The primary sources of information about the Celts are, in that light, the texts written by the Romans who were in touch with them and Christian monks, who lived in Irish monasteries in the Middle Ages. Caesar, Livy and Tacitus, wrote about their contemporaries who lived in a way different than themselves and therefore were considered 'barbarians', but even though they did not have a positive attitude towards them, they still left some useful information about Celtic society, religion, way of life, and so on. One of the problems that arise from this is that many things in these writings are romanised, e.g. Caesar interprets Celtic gods and calls them by the names of their Roman equivalents:

'They worship as their divinity, Mercury, in particular, and have many images of him, and regard him as the inventor of all arts, they consider him the guide of their journeys and marches, and believe him to have great influence over the ac

The following pages will be an attempt to

'The various Celtic tribes were bound together by common speech, customs, and religion, rather than by any well defined central governments. The absence of political unity, contributed substantially to the extinction of their way of life, making them vulnerable to their enemies.' Warfare was the basis of the early Celtic societies. Their technique of warfare was to run towards the rival army and scream and beat their spears and swords against their shields, and it seemed that not only the Celts, but also the land around them was making the noise, so the enemy was often shocked and tried to run away. They fought in smaller groups. The Celts' main weapons were sword and spear. Shields were common and were made of basket weave or wood, sometimes they were covered with leather. Bows and slings were sometimes used as well, but were not common. Until the arrival of the Romans, Celtic warfare was primarily among themselves. They liked to settle their battles in such way that the chieftains or kings fought one on one. If the king died, the whole tribe was defeated.

There were gods and goddesses of places like sacred trees, clearings, wells, and the like. Most male gods were associated with a female consort, often mother goddess figures. Shapeshifting was common among Celtic gods and goddesses who often took the form of their favourite animals.

Caesar, Julius : De bello Gallico (Gallic Wars)

There are many theories about Celtic origins, about their mythology and their culture, but they are often only theories. Writing history as such is very complicated and can never be seen as completely accurate. Therefore, one can never be sure of the events from the past. The early Celtic history is based on 'second-hand' sources, and many things are too vague to be considered absolute truth. For the most part we can only speculate.

The word Celt comes from Keltoi, the name that Greek writers gave to these people. To the Romans, the Continental Celts were known as Galli and Galatae, or Gauls and they called those in Britain Pritanni. In the 4th century BC the Celts invaded the world in possession of the Greeks and Romans, conquering northern Italy and sacking Rome, while also conquering Macedonia and Thessaly. They raided Rome in 390 (or 387), conquered southern Italy between 282 and 272, sack Delphi in 279, and the Gauls came to Asia Minor in 278/277. After the height of their power, the Celts (the first Indo-European group to spread across Europe) were pushed north and west by Germans and Romans. Most of Britain came under Roman rule in the 1st century AD and the Celts of central Europe came under the domination of the Germans. When Huns from Asia came later, the Celts were pushed west and north, to England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland and the northern coast of France. In medieval and modern times the Celtic tradition and languages survived in Brittany (Western France), Cornwall, Galicia (North Western Spain), Galatia (Central Turkey), Wales, the Scottish Highlands, Isle of Man and Ireland, and to a lesser extent in the Norse/Celtic culture of Iceland.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Christianity Druids', Brehon Laws, Romans Caesar, India' Celtic, Celts Caesar, Plain Celts, Mother Depending, Trinity Celtic, Animals Celtic, Livy Tacitus, celtic society, celtic gods, celtic christianity, century bc, la tene, century ad, gods goddesses, social structure, century bc celts, gods calls, goddesses celtic, occupied social position, la tene culture,
Approximate Word count = 3975
Approximate Pages = 16 (250 words per page double spaced)