Culture: The Big External Influence 37
C H A P T E R 2
37
Ruthless Celtic kings and their chiefs had body language
that defined them. A nasty, belching bunch, they could easily
be identified by “hands twitching to the sword hilt at the imag-
ined hint of an insult...wiping the greasy moustaches that
were a mark of nobility,” in the words of anthropologist Stuart
Piggott in Ancient Europe (Edinburgh: The University Press,
1965, p. 229).
This is a description that highlights features of the Celtic
warriors’ culture, but every culture has the same binding
elements: beliefs, traditions, behaviors, and rules. These ele-
ments work together to engender security within the group
and keep people riding in the same direction. In its most primi-
tive sense, culture separated one group of apes from another
group of apes; it enabled them to know whom to tolerate and
whom to destroy.