Very interesting to hear that you like this type of music. There's a lot of it on youtube now, including some by my cousin Mary Hopkin from the time of Pontardawe Grammar School and later. The word "Celt" is classical Greek, "keltoi", and is not used in our own languages. So "Celtic" is a cultural term, it was a culture that once covered nearly all of Europe. Vercingetorix is Fawr Pen Cad Rhi - High King and Great Battle Leader. The intellectuals in Europe were the Druids, or Derwyddon in our language. Derwen is the oak tree. The Druidical intellectuals were present five thousand years ago, this is known from yew trees that they planted and which are still alive around churches. The llan was built on a much older Druidical site This culture originated in the stone age therefore, which gradually evolved into the iron age. DNA analysis shows that most Britons and Irish are very closely related and from six to fifteen thousand years old in origin. Proto Celtic evolved in Iberia (modern Spain and Portugal) and I can understand many Iberian Celtic words, there are very many of them. Basque is pre Indo European, and British and Irish DNA is essentially identical with Basque DNA, indicating an immense antiquity. The ancient Roman ideas were totally different, they never developed democracy and nearly all the Roman emperors never got an old age pension. Only two survived, the rest were all assassinated, a regrettable habit. The ancient Irish laws (first written down about 600 A. D.) had provisions for people to be looked after in old age, and for infants to be looked after by an extended family. The mentally handicapped were also looked after by law. The Roman system would simply have had them killed. When I was working ion Italy the Tuscans were none too friendly with the Romans - I remember that well at conferences. The Tuscans are influenced by our mutual ancestors the Scandinavians or Goths, many have red hair and so on. Vercingetorix outnumbered Julius Caesar greatly, and should have defeated him by not allowing him to use his own tactics, and gradually grinding down his army as Arminius did in the Teutoburg forest - and got rid of three legions very effectively. The Caledonian Celts got rid of the seventh legion in this way. They are sometimes called Picts, but spoke a language that I could unrestand today. Eventually the Roman Empire collapsed from inherent instability and mafia type brutality. The ancient Iron Age people had no interest in empire building. The Romans tried to eradicate the Druids in Anglesey but failed. They were not civilized people.
In a message dated 27/09/2012 22:51:30 GMT Daylight Time writes:
You have set my understanding straight on Celtic history Myron. I was I think now correctly, under the impression the the Celt's had a large empire spanning much of Europe, and that the reason it hasn't been given proper historical perspective is that the development of writing was late, perhaps a few centuries B.C., relying like the American Indian, on story telling to pass on ideas. In the mean time the Roman's became powerful and essentially erased the Celtic empire from the history books. I'd even read, though it may have been a work of fiction, that the story of Troy and the wooden horse was actually a Celtic undertaking,(and not a horse at all) situated much closer to the Atlantic than the Mediterranean. Somehow the epic poem of Homer was derived from Celtic legion. At any rate, no matter what the history, the Celtic folk music is awesome; I must learn more of it.
Doug
The latest archaeology shows that this was a humane and highly developed society that covered most of Europe from modern Southern Spain to the borders of Scandinavia and modern Czechia, from Western Ireland to Anatolia in modern Turkey. It had a network of large roads and cities and had a highly developed science. The history of Julius Caesar is now known scientifically to be an entire fabrication. The French National Hero is Vercingetorix (Fawr Pen Cad Rhi in modern Welsh). For Welsh learners work out what this means. This is sometimes known as the Celtic Empire, but the Celts had no notion of empire, they were intrinisically democratic. The Celtic culture extended to peoples of all kinds, the British and Irish are closely related to the Iberians and Basques, where the proto Celtic language originated about six thousand years ago. Proto Germanic is about the same age and at one time the two language groups were the same, Proto Indo European (about thirty thousand years old). The Roman Empire collapsed because it was intrinsically unstable, being based on militarism and barbaric practices. The humanity of the Celtic Iron Age is the basis of the civilization we see today, the human rights we have today. I hope that a Celt, Cameron, will not destroy it all before he is quickly evicted next election. The one thing that the Iron Age lacked was a strong defence. Now there is the nuclear mutual assured destruction. Instead of this, I hope to see an alliance between NATO and the Russian Federation that would have such overwhelming strength that no Julius Caesar will ever emerge again. He killed or enslaved no less than 20% of the entire population of Gaul, a very negative influence on civilization. In Britain, Ireland, and Brittany we have the great responsibility of keeping alive the culture and language of one of the greatest achievements of European History, the Iron Age Culture.
The latest archaeology shows that this was a humane and highly developed society that covered most of Europe from modern Southern Spain to the borders of Scandinavia and modern Czechia, from Western Ireland to Anatolia in modern Turkey. It had a network of large roads and cities and had a highly developed science. The history of Julius Caesar is now known scientifically to be an entire fabrication. The French National Hero is Vercingetorix (Fawr Pen Cad Rhi in modern Welsh). For Welsh learners work out what this means. This is sometimes known as the Celtic Empire, but the Celts had no notion of empire, they were intrinisically democratic. The Celtic culture extended to peoples of all kinds, the British and Irish are closely related to the Iberians and Basques, where the proto Celtic language originated about six thousand years ago. Proto Germanic is about the same age and at one time the two language groups were the same, Proto Indo European (about thirty thousand years old). The Roman Empire collapsed because it was intrinsically unstable, being based on militarism and barbaric practices. The humanity of the Celtic Iron Age is the basis of the civilization we see today, the human rights we have today. I hope that a Celt, Cameron, will not destroy it all before he is quickly evicted next election. The one thing that the Iron Age lacked was a strong defence. Now there is the nuclear mutual assured destruction. Instead of this, I hope to see an alliance between NATO and the Russian Federation that would have such overwhelming strength that no Julius Caesar will ever emerge again. He killed or enslaved no less than 20% of the entire population of Gaul, a very negative influence on civilization. In Britain, Ireland, and Brittany we have the great responsibility of keeping alive the culture and language of one of the greatest achievements of European History, the Iron Age Culture.
