KAT Harper here. I could listen to Neil Oliver's Scots burr for hours--in fact, I DO--and never tire of it. Add to it the fact that he's holding forth about archaeology and history, and you have an absolute feast for your mind. Ms. Roberts is very good, as well. I'm thoroughly enjoying this series, on every level. Thank you for posting it.
Brenda Harper I ABSOLUTELY agree with you. I could listen to Neil talk about almost anything.......like, linoleum or math. He's young but he definitely has an aura of wisdom about him. ☺
Ann Gamula Indeed! The truth is, Neil is one of the foremost authorities/ archaeologists of Celtic, then Scottish history. His commentaries on the early Scottish monarchy are, for me, anyway. utterly spellbinding. If you can find it, his series "The Face Of Britain" is excellent. And his baritone voice with its rich Scots burr, is irresistible.
Prof. Mrs Alice Roberts, an Anatomist and Professor of Science at Birmingham University. A Mother, a TV Presenter and a Pilot. Try and match that for the modern day women. I could listen to her for hours and do.
Vercingetorix's defeat nearly had me in tears, & I never cry in even the most sad movies or shows, where I'm emotionally invested in the characters... perhaps this is because Vercingetorix was real, & a great symbol of freedom, & heritage, even to one who isn't (that) french, such as myself... He will remebered as the rightful king of Gaul. Long hail Vercingetorix, liberator of the Gauls!
Vencingétorix and the Gauls had the balls to face the mightiest army of their time, that no empire could ever defeat (Carthage, Macedon/Greece, Egypt, Assyria, and so forth). I'm proud of my Celtic ancestors, and «Liberty or Death» is their heritage to the French and all our Celtic brothers.
Well.. Rome won some of the battles, but in the long run, they lost. Rome fell a long time ago, their culture and language is dead, something which belongs in history books now. But the gallic language is well and alive, we still tell our children about the fae and mythology related to gods and such sometimes. The celtic culture survived the romans, time itself and even managed to "kind of" get around christianity somehow, roman culture didnt. I hope that thought will cheer you up a bit, haha. Romans were dickheads though, their end was inevitable .
Being of Scot Decent this thrills my heritage wish My Grandfather who was born in Scotland were alive to watch it. have sent this series links to cousins to watch also.
Celtic history so reminded me the scythian history. They make mounds on burials., jewelry is zoomorphic, they make large calderons, human and horse sacrifice, extensive use of gold on everything, excellent metal work and etc
Greetings from Turkey. Celts migrated to Anatolia in 278 BC and established a kingdom in Central Anatolia. Although the Celts preserved their language and culture for a long time, after a certain time they took Greek names and most of them became Greek. This situation continued until the 1000s AD. A French traveler who came to Anatolia during the Battle of Manzikert noticed that there was a tribe similar to them in Central Anatolia and wrote to the sources. In other words, although the majority of the Celts became Greek, they preserved a certain part of their culture. When the Turks came to Anatolia, this people is not mentioned at all. They probably became Muslims and became Turkish. The last place where the Celts settled in Anatolia is the city of Yozgat in Turkey. Among the Turks in Turkey, there are 3 regions with the most blond hair: 1) Thrace (Balkan) region 2) East Black Sea region 3) the city of Yozgat The reason why blond hair is common among Yozgat Turks is related to the Celts. In addition, this city has the highest rate of red hair in Turkey. So the Celts didn't go anywhere and they still live in Anatolia. It is said that 15% of the people in Turkey are Celtic.
Tribal is tribal. Ìt leads to local sènse of identification and a desire to follow a well-known chief. Compare this to the nation and civilisation based identity and legal structure of Rome. It could plan and use it's resources more efficiently than a hot-headed celtic rabble. I am celtic, from the tip of my toes to the reddish tips of my hair, but the Celts were ultimately doomed. The multinationals win every time.
@ Caleb. They seemed to have been violent in nature,. That said I have Celtic blood as do many/most Europeans. So having Celtic ancestors does not make you special.
@@jamesdunn9714They seem to have been violent in nature??!! Is that supposed to make him feel ashamed? These are ancient people in ancient times! Are you really employing a politically correct way of thinking when judging an ancient people in ancient times?
@@jamesdunn9714 violent in nature? That's quite an assessment from your cozy, PC, self loathing perspective. Those times were violent times for all. Being in touch with ones ancestry isn't an attempt at feeling "special". Go be a leftist somewhere else
Very surprised in a documentary about Celts that no mention is made of Marcus Antonius Gnipho, Julius Caesar's private tutor, and a grammarian, an orator of great renoun. As a Gaul, his stories of his people on his impressionable pupil should not be underestimated.
History shows that the thirst of power, complete power is only doomed to the next one Born with all the new ideas and knowledge to be reckoned with............... NEXT!!!
What ceasar did is, in modern terms, genocide in Gaul. Did the same thing to the Belgae and the Welsh in Wales. *whoops* Narrator just said the same thing.
Before we get too self righteous about this, lets not forget that we were still displaying heads on spikes well up to the beginning of the 17th century at least, often on Tower bridge. Does anybody know when this practice actually stopped? I know it was common in Tudor times, how long did it continue into Stuart times?
Caroline Barnes, it's the cultural and spiritual significance of taking heads that's important. For Celts that's where a warrior's soul is. If you take his head, he won't be reincarnated and some or all of his supernatural power mayl accrue to you. They didn't take heads just for jollies or to deter others, as later "civilizations" did. This is a bit like the mutilation of Custer's corpse after little Bighorn. It wasn't "an atrocity". The Sioux pierced his ears so that in the next life he would listen, as he hadn't listened in this life.
I find the Frenchman extremely arrogant and self-important. He cares nothing about history or truth , just his opinions being more important than anyone else’s seems like he is the only European Historian that can’t accept the reality of the Celts and their successes.
celts were not in any way a race, they were a group of different people who shared the same culture. So unless you practice slavery, human sacrifice and beheading, you are no more a celt than a Bantu or Tutsi, for crying out loud!
@roberto lang bullshit yourself, dear. You are falling for a very old trick. Celts were not a genetically defined group, but hey, believe what you want. I can see it doesn t fit in your view of the world.
Are documentaries supposed to mention every famous person attributed to a culture? That would be a list not a documentary. Ambiorix , Indutiomarus, Commius, Ariovistus were also left out Cassivellaunus among thousands of others of Gallic Heroes we only know because their names were recorded by their enemies. What about the heroes whose names we don't know?
It's a small thing, but it does please me that they cast as Caesar someone who actually looked like him for once, instead of, as is generally the case, some younger, handsomer man with a full head of hair.
@@justwestman488 I don't believe that's entirely true. Caesar was born in 100 bc. This battle was 52bc. Caesar was dead 8 years later. He may have been young when all the conflicts began but he was well into maturity during this battle. Just as the king of the 300 was well into old age during that battle. I think he was 65. The youngest member of the 300 was 58 as I recall. These were not young men. Which is exactly what makes the accomplishments of Alexander the great so magnificent. When Caesar passed the monument and statue of Alexander the great he was quoted as saying, "Here I stand before Alexander at the same age he was when he had already conquered the world, and I, I've accomplished nothing." This aren't the words of a young man who has already conquered Vercingetorix.
Terror is a very effective weapon, but the Celts taking of the enemy and the enemy's entourage heads' as trophies are hardly unique. For the day, or for the next 2 millennia, using torture, death, dismemberment and being allowed to rot in pieces, and allowing that information to be spread far and wide, did make many a small group much safer all over Europe and the near East. Vlad III Dracul is fine example, live science as a great fact based article. Also, I'd theorize these warriors were subject to the same psychic trauma our warriors are today, but had centuries to adapt methods of recovery, such as torture, death, dismemberment and taking pride in creating a horror legend in an attempt to save their culture.
People keep commenting on Neil Oliver, especially his voice. His co presenter Prof. Mrs Alice Roberts, an Anatomist and Professor of Science at Birmingham University. A Mother, a TV Presenter and a Pilot. Try and match that for the modern day women. I could listen to her for hours and do.
@chiron2620 Of coarse you think you have a place to speak here.. of coarse you have a profile pic for everyone to see.. these are not your people. You see Alice and have immediate jealousy, and contempt. You don’t have a place here to speak. By the way you are using my people’s language, and use our tech, our civilization. You live in comfort in my lands.. these are not yours. Cultures are not equal. Go to your own people and lands and you build them for yourselves. It is better if we are separated..
It took the Romans 200 years after the fall of Carthage and Hannibal to conquer Hispania but Celtiberians are hardly ever mentioned in mainstream documentaries its always Romans vs Gaul, Germania, Britannia. Even though the Romans got their signature sword, the Gladius Hispaniensis from Celtiberian tribes they encountered. Heres a description of what the Gladius was capable of in the hands of a Celtiberian warrior: "Livy gives the following graphic account of the effectiveness of the gladius Hispaniensis in battle c. 200 BCE: [Macedonian soldiers] being accustomed to fight with the Greeks and Illyrians, had seen the wounds which were made by spears and arrows and, on rare occasions, by lance; but now they saw bodies mutilated by the Spanish sword (gladius Hispaniensis), arms lopped off at the shoulder, or heads separated from bodies with the neck cut right through, or entrails lying open, and other repulsive wounds, and there was general panic as they began to see what sort of weapon and what sort of men they had to fight."
To bad they didn't talk about Caesar's defeat at Gergovia where the Celts attacked the Romans in the rear while they were trying to besiege Vercingetorix's home town. The Romans had 60,000 at Alesia and perhaps more tribal allies, says Wikipedia, but they might be overstating it. They had cavalry from Germania serving as mercenaries. Caesar's counterattack with 6000 was aimed at the rear of the Celtic armies who were already committed to the fight and taking heavy casualties from the Roman fortified lines.
Angie Westall if you wear white all the time , you learn how to keep it clean. Neil Oliver wears white pants and a brown sport coat in most of his videos.
Even had it been Vercingetorix' plan right from the start to entrap Caesar and his army between his force in Alesia and the massive Gallic relief army, as was shown decisively, he had trapped himself and his men without need. He knew of course that to confront the Romans in open battle - and especially Caesar's veteran legions - could be suicidal, but if he had continued his tactics of guerilla warfare and a burnt earth strategy, the outcome would not have been so quickly achieved by Caesar. Had Caesar been forced to campaign in Gaul just for another few years, he would have eventually lost his command and would have been open to dangerous court cases in Rome against him, endangering his whole political career. In many ways, Vercingetorix did Caesar a massive favour by allowing himself to get bottled up on that plateau at Alesia, more than he might have realised at the time.
She is beautiful, of coarse she is from our Celtic stock.. we have some beautiful women.. all of our assorted European ethnicities have beautiful women to be sure..
Warriors wear necklaces to protect against cuts; plain and simple. The metal and design only play into status, but to protect the neck from an edge, is vital.
It's a pity there's no mention of the Lusitanian, Celtiberian and Cantabrian wars in the Iberian Peninsula. Viriatus' and Numantia's stance against Rome are very important parts of ancient historiography. Not many towns have resisted a 12 year long siege, especially against Rome.
Another thing: the general idea that we can see in the film ls that the celts were a single united tribe, which is not true. In fact in many cases the number one enemy for one celtic tribe is another celtic tribe, as it is written in Caesar's Commentarii de Bella Gallica.
Hanna W and it’s real Neil Oliver is a historian who specializes in ancient people’s and their culture but the Celts, Scots and tribes of England seem to be his favorites.
I've no idea about the accuracy of facts in this series, I'm not an expert, just an interested American who wears a Celtic knot ring he bought in Montana and is of, as his father said, "Scotch-Irish" and German heritage. Obviously the Scots and Irish parts of my family are probably descended from Celts, but this series is now telling me that even my German roots might have some Celtic influence. I'm not sure why, but this makes me happy! And as a side note: these two presenters might be the most attractive duo in British-y docs - everyone seems to love his brogue, and she's just so easy on the eyes. I don't mean to take away from their scholarship; I'm just pointing out the obvious reasons why they're on tv.
The one thing that makes me sad is the Caesar's legionaries' costumes design. That's not how the republican legionaries looked like. They hadn't got lorica segmentata then, it was used much later, as well as the rectangular scutum shield and helmet. Common gear of the Caesar's legionaries was oval shaped scutum with longitudinal plank and the montefortino helmet.
Bin-Ich Ein Deutscher?-Ja; bin-Ich ein Englander?-Ja; bin-Ich ein Ecoss-laender?-Ja; Bin-Ich Ein Maori?-Ja. Ich-bin ein Neu-Zeelander. Am I Proud of THEM, My Ancient Ancestors? -- YES!. Kind and Respectful Regards to ALL My Cousin(e)s: Uyraell, New Zealand.
It sounds like the animal bones in the graves are evidence of a FEAST for the fallen as Celts were big into feasting & disarticulation of their skeletons is required to get at the meat. As ALL warrior cultures have intricate death rituals, and of course horses are both owned by the warrior (status symbol itself) and are large enough AND always on hand.
Who is the older gentleman who explains to Neil how the Celts would have used spears? He's got great energy, like the Zahi Hawass of ancient weapons lol
Montgummibear You've probably been told by now, but the weaponry expert was Mike Loades. He was and is the go-to guy for any documentarians who need info on ancient weaponry. He did an incredible mini-series on the reviving of the skill of jousting, in which he taught a group of carefully chosen men...one of them an American cop from Washington, D.C...to joust. They were given heraldry, taught the social graces of the era, then fought in the tournament. You'll be amazed who won...I highly recommend "The Making Of A Knight" for anyone interested in the art of the joust.
Romans showed no mercy in Asturies (on the North Atlantic coast of Spain) either. The Ástures and Celts there had the most important reserves of gold in Europe. They started conquering the Iberian peninsula and conquered Europe but our peoples still resisted so they sent their best Legio and best general at the time. Ástures and Celts finally surrendered but either killed themselves or, if caught and sold as slave s, they killed their master and came back to Asturies to fight. The Romans, then, decided to chop the hands of everyone in each tribe, men, women, children, babies and old people. It was a genocide, just for our gold. Dammed Mediterraneans!
Correction,mate. When you said that Gauls were tamed,you are wrong. They were never tamed. They were romanized,yes,but never tamed. In 21 AD,ther was a major revolt of the Celts led by Julius Sacrovir. He and his allied anti roman celts inflicted several defeats on romans. In 69-70 AD,the revolt of Civilis took place and in 3rd century AD,the Gallic Empire was born. Most famous Celtic revolts were the revolts of the Bagaudae a.k.a. the Celts that opposed romanization and celtic paesants. That was a major threat to Roman authority. And in Gaul were also areas that Romanization never occured. For example the Armorican Celts (regained independence from Rome in 386 AD) and mountain areas of Gaul. Romanization was a cultural influence that many Celts adopted in time. Romanization never occured over night,it took one century for the celts to adapt.
This is not a very accurate account of Alesia. What about Vercingetorix's fatal decision to send his cavalry away? Or the fact that letting the refugees out would have given the Gauls a perfect opportunity to breach the Roman line? Or the fact that the Romans had been dealing with the Celts in Gaul for centuries (and Julius Caesar for 8-years) so they wouldn't have been freaked out by their opponent?
@AeroDoe Ghetorix probably didn't want to have to feed his horses as well. It's clear he made a play to get Ceasar's Army to be sandwiched into the Fortress, and with that plan, I doubt they had enough food for Cavalry. They're also usually not as useful in a siege, however in this situation could have been with Ceasar's plan, but oh well. Furthermore, a lot of this info is likely just Propaganda from the times. Most Roman philosophers were also Roman, and in essence propagandized much of their History, as well as the customs of their enemies. Celtic culture is hard to pin down because they have no real written language, or rather more accurately, they have a custom of oral history, not written. The prevalence of human sacrifice, especially in later Celtic culture is questionable. We know they stopped sacrificing during funerals. It's likely they simply just executed Prisoners after a fight, either through malice or a certain lack of resources to feed prisoners. Accounts of Celts using heads as Trophies are probably true to some extent, used as perhaps a fear tactic in battle. But the Romans did that too, with heads on pikes. Mass murder, genocide and generally not treating prisoners favorably aren't rare in this era.
When the Celts sacked Rome in 387 BC and took their gold they lost their chance. They left Rome and let them rebuild into a meterianian power. They could have stayed and settled in the much nicer climate of Italy.
You mean "a Mediterranean power". To live in Rome, you had to be a Roman and Celts didn't want to be Romans. Plus, they had families in their homelands.
I have a problem with all of these “Ritual Sacrifice” places that historians keep finding. Couldn’t the platform at 5:45 just as easily be a nice spot to have a good piss up and watch the sun go down?
When it comes to how the style in which the Romans drew and sculpted people/human figures, anyone else kinda get the feeling like it just seems a thousand years ahead of its time?
They were copying on the Greeks who'd developed those skills much earlier - give credit where it's due. That 'advance" was 'lost' for a good long period but was resurrected in the Renaissance. A little history and art history will provide a more informed opinion and understanding. Maybe time to develop your talents through wider study?
I have read and re-read his book : A Histroy of Britain. I do love the passion and poetry you can fell when he talks about the old men fighting the Ice, men like us, he makes me love them.... Just one question if anyone could help me: I am Italian, from Torino, but ... his English sounds quite "strange" to me, it sounds very hard, very "German". Is that because he is Scottish?... I adore English but I am not mother tongue, and I do hear this big difference in his sound...:( Thanks. Grazie !
Yes he has a quite noticeable Scottish accent, although it's not too strong, so he's still understandable. I say this as an American, so I don't hear Scottish or British accents very often, but he is understandable to me. Of course that might partially be because he's articulating for TV. Not all people with Scottish accents are totally understandable to all English speakers -- it depends on how strong the accent is. I understand that British people also have a hard time understanding a strong Southern US accent, and certain accents in Yorkshire are also difficult to understand for speakers of "standard" dialects of English. I'm sure there are some regions in Italy where people can have strong accents that are harder to understand for Italians who speak the standard dialect, if the accent is strong. Scottish is one such regional accent like that for English.
While it is obvious for anybody who knows something about Roman armour and uniforms that those shown in the historical re-enactments in this episode are from about 100 years later, and not from the late Roman Republican era, at least they can be said to clearly represent Roman legionaries. Compared to those shown in the first episode, which would have been more fitting for the siege of Troy and not for any Romans of the 4th century BC, they are at least far more authentic.
The Celts came to Holland AD1known as the Boii or Böhm tribe . They went to Bohemia . I am from the Böhm fam line . Old ancient celric line ,dessendent from Greece .
I love the stabs the subtitles take at the Scots dialect of Neil Oliver. Also, that the subtitler could not figure out how Dr. Alice was saying "coach". They just copped out and didn't interpret it at all in the first of this series.
+Queen TwilightSparkle Absolutely not...in a past life she was MY wife...hubba hubba! Seriously though, She did her DNA in her series 'An Incredible Human Journey". "Europa" is the 'mother' of the earliest colonists, simultaneous to the Neanderthals, and I think the ancestor of the Celts. "Iris" is a later 'mother' who's line comes into Europa from the east about 20,000 years later. Alice is related to Iris, not Europa.
I was watching this documentary on the Roku channel & was appalled by the 'subtitles', they do not match what is actually being said. It was an entirely different program. So I came here to see if the actual subtitles for episode two were right. For the most part they are, BUT some of the dialogue is subtitled wrong. So weird?
I couldn't help noticing that when they were talking about the Roman civilization throughout this episode, they were referring to it as the Roman Empire. This episode ends with Caesar's victory in Gaul. I may be wrong, but doesn't this entire episode take place while Rome was still a republic? I mean, the Empire didn't start until after the Battle of Actinium and Augustus took control? It's kind of disconcerting to see a large budget, three part historical series make such a glaring error. With the time gap like that, it is like saying that Christopher Columbus founded the United States. At some points they are like 500 years off. Pretty big time jump.
Probably because there already was a de facto empire, even if the central government hadn't taken on that term or form yet. The mongols also had an empire, as did Great Britain, and they didn't have "Emperors" at their head or self-annointed status, at least at the beginning.
Considering most of what we know about them was written many years after the fact. So honestly, a lot of the studies of ancient, oral tradition peoples is a lot of guesswork
@@CarlosSanchez-my7zg this is true, to a degree. The Romans did keep very detailed notes that are still in existence today. In fact, that is why I am currently learning Ancient Latin... as opposed to Modern Latin, which, believe it or not, is still the official language of one nation till this day. The mistake that this expert makes is quite grievous, although to an untrained ear may seem trivial, as history seem to focus on their history as an empire. But, let me put it into a better perspective for you and others... Imagine that the United States, which at the time of writing this, is a Republic (if you question that, just recite the Pledge of Allegiance. ) But, at some point in the future, the government is overthrown and led by a dictatorship. It would therefore be an Empire. Now, if someone was to say that the American Civil War occured in the American Empire, you would look at them kind of funny. What is happening is the exact same thing here. Now, granted... some documentaries do try to water down the language for a more general audience. But, that only shows the level at which such a documentary was intended for. All I would like to do is point out that fact.
Does the keltic warrior who seduces the narrator with his comic ears come out of Walt Dysney' Micky Mouse heritage ? Anyway ,I am deeply disgusted by these verminous keltic hordes of head cutters
With all respect for Mike Loades, one can hardly say that the normal Celtic warrior was a "professional soldier". If any Celts were, they were the aristocrats, the chieftains of their tribes who had the time and wealth to concentrate on warfare. The normal Celt was a farmer or tradesman, who only ever fought when his tribe went to war - he was never a professional soldier (unless you talk about the Celtic mercenaries employed by Greeks, Romans and other nations elsewhere). This is not to say that they were not proficient in weaponry and tactics, only that one cannot compare them to the later, professional Roman army of the Empire - or even the later Gallic and other Celtic auxiliary soldiers serving in the Roman army. These were definitely professionals.
Some pretty sloppy history going on there, trying to overplay the David v Goliath theme. Rome was NOT a mighty empire when the Gauls attacked c. 390 BCE. It hadn't even started its expansion and consolidation of the Italian province yet. It was still in the early days of the Roman Republic which was centered around the area of Latium. Roman culture itself had strong Iron Age cultural roots in the Latin tribes, which eventually became Roman. And that statue? It was a Roman copy of a Hellenistic statue possibly c. 230, to celebrate the victory of Attalus of Pergamum over the Gaulic invaders.
You are taking in the whole series.. you just picked up on this one.. this is the second episode.. the first episode went over this.. think and do you research before you speak.
The way the Celtic religious practices are portrayed, you'd assume there was a lot of human sacrifice. But the evidence presented seems to show that the battle constituted the sacrifice (if any) and the decapitations or other dismemberments happened after the battle. It's unusual and to many may seem sacrilegious, but it's not nearly as barbaric as live human sacrifice. We know postmortem severing of heads was a relatively common practice in history, either to display the headless bodies, or the heads themselves as a warning or fear tactic. Whose to say it wasn't the same for the Celts?
There's other evidence, although it's sure that some Roman reporting is pure propaganda. I believe they've discovered a cache somewhere of numerous youthful bodies, both boys and girls, in a wooden cage, and another (or others) with just arms. Still a lot to discover, if ever we can;
In Switzerland they found several places with strong hints to human sacrifice, and as far as I remember, aslo in britain. Some of them appeared to be a druid, too.
KAT Harper here. I could listen to Neil Oliver's Scots burr for hours--in fact, I DO--and never tire of it. Add to it the fact that he's holding forth about archaeology and history, and you have an absolute feast for your mind. Ms. Roberts is very good, as well. I'm thoroughly enjoying this series, on every level. Thank you for posting it.
Brenda Harper I ABSOLUTELY agree with you. I could listen to Neil talk about almost anything.......like, linoleum or math.
He's young but he definitely has an aura of wisdom about him. ☺
Ann Gamula Indeed! The truth is, Neil is one of the foremost authorities/ archaeologists of Celtic, then Scottish history. His commentaries on the early Scottish monarchy are, for me, anyway. utterly spellbinding. If you can find it, his series "The Face Of Britain" is excellent. And his baritone voice with its rich Scots burr, is irresistible.
Prof. Mrs Alice Roberts, an Anatomist and Professor of Science at Birmingham University. A Mother, a TV Presenter and a Pilot. Try and match that for the modern day women. I could listen to her for hours and do.
His Stonehenge documentary, I love it, and I have seen it quite a few times! 🌝
Also, ms Robert is lovely.
What I love about him is his total passion and gleeful joy about what he's talking about. His passion for this subject is quite sexy
you ever watch his personal channel? i love it.
The history of the Celts is fascinating. Woke up to this video playing and it is a most fortunate happenstance. Thank you for sharing.
Proud of my Visigoth Celtic and Viking ancestry. Simply makes for fascinating stuff of magic, legends and dragons. Love this series!
Any people who kicked Roman butt at some point in time is a good thing... I always root for the Celts even though I know they're going to lose lol
@roberto lang if there was a comma between the two it makes perfect sense.
Vercingetorix's defeat nearly had me in tears, & I never cry in even the most sad movies or shows, where I'm emotionally invested in the characters... perhaps this is because Vercingetorix was real, & a great symbol of freedom, & heritage, even to one who isn't (that) french, such as myself...
He will remebered as the rightful king of Gaul. Long hail Vercingetorix, liberator of the Gauls!
Vencingétorix and the Gauls had the balls to face the mightiest army of their time, that no empire could ever defeat (Carthage, Macedon/Greece, Egypt, Assyria, and so forth). I'm proud of my Celtic ancestors, and «Liberty or Death» is their heritage to the French and all our Celtic brothers.
Well.. Rome won some of the battles, but in the long run, they lost. Rome fell a long time ago, their culture and language is dead, something which belongs in history books now. But the gallic language is well and alive, we still tell our children about the fae and mythology related to gods and such sometimes. The celtic culture survived the romans, time itself and even managed to "kind of" get around christianity somehow, roman culture didnt. I hope that thought will cheer you up a bit, haha. Romans were dickheads though, their end was inevitable .
yes i knew the story and dropped out so as not to watch. I know, a whimp
@@misssyfoxyFinally, someone else who doesn't think the Romans were so great! Yes! They were dickheads indeed! Great post.
@@misssyfoxy It was their pretty cooking pots made from galena lead sulphide that did it..😁
Violence and passion. Style and daredevilry.
Is this why the best rock bands all hail from the Celtic fringes of UK?
Being of Scot Decent this thrills my heritage wish My Grandfather who was born in Scotland were alive to watch it. have sent this series links to cousins to watch also.
Celtic history so reminded me the scythian history. They make mounds on burials., jewelry is zoomorphic, they make large calderons, human and horse sacrifice, extensive use of gold on everything, excellent metal work and etc
This is for good reason.. the Celts, Germanic tribes, are the descendants of of the Scythian.. the Yamnaya.
Greetings from Turkey. Celts migrated to Anatolia in 278 BC and established a kingdom in Central Anatolia. Although the Celts preserved their language and culture for a long time, after a certain time they took Greek names and most of them became Greek. This situation continued until the 1000s AD. A French traveler who came to Anatolia during the Battle of Manzikert noticed that there was a tribe similar to them in Central Anatolia and wrote to the sources. In other words, although the majority of the Celts became Greek, they preserved a certain part of their culture. When the Turks came to Anatolia, this people is not mentioned at all. They probably became Muslims and became Turkish.
The last place where the Celts settled in Anatolia is the city of Yozgat in Turkey. Among the Turks in Turkey, there are 3 regions with the most blond hair: 1) Thrace (Balkan) region 2) East Black Sea region 3) the city of Yozgat The reason why blond hair is common among Yozgat Turks is related to the Celts. In addition, this city has the highest rate of red hair in Turkey. So the Celts didn't go anywhere and they still live in Anatolia. It is said that 15% of the people in Turkey are Celtic.
I can tell that her feelings about celtic warriors are far warmer than mere fascination...
Can you? I mean, she did choose it to specialize in.
Greeks take from the Celts the shield "thureos". Celts was a greats blacksmiths.
Neil Oliver has a beautiful accent.I love watching about the past.And Neil is very handsome
He from Scotland?
@@KhongBinhThuong yes
Agree!
The great tragedy of the Celtic people was that they would rather squabble among themselves than unite against a common enemy.
Tribal is tribal. Ìt leads to local sènse of identification and a desire to follow a well-known chief. Compare this to the nation and civilisation based identity and legal structure of Rome. It could plan and use it's resources more efficiently than a hot-headed celtic rabble. I am celtic, from the tip of my toes to the reddish tips of my hair, but the Celts were ultimately doomed. The multinationals win every time.
reminds me of the native american. Just goes to show you the negatives of being a tribal.
And the Scottish
Proud to be Celtic. No better ancestry to have.
Caleb MacMoyer same here brother
@ Caleb. They seemed to have been violent in nature,. That said I have Celtic blood as do many/most Europeans. So having Celtic ancestors does not make you special.
@@jamesdunn9714They seem to have been violent in nature??!! Is that supposed to make him feel ashamed? These are ancient people in ancient times! Are you really employing a politically correct way of thinking when judging an ancient people in ancient times?
completely agree
@@jamesdunn9714 violent in nature? That's quite an assessment from your cozy, PC, self loathing perspective. Those times were violent times for all. Being in touch with ones ancestry isn't an attempt at feeling "special".
Go be a leftist somewhere else
Very surprised in a documentary about Celts that no mention is made of Marcus Antonius Gnipho, Julius Caesar's private tutor, and a grammarian, an orator of great renoun.
As a Gaul, his stories of his people on his impressionable pupil should not be underestimated.
agree! His mother was a Celt yes? I was thinking the same thing.
Ich finde die Sendungen ganz grosse klasse 👍
Episode 3 is also uploaded: th-cam.com/video/MhkuLeobhXo/w-d-xo.html
Enjoy!
History shows that the thirst of power, complete power is only doomed to the next one Born with all the new ideas and knowledge to be reckoned with............... NEXT!!!
Further is not a fancy way of saying farther. That grates my ears. Farther is a distance. You further ability and thought...
11:00 - Hey it’s Getafix’s cauldron! There’s Oblix falling in as a baby, Astrix drinking from the ladle, all under Chief Vitastatistix!
@Crystal M Don't forget Cacofonix howling his tunes ✨
Wait, what?
What ceasar did is, in modern terms, genocide in Gaul. Did the same thing to the Belgae and the Welsh in Wales. *whoops* Narrator just said the same thing.
Yes the celts offered grain, slaves, and leather to Mediterranean traders, but salt was the major trade item
Again, thank you! This just may be the best documentary series I have seen all year.
Before we get too self righteous about this, lets not forget that we were still displaying heads on spikes well up to the beginning of the 17th century at least, often on Tower bridge. Does anybody know when this practice actually stopped? I know it was common in Tudor times, how long did it continue into Stuart times?
Caroline Barnes, it's the cultural and spiritual significance of taking heads that's important. For Celts that's where a warrior's soul is. If you take his head, he won't be reincarnated and some or all of his supernatural power mayl accrue to you. They didn't take heads just for jollies or to deter others, as later "civilizations" did. This is a bit like the mutilation of Custer's corpse after little Bighorn. It wasn't "an atrocity". The Sioux pierced his ears so that in the next life he would listen, as he hadn't listened in this life.
Its still happening to christian people in islamic regions or africa.
I find the Frenchman extremely arrogant and self-important. He cares nothing about history or truth , just his opinions being more important than anyone else’s seems like he is the only European Historian that can’t accept the reality of the Celts and their successes.
Graf Falkenstein - like THEY did to countless innocents in the past.
@@HaulinWulf not just christians. But everyone else too
I would absolutely love to see a movie about Vercingetorix .
I'm Iberian, proud to be Celtic! Viva, Viritos the Portuguese Celtic Warrior!
celts were not in any way a race, they were a group of different people who shared the same culture. So unless you practice slavery, human sacrifice and beheading, you are no more a celt than a Bantu or Tutsi, for crying out loud!
@roberto lang bullshit yourself, dear. You are falling for a very old trick. Celts were not a genetically defined group, but hey, believe what you want. I can see it doesn t fit in your view of the world.
The celtic warrior carving looks like Ragnar Ragnarson from the last kingdom show on netflix
The dying Gaul was a Greek statue which was copied by the Romans. Why is there no mention of Greek /Celtic interaction?
@@glx4909 and maybe the mighty Vikings also belonged to this group
They mention it every three words in the first part. Hellenistic, Asia Minor --> Greek ties ;)
Julius Caesar was only 48 at the battle of Alesia, whereas in this video he looks at least 65.
This documentary forgot to mention several great heroes of the Gauls like Asterix, Obelix and Panoramix.
Are documentaries supposed to mention every famous person attributed to a culture? That would be a list not a documentary. Ambiorix
, Indutiomarus, Commius, Ariovistus were also left out Cassivellaunus among thousands of others of Gallic Heroes we only know because their names were recorded by their enemies. What about the heroes whose names we don't know?
Yeah, and Pikkupstix too!!
It's a small thing, but it does please me that they cast as Caesar someone who actually looked like him for once, instead of, as is generally the case, some younger, handsomer man with a full head of hair.
Caesar wasn't actually that old at the time of Gallic war
@@justwestman488 I don't believe that's entirely true. Caesar was born in 100 bc. This battle was 52bc. Caesar was dead 8 years later. He may have been young when all the conflicts began but he was well into maturity during this battle.
Just as the king of the 300 was well into old age during that battle. I think he was 65. The youngest member of the 300 was 58 as I recall. These were not young men. Which is exactly what makes the accomplishments of Alexander the great so magnificent. When Caesar passed the monument and statue of Alexander the great he was quoted as saying, "Here I stand before Alexander at the same age he was when he had already conquered the world, and I, I've accomplished nothing." This aren't the words of a young man who has already conquered Vercingetorix.
Terror is a very effective weapon, but the Celts taking of the enemy and the enemy's entourage heads' as trophies are hardly unique. For the day, or for the next 2 millennia, using torture, death, dismemberment and being allowed to rot in pieces, and allowing that information to be spread far and wide, did make many a small group much safer all over Europe and the near East. Vlad III Dracul is fine example, live science as a great fact based article. Also, I'd theorize these warriors were subject to the same psychic trauma our warriors are today, but had centuries to adapt methods of recovery, such as torture, death, dismemberment and taking pride in creating a horror legend in an attempt to save their culture.
I dont think they would interpret their nightmares as PTSD. more likely as a message from the gods to fight even in more barbaric manner.
Watching from NSW Australia.
Thank you BV for the upload.
watching from S.A. these are our ancestors
Watching from the highlands of FNQ Australia
People keep commenting on Neil Oliver, especially his voice. His co presenter Prof. Mrs Alice Roberts, an Anatomist and Professor of Science at Birmingham University. A Mother, a TV Presenter and a Pilot. Try and match that for the modern day women. I could listen to her for hours and do.
She IS a modern day woman, like women throughout history, we are a mixed bag.
Just eye candy
@chiron2620
Of coarse you think you have a place to speak here.. of coarse you have a profile pic for everyone to see.. these are not your people. You see Alice and have immediate jealousy, and contempt. You don’t have a place here to speak. By the way you are using my people’s language, and use our tech, our civilization. You live in comfort in my lands.. these are not yours. Cultures are not equal. Go to your own people and lands and you build them for yourselves. It is better if we are separated..
Sadly, Vercingetorix was guilty of a classical tactical error - he lacked an effective taunter.
If only he had access to one who would burst his pimples at Caesar and make rude noises in his general direction
Thank you for sharing
It took the Romans 200 years after the fall of Carthage and Hannibal to conquer Hispania but Celtiberians are hardly ever mentioned in mainstream documentaries its always Romans vs Gaul, Germania, Britannia. Even though the Romans got their signature sword, the Gladius Hispaniensis from Celtiberian tribes they encountered.
Heres a description of what the Gladius was capable of in the hands of a Celtiberian warrior:
"Livy gives the following graphic account of the effectiveness of the gladius Hispaniensis in battle c. 200 BCE:
[Macedonian soldiers] being accustomed to fight with the Greeks and Illyrians, had seen the wounds which were made by spears and arrows and, on rare occasions, by lance; but now they saw bodies mutilated by the Spanish sword (gladius Hispaniensis), arms lopped off at the shoulder, or heads separated from bodies with the neck cut right through, or entrails lying open, and other repulsive wounds, and there was general panic as they began to see what sort of weapon and what sort of men they had to fight."
To bad they didn't talk about Caesar's defeat at Gergovia where the Celts attacked the Romans in the rear while they were trying to besiege Vercingetorix's home town.
The Romans had 60,000 at Alesia and perhaps more tribal allies, says Wikipedia, but they might be overstating it. They had cavalry from Germania serving as mercenaries. Caesar's counterattack with 6000 was aimed at the rear of the Celtic armies who were already committed to the fight and taking heavy casualties from the Roman fortified lines.
how many pairs of white pants does Neil own? and how does he keep them so clean?
Angie Westall if you wear white all the time , you learn how to keep it clean. Neil Oliver wears white pants and a brown sport coat in most of his videos.
The celts were feared everywhere. romans feared them/
Even had it been Vercingetorix' plan right from the start to entrap Caesar and his army between his force in Alesia and the massive Gallic relief army, as was shown decisively, he had trapped himself and his men without need. He knew of course that to confront the Romans in open battle - and especially Caesar's veteran legions - could be suicidal, but if he had continued his tactics of guerilla warfare and a burnt earth strategy, the outcome would not have been so quickly achieved by Caesar. Had Caesar been forced to campaign in Gaul just for another few years, he would have eventually lost his command and would have been open to dangerous court cases in Rome against him, endangering his whole political career. In many ways, Vercingetorix did Caesar a massive favour by allowing himself to get bottled up on that plateau at Alesia, more than he might have realised at the time.
I just love Allison,I could see her as a a Celtic Queen
She is beautiful, of coarse she is from our Celtic stock.. we have some beautiful women.. all of our assorted European ethnicities have beautiful women to be sure..
Warriors wear necklaces to protect against cuts; plain and simple. The metal and design only play into status, but to protect the neck from an edge, is vital.
With their custom of lopping off heads, a wise precaution indeed. Most violence was intertribal, so they knew their enemy.
Gold is far too soft to fend off a blade
tis´´Fascinating to see and imagine civilizations from the past
It's a pity there's no mention of the Lusitanian, Celtiberian and Cantabrian wars in the Iberian Peninsula. Viriatus' and Numantia's stance against Rome are very important parts of ancient historiography. Not many towns have resisted a 12 year long siege, especially against Rome.
Another thing: the general idea that we can see in the film ls that the celts were a single united tribe, which is not true. In fact in many cases the number one enemy for one celtic tribe is another celtic tribe, as it is written in Caesar's Commentarii de Bella Gallica.
I love the scottish accent omggg 😭😭
Hanna W and it’s real Neil Oliver is a historian who specializes in ancient people’s and their culture but the Celts, Scots and tribes of England seem to be his favorites.
Fantastic
If they where trapped in Hill Forts , I wonder how they alerted there backups. Maybe with fire signals or smoke signals.
Why not do what other Armies did when trapped to escape dig a tunnel out.
I've no idea about the accuracy of facts in this series, I'm not an expert, just an interested American who wears a Celtic knot ring he bought in Montana and is of, as his father said, "Scotch-Irish" and German heritage. Obviously the Scots and Irish parts of my family are probably descended from Celts, but this series is now telling me that even my German roots might have some Celtic influence. I'm not sure why, but this makes me happy!
And as a side note: these two presenters might be the most attractive duo in British-y docs - everyone seems to love his brogue, and she's just so easy on the eyes. I don't mean to take away from their scholarship; I'm just pointing out the obvious reasons why they're on tv.
The one thing that makes me sad is the Caesar's legionaries' costumes design. That's not how the republican legionaries looked like. They hadn't got lorica segmentata then, it was used much later, as well as the rectangular scutum shield and helmet. Common gear of the Caesar's legionaries was oval shaped scutum with longitudinal plank and the montefortino helmet.
Bin-Ich Ein Deutscher?-Ja;
bin-Ich ein Englander?-Ja;
bin-Ich ein Ecoss-laender?-Ja;
Bin-Ich Ein Maori?-Ja.
Ich-bin ein Neu-Zeelander.
Am I Proud of THEM, My Ancient Ancestors? -- YES!.
Kind and Respectful Regards to ALL My Cousin(e)s: Uyraell, New Zealand.
magical, thank you
It sounds like the animal bones in the graves are evidence of a FEAST for the fallen as Celts were big into feasting & disarticulation of their skeletons is required to get at the meat. As ALL warrior cultures have intricate death rituals, and of course horses are both owned by the warrior (status symbol itself) and are large enough AND always on hand.
Who is the older gentleman who explains to Neil how the Celts would have used spears? He's got great energy, like the Zahi Hawass of ancient weapons lol
Montgummibear You've probably been told by now, but the weaponry expert was Mike Loades. He was and is the go-to guy for any documentarians who need info on ancient weaponry. He did an incredible mini-series on the reviving of the skill of jousting, in which he taught a group of carefully chosen men...one of them an American cop from Washington, D.C...to joust. They were given heraldry, taught the social graces of the era, then fought in the tournament. You'll be amazed who won...I highly recommend "The Making Of A Knight" for anyone interested in the art of the joust.
At 10:54 the cauldron decor reminds me of ingravings and statue of ancient Sumer.
Romans showed no mercy in Asturies (on the North Atlantic coast of Spain) either. The Ástures and Celts there had the most important reserves of gold in Europe. They started conquering the Iberian peninsula and conquered Europe but our peoples still resisted so they sent their best Legio and best general at the time. Ástures and Celts finally surrendered but either killed themselves or, if caught and sold as slave s, they killed their master and came back to Asturies to fight. The Romans, then, decided to chop the hands of everyone in each tribe, men, women, children, babies and old people. It was a genocide, just for our gold. Dammed Mediterraneans!
Rome was a superpower. What chance did the Celts have against the brilliant General Julius Caesar?
the fact that they were that close to winning shows the gauls true might and power, even as a recently unified tribal confederacy
Cassowelon the cymry chief defeated Julius Caesar in battle in Briton.
Correction,mate. When you said that Gauls were tamed,you are wrong. They were never tamed. They were romanized,yes,but never tamed. In 21 AD,ther was a major revolt of the Celts led by Julius Sacrovir. He and his allied anti roman celts inflicted several defeats on romans. In 69-70 AD,the revolt of Civilis took place and in 3rd century AD,the Gallic Empire was born. Most famous Celtic revolts were the revolts of the Bagaudae a.k.a. the Celts that opposed romanization and celtic paesants. That was a major threat to Roman authority. And in Gaul were also areas that Romanization never occured. For example the Armorican Celts (regained independence from Rome in 386 AD) and mountain areas of Gaul. Romanization was a cultural influence that many Celts adopted in time. Romanization never occured over night,it took one century for the celts to adapt.
Not to mention Asterix and Obelix....
Long Live The Celts!!!!
If a woman could just look into my eyes and compliment me like she complimented that statue
And if I'm not if I'm not mistaking. there was a lot of trade between the Etruscans and pics , Celts from England GREEKS
Thanks and thanks subtitles too! :) Waiting for 3 ep. :)
This is not a very accurate account of Alesia.
What about Vercingetorix's fatal decision to send his cavalry away?
Or the fact that letting the refugees out would have given the Gauls a perfect opportunity to breach the Roman line?
Or the fact that the Romans had been dealing with the Celts in Gaul for centuries (and Julius Caesar for 8-years) so they wouldn't have been freaked out by their opponent?
@AeroDoe
Ghetorix probably didn't want to have to feed his horses as well. It's clear he made a play to get Ceasar's Army to be sandwiched into the Fortress, and with that plan, I doubt they had enough food for Cavalry. They're also usually not as useful in a siege, however in this situation could have been with Ceasar's plan, but oh well.
Furthermore, a lot of this info is likely just Propaganda from the times. Most Roman philosophers were also Roman, and in essence propagandized much of their History, as well as the customs of their enemies. Celtic culture is hard to pin down because they have no real written language, or rather more accurately, they have a custom of oral history, not written. The prevalence of human sacrifice, especially in later Celtic culture is questionable. We know they stopped sacrificing during funerals. It's likely they simply just executed Prisoners after a fight, either through malice or a certain lack of resources to feed prisoners. Accounts of Celts using heads as Trophies are probably true to some extent, used as perhaps a fear tactic in battle. But the Romans did that too, with heads on pikes. Mass murder, genocide and generally not treating prisoners favorably aren't rare in this era.
I find these videos both informative and interesting.
Last bastion of celtic culture? Wouldn't that be Germany?
Thee are a number of substantial inaccuracies in these presentations.
Due diligence, folks.
Do your own research.
example?
26:41 So, Vercingetórix could look like a Sad version of Mickey Mouse?
When the Celts sacked Rome in 387 BC and took their gold they lost their chance. They left Rome and let them rebuild into a meterianian power. They could have stayed and settled in the much nicer climate of Italy.
You mean "a Mediterranean power". To live in Rome, you had to be a Roman and Celts didn't want to be Romans. Plus, they had families in their homelands.
Sounds like we could use their help in "wall-building".
I have a problem with all of these “Ritual Sacrifice” places that historians keep finding. Couldn’t the platform at 5:45 just as easily be a nice spot to have a good piss up and watch the sun go down?
When it comes to how the style in which the Romans drew and sculpted people/human figures, anyone else kinda get the feeling like it just seems a thousand years ahead of its time?
They were copying on the Greeks who'd developed those skills much earlier - give credit where it's due. That 'advance" was 'lost' for a good long period but was resurrected in the Renaissance. A little history and art history will provide a more informed opinion and understanding. Maybe time to develop your talents through wider study?
I have read and re-read his book : A Histroy of Britain. I do love the passion and poetry you can fell when he talks about the old men fighting the Ice, men like us, he makes me love them.... Just one question if anyone could help me: I am Italian, from Torino, but ... his English sounds quite "strange" to me, it sounds very hard, very "German". Is that because he is Scottish?... I adore English but I am not mother tongue, and I do hear this big difference in his sound...:( Thanks. Grazie
!
Yes he has a quite noticeable Scottish accent, although it's not too strong, so he's still understandable. I say this as an American, so I don't hear Scottish or British accents very often, but he is understandable to me. Of course that might partially be because he's articulating for TV. Not all people with Scottish accents are totally understandable to all English speakers -- it depends on how strong the accent is. I understand that British people also have a hard time understanding a strong Southern US accent, and certain accents in Yorkshire are also difficult to understand for speakers of "standard" dialects of English. I'm sure there are some regions in Italy where people can have strong accents that are harder to understand for Italians who speak the standard dialect, if the accent is strong. Scottish is one such regional accent like that for English.
MIRELLA GIAI VIA the older man has a German touch to his s speech The only Scot is Neil Oliver.
While it is obvious for anybody who knows something about Roman armour and uniforms that those shown in the historical re-enactments in this episode are from about 100 years later, and not from the late Roman Republican era, at least they can be said to clearly represent Roman legionaries. Compared to those shown in the first episode, which would have been more fitting for the siege of Troy and not for any Romans of the 4th century BC, they are at least far more authentic.
So it looks like the Origins & a Literal Show of the expression, "You & the Horse you rode in on!".
The Celts came to Holland AD1known as the Boii or Böhm tribe . They went to Bohemia . I am from the Böhm fam line . Old ancient celric line ,dessendent from Greece .
"the savage Celt has been tamed"....Hardly, that was propaganda.
Well yes, that's his point
that sort are still trying.......failing:))))
Go to Glasgow on a Friday night🏴
yey!! Thaaaaanks
Version Getrix should have left with the horsemen he sent for more troops.
I'm Celtic ~!! :)
+amanda currin and iberian celts amigo
+amanda currin me too!
same
Obelix and Asterix in Rome :)
I love the stabs the subtitles take at the Scots dialect of Neil Oliver. Also, that the subtitler could not figure out how Dr. Alice was saying "coach". They just copped out and didn't interpret it at all in the first of this series.
Very recommendable
If only the subtitles are available?
I hope there is a way to activate the subtitle .
roman wilderness of pain...
Oh, if only I had a time machine and a crain with a electromagnet. I could have great fun with the Roman's.
The best part was watching Alice Roberts practically make love to the Glauberg statue. Oh to be that old Celt at that moment! Hoochie mama!
+William Allan Wonder if Ms Roberts married a Celt in a past life :3
+Queen TwilightSparkle Absolutely not...in a past life she was MY wife...hubba hubba! Seriously though, She did her DNA in her series 'An Incredible Human Journey". "Europa" is the 'mother' of the earliest colonists, simultaneous to the Neanderthals, and I think the ancestor of the Celts. "Iris" is a later 'mother' who's line comes into Europa from the east about 20,000 years later. Alice is related to Iris, not Europa.
Idiotic comment.
he was rock hard, after all...
grosssss. freakin weirdos
Im celtic-iberian descendant ;-)
Viva Viritos!!!
Glad you know that, and can pass the info down to your descendants.
The name of the Celtic chief immediately reminds me of Asterix and Obelix
Hmm, what a lucky find for their inventors. Surely a coincidence.....
I was watching this documentary on the Roku channel & was appalled by the 'subtitles', they do not match what is actually being said. It was an entirely different program. So I came here to see if the actual subtitles for episode two were right. For the most part they are, BUT some of the dialogue is subtitled wrong. So weird?
No declaration of pain was being made.
46:05 What is so strange about this practice? I deem it highly respectful and honourable to keep a worthy foe's head embalmed.
Anton Teodor, if you take his head you keep some of his supernatural power. It's the ultimate compliment to an enemy.
You absorb the quickening because there can be only be one
Scotland last resting place of the ancient Celts and the Knights Templars
I couldn't help noticing that when they were talking about the Roman civilization throughout this episode, they were referring to it as the Roman Empire.
This episode ends with Caesar's victory in Gaul. I may be wrong, but doesn't this entire episode take place while Rome was still a republic? I mean, the Empire didn't start until after the Battle of Actinium and Augustus took control?
It's kind of disconcerting to see a large budget, three part historical series make such a glaring error. With the time gap like that, it is like saying that Christopher Columbus founded the United States. At some points they are like 500 years off. Pretty big time jump.
Probably because there already was a de facto empire, even if the central government hadn't taken on that term or form yet. The mongols also had an empire, as did Great Britain, and they didn't have "Emperors" at their head or self-annointed status, at least at the beginning.
Considering most of what we know about them was written many years after the fact. So honestly, a lot of the studies of ancient, oral tradition peoples is a lot of guesswork
@@CarlosSanchez-my7zg this is true, to a degree. The Romans did keep very detailed notes that are still in existence today. In fact, that is why I am currently learning Ancient Latin... as opposed to Modern Latin, which, believe it or not, is still the official language of one nation till this day.
The mistake that this expert makes is quite grievous, although to an untrained ear may seem trivial, as history seem to focus on their history as an empire. But, let me put it into a better perspective for you and others...
Imagine that the United States, which at the time of writing this, is a Republic (if you question that, just recite the Pledge of Allegiance. ) But, at some point in the future, the government is overthrown and led by a dictatorship. It would therefore be an Empire. Now, if someone was to say that the American Civil War occured in the American Empire, you would look at them kind of funny.
What is happening is the exact same thing here.
Now, granted... some documentaries do try to water down the language for a more general audience. But, that only shows the level at which such a documentary was intended for. All I would like to do is point out that fact.
Does the keltic warrior who seduces the narrator with his comic ears come out of Walt Dysney' Micky Mouse heritage ?
Anyway ,I am deeply disgusted by these verminous keltic hordes of head cutters
With all respect for Mike Loades, one can hardly say that the normal Celtic warrior was a "professional soldier". If any Celts were, they were the aristocrats, the chieftains of their tribes who had the time and wealth to concentrate on warfare. The normal Celt was a farmer or tradesman, who only ever fought when his tribe went to war - he was never a professional soldier (unless you talk about the Celtic mercenaries employed by Greeks, Romans and other nations elsewhere). This is not to say that they were not proficient in weaponry and tactics, only that one cannot compare them to the later, professional Roman army of the Empire - or even the later Gallic and other Celtic auxiliary soldiers serving in the Roman army. These were definitely professionals.
Some pretty sloppy history going on there, trying to overplay the David v Goliath theme.
Rome was NOT a mighty empire when the Gauls attacked c. 390 BCE. It hadn't even started its expansion and consolidation of the Italian province yet. It was still in the early days of the Roman Republic which was centered around the area of Latium. Roman culture itself had strong Iron Age cultural roots in the Latin tribes, which eventually became Roman. And that statue? It was a Roman copy of a Hellenistic statue possibly c. 230, to celebrate the victory of Attalus of Pergamum over the Gaulic invaders.
publius ovidius that was all explained in the 1st programme.
You are taking in the whole series.. you just picked up on this one.. this is the second episode.. the first episode went over this.. think and do you research before you speak.
Who else thinks she becomes even sexier because of her interest in history?!?!? Just me? No. Can't be.
Interesting.;watching this after the documentoaries on the mongols under the great Khans, especially Genghis, the récit is very similar, no?
I guess human nature is like nature in general: once it finds something that works, it tends to stick to that pattern.
Genghis Khan was estimated to have killed 8 million people , compared to Julius Caesars 2 plus million.
Time to update acrobat... again. 7:28
Also this doc is so much guess work
The way the Celtic religious practices are portrayed, you'd assume there was a lot of human sacrifice. But the evidence presented seems to show that the battle constituted the sacrifice (if any) and the decapitations or other dismemberments happened after the battle. It's unusual and to many may seem sacrilegious, but it's not nearly as barbaric as live human sacrifice. We know postmortem severing of heads was a relatively common practice in history, either to display the headless bodies, or the heads themselves as a warning or fear tactic. Whose to say it wasn't the same for the Celts?
There's other evidence, although it's sure that some Roman reporting is pure propaganda. I believe they've discovered a cache somewhere of numerous youthful bodies, both boys and girls, in a wooden cage, and another (or others) with just arms. Still a lot to discover, if ever we can;
In Switzerland they found several places with strong hints to human sacrifice, and as far as I remember, aslo in britain. Some of them appeared to be a druid, too.