Julius Caesar: The Celtic Culture

Do you ever wonder why there aren’t many records of the Celts before the Romans came to power? The culture of the Celts can be hard to trace before Roman times. They were a society that did not leave anything of much permanence behind. That being said, much pagan Celtic culture like art and literature remains unknown. The deciding factor that gave the Celts a permanent place in history was Christianity. Despite the prevalence of Christianity throughout Celtic society, much of the art and literature was unique to their culture.
Around the time Julius Caesar was taking control of Celtic lands, Christianity was becoming more and more of a dominant religion in the area (Lassieur 75). By the fourth century A.D., many Gauls had taken advantage of
Most did not acknowledge themselves as Celts or acknowledge anything setting them apart from western churches (Ó Néill 225). The technical Celtic church spanned through Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, and Brittany. The period of the Celtic church lasted from around the third to twelfth century; after the twelfth century, a period of reforms came which depleted all difference from the western churches (Ó Néill 225). The main differences, while attributed to geography, resulted in the Celtic church practicing antiquated traditions (Ó Néill 226-227). One big difference was the structure of the church. The Celtic church developed around the rural structure of the community (Ó Néill 227). Another big difference was the celebration of Easter. The Celtic church practiced according to a lunar calendar, while many western churches practiced according to the solar calendar (Ó Néill
Although the first written manuscripts are mainly Christian, there are many oral tales. However, many of these can be validated for a couple reasons: they were written down in the Middle Ages, making it hard to alter the text because of tangible manuscripts, and the fact that they bordered literate nations that wrote down events (Young). For example, once Welsh legend claims that Celts attacked Greece in the 200s BCE. There are many similarities to a similar Greek legend, with one main difference (the name of the leader) that could be attributed to sound changes (Young). However, these oral legends cannot be considered fact. The only way they can be completely validated is through archaeology