Moss, John The Celtic Tribes. Origins, Ancestry & The Warrior Class

The people we know as Celts were an Iron Age culture that emerged around 3000 years ago in Central Europe, probably in what is now Hungary, southern Germany and the Czech Republic. They were groups of diverse tribal peoples who shared a common language and culture and enjoyed a period of prosperity until they were confronted by an aggressive and expansionist Roman Empire bent on conquest. This book traces their numerous westward migrations over the following centuries and their advance into the Atlantic coastal regions, particularly into countries such as France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Britain and Ireland, where they largely displaced the Neolithic peoples who had previously inhabited these areas. These migrations were rarely peaceful, and so the Celts were widely regarded as warlike and aggressive by nature. The book describes the many clashes between tribes and territories that took place during the Roman period. It explains the fighting methods, tactics and style of Celtic warfare as well as the warlords such as Boudicca, Brennus, Ambiorix and Vercingetorix and others who fought back against the Roman incursions. Despite fierce resistance, little of this great civilisation remained intact in the end. Many of these tribes were cruelly and deliberately exterminated as part of a policy, others were Romanised to become reluctant citizens of the Roman Republic, and only those whose territories lay to the north and west of the empire - in the British Isles, Ireland and Brittany in north-west France - escaped complete subjugation. Several hundred of these ancient Celtic and other related tribes are listed here. Although each had its own identity, they shared a common culture with a widespread and unifying system of religious beliefs, largely held together by druids. The tribes described in the book include Gauls, Teutons, Galatians, Lusitanians, Britons, Picts, Cambrians and Caledonians among many others.