"By 450bc the Imperialistic Massalian Greeks instead tried to subjugate the Celts as a result Celtic power shifted to the north evolving into La Tene, the La Tene later arrived to western Spain and Ireland." Castro Culture which is Celtic dates back to the first millennium BC, Celts were already in Western Iberia ( or Spain for Kings & Generals). The Proto-Celtic influences in the area are verified.
I’m Royal Nobility of Hungary Transylvania, adopted son of an American Diplomat! I fought off a 3000 member human kidnapper organization by myself. I fought off many murder attempts. My father was a good friend of Tokesz Laszlo retired EU Minister that we created the first Democratic Political Organization that beat Communism. My great great grandfather was a Knight of King John Hunyadi one of the best Crusade Warrior fighting for Christianity! I’m a real Legend living. I have a real true story to tell the World!
If I had a nickel for every time a Gaulish warlord named Brennus attacked the Greco-Roman world I'd have two nickels, which isn't a lot but its weird that it happened twice.
I can hardly believe that I once thought the Celts were just the scottish and Irish. Their history is incredible. Thank you for all the videos you make. I LOVE history and love listening to these videos while I work.
Guys I love these. Can we PLEASE get a feature on Gaels of Ireland and Scotland etc. sometime in the future? They're not well understood enough and you guys could clear it up for so many people.
As mentioned, at one point a Celtic mini-kingdom was founded just south of Haemus (Stara Planina). Local Thracians gradually reduced the newcomers. The Celtic capital was called Tylis. The modern Bulgarian village of Tulovo occupies this ancient site.
The invasion of Rome by the Celts was so humiliating that, after managing to drive them out of the city, the Romans even considered abandoning it and moving to Veii (which had been conquered by Camillus before the appearance of Brenus). However, in the end it was decided to destroy the structures and buildings of Veii to rebuild Rome as a way to start from scratch.
I've heard before that this is the origin of 'to the victor, the spoils' comes from. The story I heard is this is what Brennus said to the defeated Romans. They took it to heart.
I didn't expect such a deep dive to result in a fascinating examination of Roman-Celtic relations. It is really fascinating to see how much Romans adopted from the Celts, their one-time oppressors, until seeing the relationship turn around entirely and seeing the Romans conquer the Celtic tribes across so many different theaters of Europe. It really drives home how one of Rome's greatest strengths was adaptability and a willingness to adopt innovation, regardless of where that innovation may have come from. Thanks for this interesting documentary!
As a French fascinated by the Gallic history I must congratulate you for the accuracy of information and precaution of terms used. Indeed it is true that the "Gauls" themselves wouldn't call themselves as such I prefer to consider it as an ethno-cultural continuum. And funny enough still today we have this -W -G shifts for : - Wallonia, in Belgium which is the Germanization of Gaul - Wales in Britain, that we call "Galles" in French :)
Welsh/Wales ça veut dire l'étranger (c'est la raison pour laquelle ils n'aiment pas qu'on les apelle les Gallois/Welshman), en Bretagne le nom ultra courant Le Gall veut dire l'étranger, (le français en l'occurence pour les bretons)
Le nom d'origine en Gaélique brittonique ancien pour les habitants et le pays est "Kymry" qui a évolué (anglicisé ?) en Cymry, puis a donné Cymru pour le pays (mon nom Breton a connu le même sort et a été "francisé" ainsi que le lieu auquel il réfère). Je préfère dire Kymry.
In Portuguese we call Gales, because it was common back then to turn W's into G's when translating a German word to vulgar Latin. So Wilhelm became Gilhelm, that later became Guilherme that is the translation of William. The same way, Waelas became Wales, and Wales became Gales that is how we spell to this day.
@@Quacklebush i dont think the dudes a jackass. Ive grown with discovery, history and nat geo. Im not even american, and these channels were paramount on bringing a lot of amazing knowledge to child me, back in the 90's and even early on 2000s... It is sad to see what those have turned into. Ufortunate. And yeah, youtube is vastly superior in those areas, fortunately.
OMG I'm so excited for this you don't understand! I greatly appreciate your massive effort into covering Celtic history. As a proud Irish man who speaks Gaelic and our language reflects the Celtic era very strongly. Words and phrases we use, made by the Celts who made refuge in Ireland and Scotland, blending into the population and helped shape our art and literature. The famous Irish Celtic cross is stunning evidence of their talent and philosophy in the book of the Kells. I love Kings and Generals!
Where I lived in Germany, with a metal detecting buddy of mine we routinely found Roman and Celtic gravesites funding hundreds of Coins, Fibula, and icons, weapons.
I went to re-watch a different long-form video by you guys not long before this one was released. That left me thinking "Man, I wished they organized all their long-form documentaries into a playlist, so it'd be easier to find one to re-watch."
Beautiful work on this far ranging topic. These stories should be shared with the world's young people, because they make history so much more vivid and comprehensible than the textbooks that I found hard to follow when I was in school. Timeless lessons from times and places and people's of old.
The ancient Celts were more than just fierce warriors; they were a complex society with rich traditions, art, and beliefs that still fascinate us today. Watching a documentary about their history feels like stepping back in time to a world of mysticism, powerful druids, and warrior chieftains. Truly an ancient culture worth exploring!
KIngs and Generals, have you considered making a playlist of these full-length documentaries in chronological order? I like going through these from time to time but they are somewhat hard to find among the other video’s. With a saved playlist people could also keep track of where they.
Brilliant! Thank you very much. There are some parts of the world whose history I have no interest in. But now I can at least view your take on them when I've finished all else.
I was astonished when I came across this video purely by chance. So much scholarship, so much detail and high production values throughout. This documentary exceeds broadcast standards in every respect. The work that must have gone into this two hour production beggars belief. I’d love to know how big your production team is. Substantial I would imagine.
Galicia, in Ukraine, has a disputed etymological origin. It is derived from the village Halych (G sound is an H in Ukrainian). There is a theory on it being a cognate of "Gaul", but other theories have to do with ancient non-Celtic tribes in the area, and the simplest theory is actually that it derives from the Ukrainian word "halka" meaning crow and a crow is also depicted in the coat of arms of Halych and associated with the town. I think the latter makes the most sense but with documented evidence of Celts once inhabiting the region, I can see the potential association with Gaul.
Galicia would have gotten its name from the conquering french and has no connection with the mediaeval Slavic Halych. Ukraine means frontier in Russian and is the frontline against the west.
An individual with Galician Celtic roots, I was very excited to see this video. Great work as always from my favorite war documentary makers, I’ve never found another history channel quite as detailed, directly put, yet easy to ingest.
Can I just take a moment to say the art and music at the 13 minute mark is just SO relaxing?? Something about the statue in a sunshower just made me SO happy, yo. Chalk another one up as to why K&G kicks the ass of every other documentary series out there in terms of production quality. 🌦🌦🌦🌦🌦🌦
Im lucky to be from one of the countries with rich celtic history (Im from Bohemia). Since I was a kid I have visited this village with celtic origins every summer. There are still some celtic ruins in the surrounding forests. Weirdly there are hardly any tourists. Its a very empty and tranquil place. As I grew up, I spent more and more time amongst these ruins. Ancient defensive walls and *deep* defensive trenches (some 15 meters at its deepest), the forest silently watching over it, trees some of which are over 300 years old growing all over the place - Its absolutely magical. I slept there a bunch of times next to a campfire. Ive never seen deeper and more impenetrable darkness than what Ive seen between these ancient walls when the sun goes down. No matter if there is a big bright fullmoon in the sky or not, you just see *nothing* the moment you cross the treeline into these ruins. Nothing moves, nothing makes a sound. Its just you and 3000 years of history all around. I do plan to drop some acid there, thats going to be one hell of a shamanic night.
18:42 One tiny correction. The location where supplicants of Sequana dropped offerings into the water was at the _source_ of the Seine, not at its mouth (the mouth is on the coast of Normandy where it flows into the Channel). The source is in Burgundy, in a commune called "Source-Seine Saint-Germain."
Always wonder how much Roman and Celtic histories/relations change if Vercingetorix wins the battle of Alesia and wipes out Caesar's army. Does the Senate bother trying to avenge him? Or do they consider it a just end for what they deemed an illegal war? I feel like as long as Vercingetorix doesn't let his head swell, he can secure decent enough terms with Pompey that keeps Gaul free at least in that generation, but then they're most likely a buffer client kingdom wedged between Germanic tribes and Rome, so they might end up like Armenia, always worried about both sides and imperial consolidation.
@@BorkDoggo Mark Twain invested all his IQ points on creative writing which left him with a negative score for financial matters, don't be like Mark Twain.
Excellent documentary. Thanks a lot, I learned much from this. In exchange, I offer you the story of the end of Viriathus revolt, which I'm sure you already know, but wasn't expanded upon on the video. It is said that, being harassed by Viriathus forces' guerrilla tactics, the consul Quintus Servilius Caepio tried to subvert Viriathus seconds-in-command, Audax, Ditalcus and Minurus, who had been sent to negotiate a treaty (Viriathus already realizing he couldn't win a prolonged war with Rome). He promised them a substantial bribe and managed to make them betray their leader. After assassinating Viriathus, the three went to Caepio to ask for their reward. Caepio told them "Rome does not pay traitors who kill their chief" and had them killed. Caepio would later return victorious to Rome, but he was denied a triumph because he had won by treachery instead of military prowess. Today, the idiom "Rome does not pay traitors" survives in the Spanish language (I don't know if it does too for our Portuguese neighbours). It's used when a person's questionable acts fail to bring them the benefits they expected. Roma no paga a traidores.
21:43 Galicia isn't a province of Portugal... it's in Spain; though it's more closely related to Portugal in cultural and linguistic terms, indeed; just after the neighboring Spanish region of "Asturias". Anyway, great video! greetings from Venezuela.
It's named after the Calaeci tribe whose port under Roman rule was called Porta Calaeci which later evolved into Portugal and then got chosen as the name for an entire country. So the original Galicia must have included Porto.
@@damionkeeling3103 Firstly, the port was named "Portus Cale", not "Porta Calaeci"... Secondly, there wasn't such a thing as a "Calaeci" tribe (as if it was a single big tribe), nor did they call themselves by that name; "Calaeci" is a generic term used for putting a bunch of tribes in the same bag, though they were all part of the Celticized "Castro Culture", and therefore very closely related, indeed. Thirdly, "Galicia" doesn't equal "Gallaecia" (which included lands in nowadays "Portugal"); modern-day "Galicia" developed from a cultural and political divide between its northern (most in nowadays "Spain") and southern parts (mostly in Portugal). Things such as: 1. the rise of the town of "Lugo" over the previous capital of Gallaecia, "Braga"; 2. the influx and settlement of Britons in the North, and 3. Castile's influence, *would all play their part on the split of Gallaecia, and the birth of the regions of "Galicia" and "Portugal"*.
@@damionkeeling3103 Also, the settlement of Britons in the North during the 5th and 6th centuries A.D. (which concentrated in modern-day Galicia's "mariñas" [coastal areas] of the provinces of "Lugo" and "A Coruña") is the main reason why Galicia could be considered a "Celtic Nation", and why Northern Portugal (former Southern Gallaecia) *can't*. Portugal just didn't get another wave of Celtic migrants after its Romanization, but Galicia did.
@@smllinaress And the Romans had such a presence and influence in the territory that it is today Portugal that in a study done by the Complutense University of Madrid and Coimbra University about the genetics of the Iberians didn't find in the Portuguese the genetic markers of the ancient Romans and modern Italians that are found all over Spain.
I love how the history of the Celts starts out about Celts and slowly turns into a documentary about how Rome destroyed the Celts over a long period of time.
Even after the Roman’s conquered Iberia, there’s still lots of Celtic culture and influence present there. Mostly located in Portugal, Galicia, Asturias, and the Basque region
While the Halstatt culture seems to be the origin of the Celts, DNA studies contradict this - they have traced Celtic DNA migration path from Balkans across N Italy (where they did not stay, but later returned to), S France and N Spain, after that the DNA path goes up the coast of France - then in splits one into British isles (with evidence of a large migration) and the other into central France and S Germany - lastly going back into Balkans and then into Asia Minor. Personally, I don't know how to solve this conflict of Celtic origin theory, but it would have been nice to have the question addressed in this otherwise excellent video.
The name Galli comes from the latin "gallus" which mean rooster. They called them like that because they would decorade their battle helmets with rooster feathers, hence the name. This is also the reason why Frances' coat of arms is the "coq".
While that is true of the latin term and for the english word "gallic" (although the romans probably derived it from celtic *galnati: to be able, rather than from feathered helmets), interestingly it is unrelated to the word Gaul (from french Gaule, ultimately from Frankish)
Roman Ambassadors: "Why did you start this war?" Celts: "The same reason you guys invade your neighbors." Entirety of Rome: "So you have chosen death."
I will wait rather impatiently for the next instalment. This was excellent, and I am very excited to see this level of detail put into the British Isles Celts and Roman Britain.
La Tène art is very pretty, but a mindfuck to draw xD The linguistic development is quite interesting to follow for me, I speak Irish, but now I'm inspired to increase my awareness of the differences between these Celtic languages.
13:50 and in Brittany, the Veneti gave their name to the medieval city of Vannes, same for the Redones and the city of Rennes (Condate Riedonum) (names chosen by the French as in breton their names are Gwened and Roazhon, even if Rennes never was really named that way as it is in Gallo territory of Brittany, not the Breton territory). Great video. A fair tribute to the ancient celts, and a valuable effort to counter the old misconceptions about them. If animal sacrifices have been proven, human sacrifices never were. We can doubt their existence, knowing all the lies greeks and romans built around celts, that were still believed to be true for the most part recently. About the Carnyx, the "war trumpet". It is now believed it had a religious ritual use only, as it's quite impossible handling it on your own its head facing the enemy. It was rather used by two men, its head facing the ground. And if heratic naked warriors willing to fight this way for religious purpose may have existed, celts warfare more likely consisted of well organised walls of spears and shields, assisted by heavily armored nobles and cavalry. But knowing their tribal society organisation, they would have been a small number facing the well organised roman legions, arguing the difficulty they had to counter the roman invasion. That's litteraly what happened in Alesia, the lack of strong unity between different tribes, even if they had strong cultural unity. Disunity, you explained it well. (What is crazy is observing the same plague plunder a flourishing Breton kingdom against the French 1000 years later! Or the britons against the angles and the saxons. Celts in a nutshell 🤷🏻) Not forgetting the fight between the Veneti and Roman fleets. A fascinating piece of historical warfare that proves once more the technological advances of the Gauls. Overall, truly amazing work. You got you a new subscriber!
I never considered the origins of the Celts before watching this documentary. It feels like one of those topics that I just assumed had little historical content before the popular (in this case Roman) history picked up. Boy do I stand corrected.
Roman noble 1: I heard Gauls, like barbarians, sacrifice people to thier wierd gods. Roman noble 2: simply barbaric, anyways lets go to the coliseum, i heard theirs gonna be a blood bath today Roman noble 1: oooh that sounds fun
Magic potions very much were concocted by Druids. The likely ingredient was fly agaric/amantia (The Berserker mushroom.) As someone who has consumed it, I can very much attest to feeling far stronger than usual.
I recently got a triskelion tattoo since my family has part islander/Celt/Welsh background but I feel like I don’t know a whole lot about the culture except through the lense of Roman history and the German migrations.. so I’m gonna have to check this out later 👍
This content is literally without peer. Can't thank you enough for continuing to make this platform a place I come to learn and I hope you continue until no stone is left unturned. Long live the King (and his generals)
Not just saying this as one of their many descendants, but the Celts were such a hardy people. They survived for centuries against insurmountable odds.
"From my ancestors the Gauls I inherited pale blue eyes, a narrow skull, clumsiness in warfare... from them I get idolatry and love of sacrilege" Arthur Rimbaud, 1873.
Don’t judge me but one of my favorite pastimes is getting high and watching these really long videos. Thank you for these as it’s a beautiful account of history that I knew very little of.
Your work is good. The only critique I have is that you omit or gloss over the common root of the Indo Europeans, in this and other presentations. A quick summary of the proto Indo Europeans from the Yamna to the Corded Ware & the splits to the Indo-Aryans, Greeks, Romans etc. could be quick & would add valuable information to the uninformed. Many don't realize that the Celts & Greco-Romans were distantly related, for instance.
As I understand it the Celtic and Italic languages are quite closely related and probably diverted from an ancestral root of a branch of the Indo European mother tongue. More so than the German ic languages anyway.
@@eponymousarchon7442 I've read the same thing. I think the Villanova culture was a cross point. It would make sense since they were neighbors & both inhabited parts of Italy. I used to have a bit of angst towards the Italians for the conquest of Gaul but understanding the shared roots broadend my understanding, not only of my ancestors but of humanity more broadly. It's a fascinating subject & we can't let one tyrant cast a shadow over one of humanities most incredible groups.
Both Latins and Celtics are descendants of the Bell Beaker Culture of the Bronze Age. That culture dominated BA Western Europe and the men carried the R1b y DNA haplogroup. Stregny Stog (Proto Indo-European) > corded ware > Bell Beaker > Celts & Roman, later received more cardial DNA (med) DNA.
@@eponymousarchon7442some linguists (although this is a minority) suggest that Celtic and Italic aren’t fully separate, but rather that Italic is a highly divergent branch of Celtic (they don’t actually call it celtic but this is basically the idea). This is due to the highly divergent nature of P-Celtic and Q-Celtic, it is doubted whether they truly had a common ancestor for a time after Italic had already broken off from Italo-Celtic. Again though, this is not widely accepted, but it is one of several credible theories about the history of all these languages, which goes to show how similar Latin and Celtic are.
Captivating to say the least. It made me think not only about what was being said on the screen but about where it could go and how it would affect my country, the United States. Very well done, you have a friend in Columbus Ohio!
In CK3 I almost always use the TIP Vol II mod to play as a Welshman (a fictional Count of Dyfed) who's trying to revive the old ways of the Britons. Saving Brittany from West Frankia always feels good lol. I've yet to ever make yr Ymerodraeth Brydein (the Empire of Brydein, a name redditors on a Welsh reddit helped me make) but only because of buggy AI and Holy War issues. Maybe I'll try again soon.
You get better each yearl know XD Aztec,Mayan,lnca civilization history and much of Desoto,Pizarro,Cortez,Deleon,an😊d many others...accuratte,well made & concise.Thank you for condensing all that into 1 hour.Excellent job.Damnit man.lol
At the start now. I’m a Celtic literature historian. Fascinated to see how you approach this because, particularly theories of early Celtic history are heavily debated and rapidly evolving. I hope you mention this!
The Great Celts has Deep cultures, Rich Arts and Brave people like Today Scottish, Irish and Welsh people; And well I like their instruments like Irish flute and Scottish bagpipe. The ancient Celts like gaulish Had many wars with Romans!! Love and Respect y'all from iran or Persia, a country far away from you, in the heart of Middle East The heirs of Ancient Celts ❤️🦁☀️💚 🤝 🏴🇮🇪🏴
I'm 71 and I can remember the first time I heard Celts mentioned. The writer pretty much said they were a few dying out barbarians thet had no real language, arts, villages, nothing! The people that came into the country side killed them off (no great loss, since they weren't much anyway) and what few were there were no match for the more modern invaders. So sad. Over the years more and more information turns up.
2 hour long video. . . From Kings and Generals means your in for a treat! Great page and amazing content you do, love your channel. So much to learn and you make it interesting for those who might not be that mad about history! Fortunately for me im history mad 😅 keep up the great work
@32:07 They most have wanted the hills to their right to prevent flanking. Otherwise it seem like it would have been smarter to position farther back down the road where the area between the Allia and the Tiber was narrower. Maybe even across the river. Being outnumbered almost 2 to 1 and not having the equipment and strategy of later Romans, they were probably screwed anywhere they fought.
Reference to celtiberian and Spanish roots in Mexico: Who are they, then, these Mexicans? They are not merely the poor, feeble, down-trodden Indians who fled before Cortez at the first blast of his trumpet. The best blood of the hidalgos of Spain flows in many of their veins; they have cherished recollections of their ancient renown. These are the same people who for seventy years kept up war upon Holland, a war redounding neither to the honor nor the profit of the Spanish monarchy, but one envincing the indomitable spirit and haughty obstinacy of the nation by which it was waged. They are in whole or in part descendants of the celtiberians, the feared enemies of the army of Rome, who have by legend never sighted in death or to the subjection of the Roman aggression, and defeated Rome in part with the Visigoths and Suevi (Suebi) who finally crushed that colossal power. They are Spaniards who walk the freeways with the stiletto under their cloaks and bide their time, and shall rise up when the oppressor least expects it.