N*ked Barbarians? The Truth About Celtic Warfare
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 มิ.ย. 2024
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The Celts, often exemplified as the Gauls, advance, Pillage, raze, plunder. Lacking any cohesion, no formations, brute force with no professionalism, so how could they even remotely compare, as theyclearly had no profound understading of the art of war. Or so some people think.
Hopefully today I'll be able to present to you a different picture, one born of extensive unbias research, evaluation of archaeological data, and literary scrutiny.
This misunderstading and a very reductive description of the way of war of the Celts isn't a modern myth, it's infact an idea that was born in the ancient period itself. After all Ethongraphic and Classical historical narratives give us the perspective of the Mediterraneans:
In the words of Levi:
And so The image of a brutal savage begins to take shape.
Connect that with dramatic events such as the Sack of Rome and the Sack of Delphi, and the concept of an ancient terror, was born.
Zooming out a little bit, before we begin our usual deep dive, as we do on this channel, I want to ask a question: who were these Celts? What was their warfare like? What do we know about these interaction between cultures? What was the Celtic response for instance, to the Strong frontal clashes of Mediterranean tactical warfare?
The Celtic Peoples
The best answer to the question who were the Celts is probably this: The Celts are an iron age culture, which embraced an array of peoples, connected by a series of common traits, some cultural, some linguistic, and maybe a common religious baseline.
Cisalpine Gaul, Transalpine Gaul, Britonnic, Caledonian, these are only some of the many people that we could consider Celtic.
And remaing within what could be considered macro-groups we have the Gauls (France, Italy, Switzeland and Austria) Pannonians (Eastern Europe), Galatians (Turkey), Britanni (England, Wales, Scotland), Gaeli (Ireland), Celtiberians (Spain). On this video we will zoom in this picture and mention several actual tribes, but this gives you an idea of what we are talking about.
Modern understanding tends to separate the Caledonians, from the Brittonic Celtic cultures of souther Britain, but it's also important to say that the Romans didn't. The Pics will become a definite political entity relatively late in the 3rd century AD, so beyond the scope of this video, and even thoug it's farely possible that their ancestors spoke a different variety of Celtic compared to the southern Brittons, culturally they were very similar. The Romans do not perceive any distinction, and only tell us that in Caledonia, the Brittons tend to be bigger and red hair is more common than blonde.
And in the occasional instances when the Romans do use a separate name for them, Caledoni, they use it to define what they perceive to be a regional variation of a single cultural core.
War
When talking about Celtic warfare, the first thing to establish is that we cannot generalise or speak in absolute terms, that's because Celtic warfare evolved in different areas at dissimilar rates, and in different fashions.
Let me give you one example. Even though continental Celts in the second half of the fourth century BC had already begun to dismiss the war chariot, such item of war will endure in Brittonic realities, as insular Celtic cultures, when compared to the Continental ones, were in a way, frozen in time. A similar phenomenon is clearly apparent in irish gaelic Celtic literature, and their warrior descriptions.
In a way this also points to the fact that the influence of other civilizations, and outside preassure, plays a pivital role into war development.
The archaeological record shows us a plurality of approaches to warfare.
The depth of such topic renders the task of compiling all information about weapons, armour, metallurgy, technological development, in one video harduous. Hence this video will serve as a starting introduction to the topic, and we will mostly cover general wardfare, armour, helmets and shields. If you like this type of video and would like me to make a second one exclusively dedicated to say Celtic weapons such as swords, polearms and ranged, let me know in the comments below.
Through the Span of time
For our comprehensive analysis Chronological and geographical variation need to be taken into consideration.
Part of this was undoubtedly driven throught the contact with Mediterranean civilizations, Etruscans, Scythians and other.
Battlefield tactics, weapon and armour design, metallurgy development, the shift from bronze to iron, regional variations, all need to be visualized as a vortex of sorts.
#celtic #warriors #metatron
Let's just say "less organised" became "mindless rabble" and "there's those few guys fighting naked for religious reasons" became "naked savages, each and every one of them".
Because, be it the year 23 or 2023 we all love to fight a strawman.
Idk if this really counts as a strawman 🤔 but I see what you’re saying. It’s like when we see every “enemy” in the Middle East as terrorists, while literally most of them have legit political and social claims we are purposefully ignoring to make it look like we are the good guys. But even the Romans I don’t think were this harsh. It’s just a better story to tell if they were all naked instead of some of them sometimes, for example.
Even doing it a little bit is still “a lot”. It hits different when you’re fighting hand to hand and the naked guy is literally all over you 😂
Its just a couple of Roman Walter Mitty stories that got out of hand
It does not help if you tell your soldiers you’re going to fight highly cultured civilisation who maybe better or more advanced and perhaps higher morality than you. It feels better when being told you are fighting evil barbaric naked terrorists.
@yoey yoey Correction the Romans were also that harsh towards their enemies be they political, economical, ideological or militarily just as people are today. Humanity at its core has not really changed.
Aside from their own myths of being wolf children/Trojans/descendants of Venus, the Romans were arguably a half-Etruscan Celtic border tribe themselves?
The Celts in northern Italy were some of the earliest Europeans to use chainmail armor, in very limited amounts. The Etruscans might have been the first. But crafting chainmail armor is a very sophisticated process, especially for "naked barbarians".
In my opinion the Celts figured that one out before the Etruscans. I say so simply because the Romans called mail, "Gallica".
The thing is about the Celts is they did not have at that time a recorded literature or records. This in no way signifies that they were not as if not more technologically advanced than the Romans. The Romans were good at assimilating and adapting the best of other cultures, Celtic armour, swords and chariots for instance.
The Romans were very familiar with the Etruscans. They would have said chainmail came from them but they said the Celts invented it. The Celts also made advances in iron helmet technology. It's one of those ironies that the soldiers Caesar used to conquer Gaul were equipped largely with technology that came from the Celts. The curve in the shield being a likely exception.
@@damionkeeling3103Romaniz-ing Celts conquered other Celts. That was the Gallic campaign by Caesar. A great number of his legionaries WERE Celtic speakers, Cisalpine Gauls quite unsympathetic to the plight of the Transalpine tribes.
@@metatronyt definitely more videos on this topic!
Anyone else find it refreshing to watch a historical video that contains no presentism or virtue signaling? And even goes so far as to explain endonyms and exonyms to the viewer? Never change Metatron. Spread your wings. 👍
Yeah trying to whitewash white history is sad. Imagine the cognitive dissonance of your ilk: fact is you were naked barbarians and yet you believe yourself to be the superior race.
Se siente super bien
Maybe I'm out of the loop, but I can't say I've come across any genuine historical channels on youtube which contain presentism or virtue signalling?
@@jayplay8140 That's almost tautological. A _genuine_ historical channel wouldn't contain presentism or virtue signalling by definition.
However there are plenty of non-genuine history channels, and most especially non-history channels that are either presentist or virtue signaling.
And nevermind the comments! I see so many of those they make me physically cringe.
Edit: I've just read a comment about someone claiming the world didn't know that Earth was round until the 1500s. _barf_
You mean a return to professional normalcy, standards, and the methodical pursuit of factual accuracy and objectivity?
For a minute there, I thought I was back in---
😉 😅
As a Celtic descendant, of course I find this fascinating, and I would love to see more.
Yeah same
From what tribe do you trace yourself to.?
Next your going to tell me, A small village in Gaul was not making magic potion to beat off Caesar's legions.
That would take a lot of hands…
Lies all lies, this channel. At school we had the Holy Books of Asterix *in Latin*. Proof positive of Historical Truth.
18:41 the picture of the helmet that the Romans copied from the Celts (the Coolus Mannheim type) doesn't show up on the video you might have forgotten to put a picture there. Really nice video btw
Celts had beautiful armour, helmets, swords and engraved chariots.
I think we look down on them a little because they fought the Romans, but they fought, built, explored and conquered themselves. Plus I love the mysticism and romance of them, an ancient people on the fringe of the world...
Why nobody hot on the checkerboard pants?
Who looks down on them? Usually we are upset by the way they were unjustly treated leading up to their demise. They were too powerful for their own good. If they had an inkling of what the Romans had in store for them, they might have conducted themselves differently
UM NOBLES YES, BUT THE AVERAGE MAN WEAPONS AND SHIELD
@@yoeyyoey8937 yes indeed. Whatever I've learned about Celts resulted from learning about Boudicca's story, always felt like rooting for them. (Sorry Rome lol)
Crazy enough, they even invaded Greece and became a major power in anatolia.
ANATOLIA!
I remember back in high school I picked up John Warry’s Warfare in the Classical World and was fascinated by it. One thing that stood out to me was an illustration of what I initially thought was a Roman Cavalryman. Then I read the panel and it actually depicted a Gaulish warrior. To a young me, he was virtually indistinguishable to a Roman soldier. Looking back, I now see that was a turning point in how I viewed the “barbarians”.
It also puts into much better perspective what the Romans actually overcame in their conquests - because fighting hordes of mindless screaming naked warriors is not remotely impressive, but fighting the very culture that actually gave Roman legions their fighting style - much more impressive.
I was looking at my copy of J.Warrys book as I was looking at the comments and seen your post. Its a great book. One of the best books I have.
Romans were Anatolians, and Rome was the name of Anatolia.
@@alphabetpeople2902 And I'm Jesus of Nazaret, come to deliver this world from sin.
@@seawolf9616 And Jesus was a pedophile as per Mark 14:51-52
A possible "Celtic" focused vid or series on their weapons and equipment? YES PLEASE!!!
It'd be nice to actually learn a bit about my ancestors, Gaels and Norse though the Norse part has been getting really good coverage over the last several years, that isn't completely smothered in myths, stereotypes and other bullshit.
Also a video about the diplomatic relationships between the Romans and the different celtic tribes in different periods would be really awesome.
Irish are less "celtic" or "gallic" genetically than french
@@SonsOfMars-Game If the Irish aren't Celtic then what are they Chinese? The French are a mix of Celts and Germanic tribes. The Franks were Germanic.
@@edstar83are Franks were pure germanic?
@Piotr Bogucki yes, the name "France" just means "Franks", a tribe of germans. Modern Germany is actually just the eastern part of what used to be Francia.
For anyone who likes the Celtic/Gallic aesthetic, let me recommend the DeviantArt user LordofTyrannoc, who has a sort of fantasy worldbuilding project going on where he does some beautiful drawings of an imagined culture that has that has Gallic sensibilities but 14th/15th centaury full plate technology. So white armor, brigandines and basinets, but designed and decorated in the way a 2nd century B.C. Celt would recognize.
And while I'm doing DeviantArt shout-outs: the user JFoliveras does almost unbelievably detailed and well researched illustrations of antiquity from across the world, with a few ornately armored Gauls amongst them. He's most recent piece is a historically accurate depiction of Cleopatra, topically enough.
It's impressive how many branches of Celts there were in ancient Europe and how many distinct Celtic cultures might have evolved from each one of them, just like it's depressing to realize how little of all those cultures, except for Roman accounts and some medieval works centered in Brittany and the British Isles, got lost. Thankfully, modern archeology is revealing many interesting and new aspects of those cultures.
Excellent video!
On the bright side, you can reasonably assume a number of relations between all the groups. Celt was a broad term for a reason. Germanic is a broad term for a reason. And most of them had the same common ancestors
Imagine all the bagpipe music we could have had if the Celts were still around today. We really missd out.
@@captainnyet9855Uhhhh, there are Celts still around today... there are 5 Celtic nations in fact.
didn't the celtric disliked written language?
@@laughingvampire7555 they limited it for religious reasons, atleast that's what I heard
As someone who lives in Denmark, and has Ye Olde Norse blood in my veins, I'm glad to see a deeper look into the historical truth regarding my ancestors. I don't mind the "Barbarian Viking" look and aesthetic, and I think it's sort of a fun/cool thing to imagine was happening, but at the same time it '*does* get a bit boring and trite, when everyone seems to think the ancient Scandinavians were just brutish warriors with a penchant for bloody rituals and smashing skulls.
So while I am not entirely opposed to the idea of my ancestors being viewed as these... Pagan madmen who would fight naked while roaring, I DO appreciate that we're starting to get some nuance and variety from the historical sources.
And yes, I know he's talking about the Celts and not the Norsemen. But there are still a lot of similarities between how our peoples are being viewed.
The later la tene culture would have reached Denmark if only through trade links and diplomacy, after all the Cimbri who scared the crap out of Rome with a sudden southward migration came from somewhere around the base of the Jutland peninsula.
There's still a lot of Norse in the Celtic lands. My husband is one of those being a descendant of old Sigurd the Stout! So we are told.
what's funny is I think the celts thought of the germans in the same way that the romans viewed the celts, as completely unsophisticated barbarians
@@celtofcanaanesurix2245, I wish we had more or even any records regarding what was happening to the Celts from the east or northeast. But even during Ceaser's time, he initially started his conquest by preventing a Germanic tribe from attacking the Celts.
Agreed. Especially because a lot of those ancient Scandinavian armor designs are pretty cool and fairly imposing. And the fact is the only warriors that did this were wolf and bear cult guys. The berserkers
For a split second I thought metatron was about to talk about nuclear warfare in republican rome.
In my sophomore year of high school I took my second year of Latin and read Caesar. When we ran across the term "nudo corpore" it caused a lot of giggles. Our teacher explained that it meant unarmored, but still, every time we ran across the term, there was stifled laughter. Such is the adolescent sense of humor.
The Gauls in the 1st and 2nd centuries B.C. were some of the most sought-after mercenaries in the Mediterranean world and mercenaries back then were professional soldiers.
Fr? Who hired them?
@@yoeyyoey8937 Hannibal
@@yoeyyoey8937 10,000 Gallic mercenaries were employed by the Ptolemies and had their own major camp/settlement in Lower Egypt, for one, and the other Hellenistic Kingdoms of the Diadochi for the others.
@@yoeyyoey8937even the Romans were fond of hiring Gallic mercenaries, especially cavalry
Just an observation I am confident metronom will mention:. The term, 'naked' has, through much of the last 2000 years, meant 'unarmored' or even 'unarmed'. It's only relatively recently, that we've used it to mean, "unclothed".
Interesting 🤔
I'm surprised you didn't consult the work of Goscinny and Underzo. They did a large number of histories focusing on a single village in Gaul which remarkably managed to resist the Romans for quite some time, at least there is no record of their defeat.
They were remarkably advanced. Their village was never convered in snow due to a large lens suspended above, a technology we haven't been able to duplicate today. They were also able to keep the romans at bay with vastly smaller numbers through the use of primitive amphetamines, which also gave them unusual physical strength as well as endurance. Of course the priests who made it told them is was magic and we don't know what was in it to this day.
Two men from this village were surprisingly well traveled having gone to Britain, Germany, Greece, Egypt and even as far as North America even before the Vikings.
I'm sure there is some crazy lady on TickTock who will tell you that they weren't real.
😂😂😂
Is this for real? What are the books called?
@ Ferrule Bezel América??????? ........ Norte.....????? Celtas? ????? 😂😂😂😂😂😂 FAKE NEWS 😂😂😂😂 SEM VERGONHA 😂😂😂😂
These primitive amphetamines have also the peculiarity that if an infant falls into the cauldron where they're being brewed, the kiddos will gain extra strength and endurance for life.
😂😂😂😂
The camouflage on the helmet at 18:40 is unbelievable.
Celts were not your average barbarian, with access to 100% perfect active camouflage like that!
Great video, the Celts definitely left their mark on the ancient world of warfare. The hellenistic world also adopted the Celtic style shield. The successor kingdoms recruited many mercenaries from Thrace/Dacia, and many of the tribes there started using them, after the Celts invaded the region in the 4th century BC. They must have been impressed with this shield, as successor kingdoms developed new types of infantry based around its use, which soon became the norm for border guards and regional garrisons. There was a lighter armed version: "Thureophoroi", and an armored version: "Thorakitai".
I don’t often pray but when I do, I pray to have even a quarter of the awesome wisdom and knowledge of the Metatron, the greatest person to ever exist!!!!!
Imagine the cognitive dissonance of fascists: fact is that white people used to be naked barbarians before liberalism made humans outta you, but they make themselves believe that they are the master race. hahahaha
I never understood why people believed this stereotype.
It was in horrible histories
You're claiming they NEVER did? Cause sources say yes.
Because it's awesome
Because naked strong men is awesome
Because they whooped ass while doing so😂😂😂 they Gave the Romans more problems than anywhere else
Out of everything that I learned here, the thing that blew my mind was the exonym and endonym!
I never knew there was a word for this! In my island of Puerto Rico a lot of us use the indigenous name for the island Boriquen, and we call ourselves boricuas. As always Metatron delivers more than I expect in every video! Keep up the awesome work!
Hey, one nitpick
Portugal didn't have just Lusitanians (considered either pre-celtic or celticized), it also had in its territory some Gallaeci by the north and Celtici by the South. Besides that, Viriato was a Lusitanian general who leadered Celtiberians in iberian peninsula against Roman forces.
Thank you a lot by talking about all the Celts, (La tene and Hallstat), I love that and feel represented.
Mate, from a fan of the Celtiberians I really really want to know more about Celtic weaponry, and want you to teach it to the rest of us
For starters, he claims they were Spanish which didn't even exist back then, ignoring the other Countries in the peninsula where there were also pre-roman indigenous peoples, so you do you.
@@lordcommandernox9197Spanish as in from Spain guess you didn't understand but you do you do.
@@lordcommandernox9197 The term Spanish is loosely interchangeable with the term Iberian.
@@Liberates The people you refer to as Celtiberian also lived in Spain true, but because Spain is not the whole of Iberia the term you're looking for is _Hispania,_ you know, the Roman word for the peninsula? It's also true the Castillian monarchs later coopted that name so they would sound more legitimate.
haha haha, interchangeable my ass, what are you? American?
@@Liberates Are they called CeltiSpanish? No, because the Spanish never conquered Portugal so you have to call them Celtiberian instead as they spanned both countries. Guess you have a poor grasp of grammar besides geography.
One possible episode of this kind of series (what a treat btw, thanks Metatron!) would be siege & fortification.
Remnants of many settlements have been survived in Western & Central Europe to modern day for archaeologists to research and a whole nomenclature of different wall techniques has emerged.
Type of fortification peculiar to Celts was noticed by the contemporary Romans, too. In his book (already consulted in this video) Julius Caesar mentions this _murus gallicus_ type and commends its resilience against siege weapons.
Evolution and different forms of Celtic fortification throughout Hallstatt and LaTene culture phases would be much appreciated!
ty, but I had read all the Asterix books by 8 years old so after Goscinny and Uderzo I am the foremost expert in Gaulic life and customs.
Wow, it's really cool to hear Metateon speaking about the celts! Looking forward for the next episodes! 😊
Great video, Metatron! Fortress of Lugh also did a video about this topic a while back. It was probably not a common habit of all Celtic tribes. Regional variations were very common throughout Gaul, Iberia, Galatia, Britain, and Ireland. It’s also why some Celts used longer slashing swords while others used short swords.
I think they would have used whatever they could. I understand that swords, short or long were prized and expensive possesions, hence most probably would have used spears i would guess.
I really don't like how popular Celtoscepticism has become (the belief that the celts never existed).
Their argument being that the Celts were never politically united or identified as a single people.
If that was part of the criteria of am ethnic umbrella term/ langauge family(despite their similar languages, religious (druids) and cultural practises) , then logically those same skeptics should discount the existence of Bantus, Mayans, Melanesians, Polynesian, Tupi, ancient Scythians and Xiongniu, to name a few.
Even the father of Celtoscepticism, John Collis, has provided evidence for the existence of the Celts in his book The Celts:Origins, Myths & inventions by John Collis pg 171, in which he mentioned a 5th century bishop Sidonius Apollinaris who wrote that the Averni tribe considered themselves the last Celts.
These same people will also claim that the Irish were not Celts, pointing to genetic studies which show Irish people to genetically separate from Celtic samples.
This is absurd as A. Did the Celts exist or did they not? You can't say the Celts didn't exist and then say that their not genetically connected to the Irish.
And B. Race is decided by genetics, culture is completely fluid.
They sound like xenophobes who insist that someone can't be Irish because they "don't have the genetics".
The whole Celt denialist thing is based on absurdly reductionist and arbitrary definitions of 'Celtic' to ensure some group or other is excluded from the definition of 'Celt'. If the definition of Celt belongs to anyone, than it belongs to the remaining ethic groups who identify a Celtic.
I discovered the book a couple of months ago. It is by far the best book I read (and own) about celtic warfare and the way they adapted through the ages or how it came to adapt itself due to contact with other approaches for war.
I would recommend it to everyone with a personal (or even professional) interest in celtic warfare.
Also, Metatron please do make more video's about the celts.
I'm really happy to read that you enjoyed the book :-)
@@EvropantiqvaAnd I am happy you wrote it.
Sincerely, it was a wonderfull read and it did a great job illustrating the celtic way of warfare (as well its place in the overal celtic culture) and shed some light on aspects I was not familiar with.
If I might ask, any chance "A Roma da Cartagine" will be translated in English as well?
@@FirstoftheAbyss92 frankly I don't know.
It depends if Pen&Sword will buy the publication rights from LEG (my Italian publisher).
@@Evropantiqva A shame, I would love adding a good book about the Punic Wars to my library.
If they do, you can be confident about the identity of at least buyer though.
Good luck with the rest of your endeavors.
Metatron launches yet another offensive against misinformation. Thumbs up.👍
Thanks 🙏
"[...] The Celts are satisfied with the armor that nature gave them" is such a comedic statement. I wonder if the author intended it as a quip.
We Romanians also have an endonym and exonym, and by my research it also seem related to the Celts. By the medieval times we were referred by the exonym "Vlach's" which you Italians were also referred by. It meant a Romance-speaker, we Romanians were referred by the Hungarians as Oláhs while you Italians were referred as Olasz and also Lehi by the Slovenes. While we actually referred to ourselves as "Români" (plural) from latin Rōmanus (plural: Rōmānī). And it derives from the Celtic tribe Volcae. Their original name was actually Uolcae (Uolcos) but Caesar named it Volcae in Latin which hence the name Volcae for the tribe today and it evolved to be the exonym Vlach for us Romance-speakers. Very interesting.
Honorable mention to the Welsh.
Yes the term of celtic origin transmited as Walhaz, vlach,wallach and other variants has celtic origin but the non romanized germanic tribes in confusion were calling all the romanic and romanized people as walhaz and the slavs took the term from germanics in vlah and other forms during centuries .the germanics at fiirst in confusion believed that all the romance speakers are romanized celts ,the term became a generic exonym during medieval , medieval romanians were not calling each other as vlachs but romans.ruman and other varians during centuries meaning roman and their origin is thraco-roman /romanized thracian tribes mixed with romans and also minorities of illyrians celts and later germanics were assimilated by the thracians as other minorities from thracian kingdoms as Dacia and Odryssian then the people of thracian kingdoms got romanized and the stuff before the 7 th century and after some of the slavs got assimilated in romanian medieval states ,mini states and principalities while medieval romanians got asimilated by others in other parts of east south europe etc . For example ,the bizantine princess Anna Komnene tells about that the so called vlachs/latin /romance speakers of medieval balkans were called thraco dacians and bessians and other names before becoming romans ,bessians also were a thraco dacian tribe that got romanized ,other medieval byzantine medieval sources tell that the so called vlachs were also called as mysi/moesians before beiing called vlachs ,the mysi or moesians were also a thraco dacian tribe that got romanized and Moesia region became Roman province ,,as well other byzantine and other european historians were calliing the medieval romanian/vlachs as getae and dacians including the romanian origin rulers and romanian populations living in the neighboring principates and kingdoms were still called in medieval documents as getae and dacians and at the same time as romans and vlachs ,in the papal documents including letters they are called romans and Wallaci/vlachs and variants at the same time in documents from different medieval periods . The vlach exonym was used also for medieval italic romance speakers,the situation of italic peninsula was also very complex with germanic and other non native groups while not all the groups in italic peninsula spoke romance/latin on the way to moden united Italian state with romance/latin as main language and lots of dialects of the italian language in the peninsula ,the medieval polish slavs were calling the italians as wlocky or something similar to vlachs and hungarians today are still calling the italians as olahsz the same as they are calling the romanians,the term vlach apears in many variants in different medieval languages and medieval latin versions as Wallaci,Vlaci,Blaci,Voloci ,Vlasi etc
Definitely would love a video on different kinds of Celtic weaponry
Hi metatron, I remember that two years ago you did a Sicilian overview ,in age of empires! Now they’re releasing a new DLC! The (Romans) will be playable civ ! With VoiceOver, it’ll be fun to watch,you reacting to that😀 If you are interested it is releasing may 16!🥳
research on the Koryos might help understand the origins of this indo European architype of the young partially naked warrior often associated with the wolf.
Great video! I would love to see more about the Celts and specifically Ancient France!
Yeah they made some amazing art in their day
Great video. Besides the myth of the Celts being painted naked screaming barbarians, you could have a field day debunking all the myths about ancient and medieval soldiers: the armor of knights made knights slow and cumbersome, all Mongols didn't know how to siege fortifications and castles, Samurai charged into battle with katanas and hated modernizing, the Chinese were bad at fighting nomads, the Romans didn't use spears, the Germanic tribes were fur wearing 6 foot tall barbarians who fought with clubs and axes, Middle Eastern and African soldiers only wore light to no armor, etc.
He already has many of them (:
THANK U. Museums full of Celtic found relics would already suggest that they weren´t a horse of naked barbarians - all of them, anyway - but it is good to see it presented coherently!
I had an intense altercation with a (former) friend of mine about the word “Celtic/Celts”. I had the right information and told him that the right way to pronounce it was “kelts”. He didn’t had the same idea and was angry. Now I always think of him when the subject of celts arise. The idiot.
Is he an idiot or are you an idiot for not being able to explain why it’s pronounced that way?
Unless he is talking about the basketball team.
@@als3022 Basketball is so boring. I would watch it though if a bunch of angry Italians butchered the Celtics mid game.
@@als3022 No but he replied mentioning the scottish football team.
Lol. I've had a few arguments myself. Surely the Celtic football team (pronounced 'Seltic') confused everyone. It confused me when i was a kid.
I am from Belgium and didn't realise that celts are often considered to have been naked barbarian. But during my Latin and history lessons we were told that Romans considered celtic and germanic tribes to be pant wearing barbarians and didn't have a high opion about them even though they were great at working with metal. Romans suposedly had a hatred for pants and asociated it with barbarian people, I don't know if that hold any truth.
It would be interesting to hear your opinion on the eburones that lived in Belgium. While they are often considered celtic and Belgium has found celtic artifacts (in one case in my home town, Beringen) there are sugestions that the tribe was germanic, a celtic-germanic mix or their own thing. The tribe also is the one that suposedly lead a revolt under the lead off Ambiorix and that eventually made the Romans retaliate by genocide. Even though it's not certain that Ambiorix existed, the name is still well know in Belgium and the city Tongeren has a statue off Ambiorix on the town square.
I just wanted to say that i have been wtching your videos for some while ago and i want to tell you that i love your content. Thank you for making amazing content and enlighting us with such knowledge.
Grazzie Mile!
Thank you for your kind words
Always want to see, hear and learn more about ancient weapons
You, Sir, are a scholar. I really appreciate the depth you achieve with these historical videos.
Thank you for your kind words
This sad excuse of a human, is desperately trying to whitewash white history. Imagine the cognitive dissonance of you fascists: fact is white people were naked barbarians before liberalism made humans outta you, and yet you believe yourself to be the superior Aryan race which refers to Iran, not white people.
A video on celtic arms and armor would be lovely.
Something that always bothered me was how people labeled the celts and barbarians. The celts had a rich culture and some early invitations like chainmail and some of the earlist recorded examples of other armor.
The turth is Barbarian more means people not under our political control than anything else. The Gaul were very mechanically inclined having devices to help plant and harvest that were cutting edge for their time. Also horse shoes and the four horned saddle that the romans would adopt were Celtic too.
Really no culture is primitive all cultures developed to the level they needed to survive so in that way the more simple can be seen in a way as successful. For example the average native American lived longer than the average Roman.
The celts had the only cavalry in the ancient world that could actually do a cavalry charge with spears lowered. The Celtic saddle had four saddle horns that gave a secure seat, it allowed the momentum of the horse to be transferred into the spear, and gave a secure place from which to fight with the sword as well. Until the stirrup was invented, the Celtic saddle was the best piece of horse tack.
As a Iceni living in the lands of the Durotriges..I’m getting that book.!..Also yes please a video on “Celtic”,weapons..
Book purchased! Definitely interested in you continuing coverage of the Celts!
Yep I’d like you to make a second video especially on their tactics of warfare. For instance the Caledonians fought a relatively successful guerrilla war against Septemus Severus. Another topic I’d like to see would be the Germanic tribes and their wars with Rome. The failure of Rome to take Germania cost them their empire in the long run IMO.
“Germania”
"Relatively successful"
*had their lands devastated and their people almost genocided.
@@Harib_Al-Saq yes but inflicted heavy casualties on Roman forces by all accounts.
@@JJaguar333 The casualties they inflicted caused Severus to issue his near genocidal edict to lay waste to Caledonia. An act that can still be seen in the archaeological record today.
@@Harib_Al-Saq from my understanding he issued an order to lay waste to Caledonia but died in York before it could be carried out., and his sons Carcalla and Geta didn’t wish to continue but rather return to Rome.
I find your videos refreshingly detailed, avoiding more modern viewpoints and very enjoyable. Keep up the good work.
Good to see some heroes of might and magic 3 in the background! One of my favourite games of all time!
You had me at "Naked Celts". On a serious note, please don't let me keep you from making more videos regarding this particular people, as it was at one time, my area of study (I will someday actually try to get over and walk where they walked). I truly appreciate your level, well-researched views on whatever historical topic you tackle, and you make me think about or re-learn something that wasn't clear before. Thank you, noble one!
A second video would be great, man. Such an interesting but thoroughly unexplored topic at scale.
You sold me on the book when you showed the artwork. It looks spectacular and engaging overall!
The Gauls had drungharios units which became cavalry skirmishers and chargers. Hannibal used the Celtic swordsmen as mercenaries in the vanguard. We know very little about Pannonian Celtic fighting but some older graves had axes as well as swords and spears.
Thanks to Goal Canestrelli! Get yourself a copy of his fabulous book Celtic Warfare here
LINK TO AMAZON US amzn.to/3NKcYBG
LINK TO AMAZON ITA amzn.to/3HGxAH1
LINK TO AMAZON UK amzn.to/3M2Pg2j
Link to Gioal's Channel www.youtube.com/@Evropantiqva
Respect to you Italian brother from a Romanian. Are you going to do a video about our ancestors beliefs about if men and men love was okey like you did about Ancient Greeks?
One question! Are you Italian or Greek ? 🤔
Next do a video on the Roman Emperor Hadrian and Antinous. Talk about those two would be a interesting video
@@Omar9-12-18 he's Italian (Metatron)
@@Omar9-12-18 Italian
Love it, I realize I held a lot of the stereotypes as true. Looking forward to this being a series.
Often, one finds that the stereotypes were true... for the small one from las vegas, so to speak (a small, not very important sub-set of their culture; along the lines of 'yeah, it happened, but no one even at the time really cared much about it). The alternative is 'yes, it's true, but there's nuance to it'.
I'd love to see the specials 'arms and armor' videos covering the helmets, shields, and weaponry of the celts. We have so much about the Romans (well, to victors go the spoils, and the ability to write history from their side...), but so precious little about the Celts in this regard. As a miniature wargamer, I also have the added desire to try and recreate some of this for my tabletop.
Please do whole series it was very informative and interesting
I'd love more content on the Celts! Such a conplex subject that's seldom given the attention it deserves!
18:42 "-will be the Coolus-Manheim type. This one." **points at nothing**
loved it, please keep up this series. The more culters you cover in depth the better. book on order!
I'd definitely like to see more of this, and I'd also like to see you do the same for the Germanic peoples of the same periods! In my country we're in kind of a weird situation where we're overwhelmingly descended from Germanic peoples that migrated into Celtic land, but we don't learn (through standard education and cultural osmosis) anything about our ancestors prior to their arrival to this land. It's a pretty strange thing when you think about it. It's strange that I know something about the ancient peoples my ancestors conquered, but pretty much nothing at all about my ancient ancestors lol
Fantastic video and I hope you do more on the Gallic/Celtic cultures of antiquity. I will definitely be checking out your colleague's book as I wait for a follow up video on this topic from you. All the best from the endonymically named archipelago of Nippon.
Yes, yes , yes, another podcast on Celtic Weapons please 👍👍👍
10:40 "This very strange choice" (fighting "nekkid")is even stranger once you consider it's not unheard of, though almost always unspoken of, that sometimes guys will pop a woody as a combat stress reaction....
I am new to the channel and have been binge watching videos! I have to say thank you so much for sticking to real history. I love history and it seems there has been an attack on history here lately by those who wish to change things and make them unrecognizable or they make videos with false information to cause doubt in others. Mostly just to feed their own ego and claim a heritage that isn't theirs to claim, in some cases I have noticed. I have learned so much from your channel already that I didn't know and I really appreciate that. So thank you!
Hey metatron! I'm a massive fan of this topic and would love to see you speak more on celtic warfare! I'll certainly be looking into your friends book as well! Stay noble!
Thanks!
I noticed the title in the right side, and I was like: "Nuked barbarians? What conspiracy theory is this?"
Then I realized, nope, the word "naked" is censored now as well...
Very impressive how concise yet comprehensive your videos have become. I sometimes wish they were 30-40 minutes long.
I would like to see a video about weapons , armor and tactics that were used by the celts
I really would like to see another part of Celtic armour and gear, very cool video
Always a facinating topic, so good to see you touch it.
Grabbed the last in stock Aussie copy of the book :P. Thanks for the rec. Also yes please, definitely want more on this :) Love your work.
I watch a documentary a few years ago that talked bout Celtic road networks. It said that Rome just updated the roads rather than just creating roads. Rome was know form copying other peoples culture and technology and improved it. Example First Punic Wars where they copied the Carthage boats and added a claw like weapon for boarding as they sucked at seamanship at first.
I'm not entirely sure about that.
this was a great video and I would definitely want to see more it would be nice to see some of the archeological specimens. also, are you going to talk about horse armor or the Battersea shield I know it would have been ceremonial but its design would likely represent the shields of at least the southern Britonic tribes maybe even the Pocklington warrior's tomb.
That was amazing. Please make more entries! I'll also be buying that book stat!
Yes please! More info on this. Fascinating!
Very interesting video. Thank you for your work Metatron. I'm very happy to see Celtic history being treated, as it is a very unknown topic that is not discussed a lot. I'm especially happy as this is a topic that interests me a lot. I'm definitively interested to read Canestrellis book. The topic reminds me of another book that I read and that I can wholeheartedly recommend for those interested in Celtic culture and civilization. It is unfortunately in french so only accessible to french speaking people. The book is named "Guerre et religion en Gaule. Essai d'anthropologie celtique" by Jean-Louis Brunaux.
I am planning to write a story set in roman era Ireland. Partially culture and only a little warfare.
Would you still recommend the book for historical insights?
I do admire your academic pov and work.
Always love to see new video:D
As a guy who enjoys writing and drawing about ancient history, I wish you success with your story.
The Iliad. Caesar's description of warfare in Britain is eerily similar to the warfare described in Homer's Iliad. Battle Taxis carrying high status warriors to and from combat. It's flowery and poetic as well as exceedingly violent and gory, best of all you could download it as a pdf for free.
You'd be better off reading the Ulster Cycle and Fenian Cycle for ideas.
There's actually about 6 standing stones in Ireland that have Latin text with Roman names on them rather than Gaelic ones. Theres one in Carlow which is written by a Roman immigrant who mentions his name and his sons name. Could be worth looking into.
@@eoin3591 link?
I would be happy to see any and all videos on Celts that you are willing to make.
Adoro Gioal! È un incredibile divulgatore. That said, the idea of an in-depth video about shields etc is very interesting. I’d be glad to watch
I love your videos. It was interesting reading Tacitus and him describe how well the men north of the Rhine could keep a line of one hundred horses together at a full gallup. That takes lots of practice. Lots of things need to be taken care of by other people so those men can go out to the fields to practice that horse charge. It takes coordination of thousands of people so that one hundred of them can practice riding horses in a straight line at full gallup.
Thanks a lot mate.
I'm French and I see way too many people spreading false ideas about the Celts - including French people themselves !
A video regarding Celtic weaponry would be very nice indeed.
Cheers from France !
Err, like Uderzo and Goscinny ???
Are you winding me up or is it a real question x) ? Anyway, Asterix is riddled with historical jokes, including in Latin ^^
@@letsbefranks2062 Au calme ! C'était une blague.
@@martinwallace5734 lol je te crois volontiers vieux - après t'inquiète, c'était dit sans animosité. ^^
@@letsbefranks2062 En tout cas, quant à Asterix, je suis fan depuis des lustres.
Apparently, Romans described Celtic craftmanship and iron working as "works similar to the gods"
I require source for this.
@@altechelghanforever9906 i think its about the noric steel wich was very appreciated by Romans
Noric steel came from Noricum wich was a celtic kingdom
Excellent video. I hope you do make a series out of this. I'll be watching. Thanks!
I love your channel, and I hope you make this into a series. I live in the US, but I am ethnically from the Celtic Diaspora almost exclusively according to my genealogical research. Being a bit of a history nut, this one hit very close to me and I would absolutely love for you to do more videos on Celtic Culture and interactions with the Classical World.
Me too 👍🏻🌹🍀
Ethnicity is fascist delusion. And calling ancient Celts anything but naked barbarians is also a fascist delusion. Get psychiatric help, ASAP.
Seann Roinn Eòrpa Cheilteach gu bràth!
The “Celtic diaspora” or “Proto-indo European diaspora” is now apart of my vocabulary- thank you kindly!!!
I respect everything you do. Would it be possible for you to make a video about Slavs. I noticed that you focus is mostly on the Western civilizations. You are an educated man, and brilliant, by the way. I'd like you to pay more attention on Serbian history (since we are separated only by the Adriatic sea). I'd like to hear your opinion on Serbian history, since our early history is based on (even in school) the mythical and poetic subjects. I've been studied historical facts of course, but since you are a good historian, and I've learned many things from you, I'd like to hear you opinion.
"Gauls advance, pillage, raze, plunder"
I do have to say, this kinda sounds like pretty much every army of that time.
I can't tell you how much I appreciate you and your channel. I've been binge watch your content and along with your new content. Thank you so much for sharing your research and knowledge
I imagine that with Roman historians, just like with modern people, their bias and prejudice against other people varied a lot. Some of them probably had a very biased view of the Celts as barbaric and crude, while others likely tried to describe them more objectively and fairly as just a foreign culture with their own customs and practices.
Imagine the cognitive dissonance of fascists: fact is that white people used to be naked barbarians, but they make themselves believe that they are the master race. hahahaha
Cpuld you make a video on the Slavic tribes? Would really like to learn about them, especially their connection with the Byzantine Empire
They had no history until they crawled out of their swamps and stole Roman lands.
The End.
@@Harib_Al-Saq You can say the same for the Arabs
@@Harib_Al-Saqbro I said their history AFTER they made their first contact with the byzantines/germanic kingdoms
The "Byzantine" empire is called the Roman Empire, Rome being Anatolia.
@@road-eo6911 My guy is forgetting about the Nabataeans and the Sabaeans.
Great video as always, looking forward to the next one in 5he series.
Helpful video. Information on the Celts is especially appreciated since stereotypes and myths are so rampant on them.
Metatron, please,make a video about the many cliché in Fantasy that were inspired by sature fake historical myths,and ,why not, give advice to fix these overused cliché .
Celtic warfare is very much underrated compared to their Hellenic counterparts who steal up all of the glory from Alexander the Great's conquest. Most forget that the heirs of Alexander and his armies could not contest against Celtic Migrations, even losing a Macedonian King in the process. Celts are truly the other side of the coin, a more martial people with a warrior culture with the expectation of rewards through combat.
Ptolemy Ceraunus (Ptolemy the Thunderbolt) was the Son of Ptolemy Soter the founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty. After being disowned by his father, Ceraunus fled to the court of Seleucus. Ceraunus murdered Seleucus upon his return to Europe and usurped the throne of Macedonia. He would meet a grizzly end fighting a horde of invading Celts, who defeated his army and turned Ceraunus' skull into a drinking cup. 💀
Alexander was an Anatolian name, and so he was Anatolian.
@alphabet people Not my point, my point is that Hellenic armies are overrated.
I am all for a follow-up video featuring Celtic shields and armor!
Very good video! Loved the explanations and would love to see some more in depth dives into the weapons and armour of the Celtic warriors!
Let's talk about Villanova culture, varna culture, basque culture, saami culture, ostrogoth culture, wendish culture, visigoth culture, etruscan culture, the lascaux caves, the dolmens of Brittany, Stonehenge, the picts, the gauls, the butrint site in Albania, the Iron age danubian cultures, the temples and ruins of Malta, the saami, the acropolis, the lady of elx, the todestrup site, the beaker culture, the corded ware culture, the newgrange site, the Sutton hoo site, the almendres cromlech site, gavrinis island, the bog bodies, beowulf, and the Iron age danubian cultures. The ancient people of Europe were not naked, they were not barbarians, and they were not black. They had complex, well developed, hierarchical cultures, well developed social and trade networks, complex religion, and well developed, complex languages.
They're called barbarians only because that's how the Romans called every non-Roman civilization. Unfortunately many of us translate that into "backwardness" and "savagery" thus creating a stereotype that belongs to movies.
Also, except some nutjobs no one believes ancient people of Europe were black, unless you count those few African slaves brought by the Romans.
What a weird comment.
@@Harib_Al-Saq I turn your attention to the BBC's black anne bolyn, netflix's black cleopatra, and the cheddar man controversy. It's not a weird comment.
@@aburninglandfillofbadmovie2930 Don't even give them the time of day. Once someone suggests that Cleopatra was black, the conversation is over.
@@Harib_Al-Saq I agree. In my view, the movie critic, social critic, archeologist, historian, artist, and writer all share one very fundamental quality; they must have an unwavering commitment to truth, no matter how ugly, feelings-hurting, tedious, flaccid, flatulent, putrid, boring, silly, grotesque, or graphic the truth is.
How about Celtic people in Portugal?
Those were lusitanians not celts. Whilst there is a lot of confusion on the matter, lusitanians were not celts, but rather a pre-celtic indoeuropean group that adopted celtic practices. But Lusitanians were their own unique thing.
@@RoderickVI in fact, there were celts in Portugal. The celtiberians were a mix between celts and the native iberians.
@@RoderickVI I was under the impression that the Lusitani were either celticized Iberians or ibericized Celts.
@@RoderickVI The Lusitani only inhabited a small part of what is nowadays Portugal, corresponding to more or less the modern Beira Interior province.
The rest of the territory of what is today Portugal was inhabited by other tribal confederations, such as the Callaeci and Celtici (I think the name is pretty clear), two branches of the Turduli (Veteres and Oppidani) as well as the Conii.
@@RoderickVI The Lusitanians were Celtic