- Chapter Six -
In other circumstances, treaties and alliances could provide an alternative source
of political support. Their mere existence could be a source of power, but their
ultimate value lay in the possibility of mobilizing allies for political or military
activity. Such alliances were often sealed by a dynastic marriage; Caesar describes
how Dumnorix of the Aedui had arranged a web of such alliances: 'he had given his
mother in marriage to the noblest and most powerful man among the Bituriges, he
had himself taken a wife from the Helvetii, and had married his half-sister and female
relations to men of other states' (De Bello Gal/ico I. I 8).
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Kelly, E (1988) A Guide to Early Irish Law, Dublin: Institute for Advanced Studies.
Lucas, A. (1989) Cattle in Ancient Ireland, Kilkenny: Boethius Press.
McCone, K. (1990) Pagan Past and Christian Present in Early Irish Literature, Maynooth:
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Nash, D. (1976) 'Reconstructing Poseidonius' Celtic ethnography: some considerations',
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--(1978a) Settlement and Coinage in Central Gaul, c.200-50 Be, Oxford: British
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