The Celts were well established in Ireland a century before Christ. The term Celts denotes a group of Indo-European languages. They were not the first inhabitants of Ireland and they lived a primitive excistence by hunting in the forests and streams and lakes. next came the first farmers who used stone implements for felling trees and preparing the soil for grain, they also kept large quantities of cattle, sheep and pigs. Perhaps by 2000 B.C a new group of settlers had arrived, metalworkers in search of gold and copper, who fashioned the artistic ornaments. The Celts had the advantage  of hving weapons made of iron. The marriage of Christianity and Celtic cultures produced in Ireland a society that was essentially conservative. It was basically a rural society with no cities or towns. While some of the more important monasteries grew into centres with a large population. The ordinary homestead of the farming classes was the rath, often erected on a hilltop and surrounded by a circular rampart and fence. Gaelic civilisation placed great emphasis on family relationships. The normal family group was the derbhfhine made up of all those who were descended from one great-grandfather. The learned class formed a pecial group among the freemen. They included judges and lawyers, medical men, craftsmen and poets; they were regarded as seers and visionares as well. Like most positions in Gaelic Ireland the learned professions tended to become hereditary