The Celts
Celtic origins
Who were the real Celts? They had no written language, so we only know what the Greeks and Romans said about them. One of the earliest clues to their origins is found in a passage in the Histories written by a 5th-century BC Greek, Herodotus, the ‘father of history’:
… for the river Ister begins from the Keltoi and the city of Pyrena and so runs that it divides Europe in the midst (now the Keltoi are outside the Pillars of Heracles and border upon the Kynesians, who dwell furthest towards the sunset of all those who have their dwelling in Europe) …
The word Keltoi, or ‘Celt’, was coined more than 2,500 years ago to describe a tribe of people at the head of the river Danube in what is now central Germany. According to classical writers, they were barbaric and primitive – head hunters with a passion for heavy drinking – and carried out savage religious practices such as human sacrifice.
Heuneburg
Aerial view of the Heuneburg hill fort
So where was Pyrena, the settlement that Herodotus said was the first home of the Celts? In the heart of Germany, archaeologists have spent 20 years uncovering the Heuneburg, a massive hill fort that was occupied in the 7th century BC, the same period in which the Greeks first mentioned the Celts. But the Heuneburg does not look like the home of a barbarian tribe. It was a huge settlement, and the construction of its walls shows that the occupants were in touch with the Greeks.
There is no evidence of warfare at Heuneburg. Farming created its wealth and drew luxury goods from Greece into these early Celtic chiefdoms. The massive walls weren’t for defence – they were painted white and would have been visible from miles away. They were, in effect, a status symbol.
As more of the site has been uncovered, evidence of trade with the Greek world has increased. In 600 BC, classical Greece was a consumer society. The barbarian north, rich in raw materials, traded textiles and manufactured items for Greek luxuries and, most importantly, for wine. Far from being barbaric, Pyrena was a hive of industry, whose residents were busy weaving, firing ceramics and casting high-quality metalwork. The river Danube was an important trade route through Europe, and the Celts were the middle men.
The Hochdorf Prince
In 1978, a remarkable discovery was made in a field 100 miles north of Heuneburg on the outskirts of the town of Hochdorf. The Celtic ‘Hochdorf Prince’ is not buried in a warrior’s grave – the only weapon found in it was a small iron dagger decorated with gold. The prince was laid out in luxury on a Greek-style bronze couch covered with furs and fabric. Around his neck was a golden torc, and on his head he wore a strange conical hat made of birch bark. All about him lay the trappings of immense wealth and power. A huge four-wheeled iron-decorated chariot was laden with feasting and drinking equipment, and in one corner stood an enormous Greek bronze cauldron that could hold more than 70 gallons (318 litres) of wine. The deceased chief had been laid on the chariot and carried into his tomb.
What does this breathtaking grave tell us about the early Celtic world in central Europe? According to Dr Erwin Keefer of Stuttgart Museum, it shows us that the person buried in it was a cultured diplomat in touch with the most advanced people of the ancient world – the Greeks. He traded in Greek goods – and probably Greek ideas, too. And what made people such as the Hochdorf Prince rich? It was the iron that these people mined and which introduced a totally new dimension to trading with the Greeks.
