3611
Online museum and repository for historical and ancestral knowledge.
Artistic reconstruction of the monastic community of Clones (Irish: Cluain Eois), in what is now county Monaghan, Ireland; illustration by Phillip Armstrong. 🇮🇪 Clones was founded in the 6th century AD by St. Tighernach. With the exception of a small interruption in the late 13th century, when it was burned by English invaders, Clones monastery was occupied continuously until the late 16th century.
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Partially reconstructed bronze and wood funerary wagon, on display at the Archaeological Museum of Como, in Lombardy, Italy; Golasecca Culture, 5th century B.C. 🇮🇹
The Golasecca Culture existed in northwestern Italy and southern Switzerland from the 12th century B.C. to the 4th. It was derived from the Urnfield Culture of Central Europe, and likely came about due to a large scale migration across the Alps. The people of this culture acted as intermediaries for commerce between the Etruscan culture to the south, and the Celtic peoples on the other side of the Alps. They adopted writing from the former, and numerous inscriptions have been unearthed that have been attributed to the people of the Golasecca culture. The inscriptions have been deciphered, and the language they contained has been determined to have been a Celtic one, very similar to Gaulish. This language has been given the name Lepontic, after a tribe recorded in the Alps by the Romans: The Lepontii. The oldest known such inscriptions date to the 7th century B.C., and thus, these are the oldest known written samples of a Celtic language.
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Silver coin (value: 1 drachma) representing the Gallic sky and thunder deity, Taranis (i.e. Zeus), found in the territory of the Celtic Scordisci tribe of Serbia; 3rd or 2nd century B.C. 🇷🇸
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Kynance Cove, Cornwall.
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Steel Viking sword found at Ballinderry, near Moat, in county Westmeath, Ireland. 🇮🇪 1st image: The sword on display at the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin; 2nd: In a more isolated context; 3rd: A modern replica by the Czech armorer/jeweler Wulflund. 🇨🇿
The sword was found in a native Celtic lake settlement (i.e. a “crannog”) along with other Scandinavian artifacts: an axe, two spearheads, a long-bow and a gaming board. The crannog yielded radiocarbon dates between the late 9th and early 11th centuries. Whether the sword and associated weapons were acquired by the Irish occupants through commerce, or taken in battle from vanquished Norsemen, cannot be known.
The sword is of exceptional quality and bears the name +ULFBEHRT+ on the 79 cm. long blade. Between 150 and 200 swords thus marked have been found throughout Europe, some as far east as the river Volga in Russia. They are thought to be the work of a German manufacturer from the Rhineland regions. The use of superior Frankish weaponry by Vikings became so widespread that in the year 864, king Charles the Bald of West Francia legislated against the sale of arms to Scandinavian traders, even under penalty of death. The law was obviously ineffective; the manufacturer of the famed Ulfbehrt blades for example, would have been out of the reach of king Charles’ power and jurisdiction. While the blade was certainly of German manufacture, the hilt, which is covered in silver, appears to have been added by a Norwegian craftsman and bears the name ‘HILTIPREHT’.
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Pictish symbol stone from Easterton of Roseisle, in Moray, Scotland; 7th or 8th century AD. 🏴
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Crepuscular sky viewed from Dún Bhaloir, on Tory island; county Donegal, Ireland. 🇮🇪
Dún Bhaloir is the remains of an ancient coastal promontory fort. It is named after a figure from Irish mythology: Balor of the Venomous Eye, so called because he had only one eye, with which he could supposedly kill merely by staring. Balor was the king of a race of terrible supernatural beings known as the “Fomorians” (Irish: Fomhóraigh). The Fomorians supposedly came as invaders to Ireland in very ancient times, from beyond the sea to the north. They dominated and oppressed Ireland’s pre-Gaelic inhabitants, the Tuatha Dé Danann, who were also thought of as supernatural and identified with pre-Christian deities. During the final struggle between the two races, Balor was defeated and killed at the second Battle of Magh Tuireadh, by Lugh of the Long Hand, who then became king of the Tuatha Dé Danann, since the previous king, Nuada Silver-Arm, had been killed in the same battle by Balor himself.
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The “Danube Torc”, a gold neck-ring decorated in La Tène style, found near Gorni Cibar, Montana Province, Bulgaria; 4th century B.C. 🇧🇬
The torc may be related to events around the year 310 B.C., when the Macedonian general Cassander was recorded as having helped local tribes in the area to repulse an attack by a small Celtic raiding band. In subsequent years, however, Celtic incursions became more frequent and formidable. The Gallic invasions climaxed in the year 279 B.C., when a Gallic army defeated the local Triballi Thracians in a battle, putting them and the neighboring Getae to flight. That same year, a different Gallic army defeated, captured, and killed the Macedonian king Ptolemy Keraunos in a particularly violent battle. Celtic armies then overran Thrace, Macedonia and Greece, going so far as to plunder the temple of Apollo in Delphi. Subsequently, this northwestern corner of Bulgaria, together with the native Thracian people who inhabited it, came to be incorporated into the Celtic-Thracian Scordisci tribal federation, which was centered in neighboring Serbia.
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Silver spiral armlet with coral inlay, crafted in the shape of a serpent, found in the burial of a Gallic noblewoman at Sremska Mitrovica (formerly Sirmium), in Vojvodina province, Serbia; 4th or 3rd century B.C. 🇷🇸
This part of Europe was invaded and colonized by Celts in the late 5th century B.C. The Gauls are credited with having founded the city of Singidunum, now Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. At some point after 279 B.C., they formed a tribal federation with neighboring Thracian tribes, known as the Scordisci. The Scordisci tribal federation dominated the western Balkans for two centuries and was a continual thorn in the side of the Roman Republic, at a time when the latter was trying to conquer and pacify the region.
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Landcapes in La Rioja province, Spain. 🇪🇸
This region was among the first in the Iberian peninsula to be settled by Celtic migrants during the middle bronze age (~1,000-900 B.C.) It was from here that Celtiberian peoples began spreading and propagating to other parts of the peninsula. The Romans later documented the Celtiberian Berones tribe living here; they were staunch allies of Rome. The Romans introduced viticulture to Spain, and La Rioja is now a major wine producing region (the bright colors in these images are mostly vines during autumn). Prior to that, the region was mostly holm oak (Quercus Ilex) forest and savannah, ideal for the livestock-herder lifestyle of the Celts. The craggy mountain in the last two images is Cellorigo peak. It’s slopes host a village of the same name and the ruins of a medieval castle, which Muslim invaders attacked twice in the years AD 882 and 883; unsuccessfully and at the cost of severe casualties.
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Birch woodland in spring, at the Dundreggan Estate rewilding project in Glenmoriston, Scotland. 🏴
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A collaboration by several Breton traditional music bands and an Irish music school to render a cover of The Gael, written by the celebrated Scottish musician and composer Dougie McLean, using traditional Celtic instruments. The Gael was the principal theme used for the soundtrack of the 1992 film The Last of the Mohicans. More information about the bands and the production in the Description section of the video.
Various video takes of the musicians show them performing atop the Monts D’Arrée in Brittany.
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https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zNnzufK0nVE
Gold bowl decorated with animals, solar disks, and lunar crescents, found in the Altstetten district of Zürich, Switzerland; Urnfield culture, 11th or 10th century B.C. 🇨🇭
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Saul (Irish: Sabhall, “barn”), in county Down, Ireland. Saul was the first monastery founded in Ireland by Patrick upon his return to the island in the year AD 432. It was originally a wooden barn, granted to him by a local chieftain named Dichú. The current church (pictured) was built in 1933. Saul is also reputed to be the location of Patrick’s death, on the 17th of March, in the year AD 461.
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Today is the Feast of St. Patrick (Pátraic in Old Irish, Pádraig in Modern Irish, Pàdraig in Scottish Gaelic, Padrig in Welsh, Petroc in Cornish), patron saint of Ireland, Nigeria, Montserrat, Clann Giolla Phádraig, as well as several Archdioceses.
Born near modern Carlisle in Roman Britain as the son of Calpurnius, deacon, Patrick was not an active believer in his youth. At 16, he was captured by a group of Irish pirates who enslaved him for six years. He wrote in his Confessions that being enslaved was crucially important to his spiritual development - God having great mercy on his ignorance as an adolescent and offering him the chance to be forgiven of his sins and convert. He prayed ceaselessly during his captivity and this solidified his relationship with God.
After his 6 years, a voice told him he would be back in his homeland soon. His ship was ready immediately, and he departed from his master to travel to a port some 200 miles away.
A night raid in early medieval Scotland; art by Angus McBride. 🏴
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Glencar Lough, counties Leitrim and Sligo, Ireland. 🇮🇪
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Iron spearhead embellished with bronze attachments executed in La Tène style, found in the river Thames, London, England; 2nd or 1st century B.C.
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The Dupplin Cross, in St. Serf’s Church, Dunning, Scotland; 8th-9th century AD. 🏴
The cross was originally found on a nearby hill in the Strathearn region. Aside from the exquisitely executed decoration (soldiers, hunting scenes, mythical beasts, a harpist, as well as Insular Art spirals and knots), the stone has a notable Latin inscription, mostly illegible except for a name: CUSTANTIN FILIUS FIRCUS. This is the name of the Pictish king Causantín (Constantine), son of Fergus, who ruled Scotland as king of Foirtriu from AD 789 to 820. The reigns of Causantín and of his brother and successor Óengus II, are regarded as a golden age for the Picts of Scotland. There was prosperity and stability throughout the land, while the kingdom of Foirtriu was at the height of it’s power, having practically absorbed the Gaelic kingdom of Dál Riata and made it a subsidiary; Causantín’s son Domnall even ruled as king of Dál Riata from AD 811 to 835. This golden age came to a tragic end in the year AD 839, with the death of king Eogánan (son of the aforementioned Óengus II), together with the flower of the nobility of Foirtriu, in battle against the Norwegian Vikings. The power vacuum this created facilitated the rise of a new kingdom in the south: Alba, also known as the Kingdom of Scotland.
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Decorated clay jug with sculpted spout, from the ruins of the Celtiberian city of Numantia, in Soria province, Spain; 2nd century B.C. 🇪🇸
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Iron skull-cap helmet found near Tongeren, in Limburg province, Belgium; 1st century B.C. 🇧🇪
The Gallic Eburones tribe who inhabited this region fought tenaciously against the Roman army of general Gaius Julius Caesar during his campaign of conquest in Gaul between 58 and 50 B.C. It is therefore possible that this helmet saw action in the Gallic wars.
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Carreg Cennen castle, in Carmarthenshire, Wales. 🏴
The castle was built at some point between the years 1171 and 1197 by Rhys, son of Gruffydd, king of Deheubarth in south Wales. It changed hands multiple times over the course of the next century. After the final English conquest of Wales, Carreg Cennen was granted by king Edward I of England to the feudal baron John Giffard in the year 1283. Giffard is thought to have significantly expanded and remodeled the castle.
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Bronze horse-bits, terrets, and other chariot parts, decorated in La Tène style, found in a bog near Middlebie, in Dumfriesshire, Scotland; 1st or 2nd century AD. 🏴
The Middlebie Hoard contained 28 objects, all but one of which were parts of horse-and-chariot gear; a single guard-piece from a sword-hilt was also found. In all likelihood this was a votive deposit, a local tribe offering pieces of captured enemy war-gear to the entities of the netherworld as a thanksgiving for victory.
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Artistic reconstruction of The Black Pig’s Dyke (Irish: Claí na Muice Duibhe), a large system of bank and ditch barriers built across the northern part of Ireland; illustration by Phillip Armstrong. 🇮🇪
These enigmatic earthworks were built across several stretches of land, with large gaps existing in between; the largest section (10.3 km) is located in county Longford. Most of the radiocarbon samples have yielded dates of 390-370 B.C. The purpose of these structures is not well understood; perhaps the most plausible theory is that they were defensive earthworks meant to hamper the movement of marauding armies and cattle rustlers. The large gaps in between each section may be explainable as forested and boggy areas where manmade defences were thought unnecessary. The discontinuous line of earthworks seems to loosely correspond to the borders of the ancient province of Ulster. This would seem to corroborate the accounts of Irish literature (i.e. the “Ulster Cycle”), which described continuous warfare between the peoples Ulster and the neighboring provinces, particularly the Connachta.
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Remains of a Christian monastery and adjacent graveyard on the coast of the Iveragh peninsula, overlooking Skellig Michael island, in county Kerry, Ireland. 🇮🇪
The beehive shaped drystone huts are characteristic for monastic settlements in the southwestern coastal parts of Ireland. The monastery is believed to have been founded in the 6th century by St. Finnian of Clonard, and occupied continuously through the early 13th century. It was hit by at least one Viking raid, recorded in the year 823 by the Annals of Innisfallen; the abbot, by the name of Etgal, was said to have died of starvation while in captivity. As fasting was a common method of defiance and protest in medieval Ireland, it is possible that the death was self-inflicted.
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Limestone statue depicting a wolf, from Noves, in Bouches-du-Rhône, France; 2nd or 3rd century B.C. 🇫🇷 The statue, known as “La Tarasque de Noves” was found under a 19th century cemetery and is now on display in the Musée Lapidaire, in Avignon, France.
After its initial discovery, locals had imagined it as a depiction of a mythical reptilian monster known as “La Tarasque”; hence the name given to it. But more careful recent observations have led to the conclusion that the statue was meant to represent a wolf: The long snout, thick hair along the back, non-retractable claws, and a broad, tapering tail (tucked under the right leg), are all traits characteristic of a wolf.
The Noves wolf sits upright like a king, grimly enjoying a meal of human flesh and triumphantly displaying the severed heads of two victims, in classic Celtic warrior fashion. The long beards on the victims’ faces appear to imply that they were intended as members of nobility, perhaps even as kings. The ancient stonemasons carved a penis and testicles onto the wolf, probably to leave no room for doubt as to its intended gender (there are only two), as well as to emphasize the attribute of virility.
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Ben Hope, in Sutherland, Scotland; altitude 927 meters. 🏴
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Silver tetradrachm coin from the Gallic kingdom of Noricum, formerly located in what is now eastern Austria; 2nd century B.C. 🇦🇹
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Slemish Mountain, in county Antrim, Ireland. This is the location where, according to Patrick’s Confession, he was a slave for 6 years, herding sheep in the fields beneath the mountain. Patrick worked there for a local chieftain and druid named Milchú.
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Culdee monks on the Isle of Colonsay, in Argyll, Scotland; 7th or 8th century. 🏴 Art by Alan R. Braby.
“Culdees” (Irish: Céilí Dé, “companions of God”) is the name often given to early Christian monks in the Celtic-speaking parts of the British isles (Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and Cornwall); they also had a notable presence in the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria. Unlike European monks of the later medieval period, Culdees usually dressed in white.
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