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Professor Barry Cunliffe: Who Were the Celts?
Identifier
013944
Type of Spiritual Experience
None
Background
Not a spiritual experience but background information which is useful in that it questions the migratory routes of the Celts.
The legends of the Celts go back before the flood and the general belief amongst some spiritually minded Celts is that they managed to escape the flood and then migrated from west to east. There is even some speculation that the earth's axis changed and they also survived this. There is also a belief that they migrated far enough to be the Greek 'gods' - many Greek gods were blue eyed and blonde haired and brought music with them - the harp or lyre.
A description of the experience
Barry Cunliffe: Who Were the Celts?
Shallit Lecture given at BYU on March 17, 2008. The Celts living in the middle of Europe were the fearsome opponents of the Greeks and Romans and in c. 390 B.C. they actually besieged Rome. The classical writers have much to say about their warlike activities but where did they come from? Until recently it used to be thought that they emerged in Eastern France and Southern Germany and spread westwards to Spain, Brittany, Britain and Ireland taking their distinctive language with them which survives today as Breton, Welsh, Gaelic and Irish. But recent work is suggesting that the Celtic language may have developed in the Atlantic zone of Europe at a very early date, and DNA studies offer some support to this. So who were the Celts? We will explore the evidence and try to offer an answer.