- Chapter Four -
from the original heartlands of Celtic tribes that their importance lies as much in their
ability to retain a recognizably Celtic identity as in their prowess as warriors. The
relationship between payment and military activity is also raised by the possibility of
standing armed forces in first-century Gaul based on both the evidence of Caesar and
that of the production of gold coinage; but there is as yet no general agreement on the
importance of the social divisions outlined by Caesar, the pagus for example, and the
military organization of Gaulish forces (Ralston 1992: 142-3).
The era of stylized warfare and ceremonial, symbolized by La Gorge Meillet for
example, the age of myth and single combat evoked by the tales of Titus Manlius,
Marcus Valerius and Marcus Claudius Marcellus gave way in the first century Be to
the reality of warfare for political freedom. Perhaps the record of the dedication and
eventual deposition over two centuries of many hundreds of weapons at Gournay-
sur-Aronde gives the most telling indication of the endemic nature of warfare among
the Celtic tribes themselves. The weapons of Caesar's protagonists in Gaul, for
example, were thus made in workshops and armouries with several centuries of
tradition in maintaining a high order of manufacture; something of the respect in
which the Romans held their adversaries may be sensed in the careful way such arms
are depicted on such monumental statements of victory as the Arc de Triomphe at
Orange. In the end it was superior military organization and tactics that won the day
rather than superior weaponry, for, as Tacitus says of the Caledonians after Mons
Graupius, 'they would try to concert plans, then break off'.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We should like to thank Dr Ian Ralston, Andre Rapin and Dr Anna Ritchie for their
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