List of ancient Celtic peoples and tribes

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Map1: Diachronic distribution of Celtic peoples (ancient and modern):
  core Hallstatt territory, by the 6th century BC
  maximal Celtic expansion, by 275 BC
  Two land areas in Iberian Peninsula where Celtic presence is uncertain or disputed by some: Lusitanian and Vettonian land (Para-Celtic?), Caristii and Varduli land (Vasconic, Celtic or Para-Celtic?), in today's Basque Country.
  the six Celtic nations which retained significant numbers of Celtic speakers into the Early Modern period
  areas where Celtic languages remain widely spoken today

The ethnic names of this List of ancient Celtic peoples and tribes are stated or implied by the ancient authors to have belonged to an overall ethnic identity called by them generally Celts. Some of the main authors, such as Julius Caesar, explicitly state that Celtic, the adjective, implies the use of a distinctive Celtic language. If a tribe did not speak Celtic, it was not called Celtic. This implication is sufficiently widespread for modern linguists to conclude that if a tribe was called Celtic, it spoke Celtic.

From widespread evidence in literature, inscriptions, and names, modern linguists are able to conclude to a group of closely related languages termed Celtic languages. Linguistic classification of languages by the Tree Method, or Genetic Method, which establishes degree of similarity of vocabulary and syntax between languages, can be used to assign a relationship of one language to another. Closely similar languages are closely related by definition. This relationship is termed ethnolinguistic.

An ethnolinguistic relationship has nothing to do with biological genetic relationships. Two populations may be close ethnolinguistically but totally different genetically, as when one population learns the language of another. Similarly the customs of two populations apart from language have nothing to do with either the people or the language. Among such customs are the archaeologies. The archaeological finds and culture names have nothing to do with the langage, except for inscriptions found. This article attempts to arrange Celtic languages by ethnolinguistic similarity. Nothing is impled concerning the origins of the peoples or their material culture.

In

Asia Minor
or Anatolia.

Modern people and their languages are excluded from this list. A few Celtic languages are still extant. They are not of interest here.

The ancestor language

Map 2: Indo-European migrations as described in The Horse, the Wheel, and Language by David W. Anthony

In the Tree Model of language development, languages develop historically (or diachronically, "through time") by splitting. At a point T1 in time a population of P speaks a common language L. Over the range of P two different groups, P1 and P2, within P begin to speak L differently, so that at T2 there are now L1 and L2 where before was only L. L1 and L2 are sister languages, while L is variously called the common, proto-, or parent language.

It is clear that in the Tree Model of language development, groups of sister languages, L1, L2, ..., Ln, exist, and every group must come from a proto-language. The very assertion that any languages are related implies the former existence of one, and only one, proto-language as ancestor. Thus to refer at all to a group of languages termed Celtic imples the sometime existence of

Proto-Celts
. Such a term implies that they spoke the language. There is no other definition of Proto-Celtic. They cannot logically have not spoken it, or have spoken anything else as a primary language.

Continental Celts

Iberia in the west to the Balkans and Anatolia
in the east. Many of the populations from these regions were called

Eastern Celts[2]

Rhaetians
.
Map 4: Ancient tribes in the middle Danube river basin around 1st C. BCE
Map 5: Central and northern Illyrian tribes and neighbouring Celtic tribes (most in magenta) to the North and Northwest during the Roman period.

They lived Southern

Hercynia Silva), north of the Danube and east of the Rhine was in their lands. Celts, especially those from Western and Central Europe, were generally called by the Romans “Galli” i.e. “Gauls”, this name was synonym of “Celts
”, this also means that not all of the peoples and tribes called by the name “Gauls” (Galli) were specifically Gauls in a narrower more regional sense. Their language is scarcely attested and can not be classified as a P-Celtic or Q-Celtic. Some closely fit the concept of a tribe. Others are confederations or even unions of tribes.

Map 6: Tribes in Thrace before the Roman period. Some of the tribes shown, such as the Serdi were Celts.

Galatians

Asia Minor / Anatolia. Galatia were Galatians
dwelt is in the centre.

In the middle 3rd century BC,

Hellenized,[22][23] but retained many of their own traditions. They spoke Galatian, a name derived from the generic name for “Celts”. Some closely fit the concept of a tribe
. Others are confederations or even unions of tribes.

Celtae
)

Roman provinces
.
Narbonensis was conquered earlier, already ruled by the Roman Republic
). The map shows the ethnic and linguistic kinship of the tribes by different colours (the map is in French).
Roman provinces
.

De Bello Gallico[25]) which means that not all peoples and tribes called “Galli” were necessarily Gauls
in a narrower regional sense. Gaulish Celts spoke
innovative
Celtic language - *kʷ > p. Romans initially organized Gaul in two provinces (later in three):
. Some closely fit the concept of a tribe. Others are confederations or even unions of tribes.

Cisalpine Gauls

Map 11: Peoples of northern Italy during the 4th to 3rd centuries BC (Celtic tribes are shown in blue) (map names are in French)

Lepontine Celts

They seem to have been an older group of

Continental Celtic language) a Celtic language that seems to precede Cisalpine Gaulish
.

Ligurians

May have been

Rhodanus eastern basin and upper Po
river basin.

Hispano-Celts / Celts of Hispania

Roman provinces
.
Map 13: Celts in the Iberian Peninsula, despite the name, a large part of the peninsula was celtic.

They lived in large parts of the Iberian Peninsula, in the Northern, Central, and Western regions (half of the Peninsula's territory). The

Iberian peninsula were traditionally thought of as living on the edge of the Celtic world of the La Tène culture that defined classical Iron Age Celts. Earlier migrations were Hallstatt in culture and later came La Tène influenced peoples. Celtic or (Indo-European) Pre-Celtic cultures and populations existed in great numbers and Iberia experienced one of the highest levels of Celtic settlement in all of Europe. They dwelt in northern, central and western regions of the Iberian Peninsula
, but also in several southern regions. They spoke languages. Romans initially organized the Peninsula in two provinces (later in three):
Tarraconensis Roman province (of what is now Spain and northern Portugal
).
Salamanca province
). The
Roman province of Hispania included both Celtic speaking and non-Celtic speaking tribes. Some closely fit the concept of a tribe. Others are confederations or even unions of tribes.

Western Hispano-Celts (Celts of Western Hispania)

Western Hispano-Celts were Celtic peoples and tribes that inhabited most of north and western Iberian Peninsula regions. They are often confused or taken as synonym of Celtiberians but, in fact, they were a distinct Celtic population that was most part of Iberian Peninsula Celtic populations. They spoke

conservative Celtic language) which was not Celtiberian (Celtic languages of Iberian Peninsula are often lumped as Hispano-Celtic
).

Eastern Hispano-Celts (Celtiberians)

Celtiberi
, mixed Celtic and Iberian tribes or Celtic tribes influenced by Iberians, with the possible location of the tribes. The names of the tribes are in Castillian or Spanish (whose plural grammatical number descends from the Latin plural accusative declension).

Eastern

conservative
Celtic language).

Insular Celts

conservative Celtic
language. Classical Antiquity authors did not call the British islands peoples and tribes as Celts or Galli but by the name Britons (in Britannia). They only used the name Celts or Gauls for the peoples and tribes of mainland Europe.[1]

Britons (Celts)

Map 15: Southern Britain about the year 150 AD
Map 16: Wales about the year 40 AD

They spoke

P Celtic
type). They lived in
Britanni
. Some closely fit the concept of a tribe but others are confederations or even unions of tribes.

Picts / Caledonians

Map 17: Northern Britain about the year 150 AD

They were a different people from the

Britons[citation needed], but may have shared common ancestry. They lived as a tribal confederation in Caledonia (today's Northern Scotland); the Caledonian Forest (Caledonia Silva
) was in their land.

Goidels / Gaels / Hibernians

Geographia
in a modern interpretation. Tribes' names on the map are in Greek (although some are in a phonetic transliteration and not in Greek spelling).

They spoke

Q Celtic
type. According to Ptolemy's Geography (2nd century AD) (in brackets the names are in Greek as on the map):

Possible Para-Celts

Para-Celtic has the meaning that these peoples had common ancestors with the

Proto-Celts
. They may in fact have been Proto-Celto-Italic, predating the
Beaker culture, may have been ancestral to not only Celtic and Italic, but also to Germanic and Balto-Slavic.[36]

Belgae[37]

Map 19: According to Strabo, the Belgian tribes (in orange) (the map is in French).
Britain
).

A people or a group of related tribes that dwelt in

Belgica, parts of Britannia, and may have dwelt in parts of Hibernia and also parts of Hispania
(large tribal confederation). According to classical authors works, like Caesar's
Britons; they were clearly an Indo-European people and may have spoken a Celtic language. There is also the possibility that their language may have been a different language branch of Indo-European from the Nordwestblock culture, which may have been intermediary between Germanic and Celtic, and might have been affiliated to Italic (according to a Maurits Gysseling
hypothesis).

Ligurians

Map 21: Peoples of northern Italy during the 4th to 3rd centuries BC. Ligurians are shown in the west coastal region (north coast of the Ligurian Sea, part of the Mediterranean Sea) to the south of the Celts (shown in blue) and to the northwest of the Etruscans, in the left side of the map. (map names are in French)

Northern Mediterranean Coast straddling South-east

Ligurian
.

Lusitanians-Vettones

Map 22:Celts in the Iberian Peninsula, area dwelt by the Lusitani and Vettones is shown in lighter green colour.

Turdetanians

Map 23: Hispania Baetica Roman province, Turdetani were the inhabitants in large parts of this province before Roman conquest along the Baetis or Rherkes river plain.

Today's Western

Ligurian (i.e. an Indo-European language branch not Celtic but more closely related to Celtic). Also may have been a non-Indo-European people related to the Iberians, but not the same people. A tribal confederation but with much more centralized power, may have formed an early form of Kingdom or a Proto-civilisation (see Tartessos
)

  • Cádiz Province
  • Huelva Province
  • Córdoba Province
  • Córdoba
  • Seville Province

Veneti (Adriatic Veneti)

Transitional people between Celts and Italics? Celticized Italic people? Para-Celtic people?

Possible Celts mixed with other peoples

Celto-Dacian-Germanic

  • Osi/Osii – areas of modern Slovakia[45]

Celto-Germanic

Celtic-Germanic-Iranian

Celto-Illyrians?

Ligurians

Non-Celtic people, heavily Celticized

Rhaetians

).

They lived in Central

better source needed
]

See also

Notes

  1. ^
  2. ^
  3. ^ , 2007, p. 47.
  4. , p. 144.
  5. ^ Géza Alföldy, Noricum, Tome 3 of History of the Provinces of the Roman Empire, 1974, p. 69.
  6. ^ .
  7. ^ a b c "Titus Livius (Livy), The History of Rome, Book 5, chapter 34". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2018-02-12.
  8. ^ A. Mocsy and S. Frere, Pannonia and Upper Moesia. A History of the Middle Danube Provinces of the Roman Empire. p. 14.
  9. ^ Pannonia. A History of the Middle Danube Provinces of the Roman Empire. p. 14.
  10. Frank W. Walbank
    , Polybius, Rome and the Hellenistic World: Essays and Reflections, , 2002, p. 116: "... in A7P 60 (1939) 452 8, is not Antigonus Doson but barbarians from the mainland (either Thracians or Gauls from Tylis) (cf. Rostovizef and Welles (1940) 207-8, Rostovizef (1941) 111, 1645), nor has that inscription anything to do with the Cavan expedition. On ..."
  11. ^ Velika Dautova-Ruševljan and Miroslav Vujović, Rimska vojska u Sremu, 2006, p. 131: "extended as far as Ruma whence continued the territory of another community named after the Celtic tribe of Cornacates"
  12. , 2009, p. 51: "In a short time the Dacians imposed their conditions on the Anerati, Boii, Eravisci, Pannoni, Scordisci,"
  13. , 2006, p. 907.
  14. ^ , p. 81: "In Roman Pannonia the Latobici and Varciani who dwelt east of the Venetic Catari in the upper Sava valley were Celtic but the Colapiani of ..."
  15. , p. 140: "... Autariatae at the expense of the Triballi until, as Strabo remarks, they in their turn were overcome by the Celtic Scordisci in the early third century"
  16. ^ , p. 217.
  17. , p. 24: "the Dindari were a branch of the Scordisci"
  18. , 1992, p. 600: "In the place of the vanished Treres and Tilataei we find the Serdi for whom there is no evidence before the first century BC. It has for long been supposed on convincing linguistic and archeological grounds that this tribe was of Celtic origin"
  19. ^ Dio Cassius, Earnest Cary, and Herbert B. Foster, Dio Cassius: Roman History, Vol. IX, Books 71–80 (Loeb Classical Library, No. 177), 1927, Index: "... 9, 337, 353 Seras, philosopher, condemned to death, 8. 361 Serdi, Thracian tribe defeated by M. Crassus, 6. 73 Seretium,""
  20. ^ Dubravka Balen-Letunič, 40 godina arheoloških istraživanja u sjeverozapadnoj Hrvatskoj, 1986, p. 52: "and the Celtic Serretes"
  21. ^ Alan Bowman, Edward Champlin, and Andrew Lintott, The Cambridge Ancient History, Vol. 10: The Augustan Empire, 43 BC-AD 69, 1996, p. 580: "... 580 I3h. DANUBIAN AND BALKAN PROVINCES Tricornenses of Tricornium (Ritopek) replaced the Celegeri, the Picensii of Pincum ..."
  22. ^ William M. Ramsay, Historical Commentary on Galatians, 1997, p. 302: "... these adaptable Celts were Hellenized early. The term Gallograecia, compared with Themistius' (p. 360) Γαλατία ..."
  23. ^ Roger D. Woodard, The Ancient Languages of Asia Minor, 2008, p. 72: "... The Phrygian elite (like the Galatian) was quickly Hellenized linguistically; the Phrygian tongue was devalued and found refuge only ..."
  24. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Prifysgol Cymru, University of Wales, A Detailed Map of Celtic Settlements in Galatia, Celtic Names and La Tène Material in Anatolia, the Eastern Balkans, and the Pontic Steppes.
  25. ^ a b Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres, quarum unam incolunt Belgae, aliam Aquitani, tertiam qui ipsorum lingua Celtae, nostra Galli appellantur. Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico, Book I, chapter 1
  26. ^ Plutarch, Marcellus, chapters 6-7 [1]
  27. ^ von Hefner, Joseph (1837). Geographie des Transalpinischen Galliens. Munich.
  28. ^ Long, George (1866). Decline of the Roman republic: Volume 2. London.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  29. ^ Snith, William George (1854). Dictionary of Greek and Roman geography: Vol.1. Boston.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  30. Ab Urbe Condita
    . p. 5,34.
  31. ^ Aguña, Julián Hurtado (2003). "Las gentilidades presentes en los testimonios epigráficos procedentes de la Meseta meridional". Boletín del Seminario de Estudios de Arte y Arqueología: Bsaa (69): 185–206.
  32. ^ a b c d e Jorge de Alarcão, “Novas perspectivas sobre os Lusitanos (e outros mundos)”, in Revista portuguesa de Arqueologia, vol. IV, n° 2, 2001, p. 312 e segs.
  33. ^ Ptolemy, Geographia, II, 5, 6
  34. , noting that Ulaidh was the original tribal designation of the Uluti, who are identifiable as the Voluntii of the Ptolomey map and who occupied, at start, all of the historic province of Ulster.
  35. ^ a b c d Indoeuropeos y no Indoeuropeos en la Hispania Prerromana, Salamanca: Universidad, 2000
  36. .
  37. ^ (v. 1)
  38. .
  39. .
  40. .
  41. ^ (Liv. v. 35; Plin. iii. 17. s. 21.)
  42. .
  43. ^ Smith, William. "Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), BAETIS". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. Perseus Digital Library. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  44. Germanic
    tribe.
  45. , 2009, p. 105: "... who had moved to the Hungarian Plain. Another tribe, the Bastarnae, may or may not have been Germanic. ..."
  46. , 2001, p. 12: "... never got near the main body of Roman infantry. The Bastarnae (either Celts or Germans), and `the bravest nation on earth' – Livy ..."
  47. ^ Charles Anthon, A Classical Dictionary: Containing The Principal Proper Names Mentioned In Ancient Authors, Part One, 2005, p. 539: "... Tor, " elevated," " a mountain. (Strabo, 293)"; "the Iapodes (Strabo, 313), a Gallo-Illyrian race occupying the valleys of ..."
  48. , p. 79: "along with the evidence of name formulae, a Venetic element among the Japodes. A group of names identified by Alföldy as of Celtic origin: Ammida, Andes, Iaritus, Matera, Maxa,"
  49. ^ J. J. Wilkes, Dalmatia, Tome 2 of History of the Provinces of the Roman Empire, 1969, pp. 154 and 482.
  50. ^ Géza Alföldy, Noricum, Tome 3 of History of the Provinces of the Roman Empire, 1974, p. 24-5.
  51. ^ Cowles Prichard, James (1841). Researches Into the Physical History of Mankind: 3, Volume 1. Sherwood, Gilbert and Piper. p. 240.
  52. ^ Markey, Thomas (2008). Shared Symbolics, Genre Diffusion, Token Perception and Late Literacy in North-Western Europe. NOWELE.

References

Further reading

External links