celts

The Celts are an ethnolinguistic group of Iron Age Europe known for speaking Celtic languages, a branch of the Indo-European family. The term derives from the Greek Keltoi and is applied to a broad range of interconnected cultures that developed in central Europe, with early archaeological markers such as the Hallstatt culture (c. 800–450 BCE) and the La Tène culture (c. 450 BCE–1st century BCE). Celtic languages include Goidelic (Gaelic) and Brythonic (Brittonic) varieties, spoken across different regions at different times.

Geographically, Celtic-speaking communities spread from central Europe to much of western Europe. They established important centers in Gaul (roughly modern France and adjacent areas), and later expanded into the British Isles (Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall) and the Armorican region of what is now Brittany in France. In the Iberian Peninsula, Celtic-speaking groups such as the Celtiberians inhabited parts of what is now northern and central Spain. Northern Italy also hosted Celtic-speaking groups known as the Cisalpine Celts. Roman expansion gradually absorbed or displaced many Celtic communities; Gaul became a Roman province, and Britain was incorporated into the Roman Empire, though Celtic languages and practices persisted in peripheral regions for centuries.

Culture and society are known largely through artifacts, inscriptions, and classical texts. Celtic societies tended to be organized around aristocratic elites, with Druids and other priestly figures playing roles in law and religious life. La Tène art is a hallmark, characterized by intricate spirals, interlace, and vegetal motifs. Settlements included hill forts and fortified sites, and metallurgy and crafts were highly developed.

Today, the term Celts remains in archaeology, linguistics, and cultural memory. Modern usage identifies several “Celtic nations”—Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, Brittany, and the Isle of Man—where Celtic languages survive or have revived, reflecting a continuing, though diverse, cultural heritage.