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Celticisation, orCelticization, was historically the process of conquering and assimilating by the ancientCelts, or via cultural exchange driven by proximity and trade. Today, as the Celtic inhabited-areas significantly differ, the term still refers to making somethingCeltic, usually focusing around theCeltic nations and theirlanguages.
During the 1st millennium BC, the early Celts expanded from a core territory in Atlantic Europe toIberia, theBritish Isles and later alsothe Balkans andCentral Europe, and are assumed to have "Celticized" (Pre-Celtic) earlier populations such asIllyrians andThracians in the Balkans[1] andBasques elsewhere.
The Celticization inPannonia began as early as the 4th century BCE.[2]La Tene type finds are characteristic in Pre-Roman Pannonia[3] and are considered a marker to variations in the degree of Celticization. Among theIllyrian tribes some were Celticized to varying degrees (some completely) like thePannoni[4][5] and theDalmatae.[6][7] A type of wooden oblong shield with an iron boss was introduced toIllyria from the Celts.[8] Illyrian chiefs and kings wore bronzetorcs around their necks[9] much as the Celts did.
The Celts had two settlements that later became cities inIllyria, namelyNavissos andSegestica. InThrace they hadSerdica[10] (modernSofia,Bulgaria),Tylis,[11] founded byGauls,Dunonia,Singidunum[12] andTaurunum.[13][14][15]
Many Celtic tribes or parts of Celtic tribes migrated toIllyria,Thrace andDacia.
The gradual Celticization of all of Pannonia took place in the 3rd century BCE.[16] Names became Celtic,[16] as seen in Roman times, and Celts had established control[16] north of theSava and south and west of theDanube. In the western half and west of Pannonia the Pre-Celtic language disappeared.[16] By the first half of the 1st century BCE[16] the language of theIllyrians in NorthernDalmatia was completely Celticized. There is an abundance ofCeltic names inIllyria sometimes making the Illyrian ones seem few.[17] Those parts of Pannonia that had not been conquered by the first Celtic invasion were already Celticized by the beginning of the 3rd century BCE.[16] TheDalmatae[6] had been Celticized by the 3rd century BCE.[7] In the region ofPannonia as a Roman province Celticization had almost completely eradicated Illyrian culture.[18]
In the Alpine region as a whole, there is evidence that the non-Celtic elements had, by the time of Augustus, been assimilated by the influx of Celtic tribes and had adopted Celtic speech.[19] According toLivy, the "sound" of theRaeti's original tongue (sonum linguae) had become corrupted as a result of inhabiting the Alps.[20] This may indicate that at least some of the tribes lost their ancestral Raetic tongue to Celtic. Celticisation also finds support in the Roman practice of twinning the Raeti with their neighbours to the North, theVindelici, who are regarded by most historians to have beenCeltic-speakers.[21]
By the 4th century BCE[22] theVeneti had been so Celticized thatPolybius wrote that the Veneti of the 2nd century BCE were identical to the Celts except for language. The Greek historianStrabo (64 BCE–24 CE), on the other hand, conjectured that the Adriatic Veneti were descendant fromCelts who in turn were related to laterCeltic tribe of the same name who lived on the Belgian coast and fought againstJulius Caesar.[23]
At the beginning of the 13th century BC, a large body of Proto-Celts crossed the Alpine passes and settled in the westernPo Valley, founding theCanegrate culture.[24][25] These proto-Celts maintained their homogeneity for only a century, after which they assimilated the nativeLigurian populations and from this union a new phase called theGolasecca culture emerged,[26][27] which is nowadays identified with theLepontii[28][29] and other Celto-Ligurian tribes.[30]Strabo wrote that in his time all the inhabitants of thePo Valley had been Celticized, with the exception of the Ligurians, and they are very similar to the Celts in their way of life.[31] Later historians wrote that because of the strongCeltic influences on their language and culture, the Ligures became known in antiquity as Celto-Ligurians.[32]
In the modern era, there are attempts made to reverse the effects of centuries ofAnglicisation and other assimilations and re-introduce Celtic languages. Most particularly inWales, theWelsh language has seen a halt in its decline and even signs of revival, with approximately half a million fluent speakers. There have also been recent attempts to revive theCornish language, and there are now several schools inCornwall teaching in Cornish. TheBreton language remains endangered as the number of its speakers continues to decline.
Gaelicisation is a sub-branch of celticisation, derived fromGaels, referring to modern-dayScotland,Ireland andIsle of Man.
In Chapter one it was seen that the Celticization of North Pannonia had already began in the 4th century BC.
contact with the peoples of the Illyrian kingdom and at the Celticized tribes of the Delmatae
Resembling the northern Illyrian oval shield was one introduced into Illyria by the Celts. Apart from the iron boss, nothing was preserved from these Celtic shields. It is known though that they were oblong shaped and made of wood with an umbo in the center ...
Illyrian chiefs wore heavy bronze torques
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
... of the survivors of Brenus expedition the Scordisci founded Singidunum in Yugoslavia
... Roman fleets, the Pannonian based on the upper course at Taurunum above Belgrade and the Moesian on the lower at Noviodunum.
Boii are connected with Taurunum, or Bononia
... Taurunum (present-day Zemun), where a long-settled Scordisci community buried their dead in the cemetery at Karaburma
In the fourth century their culture became so Celticized that Polybius described the second-century Veneti as practically indistinguishable ...
It is these Veneti [the Gallic tribe of the Belgae], I think, who settled the colony that is on the Adriatic (for about all the Celti that are in Italy migrated from the transalpine land, just as did theBoii andSenones), although, on account of the likeness of name, people call them Paphlagonians. I do not say so definitely, however; [mere] probability is usually sufficient in such matters. (Book IV, Chapter 4)
Concerning the Heneti there are two different accounts: Some say that the Heneti too are colonists of those Celti of like name who live on the seacoast; while others say that certain of the Heneti of Paphlagonia escaped hither with Antenor from the Trojan war, and, as testimony in this, adduce their devotion to the breeding of horses – a devotion which now, indeed, has wholly disappeared, although formerly it was prized among them, from the fact of their ancient rivalry in the matter of producing mares for mule-breeding. (Book V, Chapter 1)
At any rate,Sophocles says that [...] Antenor and his children safely escaped to Thrace with the survivors of the Heneti, and from there got across to the Adriatic Henetice, as it is called. (Book XIII, Chapter 1)
Ligurian and Celto-Ligurian tombs of the Lombard lakes region, often holding cremations, reveal a special iron culture called the culture of Golasecca.
