freely than other people and were oft en welcomed as visitors
because they off ered entertainment. Although Celtic society
was patriarchal and kinship was traced through male lines,
women had a fairly high position in society. Th ey could own
property, and they fought alongside men in battles.
During the fi rst millennium b.c.e., settlement patterns
varied from place to place. Many early Celts lived in small
settlements that might house several extended families who
farmed and hunted in the surrounding area. In the British
Isles people lived in and around hilltop forts. Others lived in
larger groups in towns. Th e people of the Hallstatt culture
(1200–500 b.c.e.) lived in towns and in hill forts. Some Gallic
tribes were large, amorphous groups of migrating warriors
and families. Th ey seem not to have believed that they had
a homeland of their own and were willing to move long dis-
tances.
Several kings appear to have taken advantage of Celtic
militar y sk ill and lack of nationa l ties by buy ing t heir ser v ices
as mercenary soldiers. In the days of the early Roman Repub-
lic (509–27 b.c.e.) the Gauls encroached on the Mediterra-
nean world several times. Gauls of the Senones tribe, led by
the chief Brennus (fourth century b.c.e.), attacked Rome in
387 b.c.e. and then immediately left ; some historians believe
that Brennus was hired by Dionysius of Syracuse (r. 405–367
b.c.e.) to attack Rome. In the late third century b.c.e. several
thousand Gauls wandered through Th race and were invited
into Asia Minor by King Nicomedes I (r. 278–250 b.c.e.) of
Bithynia, who wanted them to help him fi ght his brother.
Th ese Gauls settled in central Anatolia, where they became
known as the Galatians.
Celtic people seem to have been trading with one an-
other and with other Europeans long before the Romans ar-
rived. Archaeologists have found prehistoric roads in Ireland
and Germany that might have been used to transport goods
from place to place. Celtic smit hs used a variet y of meta ls t hat
had to come from other places. Celtic goods made their way
throughout the Mediterranean region. Most trade among
Celtic peoples was done by barter and exchange, and its pri-
mary purpose was the cementing of kinship ties and military
a l l ia nce s. C at t le were a pa r t ic u la rly i mpor t a nt for m of wea lt h,
and attempting to steal the cattle of enemies was apparently a
fairly common enterprise among Celtic nobles.
Th e Celts did make some coins during the Roman Period,
but these were of limited use, and most people preferred to
hold their wealth in more tangible forms, such as gold jewelry,
weapons, chariots, cloth, slaves, and livestock. As time went on
and the Roman Empire grew, however, Celts became increas-
ingly Romanized in their behavior and trading practices.GAULS
By the time of the Roman Republic, the Celts in France and
Belgium, known as the Gauls, had developed a complex so-
ciety with defi ned territories and military alliances. Julius
Caesar (r. 49–44 b.c.e.) wrote a lengthy description of Gallic
life in his account of the Gallic Wars. Caesar describes threemain groups of Gauls: the Aquitani, the Galli or Celtae, and
the Belgae. Th e Belgae appear to have been at least part Ger-
manic, though historians do not know much about them.
Th ey were particularly warlike because they lived far from
the Mediterranean world.
According to Caesar, the Gauls of his time organized
themselves into tribes, which were subdivided into pagi. Each
pagus was a subdivision of the tribe’s overall territory; the Ro-
mans also used the term to refer to the individuals who lived
in a given pagus. Every tribe was led by a council of elders
and a single leader, either a hereditary king or an elected offi -
cial. Th e Aeduii tribe called their king Vergobret. Th ese kings
ruled together with the councils, preventing the kings from
taking complete control of their tribes.
Tribes were also organized into larger groups that con-
tained several tribes. Although these organizations, called
“civitates” by the Romans, encompassed large amounts of
territory and had large populations, they were not equiva-
lent to nations. Th e Gallic tribes occasionally united to fi ght
a common enemy, but generally they did not get along well
enough to stay together for long. Th e chief Vercingetorix (d.
46 b.c.e.) of the Averni led a union of Gallic tribes in battle
against the Romans in 52 b.c.e. Vercingetorix had enough au-
thority to make alliances with other Gallic tribes and to hold
supreme command of all the Gallic armies. He engineered
an overarching defense strategy that would have been impos-
sible with a looser arrangement. However, he was captured by
Caesar, and the union of the tribes dissolved.
Th e Romans knew of numerous tribes. Gallic tribes in-
cluded the Allobroges of the region near Geneva; the Aquitani
of southwestern France; the Carnutes from modern Chartres,
France; the Helvetii of Switzerland and southwestern Ger-
many; the Nervii, a Belgic tribe from northern France; the
Parisii, who lived on the site of modern Paris; and many oth-
ers. Many of these tribes were “half-civilized,” according to
Roman estimations. Th ey lived in well-organized towns and
traded with their neighbors, but they did not value education
as Romans did, and their governments were disorganized by
Roman standards.
Th e Gauls who lived near the Mediterranean lived in cit-
ies, many of them elaborately fortifi ed to serve as safe havens
in battle. Gallic towns were oft en built on top of hills, the better
to defend themselves. Th ese cities were home to large numbers
of people. Caesar calls these towns oppida. Each tribe might
have several cities, but one would be more important than the
others and serve as a capital of the tribe’s territory. Th e Averni
were centered in a city called Gergovia. Th e tribe known as
the Mandubii called their capital Alesia. Alesia, in particular,
left behind good archaeological remains, where historians
have found evidence of a thriving town that traded with out-
siders, including Romans. Th ere were many large buildings,
including a number of public buildings constructed during
the Roman period. Contemporary writers mention the fi ne
metalwork produced by smiths from Alesia, and archaeolo-
gists have found artifacts confi rming this account.social organization: Europe 10290895-1194_Soc&Culturev4(s-z).i1029 1029 10/10/07 2:30:49 PM