In battle Celtic horsemen hung the heads from the necks of
their horses as part of the intimidation of opponents that was
always a part of Celtic warfare.
Celtic homes off er some indication of what Celtic wars
were usually like. Most Celts lived in homesteads, which were
houses on farms. Th e ground around the houses was fortifi ed
with a wooden wall. Although the defenses of a homestead
would not protect residents from large armies, they were ad-
equate for keeping out raiders. Most Celtic warfare consisted
of raids, most ly for stea ling catt le. Catt le were a form of boot y
that successful raiders could show off to others. Young men
in small groups oft en wandered Celtic Europe looking for ad-
venture, gaining experience in combat skills while fi ghting
warriors at homesteads. Th is activity was treated more as a
sport than serious warfare.
More serious were disputes over land, insults, or large
numbers of stolen cattle. Protecting one’s land and defend-
ing one’s honor or the honor of one’s group were considered
imperative. Stealing a few dozen cattle was seen as excessively
greedy. To settle these disputes, sometimes hundreds of war-
riors met for combat. Th e two sides would agree to meet at a
place with suffi cient open ground for everyone to see and to
fi ght. Honor came from being seen to overcome a foe.
Until about the time of the Roman general Julius Caesar
(10 0 – 4 4 b.c.e.), cha r iot s fi gured prominently in Celtic warfare
in continental Europe, and they lingered in Britain and Ireland
for about 100 years aft er Caesar’s era. Th e chariot had a driver
who was a follower of the warrior who owned the chariot. He
would stand out on the shaft that thrust out between the two
horses from the car, maneuvering the chariot quickly to take
his warrior through battle. In doing so, he won merit for his
skill and for the great courage that it took for him to be vulner-
able to the enemy. In the 200s b.c.e. the Celts invented the four-
pommel saddle, which had two pommels in front of the thighs
to hold them in place and two at the rear of the saddle. Th is
gave the Celtic cavalryman the stability that allowed him to be-
come a fi ghting machine, protected by chain-mail armor and
shield while wielding an assortment of weapons that would be
given to him by two mounted followers. Th e team was called a
trimarcisia, which meant “three horses” in Celtic.
Sometimes these battles ended without bloodshed. A
warrior might take charge of his chariot and put on a display
of acrobatic daring—handstands, leaps, and tumbles—while
racing in front of the enemy. Oft en, the warrior rode out
on horseback and performed a variety of impressive stunts.
Sometimes the skill of such a warrior was so great that both
sides agreed to settle the dispute in favor of the side of the
outstanding performer. Roman soldiers were amazed at the
skill of such warriors before combat, but they had no idea the
demonstrations were intended to substitute for actually kill-
ing people. On the other hand, the Romans well understood
the idea of duels between champions to settle battles without
additional bloodshed.
Before battle the champions would step forward from the
ranks of their sides. Th e champions would proclaim their he-roic deeds and the deeds of the warriors they had killed. Th e
objective was to overawe the other side. Th e Celts believed
that the spoken word was as powerful as the might of a well-
armed warrior, and they took boasting seriously. Sometimes
no one would emerge to answer the boasting of the opposing
champion, and the battle was settled without bloodshed. If
the boasting was answered by a champion, then each would
compete in oratory, trying to make the other back down. If
neither backed down, then they would fi ght.
During the duel the other warriors of both sides would
shout and blow their carnyxes, which were horns with the heads
of animals on one end. Th ey made a great din of harsh sounds.
Many of the warriors would have drunk alcohol before battle
to make themselves reckless. Once one champion or the other
won, the battle could be settled, and everyone could go home.
Sometimes a new challenger emerged. One oral account tells of
a warrior who killed more than 100 challengers before every-
one agreed to stop fi ghting. Sometimes aft er a duel was over,
the warriors of both sides would charge at each other in a frenzy
of bloodlust, each hoping to be seen to be heroically felling en-
emies. Th is charge was intended to settle the battle; the Celts
had no backup strategy if the charge failed. Th us, the losers in
a charge oft en ran away. Th e Romans learned to take advantage
of this: If they could withstand the fi rst charge of the Celts, they
could win, because the Celts had no idea what to do next.
Th ere was another kind of war for the Celts, and this was
the war of conquest. When a tribe grew too big for its terri-
tory or was driven from its lands by an invader, the members
sometimes abandoned their homes and carried their prop-
erty on carts. If attacked while carting across country, the
men would engage the enemy in combat. If they were over-
come, the women would fi ght next. To actually seize the carts
meant having to defeat the children, who would guard them.
A Greek explorer, Posidonius (ca. 135–51 b.c.e.), was awed by
the size and strength of Celtic women. He and others noted
that if a Celtic man fell in combat, the fi ghting was not always
over, because his wife was skilled in hand-to-hand combat
and could deliver tremendously powerful blows with her feet
and her fi sts as well as with weapons. Children were trained
in fi ghting almost from birth.
When Caesar invaded central Europe in 58 b.c.e. he in-
troduced a form of warfare that was unfamiliar to the Celts.
Th e Roman troops fought as tightly structured units. Like the
Celts, their objective was usually to fi ght hand to hand, us-
ing their superior skill, armor, and weapons to overcome their
adversaries. Further, the Roman objective was to annihilate
the enemy. Over hundreds of years the Celts had developed a
structure for combat that usually allowed them to avoid much
bloodshed. Th e objective was to make one’s point, dazzling
friends and foes, and then go home and feast, exaggerating
one’s heroism while telling about the battle. Th e Romans rarely
quit, but just kept coming. Celts oft en panicked and ran aft er
their initial charge if this failed to put the Romans to fl ight.
When the Celts had competent leadership and worked to-
gether, they were almost more than the Romans could handle.1142 war and conquest: Europe0895-1194_Soc&Culturev4(s-z).i1142 1142 10/10/07 2:31:13 PM