The Image of the Celtic Warrior Essay

Introduction

History is a rather complicated matter for study as far as the facts and truth of this science are often mixed with myths and results of people’s imagination. Drawing from this, it is important to be able to differentiate between fictional and factual historical data. This very paper will focus of the assignment of this kind – its main task is to find out whether the character of the Celtic Warrior as seen in the traditional historical thought is a product of imagination or a real figure that existed and acted on the scene of historical events. To achieve this aim, the present paper will make use of the analysis of ancient and modern information about Celts, their customs, lives, habits and beliefs. Thus, the weapons of Celts, their religious beliefs and traditions as well as living habits will be analyzed in order to identify the accuracy of depiction of Celtic warriors in history.

Main body

To begin with, it is necessary to define the term Celtic as such. It is used in history to name the group of ancient tribes that lived in Europe on the territory from the modern Spain to Germany, but their greatest traces can be found in Great Britain where their most powerful kingdoms were situated (Cunliffe, 1997). The timeline of the Celtic history can be outlined as the Iron Age of the period between the 4^th century B. C. and the 2^nd century A. D. Their life on the territory of the modern Great Britain was a rather challenging process as far as they were subject to numerous invasions, one of which finally resulted in the conquest of the land by the Roman troops headed by Julius Caesar (Green, 3 – 8). Traditionally, the Celtic warriors that had to defend their lands against Romans are portrayed as rather brave and strong soldiers with blue color ornaments on their faces and bodies that used wagons and chariots in fighting and preferred to engage into battles while drunk and led by carnyx players. All these items of information are familiar to any person studying history of Celts but it is not necessarily accurate information. To clear it up it is necessary to consider the religious customs of Celts and the attitudes ancient authors formed about these warriors.

As for religious beliefs, Celts were Pagans and worshipped numerous Gods that demanded respective behavior from them. For example, it was a usual practice for Celtic warriors to be buried with their battle chariots or wagons for the purpose of living the spiritual life after the end of the earthly one. It was believed that chariots and wagons placed in tombs together with their owners would help them in their afterlives (Birkhan, 1999). Moreover, the cult of head which existed in the Celtic tribes was another curious religious peculiarity of these warriors. Although largely disputed, the existence of the cult of the human head can not be denied. It is pictured on numerous objects from Celtic culture and especially on shields and belts of Celtic warriors. The human head was used by Celts for drinking fulfilling the role of a cup made of a human skull. One more peculiar religious custom is the so-called “champion’s portion” whose essence lied in the best food and clothes given to the strongest warrior in the tribe. Those who did not agree had to fight till death in order either to prove their right for this portion or be severely punished for their weakness (Birkhan, 1999). All these customs and traditions show that the actual image of the Celtic warrior was not far from the portrait painted by historians as violence, force, warrior talent and power were really the integral attributes of the Celtic culture and of Celtic warriors in particular.

The information about Celts can also be accessed from the works by such ancient authors as Julius Caesar, Posidonius, Livy and many others. For instance, Caser was a famous Roman general who managed to defeat Celts in battles and could depict them with the highest accuracy. His accounts on Celtic warriors are rather informative as he respects the courage of Celts and portrays them as brave warriors that were led by their patriotic feelings towards their land and by religious customs that promised them better lives in the world for the warriors who were killed in fair battles (Burnham, pp. 121 – 145). Posidonius is another author who highlighted the major cultural and military customs of Celts in his works including the champion’s portion tradition, burials of Celtic warriors with their battle chariots of wagons, etc. Livy is also famous for his influence in Roman literature and great attention he paid to depictions of such barbaric tribes as Celts whose military and social traditions, including drunkenness and coloring of faces before battles, are reflected in his works (Rankin, pp. 21 – 37).

Conclusion

To conclude, thus, it is necessary to state that the image of the Celtic warrior is not entirely the figment of imagination but rather a factual historical character whose traits were exaggerated to some extent. However, the major features of the Celtic warriors such as courage, religious beliefs in afterlife and happiness after death in a battle, cults of vehicle burials and human head cult are real traits of the Celtic people who were brave defenders of their land against foreign invaders. On the whole, the Celtic warrior is a real image and the data considered in this paper prove this fact.

Bibliography

1. Cunliffe, B. 1997, The Ancient Celts, Penguin (Non-Classics):Oxford.
2. Forsyth, K. 2006, The Glasgow Celtic Reader. University of Glasgow.
3. Green, M. (ed.) 1995, The Celtic World. Routledge: London. pp. 3 – 8 (Green); 21 – 37 (Rankin); 121 – 145 (Burnham).
4. Birkhan, H. 1999, Kelten/Celts: Images of their culture. Verlag Der Osterreichischen Akademie Der Wiss: Vienna; Bilingual edition