Celts and Hindu's?

[DecimusCaesar]

The Trouble is that many historians and archaeologists are uneasy about using the term Celtic to describe a "Cultural entity" in the ancient world, seeing as what we describe as 'Celts' today might not have been 'Celtic' in the ancient world. For instance Nora Chadwick in her book described the 'Celts' as if they were almost a homogenous people with one language, culture and religion. Careful sifting of the historical and archaeological record has shown that the 'Celts' were much more varied than we originally thought. There were major differences between the Celt-Iberians and Gauls, and then there were differences between Gauls and Galatians, and so on.

 

As such it is hard to reconstruct the ancient traditions of the 'Celts' as they were a varied people. The Gauls might have had Druids but the Celt-Iberians did not, and therefore the idea that there might be a common link between Celtic Druid practices and Vedic practices falls apart as there was not one homogenous Celtic entity that might have followed Vedic rites. Instead we have a group of tribes, each with their own varied beliefs and traditions.

 

Another problem is that most of our ideas on Celtic Law and customs come from Medieval Irish and Welsh records, and we cannot be sure if they actually reflect the attitudes and beliefs of the Iron Age 'Celts'.

Edited September 19, 2007 by DecimusCaesar