Editing Celts (section)

==Distribution==
===Continental===
====Gaul====
[[File:Celtic Gold-plated Disc, Auvers-sur-Oise, Val-d'Oise.jpg|thumb|A 4th century BC gold-plated disk from Gaul]]
{{Main|Gauls}}

The Romans knew the Celts then living in present-day France as Gauls. The territory of these peoples probably included the [[Low Countries]], the Alps and present-day northern Italy. [[Julius Caesar]] in his ''[[Commentarii de Bello Gallico|Gallic Wars]]'' described the 1st-century BC descendants of those Gauls.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}

Eastern Gaul became the centre of the western La Tène culture. In later Iron Age Gaul, the social organisation resembled that of the Romans, with large towns. From the 3rd century BC the Gauls adopted coinage. Texts with Greek characters from southern Gaul have survived from the 2nd century BC.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Arrival of Celts - France - SpottingHistory.com |url= https://www.spottinghistory.com/historicalperiod/celts-arrival-france/ |access-date=14 October 2022 |website=www.spottinghistory.com |language=en |archive-date=14 October 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20221014141240/https://www.spottinghistory.com/historicalperiod/celts-arrival-france/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

Greek traders founded [[Marseille|Massalia]] about 600 BC, with some objects (mostly drinking ceramic vessels) being traded up the [[Rhône]] valley. But trade became disrupted soon after 500 BC and re-oriented over the Alps to the Po valley in the Italian peninsula. The [[Roman Empire|Romans]] arrived in the Rhone valley in the 2nd century BC and encountered a mostly Celtic-speaking Gaul. Rome wanted land communications with its Iberian provinces and fought a major battle with the [[Saluvii]] at [[Entremont (oppidum)|Entremont]] in 124–123 BC. Gradually Roman control extended, and the [[Roman province]] of [[Gallia Narbonensis|Gallia Transalpina]] developed along the Mediterranean coast.<ref>{{cite book |last=Dietler |first=Michael |title=Archaeologies of Colonialism: Consumption, Entanglement, and Violence in Ancient Mediterranean France |date=2010 |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |isbn=978-0-520-26551-6}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Dietler |first=Michael |title=Consumption and Colonial Encounters in the Rhône Basin of France: A Study of Early Iron Age Political Economy |date=2005 |series=Monographies d'Archéologie Meditérranéenne |volume=21 |publisher=[[French National Centre for Scientific Research]] |isbn=978-2-912369-10-9}}</ref> The Romans knew the remainder of Gaul as {{lang|la|[[Gallia Comata]]}}, 'Long-haired Gaul'.<ref>{{cite web |title=Gallia Comata {{!}} Gaul, Celtic Tribes, Julius Caesar |url= https://www.britannica.com/place/Gallia-Comata |website=[[Britannica.com]]}}</ref>

In 58 BC, the [[Helvetii]] planned to migrate westward but Julius Caesar forced them back. He then became involved in fighting the various tribes in Gaul, and by 55 BC had overrun most of Gaul. In 52 BC, [[Vercingetorix]] led a revolt against Roman occupation but was defeated at the [[Battle of Alesia]] and surrendered.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Vercingetorix {{!}} Gallic chieftain {{!}} Britannica |url= https://www.britannica.com/biography/Vercingetorix |access-date=22 October 2022 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en |archive-date=22 October 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20221022001419/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Vercingetorix |url-status=live }}</ref>

Following the Gallic Wars of 58–51 BC, Caesar's ''[[Gallia Celtica|Celtica]]'' formed the main part of Roman Gaul, becoming the province of [[Gallia Lugdunensis]]. This territory of the Celtic tribes was bounded on the south by the Garonne and on the north by the Seine and the Marne.<ref>{{cite book |last=Cunliffe |first=Barry |title=The Celts |date=2003 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-280418-1 |page=75}}</ref> The Romans attached large swathes of this region to neighbouring provinces [[Belgica]] and [[Aquitania]], particularly under [[Augustus]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Drinkwater |first=John |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=AfpQAwAAQBAJ&q=Belgica+and+Aquitania+augustus |title=Roman Gaul (Routledge Revivals): The Three Provinces, 58 BC-AD 260 |date=8 April 2014 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-1-317-75074-1 |language=en}}</ref>

Place- and personal-name analysis and inscriptions suggest that [[Gaulish]] was spoken over most of what is now France.<ref>{{cite book |last=Cunliffe |first=Barry |title=The Celts |date=2003 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-280418-1 |page=52}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Dietler |first=Michael |title=Archaeologies of Colonialism: Consumption, Entanglement, and Violence in Ancient Mediterranean France |date=2010 |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |isbn=978-0-520-26551-6 |pages=75–94}}</ref>

====Iberia====
[[File:Iberia 300BC-en.svg|thumb|upright=1.5|Main language areas in [[Iberian Peninsula|Iberia]], showing Celtic languages in beige, c. 300 BC]]
{{Main|Celtiberians|Gallaeci}}
{{See also|Castro culture|Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula|Prehistoric Iberia|Hispania|Lusitania|Gallaecia|Celtici|Vettones}}

Until the end of the 19th century, traditional scholarship dealing with the Celts did acknowledge their presence in the Iberian Peninsula<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=K_fmF-Rpt0QC&q=celts+portuguese&pg=PA50 |title=Chambers's information for the people |page=50 |access-date=2 October 2010 |last1=Chambers |first1=William |last2=Chambers |first2=Robert |date=1842 |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110722091012/http://books.google.com/books?id=K_fmF-Rpt0QC&pg=PA50&dq=celts+portuguese |archive-date=22 July 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=rTEEAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA505 |title=Brownson's Quarterly Review |page=505 |access-date=2 October 2010 |last1=Brownson |first1=Orestes Augustus |date=1859 |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20111222192128/http://books.google.com/books?id=rTEEAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA505&dq=portuguese+celts |archive-date=22 December 2011}}</ref> as a [[Archaeological culture|material culture]] relatable to the [[Hallstatt culture|Hallstatt]] and [[La Tène culture|La Tène]] cultures. However, since according to the definition of the [[Iron Age]] in the 19th century Celtic populations were supposedly rare in Iberia and did not provide a cultural scenario that could easily be linked to that of Central Europe, the presence of Celtic culture in that region was generally not fully recognised. Modern scholarship, however, has proven that Celtic presence and influences were most substantial in what is today Spain and [[Portugal]] (with perhaps the highest settlement saturation in Western Europe), particularly in the central, western and northern regions.<ref name="Quintela">{{cite journal |url= http://www4.uwm.edu/celtic/ekeltoi/volumes/vol6/6_10/garcia_quintela_6_10.html |title=Celtic Elements in Northwestern Spain in Pre-Roman times |journal=E-Keltoi: Journal of Interdisciplinary Celtic Studies |volume=6 |issue=1 |last=Quintela |first=Marco V. García |date=2005 |publisher=Center for Celtic Studies, [[University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee]] |access-date=12 May 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110106071447/http://www4.uwm.edu/celtic/ekeltoi/volumes/vol6/6_10/garcia_quintela_6_10.html |archive-date=6 January 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url= http://www4.uwm.edu/celtic/ekeltoi/volumes/vol6/6_12/olivares_6_12.html |title=Celtic Gods of the Iberian Peninsula |journal=E-Keltoi: Journal of Interdisciplinary Celtic Studies |volume=6 |issue=1 |last=Pedreño |first=Juan Carlos Olivares |date=2005 |access-date=12 May 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090924025843/http://www4.uwm.edu/celtic/ekeltoi/volumes/vol6/6_12/olivares_6_12.html |archive-date=24 September 2009}}</ref>

In addition to [[Gauls]] infiltrating from the north of the [[Pyrenees]], the Roman and Greek sources mention Celtic populations in three parts of the Iberian Peninsula: the eastern part of the ''Meseta'' (inhabited by the [[Celtiberians]]), the southwest ([[Celtici]], in modern-day [[Alentejo]]) and the northwest ([[Gallaecia]] and [[Asturias]]).<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=8PsWAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA32 |title=Researches into the Physical History of Mankind |access-date=2 October 2010 |last1=Prichard |first1=James Cowles |date=1841 |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20111222184305/http://books.google.com/books?id=8PsWAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA32&dq=celtiberian+celtici |archive-date=22 December 2011}}</ref> A modern scholarly review<ref>{{cite journal |first=Gonzalo Ruiz Zapatero |last=Alberto J. Lorrio |url= http://www4.uwm.edu/celtic/ekeltoi/volumes/vol6/6_4/lorrio_zapatero_6_4.html |title=The Celts in Iberia: An Overview |journal=E-Keltoi: Journal of Interdisciplinary Celtic Studies |volume=6 |pages=167–254 |date=2005 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110624075310/http://www4.uwm.edu/celtic/ekeltoi/volumes/vol6/6_4/lorrio_zapatero_6_4.html |archive-date=24 June 2011 |access-date=12 August 2010}}</ref> found several archaeological groups of Celts in Spain:
* The [[Celtiberians|Celtiberian]] group in the Upper-Douro Upper-Tagus Upper-Jalón area.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Francisco |last=Burillo Mozota |url= http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/celtic/ekeltoi/volumes/vol6/6_8/burillo_6_8.html |title=Celtiberians: Problems and Debates |journal=E-Keltoi: Journal of Interdisciplinary Celtic Studies |volume=6 |pages=411–80 |date=2005 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090214010846/http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/celtic/ekeltoi/volumes/vol6/6_8/burillo_6_8.html |archive-date=14 February 2009 |access-date=18 May 2009}}</ref> Archaeological data suggest a continuity at least from the 6th century BC. In this early period, the Celtiberians inhabited in hill-forts (''Castros''). Around the end of the 3rd century BC, Celtiberians adopted more urban ways of life. From the 2nd century BC, they minted coins and wrote inscriptions using the [[Celtiberian script]]. These inscriptions make the [[Celtiberian Language]] the only Hispano-Celtic language classified as Celtic with unanimous agreement.<ref name="auto">{{cite journal |first=Carlos |last=Jordán Cólera |url= http://www4.uwm.edu/celtic/ekeltoi/volumes/vol6/6_17/jordan_6_17.pdf |title=Celtiberian |journal=E-Keltoi: Journal of Interdisciplinary Celtic Studies |volume=6 |pages=749–850 |date=2005 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110624081159/http://www4.uwm.edu/celtic/ekeltoi/volumes/vol6/6_17/jordan_6_17.pdf |archive-date=24 June 2011 |access-date=29 March 2017}}</ref> In the late period, before the Roman Conquest, both archaeological evidence and Roman sources suggest that the [[Celtiberians]] were expanding into different areas in the Peninsula (e.g. Celtic Baeturia).
* The [[Vettones|Vetton]] group in the western Meseta, between the Tormes, Douro and Tagus Rivers. They were characterised by the production of ''Verracos'', sculptures of bulls and pigs carved in granite.
* The [[Vaccei|Vaccean]] group in the central Douro valley. They were mentioned by Roman sources already in the 220 BC. Some of their funerary rituals suggest strong influences from their [[Celtiberians|Celtiberian]] neighbours.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}

[[File:Torque de Santa Tegra 1.JPG|thumb|upright=0.9|Triskelion and spirals on a Galician [[torc]] terminal, Museum of Castro de Santa Tegra, [[A Guarda]]]]
* The ''Castro Culture'' in northwestern Iberia, modern day [[Galicia (Spain)|Galicia]] and Northern [[Portugal]].<ref>{{cite journal |first=Manuel |last=Alberro |url= http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/celtic/ekeltoi/volumes/vol6/6_20/alberro_6_20.html |title=Celtic Legacy in Galicia |journal=E-Keltoi: Journal of Interdisciplinary Celtic Studies |volume=6 |pages=1005–35 |date=2005 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090417174506/http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/celtic/ekeltoi/volumes/vol6/6_20/alberro_6_20.html |archive-date=17 April 2009 |access-date=18 May 2009}}</ref> Its high degree of continuity, from the Late Bronze Age, makes it difficult to support that the introduction of Celtic elements was due to the same process of Celticisation of the western Iberia, from the nucleus area of Celtiberia. Two typical elements are the sauna baths with monumental entrances, and the "Gallaecian Warriors", stone sculptures built in the 1st century AD. A large group of Latin inscriptions contain Celtic linguistic features, while others are similar to those found in the non-Celtic [[Lusitanian language]].<ref name="auto" />
* The [[Astures]] and the [[Cantabri]]. This area was romanised late, as it was not conquered by Rome until the [[Cantabrian Wars]] of 29–19 BC.
* Celts in the southwest, in the area [[Strabo]] called Celtica<ref>{{cite journal |first=Luis |last=Berrocal-Rangel |url= http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/celtic/ekeltoi/volumes/vol6/index.html |title=The Celts of the Southwestern Iberian Peninsula |journal=E-Keltoi: Journal of Interdisciplinary Celtic Studies |volume=6 |pages=481–96 |date=2005 |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090416055457/http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/celtic/ekeltoi/volumes/vol6/index.html |archive-date=16 April 2009}}</ref>

The origins of the Celtiberians might provide a key to understanding the Celticisation process in the rest of the Peninsula. The process of Celticisation of the southwestern area of the peninsula by the Keltoi and of the northwestern area is, however, not a simple Celtiberian question. Recent investigations about the [[Gallaeci|Callaici]]<ref>{{cite journal |first=Eugenio |last=R. Luján Martínez |url= http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/celtic/ekeltoi/volumes/vol6/6_16/lujan_6_16.html |title=The Language(s) of the Callaeci |journal=E-Keltoi: Journal of Interdisciplinary Celtic Studies |volume=6 |pages=715–48 |date=2005 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090417174908/http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/celtic/ekeltoi/volumes/vol6/6_16/lujan_6_16.html |archive-date=17 April 2009 |access-date=18 May 2009}}</ref> and [[Bracari]]<ref>Coutinhas, José Manuel (2006), ''Aproximação à identidade etno-cultural dos Callaici Bracari'', Porto.</ref> in northwestern [[Portugal]] are providing new approaches to understanding Celtic culture (language, art and religion) in western Iberia.<ref>[http://arkeotavira.com/Mapas/Iberia/Populi.htm Archeological site of Tavira] {{webarchive|url= http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20110223153840/http://arkeotavira.com/Mapas/Iberia/Populi.htm |date=23 February 2011 }}, official website</ref>

John T. Koch of [[Aberystwyth University]] suggested that [[Tartessian language|Tartessian]] inscriptions of the 8th century BC might be classified as Celtic. This would mean that Tartessian is the earliest attested trace of Celtic by a margin of more than a century.<ref>John T. Koch, ''Tartessian: Celtic From the South-west at the Dawn of History'', Celtic Studies Publications, (2009)</ref>

====Germany, Alps and Italy====
{{Main|Golasecca culture|Lepontii|Cisalpine Gaul}}
[[File:Heuneburg 600 B.C..jpg|thumb|left|The Celtic city of [[Heuneburg]] by the Danube, Germany, c. 600 BC, the oldest city north of the Alps.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.heuneburg-pyrene.de/en/celtic-city#:~:text=This%20Celtic%20hilltop%20settlement%20is,was%20built%20of%20mud%20bricks |title=Celtic City: Staatliche Schlösser und Gärten Baden-Württemberg |access-date=8 March 2023 |archive-date=7 March 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230307030355/https://www.heuneburg-pyrene.de/en/celtic-city#:~:text=This%20Celtic%20hilltop%20settlement%20is,was%20built%20of%20mud%20bricks |url-status=live}}</ref>]]
[[Image:Germanic tribes (750BC-1AD).png|right|thumb|250px|
Expansion of [[early Germanic culture|early Germanic tribes]] into [[Central Europe]],<ref>{{citation |last=Kinder |first=Hermann |publisher=[[Penguin Books]] |location=London |date=1988 |title=Penguin Atlas of World History |volume=I |page=108}}.</ref> helping press its previous Celts further south and southeast]]
[[File:Gallia Cisalpina-en.svg|thumb|Peoples of Cisalpine Gaul during the 4th to 3rd centuries BC]]
{{Further|History of the Alps}}

In Germany by the late [[Bronze Age Europe|Bronze Age]], the [[Urnfield culture]] ({{Circa|1300 BC|750 BC}}) had replaced the [[Bell Beaker culture|Bell Beaker]], [[Unetice culture|Unetice]] and [[Tumulus culture]]s in central Europe,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Iñigo Olalde |date=8 March 2018 |title=The Beaker Phenomenon and the Genomic Transformation of Northwest Europe |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |publisher=[[Nature Portfolio]] |volume=555 |issue=7695 |pages=190–196 |bibcode=2018Natur.555..190O |doi=10.1038/nature25738 |pmc=5973796 |pmid=29466337}}</ref> whilst the [[Nordic Bronze Age]] had developed in Scandinavia and northern Germany. The [[Hallstatt culture]], which had developed from the Urnfield culture, was the predominant Western and Central European culture from the 12th to 8th centuries BC and during the early [[Iron Age Europe|Iron Age]] (8th to 6th centuries BC). It was followed by the [[La Tène culture]] (5th to 1st centuries BC).

The people who had adopted these cultural characteristics in central and southern Germany are regarded as Celts. Celtic cultural centres developed in central Europe during the late Bronze Age ({{circa|1200 BC}} until 700 BC). Some, like the [[Heuneburg]], the oldest city north of the Alps,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Heuneburg – Celtic city of Pyrene |url= https://www.heuneburg-pyrene.de/en/celtic-city}}</ref> grew to become important cultural centres of the Iron Age in Central Europe, that maintained trade routes to the [[Mediterranean]]. In the 5th century BC the Greek historian [[Herodotus]] mentioned a Celtic city at the Danube – ''Pyrene'', that historians attribute to the Heuneburg. Beginning around 700 BC (or later), [[Germanic peoples]] (Germanic tribes) from [[Archaeology of Northern Europe|southern Scandinavia and northern Germany]] expanded south and gradually replaced the Celtic peoples in Central Europe.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Heuneburg (Herbertingen-Hundersingen) |url= http://www.landeskunde-online.de/rhein/geschichte/antike/kelten/heuneburg/genese.htm |access-date=17 April 2020 |work=Landeskunde Online}}</ref><ref name="Herodotus1857">{{Cite book |author=Herodotus |editor1-first=Georg Friedrich |editor1-last=Creuzer |editor2-first=Johann Christian Felix |editor2-last=Bähr |title=Herodoti Musae |volume=2 |date=1857 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=t9rfAAAAMAAJ |publisher=Lipsiae in Bibliopolio Hahniano}}</ref><ref name="Herodotus1829">{{Cite book |last=Herodotus |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=q45PxRGLB5sC&pg=PA110 |title=Herodoti historiarum libri IX |date=1829 |publisher=G. Fr. Meyer |pages=110–}}</ref><ref name="Gimbutas2011">{{Cite book |first=Marija |last=Gimbutas |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=BvtRdigDtFoC&pg=PA312 |title=Bronze Age cultures in Central and Eastern Europe |date=25 August 2011 |publisher=[[Walter de Gruyter]] |isbn=978-3-1116-6814-7 |pages=100–}}</ref><ref name="Milisauskas2002">{{Cite book |first=Sarunas |last=Milisauskas |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=31LFIITb3LUC&pg=PA363 |title=European Prehistory: A Survey |date=30 June 2002 |publisher=[[Springer Science+Business Media]] |isbn=978-0-3064-7257-2 |pages=363–}}</ref><ref name="Rankin1996">{{Cite book |first=H. David |last=Rankin |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=fdqk4vXqntgC |title=Celts and the Classical World |date=1996 |publisher=[[Psychology Press]] |isbn=978-0-4151-5090-3}}</ref>

The [[Canegrate culture]] represented the first migratory wave of the proto-Celtic<ref>Alfons Semler, ''Überlingen: Bilder aus der Geschichte einer kleinen Reichsstadt,''Oberbadische Verlag, Singen, 1949, pp. 11–17, specifically 15.</ref><ref>Kruta, Venceslas; ''La grande storia dei celti: La nascita, l'affermazione e la decadenza'', Newton & Compton, 2003, {{ISBN|88-8289-851-2|978-88-8289-851-9}}.</ref> population from the northwest part of the Alps that, through the [[Alpine passes]], had already penetrated and settled in the western [[Po River|Po]] valley between [[Lake Maggiore]] and [[Lake Como]] ([[Scamozzina culture]]). It has also been proposed that a more ancient proto-Celtic presence can be traced back to the beginning of the Middle [[Bronze Age]], when North Westwern Italy appears closely linked regarding the production of bronze artefacts, including ornaments, to the western groups of the [[Tumulus culture]].<ref>"
The Golasecca civilization is therefore the expression of the oldest Celts of Italy and included several groups that had the name of Insubres, Laevi, Lepontii, Oromobii (o Orumbovii)". (Raffaele C. De Marinis)</ref> La Tène cultural material appeared over a large area of mainland Italy,<ref>{{cite journal |title=Manufatti in ferro di tipo La Tène in area italiana: le potenzialità non-sfruttate |journal=Mélanges de l'École Française de Rome. Antiquité |volume=108 |issue=2 |pages=575–605 |doi=10.3406/mefr.1996.1954 |date=1996 |last1=Vitali |first1=Daniele}}</ref> the southernmost example being the Celtic helmet from [[Canosa di Puglia]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Piggott |first1=Stuart |title=Early Celtic Art From Its Origins to its Aftermath |date=2008 |url= http://www.transactionpub.com/title/Early-Celtic-Art-978-0-202-36186-4.html |publisher=[[Transaction Publishers]] |isbn=978-0-202-36186-4 |page=3 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170219021009/http://www.transactionpub.com/title/Early-Celtic-Art-978-0-202-36186-4.html |archive-date=19 February 2017 |access-date=18 February 2017}}</ref>

Italy is home to [[Lepontic language|Lepontic]], the oldest attested Celtic language (from the 6th century BC).<ref name="Schumacher">{{cite book |last1=Schumacher |first1=Stefan |last2=Schulze-Thulin |first2=Britta |last3=aan de Wiel |first3=Caroline |title=Die keltischen Primärverben. Ein vergleichendes, etymologisches und morphologisches Lexikon |date=2004 |publisher=Institut für Sprachen und Kulturen, [[University of Innsbruck]] |isbn=978-3-85124-692-6 |pages=84–87 |language=de}}</ref> Anciently spoken in [[Switzerland]] and in Northern-Central [[Italy]], from the [[Alps]] to [[Umbria]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Percivaldi |first1=Elena |title=I Celti: una civiltà europea |date=2003 |publisher=[[Giunti Editore]] |page=82}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Kruta |first=Venceslas |title=The Celts |date=1991 |publisher=[[Thames & Hudson]] |pages=55}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Stifter |first=David |title=Old Celtic Languages |date=2008 |page=12 |url= http://www.univie.ac.at/indogermanistik/download/Stifter/oldcelt2008_1_general.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121002035607/http://www.univie.ac.at/indogermanistik/download/Stifter/oldcelt2008_1_general.pdf |archive-date=2 October 2012 |access-date=25 April 2016}}</ref><ref>Morandi 2004, pp. 702–03, n. 277</ref> According to the ''[[Recueil des Inscriptions Gauloises]]'', more than 760 Gaulish inscriptions have been found throughout present-day [[France]] – with the notable exception of [[Aquitaine]] – and in [[Italy]],<ref>Peter Schrijver, "Gaulish", in ''Encyclopedia of the Languages of Europe'', ed. Glanville Price (Oxford: Blackwell, 1998), 192.</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Landolfi |first1=Maurizio |title=Adriatico tra 4. e 3. sec. a.C. |date=2000 |publisher=L'Erma di Bretschneider |page=43}}</ref> which testifies the importance of Celtic heritage in the peninsula.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}

In 391 BC, Celts "who had their homes beyond the Alps streamed through the passes in great strength and seized the territory that lay between the [[Apennine Mountains]] and the Alps" according to [[Diodorus Siculus]]. The [[River Po|Po Valley]] and the rest of northern Italy (known to the Romans as [[Cisalpine Gaul]]) was inhabited by Celtic-speakers who founded cities such as [[Milan]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Cunliffe |first=Barry |title=The Celts – A Very Short Introduction |date=2003 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-280418-1 |page=37}}</ref> Later the Roman army was routed at the [[Battle of the Allia|battle of Allia]] and Rome was sacked in 390 BC by the [[Senones]].<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|wstitle=Senones|volume=24|pages=647–648|inline=1}}</ref>

At the [[battle of Telamon]] in 225 BC, a large Celtic army was trapped between two Roman forces; the Celtic army was crushed.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Battle of Telamon, 225 BC |url= http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_telamon.html |access-date=1 December 2022 |website=www.historyofwar.org |archive-date=1 December 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20221201014912/http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_telamon.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

The defeat of the combined [[Samnium|Samnite]], Celtic and Etruscan alliance by the Romans in the [[Samnite Wars|Third Samnite War]] sounded the beginning of the end of the Celtic domination in mainland Europe, but it was not until 192 BC that the Roman armies conquered the last remaining independent Celtic kingdoms in Italy.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}

====Expansion east and south====
[[File:3-bc map elznik.jpg|thumb|A map of Celtic invasions and migrations in the Balkans in the 3rd century BC]]
{{Main|Gallic invasion of the Balkans}}

The Celts also expanded down the [[Danube]] river and its tributaries. One of the most influential tribes, the [[Scordisci]], established their capital at [[Singidunum]] (present-day [[Belgrade]], Serbia) in the 3rd century BC. The concentration of hill-forts and cemeteries shows a [[Population density|dense population]] in the [[Tisza]] valley of modern-day [[Vojvodina]], Serbia, Hungary and into [[Ukraine]]. Expansion into [[Romania]] was however blocked by the [[Dacians]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}

The [[Serdi]] were a Celtic tribe<ref>''The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume 3, Part 2: The Assyrian and Babylonian Empires and Other States of the Near East, from the Eighth to the Sixth Centuries BC'' by John Boardman, I. E. S. Edwards, E. Sollberger, and N. G. L. Hammond, {{ISBN|0-521-22717-8}}, 1992, p. 600: "In the place of the vanished Treres and Tilataei we find the Serdi for whom there is no evidence before the first century BC. It has for long being supposed on convincing linguistic and archeological grounds that this tribe was of Celtic origin"</ref> inhabiting [[Thrace]]. They were located around and founded [[Serdika]] ({{langx|bg|Сердика}}, {{Langx|la|Ulpia Serdica}}, {{langx|el|Σαρδῶν πόλις}}), now [[Sofia]] in [[Bulgaria]],<ref>{{Cite web |url= https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0064:entry=serdica-geo&highlight=serdi |title=Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), SE´RDICA |website=perseus.tufts.edu |access-date=20 February 2021 |archive-date=24 February 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210224222301/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0064:entry=serdica-geo&highlight=serdi |url-status=live}}</ref> which reflects their ethnonym. They would have established themselves in this area during the Celtic migrations at the end of the 4th century BC, though there is no evidence for their existence before the 1st century BC. ''Serdi'' are among traditional tribal names reported into the Roman era.<ref>M. B. Shchukin, ''Rome and the Barbarians in Central and Eastern Europe: 1st Century B.C.–1st Century A.D.''</ref> They were gradually Thracianized over the centuries but retained their Celtic character in material culture up to a late date.{{when|date=July 2015}}{{citation needed|date=July 2015}} According to other sources they may have been simply of Thracian origin,<ref>Britannica</ref> according to others they may have become of mixed Thraco-Celtic origin. Further south, Celts settled in [[Thrace]] ([[Bulgaria]]), which they ruled for over a century, and [[Anatolia]], where they settled as the [[Galatia]]ns ''(see also: [[Gallic invasion of the Balkans|Gallic Invasion of Greece]])''. Despite their [[geographical isolation]] from the rest of the Celtic world, the Galatians maintained their Celtic language for at least 700 years. [[St Jerome]], who visited Ancyra (modern-day [[Ankara]]) in 373 AD, likened their language to that of the [[Treveri]] of northern Gaul.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}

For [[Venceslas Kruta]], Galatia in central Turkey was an area of dense Celtic settlement.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}

The [[Boii]] tribe gave their name to [[Bohemia]], [[Bologna]] and possibly [[Bavaria]], and Celtic artefacts and cemeteries have been discovered further east in what is now Poland and [[Slovakia]]. A Celtic coin ([[Biatec]]) from [[Bratislava]]'s mint was displayed on the old Slovak 5-crown coin.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}

As there is no archaeological evidence for large-scale invasions in some of the other areas, one current school of thought holds that Celtic language and culture spread to those areas by contact rather than invasion.<ref>{{cite book |last=Cunliffe |first=Barry |title=The Celts: A Very Short Introduction |date=2003 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-280418-1 |page=71}}</ref> However, the Celtic invasions of Italy and the [[Gallic invasion of the Balkans|expedition in Greece and western Anatolia]], are well documented in Greek and Latin history.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pope |first=Rachel |date=1 March 2022 |title=Re-approaching Celts: Origins, Society, and Social Change |journal=Journal of Archaeological Research |language=en |volume=30 |issue=1 |pages=1–67 |doi=10.1007/s10814-021-09157-1 |issn=1573-7756 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=King |first=Jeffrey |title=The Celtic Invasion of Greece |url= https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1401/the-celtic-invasion-of-greece/ |access-date=1 December 2023 |website=World History Encyclopedia |language=en}}</ref>

There are records of Celtic mercenaries in [[Egypt]] serving the [[Ptolemies]]. Thousands were employed in 283–246 BC and they were also in service around 186 BC. They attempted to overthrow [[Ptolemy II Philadelphus|Ptolemy II]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cartwright |first=Mark |date=1 April 2021 |title=Ancient Celts |url= https://www.worldhistory.org/celt/ |access-date=6 August 2022 |website=World History Encyclopedia |archive-date=14 August 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220814132538/https://www.worldhistory.org/celt/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Insular===
[[File:Map Gaels Brythons Picts.png|thumb|right|Britain & Ireland in the early–mid 1st millennium AD, before the [[Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain|founding of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms]].
{{legend|#DE3333|outline=#676767|[[Celtic Britons]]}}
{{legend|#2272C4|outline=#676767|[[Picts]]}}
{{legend|#548556|outline=#676767|[[Gaels]]}}]]
{{main|Insular Celts}}

All living Celtic languages today belong to the [[Insular Celtic languages]], derived from the Celtic languages spoken in [[Iron Age Britain]] and [[Prehistoric Ireland|Ireland]].<ref>Ball, Martin, Muller, Nicole (eds.) The Celtic Languages, Routledge, 2003, pp. 67ff.</ref> They separated into a [[Goidelic languages|Goidelic]] and a [[Brittonic languages|Brittonic]] branch early on. By the time of the [[Roman conquest of Britain]] in the 1st century AD, the Insular Celts were made up of the [[Celtic Britons]], the [[Gaels]] (or [[Scoti]]), and the [[Picts]] (or [[Caledonians]]).{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}} The renown of insular Celts has caused a popular belief that Celtic clans only lived in the British Isles.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Solly |first=Meilan |date=27 December 2019 |title=Twelve Fascinating Finds Revealed in 2019 |url= https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/twelve-fascinating-finds-revealed-2019-180973837/ |access-date=25 June 2024 |work=[[Smithsonian (magazine)|Smithsonian]]}}</ref>

Linguists have debated whether a Celtic language came to the British Isles and then split, or whether the two branches arrived separately. The older view was that Celtic influence in the Isles was the result of successive migrations or invasions from the European mainland by diverse Celtic-speaking peoples over several centuries, accounting for the [[P-Celtic]] vs. [[Q-Celtic]] [[isogloss]]. This view has been challenged by the hypothesis that the islands' Celtic languages form an [[Insular Celtic languages|Insular Celtic]] dialect group.<ref>Koch, J.T., (2006) Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia, ABC-CLIO, {{ISBN|1-85109-440-7}}, p. 973.</ref> In the 19th and 20th centuries, scholars often dated the "arrival" of Celtic culture in Britain (via an invasion model) to the 6th century BC, corresponding to archaeological evidence of [[Hallstatt culture|Hallstatt]] influence and the appearance of [[chariot burial]]s in what is now England. Cunliffe and Koch propose in their newer [['Celtic from the West' theory]] that Celtic languages reached the Isles earlier, with the Bell Beaker culture c.2500 BC, or even before this.<ref>Cunliffe, Barry; Koch, John T. (eds.), ''Celtic from the West'', David Brown Co., 2012</ref><ref>Cunliffe, Barry, Facing the Ocean, Oxford University Press, 2004</ref> More recently, a major [[archaeogenetics]] study uncovered a migration into southern Britain in the Bronze Age from 1300 to 800 BC.<ref name="Patterson">{{cite journal |last1=Patterson |first1=N. |last2=Isakov |first2=M. |last3=Booth |first3=T. |title=Large-scale migration into Britain during the Middle to Late Bronze Age |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |date=2021 |volume=601 |issue=7894 |pages=588–594 |doi=10.1038/s41586-021-04287-4 |pmid=34937049 |pmc=8889665 |bibcode=2022Natur.601..588P |s2cid=245509501}}</ref> The newcomers were genetically most similar to ancient individuals from Gaul.<ref name="Patterson" /> From 1000 BC, their genetic marker swiftly spread through southern Britain,<ref name="YorkUni">{{cite news |title=Ancient DNA study reveals large scale migrations into Bronze Age Britain |url= https://www.york.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/2021/research/ancient-dna-study-migration-bronze-age/ |access-date=21 January 2022 |publisher=[[University of York]] |date=22 December 2021 |archive-date=18 January 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220118140218/https://www.york.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/2021/research/ancient-dna-study-migration-bronze-age/ |url-status=live}}</ref> but not northern Britain.<ref name="Patterson" /> The authors see this as a "plausible vector for the spread of early Celtic languages into Britain".<ref name="Patterson" /> There was much less immigration during the Iron Age, so it is likely that Celtic reached Britain before then.<ref name="Patterson" /> Cunliffe suggests that a branch of Celtic was already spoken in Britain, and the Bronze Age migration introduced the Brittonic branch.<ref>{{cite news |title=Ancient mass migration transformed Britons' DNA |url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-59741723 |access-date=21 January 2022 |work=[[BBC News]] |date=22 December 2021 |archive-date=21 January 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220121165716/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-59741723 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Like many Celtic peoples on the mainland, the Insular Celts followed an [[Ancient Celtic religion]] overseen by [[druid]]s. Some of the southern British tribes had strong links with Gaul and [[Belgica]], and [[Celtic currency of Britain|minted their own coins]]. During the Roman occupation of Britain, a [[Romano-British culture]] emerged in the southeast. The Britons and Picts in the north, and the Gaels of Ireland, remained outside the empire. During the [[end of Roman rule in Britain]] in the 400s AD, there was significant [[Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain|Anglo-Saxon settlement]] of eastern and southern Britain, and some Gaelic settlement of its western coast. During this time, some Britons migrated to the [[Armorica]]n peninsula, where their culture became dominant. Meanwhile, much of northern Britain ([[Kingdom of Alba|Scotland]]) became Gaelic. By the 10th century AD, the Insular Celtic peoples had diversified into the Brittonic-speaking [[Welsh people|Welsh]] (in [[Wales]]), [[Cornish people|Cornish]] (in [[Cornwall]]), [[Breton people|Bretons]] (in [[Brittany]]) and Cumbrians (in the [[Hen Ogledd|Old North]]); and the Gaelic-speaking [[Irish people|Irish]] (in Ireland), [[Scottish people|Scots]] (in Scotland) and [[Manx people|Manx]] (on the [[Isle of Man]]).{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}

Classical writers did not call the inhabitants of Britain and Ireland {{lang|la|Celtae}} or ''{{lang|grc|Κελτοί}}'' ({{transliteration|grc|Keltoi}}),<ref name="Koch encyclopedia" /><ref name="SJames" /><ref name="JCollis" /> leading some scholars to question the use of the term 'Celt' for the Iron Age inhabitants of those islands.<ref name="Koch encyclopedia" /><ref name="SJames" /><ref name="JCollis" /><ref name="FPryor" /> The first historical account of the islands was by the Greek geographer [[Pytheas]], who sailed around what he called the "Pretannikai nesoi" (the "Pretannic isles") around 310–306 BC.<ref name="JCollis2">{{cite book |last1=Collis |first1=John |title=The Celts: Origins, Myths and Inventions |date=2003 |location=Stroud |publisher=[[Tempus Publishing]] |isbn=978-0-7524-2913-7 |page=125}}</ref> In general, classical writers referred to the Britons as ''Pretannoi'' (in Greek) or ''Britanni'' (in Latin).<ref name="JCollis4">{{cite book |last1=Collis |first1=John |title=The Celts: Origins, Myths and Inventions |date=2003 |location=Stroud |publisher=[[Tempus Publishing]] |isbn=978-0-7524-2913-7 |page=180}}</ref> Strabo, writing in Roman times, distinguished between the Celts and Britons.<ref name="JCollis3">{{cite book |last1=Collis |first1=John |title=The Celts: Origins, Myths and Inventions |date=2003 |location=Stroud |publisher=[[Tempus Publishing]] |isbn=978-0-7524-2913-7 |page=27}}</ref> However, Roman historian [[Tacitus]] says the Britons resembled the Celts of Gaul in customs and religion.<ref name="Sims-Williams" />