the Irish used Weapons such as War hammers, Great Axes and even two handed swords in the late 300's which outclassed the Roman and Greece fighting systems since they relied on shield protection and metal armor designed against spears. Also a big reason why Roman lost so many Emperors in Britain and why is had such a large portion of the Western Roman Army and Navy
@@bmc7434 Can you provide a reference for information on these war hammers, great axes and two handed swords being used by the Irish, I would be very interested in reading more about it ?
The Irish raided Roman Britain, traded with Romans and served as mercenaries for Rome in Britain. There was plenty of contact between the two groups. In fact Irish sword design was based more on the gladius and spatha because of this contact. However, Irish tactics called for lightly armed men and maneuverablity. Spears were the most common weapon and shields were small to aid speed and maneuverability. This remained so until the Vikings arrived with their heavier weapons.
Guerilla Warfare was still used up until 100 years ago during the Irish War of Independence albeit with firearms and not swords and bows
Did the use War Chariots until the Viking Age?
@@alicelund147 As far as I'm aware there's no evidence that chariots were ever used in Ireland, the landscape was not suitable.
Yeah! Please, would be cool if you tell more about the Celtic people
Yep, bring on the rest, Raff!
When I think of the Gauls, I just picture Asterix and Obelix.
Same
You mean Getafix's side-kicks?
Apparently I'm the only here who already knew about Vercingetorix, Boudicca and Caradoc. Sad.
@@Anaris10 how did you deduce that?
Surely anyone familiar with the adventures of Asterix would also know those historical figures, as they're all mentioned in the books.
Is that not the beauty of such works, that they present ideas to an audience, to give them at least a little knowledge which may then lead on to further enquiries?
After all, we're all now watching Metatron!
Me, I think of Crixus ..the undefeated Gaul.
Their woad warpaint may have covered their faces and bodies entirely, this blue would have given them a corpse like appearance, it would have looked like being attacked by an army of the dead and this maybe the explanation for Caeser describing them as horrible.
That sounds more like the Germanic cult who attacked the Romans at night while painted completely black
So that's the original corpsepaint LOL
As Caesar said ' check out these Clowns ,they look like an explosion in a paint factory.....muppets ' of course it's much funnier in the original latin and loses someting in translation..
But he gave up trying to defeat them.
@@alicelund147 _Its because Julius Gaius Caesar had higher priorities in Gaul, but Paulinus and Agricola came later and kicked ass in Brittania and up north in Caledonia.
"Freakin danger smurfs"
I grew up in lands once belonging to the Silures, and they gave the Romans no end of trouble back in the day. The land is well suited to ambushes and not so much for pitched battles. One can easily see why the legions had such difficulty subduing the Silures given their irregular tactics and use of the terrain, and probably explains why they became inclined to send auxiliaries in place of their heavier infantry when trying to stamp them out.
6:54 That pronunciation was actually pretty good for someone who doesn't speak German (but still very funny😂). It translates to "the stuff that yoghurt is made of"
This is how history should have been taught at our school. Not just dates, names, places, done! Cheers, mate!
I've been looking forward to a video like this one, as I am very fascinated by the Ancient Celts, particularly the Isular Celts (Britons, Gaels, and Picts).
@@DeReAntiqua I actually have been learning a lot from research I've done on my own time; I'm just saying that I've been looking forward to a Metatron video on the Celts as well.
@@matthewmuir8884 look up a channel name Survive The Jive he talks about a lot of Indo-European stuff (Celtics, Germanics, Italics, Slavics, Baltics, Greeks, And Anatolian & Tocharian History
@@ronjayrose9706 that guy is a germanophile you arent going to get alot of stuff about the celts outta him lol. He does have some interedting stuff on his channel about neolithic and bronze age britain tho.
@@ronjayrose9706 Today I learned that the Tocharians existed!
The Insular peoples were never called Celts.
We aren't the notification squad. We're the Noblest Ones.
Damn, I must be a fucking peasant then
Regarding the "blue" vs "green" color in tattoos. A lot of cheap/bad blue inks turn green/gray with time.
Oddly enough many languages didn't start with a word for blue but said green or grey instead...
@@edi9892
I've seen that reported a few times over the last year, but I don't like research that starts with a hypothesis and only seeks to corroborate that, disregarding anything else.
@@avd-wd9581 I remember reading of a study on this, they did a test with a tribe that still didn't have a word for blue, and they saw blue as another tint of green
Some languages such as ancient Egyptian do not have separate words for "green" and "blue" - the same word is used for both colors.
@@jasonrabdale
Just the first five search results for "Egyptian language colors" prove you wrong.
For anyone interested in the Celts, I'd recommend a channel named 'Fortress of Lugh'
I second that, it's a quality channel!
The problem I have with the channel is that outside Welsh and Irish tales, the information is very basic. The guy doesn't know anything about archaeology, especially from the stuff discovered on the continent.
He also does Norse and Greek mythology too
this video was definitely not long enough would love a podcast with you guys from the "sword" community all getting together and chatting about arms and armour from various periods
Love hearing about our ancient cultures, i often get jealous of the Maori's for still holding their Moko's in such high regard, face painted modern celtic nations would just look out of place now, which is a shame,
I think it’s the proliferation of cheesy fantasy Celtic tattoos you see often
Hello Metatron, great video, as always!
At 8:57 when you mention the description of Publius Ovidius one could also see this as indirect proof that the paint could've indeed been tattoos, particulary because he mentioned the colour green. This is a theory that I've come up due to conjecture on how the tattoos look in my country on some of the older people here. To put this in perspective, we've been a communist country and tattoos were frowned upon if not illegal and there were no specialised shops to produce them. What I have seen is that people that were young in those days and had tattoos done to them, in an underground or non-professional way have a green tinge to their tattoos now, in their older days, quite similar in colour to copper oxide, due to aging and sun exposure. When I asked about why that is they told me they changed colour from blue/dark blue/black as they've aged. Of course, I don't know what pigments were used and there is a two millenia difference between ancient times and modern day and without a doubt the invetion of artificial pigments and syntetic products could twart my theory. But taking into account the fact that the people who had them in the days of communism were tattooed in an underground fasion it wouldn't be far fetched to assume that they had plant based pigments used instead of synthetic products. It would also make sense since Caesar said that they were blue, since he saw them in battle and young people go to battle, thus the pigment wouldn't have had time to oxidise.
I must say, as a follower of Gallo-Roman custom (religion, ancestor worship, worldview, etc) this was a beautifully respectful introduction to Celtic history, simple but precise. It would be also interesting to discuss the relation between Romans and Celts at the times of the republic and before, both from the theory of a shared Italo-Celtic origin, the fact the Aedui called Romans "blood brothers", and the fact they had strong diplomatic ties and many famous Roman figures, like Cicero, being friends with Celtic magistrates (like Diviciacus).
Also, Britons were highly steemed in large part due to their conservatism, closer to the "mos maiorum", which Optimates in Rome would have 100% sympathized with.
The Gauls just drank a magic potion and kicked everyone's asses :D
Wow... i was waiting for a video about this! Being half italian/ half irish is cool
Ayyy its joe rogan
Hear, hear! Half Italian/half Irish here!
@@anta3612 yeah
I remember my first video from you. „Knife fights beware of lies“. First I thought that you are a criminal who stab people. But I found out You are a very nice guy delivering interesting, unbiased information. Thank You and good luck!
It's so satisfying to hear you speak words they were meant to be (I assume) spoken
Very informative, extremely interesting! Thank you very much.
Greets, T.
Great vid as always! People don't mention enough how the celts undoubtedly had the best moustaches in ancient Europe ;o
This is a really great video. It's good to hear the Celtic peoples discussed in considerably more depth than we usually get about them.
*I'm blue, da ba dee da ba daa*
no.
Top comment
Your name, and the fact that you tell us you're blue leads to this question: Are you a Smurf?
The colour of freedom
Funnily enough the Scots seem to love getting pissed and playing this 😂
6:52
Me, not a German but understands a bit of Deutsch: Are you challenging me (into a battle of cursed channel names)?
Me, an Austrian by birth, do not understands, what you are up about. Because " Der Stoff aus dem Joghurt gemacht ist" translates to "The stuff,yoghurt is made of", or short "milk".
What kind of curse is milk?
Sorry for my bad english.
@@bernhardfriedrich2847 a very mild insignificant one compared to your Eyeball(s) getting some Papercut(s)
Thanks. As a highlander, it's really nice too see the history of our relatives spoken about
I love these programmes. Ancient history and archaeology of Greece and Rome is so very interesting.
Can you do a video on the Celts of Hispania as well? They are criminally neglected and underappreciated when it comes to discussion and analysis of the Celts, despite being by far the group of Continental Celts who resisted the Romans for longest.
Their warfare was incredibly diversified, different tribes used different tactics, weapons and armour, some like the Arevaci closer to the Gaulish close formation and phalanx combat, others like the Gallaeci more alike the Brittons using light weaponry and skirmish tactics.
Even their use of cavalry is diverse, the Arevaci were described as having cavalry just as nimble as the famous Numidian one, but much sturdier, being the favoured shock cavalary used by the Carthaginians.
On the other hand the Cantabrians were more famous for their lighter skirmisher cavalry, which pretty impressive considering they inhabited an incredibly mountainous and rugged place.
They also greatly influenced their nearby people, with the Roman Gladius and the Iberoi Falcata being adaptations of the swords and sickle-swords these Celts used.
While at that, can you also look up on the Atlantic Seaboard Theory for the origin of the Celts from the Atlantic Bronze Age, proposed ten years ago by Professor Sir Barry Cunliffe?
With the advancements of archeology and genetics, there have been increasingly higher amounts of new evidence contradicting the centuries old dogma of the Central European thesis, and so far i have not seen any work refuting Sir Cunliffeit's work or even confirming the old thesis.
It honestly feels like the innertia of questioning old beliefs is leading a lot of people simply sweeping the new propositions under the rug without actually engaging with them.
If you don't have the time to read up on the Atlantic Theory, Can you at least acknowledge that the issue of the origin of the Celts is a disputed issue?
Yea Atlantic Bronze Age needs to be further popularized. It’s so obvious that all the Atlantic seaboard celts interact with Rome much different than their inland cousins. Generally they compromise with the Romans because I think they were far more mobile and mercantile
Metatron is still clinging to outdated theories that Hallstatt and La Tene were Celtic because Herodotus did not know where the Danube truly started. He is woefully uninformed and simply trusting popular sources instead of listening to the President of the International Congress for Celtic Studies, Dr. Patrick Sims-Williams in his paper "An Alternative to 'Celtic from the East' and 'Celtic from the West'" where the thoroughly refutes any notion that Celts were Central Europeans and connected to Hallstatt and La Tene.
The people who called themselves Celts were Lusitanians (shocking, I know) and the Celtici tribes all around them, encompassing all of Iberia except for Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior. They had trading posts and settlements in southern and central France. That is it for the Celts.
Fascinating video. Would love to see more on this topic in another video as well. There is a lot to talk about.
Tattoos often have a religious/semi-religious meaning and often showed something of someone's identity.
We don't know enough about exactly how the Celtic and Germanic peoples used this, there is a little more on the old Slavic peoples. There is a lot more tradition remaining in Africa and North America, but the Polynesians have the most sophisticated tattoo culture
The Iron Age Scythians received a new tattoo for each enemy kill, so the tattoo was a record and a sign of status within the tribe.
@@caitryan8262 Horseangel gangster
There are a few records about the warriors of my Frisian ancestors wearing their hair in plumes on top of the head and then shaving and tattooing the sides with plant and animal motives. These are records from their enemies during the Frisian Freedom (roughly 995 to 1400, but ended at different times in different parts), so take with a pinch of salt. But it does fit with the pictures we have of Frisian crusaders. Can´t see the tattoos there, but the hair is consistent.
Otzi, the prehistoric Iceman who was found between the borders of Austria and Italy, had tattoos.
Nothing nicer than to see a couple who share their hobbies and find ways to bridge those that they do not share. I will check out her video.
There were more celtic peoples, other than Gauls and Britons, so this was a look at two subcultures rather than a explanation of what a celtic warrior was.
Still Good Video
Such as the Galatians who invaded/inhabited what is now modern day Turkey and were spoken of in the bible
Yup, the Gaelleci, the Celtiberians, the Hallstatt, and many many more
Love that you read the sources both in the original Latin and then the translation.
That was excellent! I still remember my first exposure to the concept of The Celts from a 1978 book form school. On the cover was a chariot with a driver and a warrior, both Britons and in full regalia, spiked hair, tartan pants and with full war paint...broad swirls of woad...that image made a deep impact and even more so when I realized....these are my ancestors, my people! It's interesting that the Britons were a culture frozen in time....because, as you said, they were on an island and didn't have to worry about invasion.....until the Romans set their eyes on it's shores...
The information on this video is completely outdated.
@@jboss1073 What's the more updated info?
@@crusaderACR Read Patrick Sims-Williams's paper entitled "An Alternative to 'Celtic from the East' and 'Celtic from the West'".
He is the current President of the International Congress of Celtic Studies.
Long story short: The British, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Cornish, Bretons, were never called Celts historically. The same Greeks who lived among the Celts of Iberia and southern France also visited Britannia and Hibernia (Ireland) and they never identified the people there as Celts, even though they sometimes called even the Basques and Lusitanians Celts.
The British, Irish, etc, only started calling themselves Celts with the Romanticism movement of the 18th century which had lasting influences in academia up until today. These Romanticist ideas were usually associated with Biblical origins - hence the idea that the British are Celts is inherently tied with British Israelism - as well as with Nordic people - hence the idea that the British are Celts is inherently tied with Nordicism.
The now-known erroneous association between Celts and Hallstatt and La Tene came from only three facts, all of which have come to be refuted:
(1) Herodotus was misread to have located the Celts "at the source of the Danube river" which is correctly in modern-day southern Germany, when instead he said the opposite, i.e. he was trying to locate not the Celts by referring to the river Danube, but instead he was trying to locate the source of the river Danube by referring to the Celts. In other words, he had the location of the Celts secure in his mind, and the location of the source of the Danube was the thing in question which he was guessing where it started. Hence why he says with certainty that the Celts were the [1] westernmost people, [2] living beyond (western of, from the perspective of Greek sailors) the Straits of Gibraltar, and [3] neighbors of the Cynetes (who lived in modern-day southern Portugal), hence locating the Celts with 3 separate references without needing the source of the river Danube to locate them, and locating the Celts in Lusitania where currently the highest number and density of individuals named Celti have been found in local inscriptions, where it appears over a hundred times and which appears nowhere else more than once, and which also shows the idea of who was a Celt was not based on what language they spoke, but on blood relations. Therefore, Herodotus was not locating the Celts in southern Germany, but instead he was incorrectly locating the source of the Danube river in the Pyrenees (he says "Pyrene" also incorrectly), "in the land of the Celts" which he just described to be Iberia with 3 other references as I explained above.
(2) the "Celtic town of Nyrax" in one of the old Greek texts was incorrectly assumed to be the old town of Noreia in modern-day Austria. However, it turned out to be a town in Sardinia, again keeping with the theme of Celts being southwestern Europeans like southern French and western Iberians. In Sardinia there are many towns called Nura, Nora, Nurac, and Nurace.
(3) the Celtic place names in southern Germany and Austria were thought to be among the oldest, thereby proving the origin of the Celts to be there; however, those place names turned out to actually be among the most recent, from a Roman-time eastern migration of southeastern French Gauls.
Finally, the so-called Celtic languages were named incorrectly based on the now-known wrong conception that the modern-day Bretons are the direct descendants of the Gauls when in fact they are Medieval-Age British transplants from Britain. Indeed, the so-called Celtic languages were first called "Gallic languages" and if this had remained so, the British, Irish etc would have wrongly associated their identity with Gauls instead of wrongly associating it with Celts. As well, being a speaker of a language family does not make one that name of that language - for instance, being a Romance speaker does not make the Iberians or the Romanians "Romans". Just like speaking Latin did not make the Romans "the Latini" - instead, they knew they spoke the language of the tribe of the Latini, showing that language names came from people names, not the other way around. Hence, speaking a Celtic language cannot make the British, Irish etc "Celts" not only because Romance speakers are not "Romans", but because whatever language the Irish speak has to be called a word derived from the name of the Irish, hence "Irish" is also the name of their version of Gaelic, and should also be the name of their language family - something like Britanno-Hibernian would be fine. People name languages; languages do not name people.
I tried my best to summarize why the name "Celts" does not belong in any way, shape or form to the British and Irish etc according to the latest research which I cited above and invited you to read.
This Blue or Green paint thing is interesting, as living in America, and growing up near Chicago, in "cook county", some highways are painted with "Orange" Lines, well the signage says "Orange lines" but in reality the paint is much closer to Yellow!
Dent on that helmet looks like a nice decoration.
I think that was courtesy of Cad Bane 😃
Very interesting, thanks. Love learning about Celts, specifically from Britain.
charcoal soot tattoos turn blue after a years or so.. i have 3
Thanks for creating this video! I'm going into Celtic Studies in University and any information like this I can gather is really helpful. I would love to see a second part to this video!
The Gallic tribe the Ueniti of Armorica and Celt-Iberian tribes were involved in Atlantic trade with Britons and the Irish for centuries before and even at the time of Caesar's invasion of Gaul. I'm certain the insular Celts must have been heavily influenced by these trade contacts. They were not in anyway isolated. I wonder why they did not learn more advanced fighting methods. Was it important to insular Celtic culture to be able to show individual prowess in battle ? Thank you for a great video!
This is an interesting vide Raph. By the way I really enjoy watch Game Knight with you, Shad, and the guys. The Metitron has spread its wings.
The spiral symbol is found at pre-Celtic sites like Newgrange in Ireland. I've wondered for a long time what the significance was and if it was original to the pre-Celtic stone age people or if the site was modified by proto Celtic bronze or iron age people. Either way, the spiral seems to have some sort of religious significance possibly connected to an ancestor cult since it is found near tombs. Perhaps the body paint made the warriors feel connected with their ancestors, making them unafraid of death, similar to how the north men felt when they associated themselves with Odin.
There is no evidence of Celts using the spiral triskelion, that is found at Newgrange, to decorate themselves. It is a pre Celtic symbol that isnt found inscribed anywhere in Europe after 2000 BCE. The people that built Newgrange died out almost completely. Historians are unsure what caused this. But we know the Celtic people living in Ireland and Britain at this time, are not their descendants.
@@TheEggmaniac They are the descendants of Bronze Age beaker people, though, who did not build Newgrange and other sites but did use or re-use them, so it may have had some meaning to them too. I am not sure about the 'died out completely' either; we don't have enough samples yet. A Neolithic woman from northern Ireland seems to have matches with living people. The Neolithic y-chromosome, however, did seem to mostly vanish.
@@sonofherne The Beaker People didnt reach Ireland And Britain until around 2500 BCE. Thats at least 500 years after Newgrange was built. They were late reaching those parts, having been around in the rest of Western Europe for a while. We dont know who the people that built Newgrange were but geneticists have discovered that 90% of their population was replaced by these people from the continent. We dont know whether the Beaker People killed the inhabitants they found there, or if they died from disease or starvation caused by some natural event.
How Celtic really is the Triskelion spiral design? It can be found on the Newgrange neolithic monument in Ireland. Dated to about 5000 years ago. It was carved about 2000 years before there were any Celts in Ireland. It was found in other parts of Europe about that time period too. Today its really just a Reconstructionist Neo Pagan symbol that was used to represent Celts from the 19th Century onwards. There is no evidence the ancient Celts used it.
Yes!! Please more videos on the Celts, Insular and Continental!!! Thank you
7:30 This quote makes it sound like they dyed their skin blue, to look as if their skin colour were entirely blue and that would look pretty wicked in battle
Leliana's song in the intro was a real gem.
Beyond that, awesome video as usual
That mail shirt is so damn beautiful ❤ is that the same lorica hamata that you just took off the shoulder flaps?
This was great!! I loved the addition of reading the old latin and translating/paraphrasing it during the video where we can make the connections between the words they used and the modern significance of that particular word choice. Great video sir
I was wondering for a long time why the Britains was still using chariots when they face the Romans
Thank you for all the informations.
They probably had loads of them sitting around and never adapted to go heavy cavalry like the Gauls did by the time of their service of Hannibal. Idk how they would’ve been effective against Roman infantry. They probably just served to inspire the common troops and communicate that it was a serious fight that the Britons were bringing out all their resources did.
@@voiceofreason2674The chariots where still effective.
YOU ARE ONE HELL OF A OUTSTANDING
HISTORY TEACHER
6:50 “The stuff yoghurt is made from”. Aka milk.
Great video, and thank you for linking Evropantiqva I just added it. Can't wait to gather more knowledge.
Woad actually has some medicinal properties. Wether this was one of the reasons it was used as warpaint I don't know.
Very nice and interesting take on the impact of Mediterranean cultures on Celtic warfare. I have read elsewhere about the impact of Mediterranean culture through trade on Celtic art and architecture, so it also makes sense that there was also and impact on military tactics. Perhaps in your next video on weapons, you could also discuss how this back and forth influenced the Romans, too. On a side note, I recommend Stephen Allen's "Lords of Battle: The World of the Celtic Warrior" for those interested in Celtic warrior culture.
Damn I just realized how much I miss the Knights Templar intro ಥ‿ಥ
Absolutely loved this video. Keeping an eye out for more content about continental celts. Would love to hear in particular about the celts and proto-celts from Iberia (Hispania).
I miss those High Elves in the Background and I think there was some Bretonnians too🙃
Riveting .... as always, thx Metatron!! Huge thumbs up from Alba ;-)
As someone of heavy Celtic ancestry (insular celts specifically) I'm glad to see a video about this
I thank you for talking about the celts They are one important part of history and culture that gets forgotten a lot .
The Celts made Europe.
@@samuelkohi4415 agreed
A lot of Roman armor and weaponry came from Celts. Their Gaulish helmets, the Celtic oval shield, the maille that came from Celts. The short-swords from Iberian Celts, and the spatha from long bladed Celtic and Germanic swords.
You here haha
Sir, I’m everywhere. Except for all the places where I’m not.
accorduing to roman writers, the Lorica Hamat, the roman mail armour was also derived from the celts and the forhorned sattle was certainly adopted from the celts
I know, but I couldn’t recall the Latin term for it. Also aware of the four pommeled saddles being Celtic. Heard that one from Lindybeige of all people.
You're the best man. Simply put your videos are amazing!!
Thank you, I'm glad you like them
Watched the general's wife's episode, and now watching the general's video. A perfect balance of brilliance.
Also, thank you so much for using Bc as your abbreviation. I know it has nothing to do with religion for you, but it really means a lot to me, and I respect you even more for it.
I'm really looking forward to your next Celtic video(s), as they're my favorite group in history, and one of the few groups I've read hours and hous worth of long-winded historian articles on
I love information about celts and all that epoch. Please continue.
Thanks, i allwas thought the "german" word Kaiser has the same meaning as Caesar but i dind not know is hat the same pronounce in old latin.
Same with the Russian Tzar. CaeSAR. I think..
RUclipsr PolyMathy has a great video on Classical vs Eclessiastical pronunciation of Latin.
Most germans speak ,Zäsar/ Cäsar' , but ,Kaiser' is true. In history lesson another pupil said ,Käsar', most pupils laughed, but the teacher said Kaiser comes from Caesar, so this Käsar is not wrong. Attention: A Käser is a cheesemaker
@@brittakriep2938 "Blessed are the cheesemakers" sounds less appealing now.
@@cnut7383 the title tsar originated in Bulgaria though not in Russia.
First I must commend you on the tasteful and on topic way of promoting your girlfriend!
The video itself was very interestin as well, the continental celts using a phalanx was something I've never thought about before.
And the Britons being time-locked was absolutely fascinating!
Thanks for a great video!
Now I'm off to watch a makeup video.
Recently some geneticists have advanced the theory that rather than the Celts surging forth and replacing the indigenous people of the British Isles, a relatively small ruling class was superimposed upon the natives. Over time, the culture and language became Celtic while the original Celts became British. It's not unlikely that something similar happened in various parts of the continent as well. If true, then it's not surprising that the various Celts shared a language and culture but didn't consider themselves the same people.
Yeah, when a people conquer another people, the original inhabitants don't disappear. We see it when the Romans conquer a place, when the Germanic Tribes conquered places, etc. The Ruling Class, Official Culture, Religion, and Laws may change, but the Ruled People are still there.
Geneticists advancing a theory about languages? Not really their field. Actually it is much simpler, they linked the changes observed in the genetic pool of British population during the transition to the Bronze Age to the indo-european theory. But beyond that, the origin of the Celtic languages is still mysterious.
Love the presentation with ur replicas
It's funny that if you mistranslate the first latin bit it means "They poluted themselves with woad which turned them blue and made them horrible in battle". Now being blue in Germans means being drunk af which is actually fitting since the Germans also make liquor from woad roots. So it could be "they painted themselves blue and were fierce warriors" or "They got completely knackered on woad liquor which made them horrible fighters".
Considering the Brits love for both drink and a scrap when it suits them it could still be either translation, or "they got drunk on woad beer and that made them fierce fighters" after all drink does numb pain perception and make people more willing to take greater risks.
Remember the blue paint was really only found in Britain celts not continental celts.
When you mentioned the two possible colors referring to the one account usage of the word “green”, it reminded me of your video debunking the ancient Greeks not being able to see blue and the categorization of certain colors in certain color groups.
As someone from the U.K. (England) Iv always found the relationship between the Romans and our ancestors interesting. 400 years of being under Roman Rule and as soon as they leave we went back to being tribes and petty kingdoms ruled by Roman influenced British warlords.
probably there never were enough roman colonists to make a significant impact on the population.
@@arx3516 For the most part the tribal chiefs and kings become romanised, city’s were also hubs for Roman culture and trade, but apart from that Roman culture did not reach the majority of Britons who lived in the countryside.
To make a parallel to the end of the 16th-20th century empires of Europe and their collapse if Dacia and Iberia became a full on settler colony like Australia and New Zealand where native languages go extinct, Gaul became South Africa or Algeria with large colonist populations and use of the colonial language even after the troops leave then Britannia was like the Congo or the Northwest Territory on the Afghan border. very light colonial influence outside limited settlements and forts and traditions come back hard the minute the colonial troops leave.
An excellent analysis, I come from a near-unbroken chain of generations of men and sometimes boys who have made it their profession to trade in blood and misery, hailing from lands whose people are glorified and famous for the same, and the shadow it has cast over my genetics has accompanied me throughout my life as both a source of great strength and weakness. When you don the crusaders' armour or the predators' pelts, when you tie the trinkets and baubles to your clothing, when you wash and purify yourself, when you chant, paint, imbibe or yell, it is all just a ritual to cast aside aspects of your self that will become a burden to you in battle, and to convene with or summon those aspects of yourself that will become your power, and allow them to possess you entirely - you can't go to war as Dave the family man, but you can definitely go to war with fury, rage, hyper-focus, hunger, as a wolf or a lion, as your ancestors, as a god. Unfortunately, it's also true that you can commit unspeakable acts of evil with/as all of those aformentioned things.
1:30 "and we have the celtic britons who were based"
Appreciation your pronunciation. I flinched whenever I was at a conference back in the 90s when speakers were saying Seltic and Sithian instead of Keltic and Skythan.
Wait that's how you pronounce Scythian???
@@ronjayrose9706 yeah in german it is scythisch pronounced skytish. One of my buddies from eastern europe pronounced it skyphan. No Siths anywhere but in the english world that I am aware of. Like Kerberos the spotted dog not Serberos. English speakers love getting this wrong for some reason.
god i love latin! wish it was still a more widespread spoken language
I'm preparing a full video about Roman Armour in Latin.
Awesome video. Probably one of the best videos talking about celtic warfare.
As a British Celt, I was taught that the paint and patterns represent the different gods in order to invoke their protection, strength or wisdom in battle.
The British were never Celts.
@@jboss1073 😴 pull the other one.
@@Inquisitor_Vex Tell me how they were Celts, then.
@@jboss1073 I’m going to guess you’re going to say something like “the Celts were a tribe that lived in Gaul / north of Greece, they were never in Britain”
Is that right?
@@Inquisitor_Vex Not even close. There was no tribe called Celts in Gaul that we can attest to directly, only indirectly via Strabo, the Keltai (whom he says are the tribes after whom all of the Keltoi were generally called by the Greeks).
However, people who called themselves Celts did exist during the Iron Age, numbering close to one million total.
Now tell me how the British were ever Celts.
Awesome work, sir. I appreciate your use of the primary sources.
As a person with %1 of celtic (gaulish) blood I approve this video.
Very interesting. Keep up the good work.
its believed that at most 500 Celts migrated to Britain during Late antiquity period. Given the Gaulic items found in a lake in Wales which pre-date the migration its believed that the similarities in culture and such come from trade and other interaction between the Brythonic peoples and the peoples of Ireland and Northern France.
Interestingly enough neither the Britons nor the Romans referred to them as Celts, the claim of Britons (or at the very least the Welsh(Cymru)) being Celtic to my knowledge first came from a Historian in the 18th century when he was exploring the similarities between the Welsh and Bretons ofcourse Brittany came about when the Britons (Welsh, Cornish, Bretons etc) migrated West during the Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain "Welsh" itself is a term that comes from the Anglo word "Welh" which meant "Foreigner/stranger" its a term that they used to label all Brythonic people (sometimes it was used to refer to a slave of Brythonic origin)
There has always been a connection between the Brythonic peoples though, during the Glyndwr uprising Brythonic people from all over Britain and Brittany travelled to Wales to join in.
The term "Celtic" is a label used to describe the language and culture that existed in Britain and Ireland. Welsh is a Celtic language and is related to other P Celtic languages.
@@seanhiatt6736 No that is the modern term of Celtic used within the last 300 years. And in my opinion they should have chosen a different word for it since its easy to confuse "Celtic culture" with the actual self proclaimed Celts of Southern Gaul (As noted by Caeser).
An excellent presentation. Very informative.
Surely they don't look "horrible in battle", but "look horrifying in battle"?
Idk, dude, i mean, they did get conquered..
Horrible and Horrifying used to be synonymous. Same went for Terrible and Terrifying. The former of each changed over time to be used when referring to quality, so a distinction needed to be made.
A similar thing happened with the word Awful. Before it described something that exuded awe, now it means something that is of poor quality, malignant or otherwise bad in some way.
I have always loved Roman history and, I love your show. Caesar said the Guals considered the Romans short and week from his commentaries on the gallic wars. But of course you are right.
Finally someone that pronounces "guerrilla" correctly
_Gorilla Warfare_
@@MK_ULTRA420 A A AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
@@MK_ULTRA420 return to monke, use gorilla warfare
@@BeetleBuns But gorillas are apes
@@MK_ULTRA420 memes don't care about semantics.
As always, another excellent video.
I love your reading of Latin texts when providing your sources.
Thank you for your work.
"Let's find out" - Varg
Based
Can you exist outside your own brain, or are you your brain?
Very interesting; for a long time I have believed that the Celts fought primarily without armor and in stereotypical barbarian fashion, war paint included. I am curious to learn that my previous conception is incorrect, thank you for enlightening me.
Making this must've taken gall.
How's the 6 chumps that dislike this video.
A free, in-depth and accurate history lesson brought to you with clear and precise delivery. Without ego or condescension. Yeah that sounds about right.... SMH