What Do Roman Authors Tell Us About The Celts? To What Extent Are Their Assertions True?

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What Do Roman Authors Tell Us About The Celts? To What Extent Are Their Assertions True?

The Celts left very little written documentation behind them. What is known about the Celts has been discovered through archaeology and through the writings of Roman authors such as Caesar, Strabo and Tacitus. Caesar wrote about the Celts in his Gallic Wars as he documented his arrivals in Britain in 55 and 55 BC. Strabo was a Roman geographer, and included his knowledge of the geography of Britain in his texts, and Tacitus in his “Agricola”, his histories and his annals also wrote of his knowledge of the Celts. These three authors, amongst others, gave us written evidence of the agricultural lifestyle of the Celts, their trading, commerce and economy, their tribal system, their politics and their religion.

However, all the Roman authors’ works are subject to bias, either pro-Roman (as in Caesar and Strabo) or of flattery (as in Tacitus, who was writing a eulogy). Caesar’s first paragraph in his account of the first invasion of Britain, for example, states that the Celts had been sending reinforcements to the Gauls on the continent during Caesar’s Gallic campaigns. The full truth of this statement is unknown, however it is unlikely that the Celts would have been interested in sending men out to Gaul, as it would have been harvest time during that period, and the Celts were primarily a farming people.

Roman authors tended to share the same opinions concerning the geography of Britain as each other. Caesar, Strabo and Tacitus all wrote of Britain as being triangular in shape. Caesar stated that the southern side faced Gaul and measured roughly 475 miles, the western side faced Spain, measuring 665 miles, and the third side faced north with no land lying opposite, although its eastern corner pointed in the general direction of Germany, and measured roughly 760 miles. Caesar’s geography, considering the time of writing, was fairly accurate as far as measurements were concerned. It seemed to be a popular Roman belief that the western side of Britain faced Spain, as both Caesar and Tacitus wrote of this, although it is not true. Caesar questioned the natives as to the size of the island and also had Volusenus make a general reconnaissance of the area, which could account for his apparent accuracy of measurements and other geographical points that he made. He was fairly accurate, although vague, about Ireland, saying that it was the same distance from Gaul as Britain and about half its size. His knowledge of the whereabouts of the Isle of Man was also accurate.

Tacitus is very self-assured of his knowledge of Britain’s geography, assuring the reader that “where my predecessors relied on style to adorn their guesses, I shall offer assured fact.” He stated that Britain was the largest island known to the Romans, and followed the general idea that Britain faced Spain to the west, Gaul to the south and Germany to the east. His knowledge of northern Britain was inaccurate and based on supposition, perhaps showing that very few Romans (if indeed any) had yet ventured into Caledonia (although Tacitus did say that a Roman fleet had circumnavigated the island). Tacitus simply described the land as a “huge and shapeless tract of country” that tapered into a wedge, and went on to discuss the nature of the north sea, deducing that it must be sluggish and “heavy to the oar” because the lands and mountains that usually cause storms were scarcer there. This was hardly true, considering the fact that Caledonia was (and Scotland still is) one of Britain’s most mountainous areas. It is interesting to note that although the Agricola was written after the events, and therefore after Agricola’s own ventures into Caledonian territory, Tacitus still knew little of the geography of northern Britain.

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Strabo’s account of British geography was much the same as Caesar’s and Tacitus’. He wrote that there were four main crossing points between Gaul and Britain, beginning at the mouths of the rivers Seine, Loire, Garonne and the Rhine. Although Strabo seemed to write with a moderate degree of accuracy (or at least with detail, even if not correct) about the geographical location of Britain, he was much less certain where the British landscape was concerned. He simple stated that the island was “low-lying and wooded” but “with many hilly areas”. This appears to be more than a slight contradiction ...

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