Diachronic distribution of Celtic peoples:
     core Hallstatt territory, by the 6th century BC      maximal Celtic expansion, by the 3rd century BC      the "six Celtic nations" which retained significant numbers of Celtic speakers into the Early Modern period      areas where Celtic languages remain widely spoken today

Celts (pronounced /ˈsɛlts/ or /ˈkɛlts/, see pronunciation of Celtic) is a modern term used to describe any of the European peoples who spoke, or speak, a Celtic language. The term is also used in a wider sense to describe the modern descendants of those peoples, notably those who participate in a Celtic culture. The Proto-Indo-Europeans are the hypothetical speakers of the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language, a prehistoric people of the Chalcolithic and early Bronze Age. ... The Proto-Indo-Europeans (PIE) were a patrilineal society of the Bronze Age (roughly 5th to 4th millennium BC), probably semi-nomadic, relying on animal husbandry. ... Map of Indo European migrations from ca. ... Map showing the Neolithic expansion from the seventh to fifth millennium BC. The Anatolian hypothesis of Proto-Indo-European origin is the suggestion that the speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) lived in Anatolia during the Neolithic era, and associates the distribution of historical Indo-European languages with... The Paleolithic Continuity Theory (PCT) suggests that the Indo-European languages originated in Europe and have existed there since the Paleolithic. ... Indo-European studies is a field of linguistics, dealing with the Indo-European languages. ... The pronunciation of the words Celt and Celtic in their various meanings has been surrounded by some confusion: the initial, <c> can be realised either as /k/ or as /s/. Both can be justified philologically and both are correct in terms of English prescriptive usage. ... The Celtic languages are the languages descended from Proto-Celtic, or Common Celtic, a branch of the greater Indo-European language family. ... This article concerns those peoples who consider themselves, or have been considered by others, to be Celts in modern times, ie post 1800. ... Muiredacha Cross. ...

The historical Celts were a diverse group of tribal societies in Iron Age Europe. Proto-Celtic culture formed in the Early Iron Age in Central Europe (Hallstatt period). By the later Iron Age (La Tène period), Celts had expanded over wide range of lands: as far west as Ireland and the Iberian Peninsula, as far east as Galatia (central Anatolia), and as far north as Scotland.^[1] A tribe, viewed historically or developmentally, consists of a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states, though some modern theorists hold that contemporary tribes can only be understood in terms of their relationship to states. ... The Proto-Celtic language, also called Common Celtic, is the putative ancestor of all the known Celtic languages. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Central Europe is the region lying between the variously and vaguely defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe. ... The Hallstatt culture was the predominant Central European culture during the local Bronze Age, and introduced the Iron Age. ... The La Tène culture was an Iron Age culture named after the archaeological site of La Tène on the north side of Lake Neuchatel in Switzerland, where a rich trove of artifacts was discovered by Hansli Kopp in 1857. ... The Iberian Peninsula, or Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe, and includes modern day Spain, Portugal, Andorra and Gibraltar. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... This article is about two nested areas of Turkey, a plateau region within a peninsula. ... This article is about the country. ...

The earliest direct attestation of a Celtic language are the Lepontic inscriptions, beginning from the 6th century BC. Continental Celtic languages are attested only in inscriptions and place names. Insular Celtic is attested from about the 4th century AD in Ogham inscriptions. Literary tradition sets in with Old Irish from about the 8th century. Coherent texts of Early Irish literature, such as the Táin Bó Cúailnge, survive in 12th century recensions. Lepontic is an extinct Celtic language that was once spoken in Northern Italy between 700 BCE and 400 BCE. The language is only known from a few inscriptions discovered that were written in a variety of the Northern Italic alphabet, which was related to the Old Italic alphabet. ... (2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC - 1st millennium) The 6th century BC started on January 1, 600 BC and ended on December 31, 501 BC. // Monument 1, an Olmec colossal head at La Venta The 5th and 6th centuries BC were a time of empires, but more importantly, a time... The Continental Celtic languages are those Celtic languages that are neither Goidelic nor Brythonic. ... The Insular Celtic language hypothesis groups the Goidelic languages, which include Irish, Scottish Gaelic and the recently extinct Manx, together with the Brythonic languages, of which the modern ones are Welsh, Breton, and the moribund Cornish. ... There are roughly 400 known Ogham inscriptions scattered around the Irish Sea, the bulk of them dating to the 5th and 6th centuries. ... Old Irish is the name given to the oldest form of the Irish language, or, rather, the Goidelic languages, for which extensive written texts are possessed. ... This article deals with Old Irish and Middle Irish literature // The earliest existing examples of the written Irish language as preserved in manuscripts do not go back farther than the 8th century; they are chiefly found in Scriptural glosses written between the lines or on the margins of religious works... Táin Bó Cúailnge (the driving-off of cows of Cooley, more usually rendered The Cattle Raid of Cooley or The Táin) is the central tale in the Ulster Cycle, one of the four great cycles that make up the surviving corpus of Irish mythology. ...

By the early centuries AD, following the expansion of the Roman Empire and the Great Migrations of Germanic peoples, Celtic culture had become restricted to the British Isles (Insular Celtic), with the Continental Celtic languages extinct by the mid-1st millennium AD. "Celtic Europe" today refers to the lands surrounding the Irish Sea plus Cornwall and Britanny on either side of the English channel. For other uses, see Roman Empire (disambiguation). ... Great Migration is a term often used to describe the early medieval migrations of peoples in Europe. ... Thor/Donar, Germanic thunder god. ... This article explains the archipelago in north-western Europe. ... The Insular Celtic language hypothesis groups the Goidelic languages, which include Irish, Scottish Gaelic and the recently extinct Manx, together with the Brythonic languages, of which the modern ones are Welsh, Breton, and the moribund Cornish. ... The Continental Celtic languages are those Celtic languages that are neither Goidelic nor Brythonic. ... Celtic Europe is a region of Europe where Celtic languages are spoken or where Celtic culture predominates. ... Relief map of the Irish Sea. ... For other uses, see Cornwall (disambiguation). ... This is about the region in France; for other meanings of Brittany and Bretagne, see Brittany (disambiguation). ... For the Thoroughbred racehorse of the same name, see English Channel (horse). ...

Names and terminology

Main article: Names of the Celts

The origin of the various names used since classical times for the people known today as the Celts is obscure and has been controversial. In particular, there are actually 19 records of the term 'pictish' being used in connection with the inhabitants of Ireland and Britain prior to the 18th century. Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, which begins roughly with the earliest-recorded Greek poetry of Homer (7th century BC), and continues through the rise of Christianity and the fall of the Western Roman Empire (5th century AD...

The Latin name Celtus (pl. Celti or Celtae; Greek Κέλτης pl. Κέλται or Κελτός pl. Κελτοί, Keltai or Keltoi) seems to be based on a native Celtic ethnic name.^[2] However, the first literary reference to the Celtic people, as Κελτοί (Κeltoi), is by the Greek historian Hecataeus of Miletus in 517 BC; he says that the town of Massilia (Marseille) is near the Celts and also mentions a Celtic town of Nyrex (possibly Noreia in Austria). Herodotus seems to locate the Keltoi at the source of the Danube and/or in Iberia, but the passage is unclear. For other uses, see Historian (disambiguation). ... Hecataeus (c. ... City flag Coat of arms Motto: By her great deeds, the city of Massilia shines The Old Port of Marseille Location Time Zone CET (GMT +1) Coordinates Administration Country Region Provence-Alpes-Côte dAzur Department Bouches-du-Rhône (13) Subdivisions 16 arrondissements (in 8 secteurs) Intercommunality Urban... Herodotus of Halicarnassus (Greek: HÄ“ródotos Halikarnāsseús) was a Greek historian who lived in the 5th century BC (c. ... This article is about the Danube River. ... The Iberian Peninsula, or Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe, and includes modern day Spain, Portugal, Andorra and Gibraltar. ...

The English word Celt is modern, attested from 1707 in the writings of Edward Lhuyd whose work, along with that of other late 17th century scholars, brought academic attention to the languages and history of these early inhabitants of Great Britain.^[3] Edward Llwyd (also spelt Lhuyd) ( 1660 - June 30, 1709) was a Welsh naturalist, botanist, linguist, geographer and antiquary. ...

English "Gaul(s)" and Latin Gallus or Galli might be from an originally Celtic ethnic or tribal name, perhaps borrowed into Latin during the early 400s BC Celtic expansions into Italy. Its root may be the Common Celtic *galno, meaning 'power' or 'strength'. The Greek Galatai seems to be based on the same root, borrowed directly from the same hypothetical Celtic source which gave us Galli (the suffix -atai is simply an ethnic name indicator). (see Galatia in Anatolia) A tribal name is a name of an ethnic tribe —usually of ancient origin, which represented its self-identity. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

The English form Gaul comes from the French Gaule and Gaulois, which is the traditional rendering of Latin Gallia and Gallus, -icus respectively. However, the diphthong au points to a different origin, namely a Romance adaptation of the Germanic *Walha-. (see Gaul: Name) The English word 'Welsh' originates from word wælisc, the Anglo-Saxon form of walhiska-, the Germanic word for "foreign".^[4] Gaul (Latin: ) was the name given, in ancient times, to the region of Western Europe comprising present-day northern Italy, France, Belgium, western Switzerland and the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the west bank of the Rhine river. ... Old English redirects here. ... brass replica of the Tjurkö Bracteate showing the attestation of the name Walha Walha () is an ancient Germanic word, meaning foreigner or stranger (welsh) or roman. It is attested in the Roman Iron Age Tjurkö Bracteate inscription as walhakurne, probably welsh crown for Roman coin, i. ...

'Celticity' generally refers to the cultural commonalities of these peoples, based on similarities in language, material artifacts, social organisation and mythological factors. Earlier theories were that this indicated a common racial origin but more recent theories are reflective of culture and language rather than race. Celtic cultures seem to have had numerous diverse characteristics but the commonality between these diverse peoples was the use of a Celtic language. For other uses, see Culture (disambiguation). ... The nature and functions of these ancient gods can be deduced from their names, the location of their inscriptions, their iconography, the Roman gods they are equated with, and similar figures from later bodies of Celtic mythology. ...

'Celtic' is a descriptor of a family of languages and, more generally, means 'of the Celts,' or 'in the style of the Celts'. It has also been used to refer to several archaeological cultures defined by unique sets of artifacts. The link between language and artifact is aided by the presence of inscriptions. (see Celtic (disambiguation) for other applications of the term) The word Celtic can refer to: the European Celtic people, ancient or modern the Celtic languages, spoken by these people and their modern descendants the Celtic Lusitania, the Celtici (Celts from the Alentejo). ...

Today, the term 'Celtic' is generally used to describe the languages and respective cultures of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, the Isle of Man and Brittany, also known as the Six Celtic Nations. These are the regions where four Celtic languages are still spoken to some extent as mother tongues: Irish Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh, and Breton plus two recent revivals, Cornish (one of the Brythonic languages) and Manx (one of the Goidelic languages). 'Celtic' is also sometimes used to describe regions of Continental Europe that have Celtic heritage, but where no Celtic language has survived; these areas include the western Iberian Peninsula, i.e. Portugal, and north-central Spain (Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, Castile and León, Extremadura), and to a lesser degree, France. (see Modern Celts) This article is about the country. ... This article is about the country. ... For other uses, see Cornwall (disambiguation). ... This article is about the historical kingdom, duchy and French province, as well as one of the Celtic nations. ... The Six Nations considered the heartland of the modern Celts Celtic nations are areas of Europe inhabited by members of Celtic cultures, specifically speakers of Celtic languages. ... This article is about the modern Goidelic language. ... // Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig) is a member of the Goidelic branch of Celtic languages. ... The Welsh are, according to Hastings (1997), an ethnic group and nation associated with Wales and the Welsh language, which is a Celtic language. ... Breton (Brezhoneg) is a Celtic language spoken by some of the inhabitants of Brittany (Breizh) in France. ... For the Cornish-English dialect, see West Country dialects. ... The Brythonic languages (or Brittonic languages) form one of the two branches of the Insular Celtic language family. ... The Goidelic languages (also sometimes called, particularly in colloquial situations, the Gaelic languages or collectively Gaelic) have historically been part of a dialect continuum stretching from the south of Ireland, the Isle of Man, to the north of Scotland. ... Continental Europe, also referred to as mainland Europe or simply the Continent, is the continent of Europe, explicitly excluding European islands and, at times, peninsulas. ... The Iberian Peninsula, or Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe, and includes modern day Spain, Portugal, Andorra and Gibraltar. ... Galicia (Spain) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Anthem: Asturias, patria querida Capital Oviedo Official language(s) Spanish; Asturian has special status Area  â€“ Total  â€“ % of Spain Ranked 10th  10,604 km²  2. ... For the Mesozoic island Cantabria, see Cantabria (Mesozoic island). ... Capital Valladolid Official language(s) Spanish/Castilian Area  â€“ Total  â€“ % of Spain Ranked  94,223 km²  18. ... Capital Mérida Official languages Spanish; Area  â€“ Total  â€“ % of Spain Ranked 5th  41,634 km²  8. ... This article concerns those peoples who consider themselves, or have been considered by others, to be Celts in modern times, ie post 1800. ...

'Continental Celts' refers to the Celtic-speaking people of mainland Europe. 'Insular Celts' refers to the Celtic-speaking people of the British Isles and their descendants. The Celts of Brittany derive their language from migrating insular Celts from the British Isles and so are grouped accordingly. This article explains the archipelago in north-western Europe. ...

Origins

Overview of the Hallstatt and La Tène cultures.      The core Hallstatt territory (HaC, 800 BC) is shown in solid yellow,      the eventual area of Hallstatt influence (by 500 BC, HaD) in light yellow.      The core territory of the La Tène culture (450 BC) is shown in solid green,      the eventual area of La Tène influence (by 50 BC) in light green. The territories of some major Celtic tribes of the late La Tène period are labelled.

The Celtic languages form a branch of the larger Indo-European family, belonging to the Centum subgroup native to Bronze Age Europe (c.f. Old European hydronymy). By the time speakers of Celtic languages enter history around 400 BC (Brennus's attack on Rome in 387 BC), they were already split into several language groups, and spread over much of Central Europe, the Iberian peninsula, Ireland and Britain. The Hallstatt culture was the predominant Central European culture during the local Bronze Age, and introduced the Iron Age. ... The La Tène culture was an Iron Age culture named after the archaeological site of La Tène on the north side of Lake Neuchatel in Switzerland, where a rich trove of artifacts was discovered by Hansli Kopp in 1857. ... This is a list of Celtic tribes with their geographical localization. ... The Celtic languages are the languages descended from Proto-Celtic, or Common Celtic, a branch of the greater Indo-European language family. ... Proto-Indo-European Indo-European studies The Indo-European languages include some 443 (SIL estimate) languages and dialects spoken by about three billion people, including most of the major language families of Europe and western Asia, which belong to a single superfamily. ... Centum is the collective name for the branches of Indo-European in which the so-called Satem shift, the change of palato-velar *k^, *g^, *g^h into fricatives or affricates, did not take place, and the palato-velar consonants merged with plain velars (*k, *g, *gh). ... A simplified map archaeological cultures of the late Bronze Age (c. ... Old European (alteuropäisch) is the term used by Krahe (1964) for the language of the oldest reconstructed stratum of Indo-European hydronymy in Central and Western Europe. ... A sculpture, depicting this Brennus that adorned an 18th or 19th century French naval vessel Brennus, a chieftain of the Senones of the Adriatic coast of Italy, who in 387 BC, in the Battle of the Allia, led an army of Cisalpine Gauls in their attack on Rome. ... For other uses, see Rome (disambiguation). ... The Iberian Peninsula, or Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe, and includes modern day Spain, Portugal, Andorra and Gibraltar. ...

Some scholars think that the Urnfield culture of northern Germany and the Netherlands represents an origin for the Celts as a distinct cultural branch of the Indo-European family. This culture was preeminent in central Europe during the late Bronze Age, from ca. 1200 BC until 700 BC, itself following the Unetice and Tumulus cultures. The Urnfield period saw a dramatic increase in population in the region, probably due to innovations in technology and agricultural practices. The Greek historian Ephoros of Cyme in Asia Minor, writing in the fourth century BC, believed that the Celts came from the islands off the mouth of the Rhine who were "driven from their homes by the frequency of wars and the violent rising of the sea". The Urnfield culture of central European culture is dated roughly between 1300 BC and 750 BC. The name describes the custom of cremating the dead and placing them in cemeteries. ... For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ... The Bronze Age is a period in a civilizations development when the most advanced metalworking has developed the techniques of smelting copper from natural outcroppings and alloys it to cast bronze. ... Unetice, or more properly Únětice, culture, (German: Aunjetitz) is the name given to an early Bronze Age culture, preceded by the Beaker culture and followed by the Tumulus culture. ... The Tumulus culture which followed the Unetice culture, and from which they descended, dominated central Europe during mca 1600 BC tp 1200 BC. As the name implies, the Tumulus culture is distinguished by the practice of burying the dead beneath burial mounds. ... Ephorus (c. ... For other uses, see Rhine (disambiguation). ...

The spread of iron-working led to the development of the Hallstatt culture directly from the Urnfield (c. 700 to 500 BC). Proto-Celtic, the latest common ancestor of all known Celtic languages, is considered by this school of thought to have been spoken at the time of the late Urnfield or early Hallstatt cultures, in the early first millennium BC. The spread of the Celtic languages to Iberia, Ireland and Britain would have occurred during the first half of the 1st millennium, the earliest chariot burials in Britain dating to ca. 500 BC. Over the centuries they developed into the separate Celtiberian, Goidelic and Brythonic languages. Whether Goidelic and Brythonic are descended from a common Insular-Celtic language, or reflect two separate waves of migration, is disputed.^{[citation needed]} Iron Age Axe found on Gotland This article is about the archaeological period known as the Iron Age, for the mythological Iron Age see Iron Age (mythology). ... The Hallstatt culture was the predominant Central European culture during the local Bronze Age, and introduced the Iron Age. ... The Proto-Celtic language, also called Common Celtic, is the putative ancestor of all the known Celtic languages. ... A school is a collection or group of people who share common characteristics of opinion or outlook of a philosophy, discipline, belief, social movement, cultural movement, or art movement. ... (2nd millennium BC – 1st millennium BC – 1st millennium AD – other millennia) Events The Iron Age began in Western Europe Egypt declined as a major power The Tanakh was written Buddhism was founded Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon and created the Persian Empire (6th century BC) Sparta and Athens fought the... In the Gregorian calendar, the 1st millennium is the period of one thousand years that commenced with the year 1 Anno Domini. ... Chariot burials are tombs in which the deceased was buried together with his chariot, usually including his horses and other possessions. ... Celtiberian (also Hispano-Celtic) is an extinct Celtic language spoken by the Celtiberians in northern Spain before and during the Roman Empire. ... The Brythonic languages (or Brittonic languages) form one of the two branches of the Insular Celtic language family. ...

The Hallstatt culture was succeeded by the La Tène culture of central Europe, and during the final stages of the Iron Age gradually transformed into the explicitly Celtic culture of early historical times. Celtic river-names are found in great numbers around the upper reaches of the Danube and Rhine, which led many Celtic scholars to place the ethnogenesis of the Celts in this area. Others however believe that the fact that the La Tène culture is too late to explain the original Celtic homeland; rather its extent demonstrates the subsequent spread of a pre-existing Celtic culture throughout Switzerland, Austria, southern and central Germany, northern regions of Italy, eastern France, Czech Republic, Portugal, Slovakia and parts of Hungary and Ukraine. Iron Age Axe found on Gotland This article is about the archaeological period known as the Iron Age, for the mythological Iron Age see Iron Age (mythology). ... This article is about the Danube River. ... Ethnogenesis is the process by which a group of human beings comes to be understood or to understand themselves as ethnically distinct from the wider social landscape from which their grouping emerges. ... The La Tène culture was an Iron Age culture named after the archaeological site of La Tène on the north side of Lake Neuchatel in Switzerland, where a rich trove of artifacts was discovered by Hansli Kopp in 1857. ...

Diodorus Siculus and Strabo both suggest that the Celtic heartland was in southern France. The former says that the Gauls were to the north of the Celts but that the Romans referred to both as Gauls. Before the discoveries at Hallstatt and La Tene, it was generally considered that the Celtic heartland was southern France, see Encyclopedia Britannica for 1813. Diodorus Siculus (c. ... The Greek geographer Strabo in a 16th century engraving. ...

Pliny the Elder places Celtica in the delta of the river Guadalquivir in the south of Portugal and Spain, i.e. referring to Celtiberia: "praeter haec in Celtica Acinippo, Arunda, Arunci, Turobriga, Lastigi, Salpesa, Saepone, Serippo. altera Baeturia, quam diximus Turdulorum et conventus Cordubensis, habet oppida non ignobilia Arsam, Mellariam, Mirobrigam Reginam, Sosintigi, Sisaponem."^[5] Pliny the Elder: an imaginative 19th Century portrait. ... The Celtiberians were a Celtic people living in the Iberian Peninsula, chiefly in what is now north central Spain and northern Portugal, before and during the Roman Empire. ...

Linguistic evidence

Main article: Proto-Celtic language

The Proto-Celtic language is usually dated to the early European Iron Age. The earliest records of a Celtic language are the Lepontic inscriptions of Cisalpine Gaul, the oldest of which still predate the La Tène period. Other early inscriptions are Gaulish, appearing from the early La Tène period in inscriptions in the area of Massilia, in the Greek alphabet. Celtiberian inscriptions appear comparatively late, after about 200 BC. Evidence of Insular Celtic is available only from about AD 400, in the form of Primitive Irish Ogham inscriptions. Besides epigraphical evidence, an important source of information on early Celtic is toponymy.^[6] The Proto-Celtic language, also called Common Celtic, is the putative ancestor of all the known Celtic languages. ... The Proto-Celtic language, also called Common Celtic, is the putative ancestor of all the known Celtic languages. ... Lepontic is an extinct Celtic language that was once spoken in Northern Italy between 700 BCE and 400 BCE. The language is only known from a few inscriptions discovered that were written in a variety of the Northern Italic alphabet, which was related to the Old Italic alphabet. ... Map with location of Cisalpine Gaul This article is about the Roman province. ... La Tène is a village located at the eastern end of the Lake Neuchâtel (Lac de Neuchâtel), a lake in Switzerland. ... Gaulish is name given to the now-extinct Celtic language that was spoken in Gaul before the Romans, the Franks and the British Celts invaded. ... Marseilles redirects here. ... Celtiberian (also Hispano-Celtic) is an extinct Celtic language spoken by the Celtiberians in northern Spain before and during the Roman Empire. ... The Insular Celtic language hypothesis groups the Goidelic languages, which include Irish, Scottish Gaelic and the recently extinct Manx, together with the Brythonic languages, of which the modern ones are Welsh, Breton, and the moribund Cornish. ... Primitive Irish is the oldest known form of the Irish language, known only from fragments, mostly personal names, inscribed on stone in the ogham alphabet in Ireland and western Britain up to about the 4th century. ... There are roughly 400 known Ogham inscriptions scattered around the Irish Sea, the bulk of them dating to the 5th and 6th centuries. ... Toponymy is the taxonomic study of toponyms (place-names), their origins and their meanings. ...

Very few references to the language of the Celts are found in ancient ethnography. Jerome (AD 342-419) his commentary on St Paul's epistle to the Galatians notes that the language of the Anatolian Galatians in his day was still very similar to the language of the Treveri.^[7] St Jerome probably had first-hand knowledge of these Celtic languages, as he had both visited Augusta Treverorum and Galatia.^[8] Ethnography ( ethnos = people and graphein = writing) is the genre of writing that presents varying degrees of qualitative and quantitative descriptions of human social phenomena, based on fieldwork. ... For other uses, see Jerome (disambiguation). ... Paul of Tarsus (b. ... The Epistle to the Galatians is a book of the New Testament. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The Treveri tribe of Gaul inhabited the lower valley of the Moselle, within the southern fringes of the vast Arduenna Silva (Ardennes Forest). ... Trier (French: ; Luxembourgish Tréier) is a city in Germany on the banks of the Moselle River. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Archaeological evidence

Further information: Iron Age Europe

map of the Hallstatt culture

The Iron Age Hallstatt (c. 800-475 BC) and La Tène (c. 500-50 BC) cultures are typically associated with Proto-Celtic and Celtic culture.^[9] The Hallstatt culture was the predominant Central European culture during the local Bronze Age, and introduced the Iron Age. ... The La Tène culture was an Iron Age culture named after the archaeological site of La Tène on the north side of Lake Neuchatel in Switzerland, where a rich trove of artifacts was discovered by Hansli Kopp in 1857. ...

The La Tène culture developed and flourished during the late Iron Age (from 450 BCE to the Roman conquest in the 1st century BCE) in eastern France, Switzerland, Austria, southwest Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. It developed out of the Hallstatt culture without any definite cultural break, under the impetus of considerable Mediterranean influence from Greek, and later Etruscan civilizations. A shift of settlement centres took place in the 4th century. Extent of Etruscan civilization and the twelve Etruscan League cities. ...

The western La Tène culture corresponds to historical Celtic Gaul. Whether this means that the whole of La Tène culture can be attributed to a unified Celtic people is difficult to assess; archaeologists have repeatedly concluded that language, material culture, and political affiliation do not necessarily run parallel. Frey notes that in the 5th century, "burial customs in the Celtic world were not uniform; rather, localised groups had their own beliefs, which, in consequence, also gave rise to distinct artistic expressions".^[10] Thus, while the La Tène culture is certainly associated with the Gauls, the presence of La Tène artefacts may be due to cultural contact and does not imply the permanent presence of Celtic speakers. Map of Gaul circa 58 BC Gaul (from Latin Gallia, c. ... Gallia (in English Gaul) is the Latin name for the region of western Europe occupied by present-day France, Belgium, western Switzerland and the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the west bank of the Rhine river. ...

Historical evidence

Polybius published a history of Rome about 150 BC in which he describes the Gauls of Italy and their conflict with Rome. Pausanias in the second century BC says that the Gauls "originally called Celts live on the remotest region of Europe on the coast of an enormous tidal sea". Posidonius described the southern Gauls about 100 BC. Though his original work is lost it was used by later writers such as Strabo. The latter, writing in the early first century AD, deals with Britain and Gaul as well as Hispania, Italy and Galatia. Caesar wrote extensively about his Gallic Wars in 58-51 BC. Diodorus Siculus wrote about the Celts of Gaul and Britain in his first century History. Polybius (c. ... Pausanias is the name of several ancient people: Pausanias was a Spartan general of the 5th century BC. Pausanias of Sparta was King of Sparta from 409 BC-395 BC. Pausanias was the servant/lover who assassinated Philip II of Macedon in 336 BC Pausanias, Greek traveller and geographer of... The bust of Posidonius as an older man depicts his character as a Stoic philosopher. ... The Greek geographer Strabo in a 16th century engraving. ... Look up Caesar in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Commentarii de Bello Gallico (literally Commentaries on the Gallic War in Latin) is an account written by Julius Caesar (in the third person) about his nine years of war in Gaul. ... Diodorus Siculus (c. ...

Distribution

Continental Celts

Gaul

Repartition of Gaul ca. 54 BC

Main article: Gaul

At the dawn of history in Europe, the Celts then living in what is now France were known as Gauls to the Romans. The territory of these peoples probably included the low countries, the Alps and what is now northern Italy. Their descendants were described by Julius Caesar in his Gallic Wars. Eastern Gaul was the centre of the western La Tene culture. In later Iron Age Gaul, the social organisation was similar to that of the Romans, with large towns. From the third century BC the Gauls adopted coinage, and texts with Greek characters are known in southern Gaul from the second century. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (787x799, 169 KB) Map of Gallia (58 BC) with important Tribes, Towns, Rivers etc. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (787x799, 169 KB) Map of Gallia (58 BC) with important Tribes, Towns, Rivers etc. ... Gaul (Latin: ) was the name given, in ancient times, to the region of Western Europe comprising present-day northern Italy, France, Belgium, western Switzerland and the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the west bank of the Rhine river. ... Belligerents Roman Republic Several Gallic tribes Commanders Julius Caesar, Titus Labienus, Mark Antony, Quintus Cicero, Publius Crassus Vercingetorix, Ambiorix, Commius Strength estimated around 120,000 (legionaries and auxilia) estimated several hundreds of thousands, possibly millions Casualties and losses estimated tens of thousands according to Caesar, one million This article is...

Greek traders founded Massalia in about 600BC, with exchange up the Rhone valley, but trade was disrupted soon after 500BC and re-oriented over the Alps to the Po valley in Italy. The Romans arrived in the Rhone valley in the second century BC and found that a large part of Gaul was Celtic speaking. Rome needed land communications with its Iberian provinces and fought a major battle with the Saluvii at Entremont in 124-123 BC. Gradually Roman control extended, the Roman Province of Gallia Transalpina being along the Mediterranean coast. The remainder was known as Gallia Comata "Hairy Gaul".

In 58 BC, the Helvetii planned to migrate westward but were forced back by Julius Caesar. He then became involved in fighting the various tribes in Gaul, and by 55 BC, most of Gaul had been overrun. In 52 BC, Vercingetorix led a revolt against the Roman occupation but was defeated at the siege of Alesia and surrendered.

Following the Gallic Wars of 58-51 BC, Celticia formed the main part of Roman Gaul. Place name analysis shows that Celtic was used east of the Garonne river and south of the Seine and Marne. However, the Celtic languages did not survive there, having been replaced by Romance languages: Franco-Provençal, Catalan, Occitan; French eventually added to them, becoming the main vernacular language of the area. Franco-Provençal (Francoprovençal) or Arpitan (in vernacular: patouès) (in Italian: francoprovenzale, provenzale alpina, arpitano, patois; French: francoprovençal, arpitan, patois) is a Romance language with several dialects in a linguistic sub-group separate from Langue dOïl and Langue dOc. ... Catalan can refer to: Catalan people Catalan language An inhabitant of Catalonia A Catalan speaker, whether or not from Catalonia proper (see Catalan Countries). ... Occitan, or langue doc is a Romance language characterized by its richness, variability, and by the intelligibility of its dialects. ...

Iberia

Main language areas in Iberia, showing Celtic and Proto-Celtic languages in blue, circa 200 BC.

Main article: Celtiberians

See also: Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula, Prehistoric Iberia, Hispania, Lusitania, Gallaecia, and Celtici

Traditional 18th/19th centuries scholarship surrounding the Celts virtually ignored the Iberian Peninsula, since material culture relatable to the Hallstatt and La Tène cultures that have defined Iron Age Celts was rare in Iberia, and did not provide a cultural scenario that could easily be linked to that of Central Europe. The Iberian Peninsula, or Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe, and includes modern day Spain, Portugal, Andorra and Gibraltar. ... Main language areas in Iberia circa 200 BC. The Celtiberians (or Celt-Iberians)[1] were a Celtic people of late La Tène culture living in the Iberian Peninsula, chiefly in what is now north central Spain and northern Portugal, before and during the Roman Empire. ... Main language areas in Iberia circa 250 BC. This is a list of the Pre-Roman people of the Iberian peninsula (the Roman Hispania - modern Andorra, Portugal and Spain). ... The Prehistory of the Iberian peninsula begins with the arrival of the first hominins c. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Iberian Peninsula. ... In red is the province of Lusitania within the Roman Empire, AD 117 Lusitania was an ancient Roman province including approximately all of modern Portugal south of the Douro river, and part of modern Spain (the present autonomous community of Extremadura and a small part of the province of Salamanca). ... Gallaecia or Callaecia (from Gaulish *gal-laikos smoke?-hero/warrior) was the name of a Roman province that comprised a territory in the north-west of Hispania (approximately the current Galicia of Spain and the north of Portugal). ... The Celtici were an ancient celtic tribe akin to the Lusitanians and Calaicians or Gallaeci, living in what today is the province of Alentejo in modern Portugal. ... The Iberian Peninsula, or Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe, and includes modern day Spain, Portugal, Andorra and Gibraltar. ... In archaeology, culture refers to either of two separate but allied concepts: An archaeological culture is a pattern of similar artefacts and features found within a specific area over a limited period of time. ... Hallstatt, Upper Austria is a village in the Salzkammergut, a region in Austria. ... La Tène is a village near the Neuenburger See, also called Lac du Neuchâtel, a lake in Switzerland. ... Iron Age Axe found on Gotland This article is about the archaeological period known as the Iron Age, for the mythological Iron Age see Iron Age (mythology). ...

Modern scholarship, however, has proven that Celtic presence and influences were very substantial in Iberia. The Celts in Iberia were divided in two main archaeological and cultural groups, even if the divide is not very clear:

• One group, from Galicia and along the Iberian Atlantic shores. They were made up of the Lusitanians (in Portugal and the Celtic region that Strabo called Celtica in the southwest including the Algarve, inhabited by the Celtici), the Vettones and Vacceani peoples (of central west Spain and Portugal), and the Gallaecian, Astures and Cantabrian peoples of the Castro culture of north and northwest Spain and Portugal).
• The Celtiberian group of central Spain and the upper Ebro valley, which both present special, local features. The group originated when Celts migrated from what is now France and integrated with the local Iberian people.

The origins of the Celtiberians might provide a key to unlocking the Celticization process in the rest of the Peninsula. The process of celticization of the southwest by the Keltoi and of the northwest is however not a simple celtiberian question. Recent investigation about the Callaici Bracari in northwest Portugal is bringing new approaches to understand Celtic culture evidences (language, art and religion) in western Iberia.^[11] Galicia (Spain) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Atlantic Europe is a geographical and anthropological term for the western portion of Europe which borders the Atlantic Ocean At its widest definition, it comprises Spain, France and the British Isles. ... The Lusitanians (or Lusitani in Latin) were a tribe, or various tribes, from the western Iberian peninsula (province of Lusitania), who spoke a Lusitanian language until the conquest of their territory by the Romans. ... The Greek geographer Strabo in a 16th century engraving. ... Algarve NUTS II region, and the district of Faro in Portugal. ... The Celtici were an ancient celtic tribe akin to the Lusitanians and Calaicians or Gallaeci, living in what today is the province of Alentejo in modern Portugal. ... The Vettones were one of the pre-Roman peoples of Iberia, dwelling in the northwestern part of the meseta— the high central upland plain of the Iberian peninsula, the region where the Spanish provinces of Avila and Salamanca are today, as well as parts of Zamora, Toledo and Cáceres. ... Map of the area occupied by the Vaccaei. ... Gallaecia or Callaecia (from Gaulish *gal-laikos smoke?-hero/warrior) was the name of a Roman province that comprised a territory in the north-west of Hispania (approximately the current Galicia of Spain and the north of Portugal). ... ASTUR or ASTURES is a region of Northern Spain and also referes to the original inhabitants of this region. ... Cantabri was an ancient tribe which inhabited the north coast of Spain near Santander and Bilbao and the mountains behind a district hence known as Cantabria. ... Castros de Baroña, Baroña, Porto Do Son, Coruña Castro de Troña, Pías, Ponteareas, Pontevedra Castro culture (Cultura Castreja in Portuguese, Cultura Castrexa in Galician and Cultura castreña in Spanish) is the archaeologists descriptor for the culture of the northwestern part of the Iberian Peninsula... Main language areas in Iberia circa 200 BC. The Celtiberians (or Celt-Iberians)[1] were a Celtic people of late La Tène culture living in the Iberian Peninsula, chiefly in what is now north central Spain and northern Portugal, before and during the Roman Empire. ... The Lady of Baza, made by Iberians The Iberians were an ancient, Pre-Indo-European people who inhabited the east and southeast of the Iberian Peninsula in prehistoric and historic times. ... The Callaici or callaeci were a single or various tribes living in the North of Douro River in Northern Portugal and Galicia (Spain). ... The Bracari were an ancient celtiberian tribe akin to the Lusitanians and Calaicians or Gallaeci, living in the north of modern Portugal, in the province of Minho, between the rivers Tâmega and Cávado, around the area of the modern city of Braga. ...

Alps and Po Valley

Main articles: Cisalpine Gaul and Lepontians

Further information: History of the Alps

There was an early Celtic presence in northern Italy since inscriptions dated to the sixth century BC have been found there. In 391 BC Celts "who had their homes beyond the Alps streamed through the passes in great strength and seized the territory that lay between the Appeninne mountains and the Alps" according to Diodorus Siculus. The Po Valley and the rest of northern Italy (known to the Romans as Cisalpine Gaul) was inhabited by Celtic-speakers who founded cities such as Milan. Later the Roman army was routed at the battle of Allia and Rome was sacked in 390BC by the Senones. Map with location of Cisalpine Gaul This article is about the Roman province. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Diodorus Siculus (c. ... Po redirects here, for alternate uses see Po (disambiguation). ... Map with location of Cisalpine Gaul This article is about the Roman province. ... For other uses, see Milan (disambiguation). ... The Senones were a Celtic people of Gallia Celtica, who in the t