THE CELTS

The Celts were established in Ireland a century before Christ. They dominated the island for a thousand years and they absorbed influences from other cultures. They were tall and warlike.

The term Celtic denotes a group of Indo-European language, but we transferred the name to people who spoke this languages.

The Celts invaded northern Spain in the fifth century, they ravaged Rome and they got a war in Greece. They were called "Keltoi" from the Greeks and "Galli" from the Romans.

The Celts were not the first inhabitants of Ireland. Early immigrants probably moved from the South by 2,000 B.C. and new groups of settlers arrived. In the National Museum in Dublin there is the greatest collection of prehistoric gold objects in Western Europe. The Celts used weapons made of iron.

With their arrival a new Era began in Ireland. The Celts dominated Ireland for a thousand years.

We know little about Celts before the arrival of Christianity because before this there was not the roman alphabet.

Local wars were frequent but not prolonged.

The Ireland was divided into kingdoms, but then the unity of the country was social, cultural and political.

The marriage of Christianity and Celtic cultures produced in Ireland a society that was conservative. It was basically a rural society with no cities or towns. Most important monasteries were Clonmacnoise, Armagh, Clonard and Bangor which grew into centres with a large population.