the ancient britain

7/26/2019 The Ancient Britain

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2.1. Ancient Britain

2.1.1. The Stone/Neolithic Age: the Megalithic Men

2.1.2. The Bronze Age: the Beaker People

2.1.3. The Iron Age: the Celts

2.1.. The !o"ans

2.1. Ancient Britain

Britain was not always an island. It became one after the end of the last ice age,when the temperature rose and ice melted ooding the lower-lying land that isnow under the North Sea and the English Channel.

rchaeologists re!ealed e!idence of human life "a few stone tools#in Britain dating as far bac$ as %&',''' BC. (owe!er, with the renewedad!ancement of ice, Britain became hardly inhabitable until probably anothermilder period around &',''' BC. )he people from that period apparently loo$edsimilar to the modern British, but were probably smaller and had a life span ofonly about *' years.

round +',''' BC, towards the end of the Ice ge, people in Britain formed smallgroups of hunters, gatherers and shers "but only few had settled homes#.

Britain nally became an island about &,''' BC. )hat turned out to be a disasterfor the wanderer-hunter culture as the cold-lo!ing deer and other animals onwhich they largely li!ed died out.

2.1.1. The Stone/Neolithic Age: the Megalithic Men

bout *,''' BC, a rst wa!e of settlers probably came from the Iberianeninsula "hence, their being referred to as the Iberians/# or e!en from the Northfrican coast. )hey were small, dar$, long-headed people "probably the ancestorsof the dar$-haired inhabitants of 0ales and Cornwall#, and they $ept animals,grew corn and $new how to ma$e pottery.

)hese in!aders/ settled in the western parts of Britain and Ireland,from Cornwall all the way to the far north.

mong the remains that re!eal the huge organisation of labour inprehistoric Britain, due mention must be made, particularly, of the 1henges2. )hey were centres of religious, political and economic power made of greatcircles of earth ban$s and ditches inside which there were wooden buildings andstone circles.Stonehenge in the Salisbury lain is by far the most famous andbest preser!ed of them. Built in separate stages o!er more than %,''' years, itwas made of monumental circles of massi!e !ertical stones topped withimmense hori3ontal slabs called "egaliths/ "hence, the name of theseprehistoric people of Megalithic Men/#. t a second stage of the construction



process, about %,4'' BC, huge bluestones were brought to the site from South0ales. Its purpose is still a mystery, but its authority in Britain was recognised.

)he mo!ement of the bluestones was percei!ed as an e5tremely important e!ent6 hence, these unwritten memories were recorded in ++*7 in 8eo9rey of:onmouth/s History of Britain. ;ther "earth or stone# henges were built in manyparts of Britain as far north as the ;r$ney Islands and as far south as Cornwall.

2.1.2. The Bronze Age: the Beaker People

fter %,4'' BC, new groups of people came from Europe "<rance and the =owCountries# and settled in south-east Britain. It is not $nown whether they in!adedby armed force or they were in!ited by Neolithic Britons because of their militaryor metal-wor$ing s$ills. )heir inuence was soon felt, as they became the leadersof British society.

)hey were round-headed, strongly built, taller than Neolithic Britons. )hey spo$ean Indo-European language and were s$illed in wor$ing metal "bron3e# and inma$ing pottery. )hey also brought a new cereal from Europe, i.e. barley, andintroduced the rst indi!idual gra!es to replace the former communal burialmounds "barrows/#. )heir gra!es were furnished with pottery bea$ers "hence,their being referred to as the Beaker/ people#.

Stonehenge remained the most important centre until +,*'' BC "impro!ed by theBea$er people with a new circle of *' stone columns, connected by stone lintelsor cross-pieces#. fter +,*'' BC, the henge ci!ilisation was o!erta$en by a newform of society in southern England, that of a settled farming class. <amily!illages and fortied enclosures appeared across the landscape, in lower-lyingareas as well as on the chal$ hills, and the old central control of Stonehenge andthe other henges was lost. ower shifted to the )hames !alley and

southern Britain. (ill-forts replaced henges as centres of local power. ;nepossible reason for the shift of power is that people in the )hames area had moread!anced metalwor$ s$ills, hence the better-designed bron3e swords disco!eredin the area. :any of these swords ha!e been found in ri!er beds, almost certainlythrown in for religious reasons. )his custom may be the origin of the story of thelegendary >ing rthur/s sword, gi!en to him from out of the water and thrownbac$ into the water when he died.

2.1.3. The Iron Age: the Celts

<rom the si5th century BC o!er the ne5t se!en hundred years, the Celts swept

into the British isles, coming from central Europe or further east, in threesuccessi!e wa!es, $indred indeed but mutually hostile and each with a dialect ofits own?

o )he #oi$elic/ #aelic Celts settled in Ireland whence they spread

to Scotland and the Isle of :an. )heir linguistic heritage is representedby? #aelic "the national language in Ireland#, %rse "in the(ighlands andthe Islands of Scotland# and the now e5tinguished Man& "only in the Isleof :an#.



o )wo centuries later, the Br'thonic Celts/ Britons settledin England and 0ales. )heir linguistic heritage is representedby? (elsh "in 0ales# and Cornish "spo$en in Cornwall up to the end ofthe eighteenth century, to be re!i!ed nowadays#.

o bout +'' BC, the Belgic tribes settled in the south-east of Britain.

It seems that the Celts were tall, fair or red-haired men of an impressi!e

cleanliness and neatness. )hey used to wear shirts and breeches, and stripped orchec$ed cloa$s fastened by a pin "possibly the origin for the Scottish tartan anddress#. )hey $new how to wor$ with iron, hence they could ma$e better weaponsand introduce more ad!anced ploughing methods to farm hea!ier soils. )heybuilt hill-forts which remained economic centres for local groups long after the@omans came to Britain "e.g. the tradition of organising annual fairs 6 see theannual fair on the site of a Aorset hill-fort in )h. (ardy/s Far from the MaddingCrowd#. )hey traded across tribal borders and trade was probably important forpolitical and social contact between the tribes inside "hence the present-daycapitals of England and Scotland stand on or near two Celtic trade centres# andbeyond Britain "in 8aul#.

)heir religion was polytheistic they belie!ed in the sun, the moon and the stars. )hey were ruled o!er by a warrior class, of which the priests 6 the Aruids 6 seemto ha!e been particularly important members. )he Aruids could not read or write,but they memorised all the religious teachings, the tribal laws, history, medicine,and other $nowledge necessary in the Celtic society. @eligious rituals "whichsometimes included human sacrice# were not performed in temples but insacred "oa$# gro!es, on certain hills, by ri!ers or by ri!er sources. ")he oa$ wasconsidered the 8ods/ fa!ourite hence the custom of hanging up branches ofmistletoe, which was belie!ed to wor$ wonders, on Christmas E!e.#

0omen, especially from the upper strata, had more independence and they wererespected for their courage and strength in battle. "@oman writers lea!e animpression of a measure of euality between the se5es among the richer Celts.#

ctually, when the @omans in!aded Britain two of the largest tribes were ruled bywomen who fought from their chariots. )he most powerful Celt to stand up to the@omans was a woman,Boa$icea "7+ A#.

0ith regard to the Celtic cultural heritage, at least three maDor aspectsshould be emphasised?

o )he !ery name Britain/ comes from retani/, the name which the

8ree$s called the Celtic inhabitants ofBritain, mispronounced by the@omans into Britannia/.

o )here are numerous Celtic sur!i!ings in English including? names of

ri!ers and places "e.g. !on,)hames or$, >ent, =ondon#, the rst

syllables in 0inchester, :anchester, 8loucester, E5eter, etc., and wordsli$e brat, cradle, down, mattoc$, etc.o )he Celtic legends and sagas imbued with a sense of mystery, a

dramatic conception of man/s e5istence as grip with fate, sung by bards atthe accompaniment of the harp, ha!e been an important source ofinspiration for many writers. )wo cycles of legends ha!e come down to us?

o )he C'cle o) *lster "the oldest literary attempts of the Irish epic

recording the deeds of $ing Conchobar and the bra!e hero Cuchulainn#



o )he C'cle o) M+nster "focused on the heroic gures of <inn and hisson ;ssian, a gifted bard#.

In the late eighteenth century, the interest in the old Celtic literary tradition wasre!i!ed by the re-@omantic mo!ement. Fames :acpherson/s alleged translationsfrom the legendary Irish bard ;ssian brought about the emergence of a newliterary fashion in almost the whole Europe, $nown as ,ssianis".

ll in all, Celtic literature has remained a !igorous mainstream and source ofinspiration for many a writer inBritain and Europe, chief among whom 0. B. eats,

Fames Foyce and Samuel Bec$ett.

0ith the rise of nationalistic feelings in present-day Britain, Britishness 6originally, a general term denoting national identity for the inhabitantsof England, Scotland and 0ales 6 has come to e!o$e the Celtic originofScotland and 0ales as opposed to %nglishness, e!ocati!e of England/s nglo-Sa5on roots and her ruling position.

2.1.. The !o"ans

)he @oman in!asion seems to ha!e been moti!ated by two particular reasons? +.the Celts of Britain supported the Celts in 8aul against the @omans "sendingthem food and allowing them to hide in Britain#. %. Gnder theCelts, Britain became an important food producer because of the mild climateand the ad!anced ploughing technology. )he @omans needed British food fortheir own army ghting the 8auls.

rst step towards the conuest of Britain was made in &&-&4 BC by FuliusCaesar who raided Britain to stop the support the British Celts o9ered to theCelts in 8aul.

In 4* A, Britain was conuered by Emperor Claudius/s legions. ctually, the@omanised area stretched across the southern part of Britain, from the @i!er(umber to the @i!er Se!ern. )he @omans intended to conuer the whole islandthey met with erce resistance from some of the Celtic tribes, but the Celticleaders soon surrendered to the Emperor. )he only re!olt that seriouslythreatened the @oman rule was Boadicea/s "7'-7+ A#? she swept throughsouthern Britain, destroying Colchester, =ondon and Herulamium, so that the@oman rule had a hard time reco!ering after the rebellion was put down. nyway,the Celts were no match in military power and strategy to the @omans as, on theone hand, the @omans were better trained and, on the other hand, the Celtictribes fought among themsel!es.

)he @omans also e5tended their control in 0ales "the towns of or$, Chester,etc.#, but did not de!elop their culture there. )herefore, the area of @omanoccupation was di!ided into two sharply contrasting regions? the =atinised southand east, and the barbarian north and west.

)hey could not conuer 1Caledonia2 "i.e. Scotland#. )hey built a strong wall alongthe northern border "(adrian/s 0all# to $eep out the raiders "Scots and icts#from the north. "=ater on, (adrian/s 0all mar$ed the borderbetween England and Scotland.#



In 4' A, @ome withdrew its last legions from Britain, as @ome itself was undererce siege by the 8ermanic tribes. "@ome itself was sac$ed by the 8oths in4+'.# )he @omanised Celts were left to ght alone against the Scots, the Irish andthe nglo-Sa5on raiders from 8ermany. 0hen Britain called to @ome for helpagainst the raiders from Sa5on 8ermany in mid-fth century, no answer came.

)he almost four hundred years of @oman rule in Britain had its cultural benets,among which due mention should be made of?

o prosperous towns which were the basis of @oman administration andci!ilisation "e.g. Colchester 6 a seat of the imperial Cult, meant to focusthe loyalty of the pro!ince, where a temple of the deied Claudius waserected =ondon 6 the business centre of the pro!ince, a supply port andthe centre of the system of @oman roads#

o stone-pa!ed highways which continued to be used long after the

@omans left and which became the main roads of modern Britaino glass windows, central heating, running water @oman baths

o large farms "!illas/# outside the towns, belonging to the richer Britonswho had become more @oman than Celt in their manners "as opposed tohuts and !illages in which most of the Celtic population continued to li!e#

o the introduction of gurati!e styles particularly in sculpture, wall-

painting and mosaic, but also in the minor arts and crafts "Dewellery,pottery, furniture, household goods#

o the introduction of reading and writing "=atin alphabet#? =atin spea$ingtown-dwellers and rich landownersJ !s.J the illiterate Celtic peasantry.(owe!er, with the coming of the nglo-Sa5ons, =atin completelydisappeared both in its spo$en and written forms. Conseuently, it isdiKcult to say how many =atin words penetrated the English !ocabularythrough Celtic. E5amples of authentic borrowings from =atin to Celticare? caester , chester "1castrum2 in Chester, Aoncaster, 8loucester,

etc.# coln"1colonia2 in =incoln, Colchester# port "1portus2 in orchester,Aa!enport, ortsmouth# wick/wich"1!icus2 in 0ic$ham# pool "1padulis2 in=i!erpool# street "1strata2#, wall "1!allum2#, wine "1!inum2#

o the introduction of Christianity in *+* under Emperor Constantine the

8reat "his mother, (elen, was a Celtic princess from Britain#. Saint atric$rst brought Christianity to Ireland "he became the island/s patron saint#.

the ancient britain

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