The ancient Greeks called this mysterious people Celts, and the Romans called Gauls. Settling in the territories, they gave their names to the areas: Gaul in France, Galicia in Spain, Belgium, Bohemia, the cities of London and Lyon.
Who are the Celts and where did they come from in Europe is a question that has not been resolved until now. Some scholars believe they came from what is now Iran, Afghanistan, or northern India. Others believe that from one of the Northern Islands. For example, the first Celtic tribe to settle in Ireland was the people of the goddess Danu. They were fair-haired people, mighty warriors, great magicians and wizards. According to legend, they received their knowledge and skills on the Great Island of the North, from the greatest druids, magicians and bards.
Archaeological excavations in the Urals show that the path of the ancient Celts passed through the Scythian steppes.
Having passed along the northern coast of the Black Sea, they moved further to the Baltic, appeared in northern France, and only then, much later, settled throughout Europe. This happened in the 5th century BC.
In Upper Austria, near the town of Hallstatt, an ancient burial ground was opened in 1846. Amateur archaeologist Ramsauer has been excavating here for 17 years. He discovered thousands of graves here. The finds were sensational: they testified to the existence in 700-500 years. BC e. a civilization that used iron. The burial grounds were very diverse - the modest graves of ordinary members of the community were adjacent to the magnificent crypts of the nobility. In them archaeologists have found weapons, jewelry, horse harness and even war chariots.
The ancient inhabitants buried their leaders in magnificent burial chambers made of oak logs, which was considered a sacred tree. Such graves rested under mounds crowned with full-length statues of the dead, depicting a deity or a tombstone and a ritual stele.
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The dwellings of the Celts themselves were rather primitive: an ordinary wooden house was a semi-dugout, only the tribal nobility built something like a castle or a fortified estate. An interesting example of such a "castle" is a manor house discovered by archaeologists in the upper reaches of the Danube (6th century BC). Amphora for wine and fragments of painted Greek black-figure pottery were found here, which indicates the ties of the Celtic owner with ancient neighbors.
A real treasure of Celtic applied art is the collection of ceramic vessels from the mounds of Hungary. On vessels of the VI century. BC. figures of people and whole scenes are scratched with a chisel, giving an idea of the habits of this people, their clothes. These vessels depict men fighting, wearing harbors and cloaks. On the vessels there are also fighting women in embroidered bell-shaped skirts. Ladies wrestle in a simple way, clutching each other's hair. However, the Celts did not only fight. There is an image of lovers, as well as curly beauties who weave and spin. Others are captured by the element of dance, they dance with their arms outstretched. One of the women depicted plays the lyre, the favorite musical instrument of the Celts.
When in 278 BC. e. the Celts captured the Greek sanctuary at Delphi, they rebelled against the human form of the Greek gods. The fact is that they had a certain taboo on depicting people. Only a few deities were human. Cernunos - Ezus was one of the main deities. When he leaves for the underworld of the dead, he was called Cernunos, and when he returned to Earth - Ezus.
The Celts had keepers of sacred springs and groves. The god of the tribe was considered the father of his people, the breadwinner and protector, and his wife was considered the mother of the tribe, the guardian of the fertility of people and animals, the guardian of the land.
The legends of antiquity were kept by druids (oak people), who were also priests, teachers, poets and soothsayers. Among the Druids were specialists in astrology, sacrifices (including human), royal advisers, poets and soothsayers. The Druids had great political authority and their associations had no analogues among the religious organizations of antiquity and our time. The Druids forbade writing down their main teaching, so little is known about it.
On the other hand, the druids became the misfortune of this people. Under their influence, the Celts, possessing advanced technologies, had an archaic clan political organization. They paid for the fact that they did not want to create a centralized state, so they were defeated by the Romans. Of the Celtic lands, only Ireland and Scotland remained outside the control of the Roman Empire. The rest of the Celts were gradually ousted by the Romans to the British Isles.
The Celts left a rich cultural heritage. For example, the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, of Tristan and Isolde, we owe the Celts.