CELT or KELT, the generic name of an ancient people, the bulk of whom inhabited the central and western parts of Europe. (For the sense of a primitive stone tool, see the separate article, CELT.) Much confusion has arisen from the inaccurate use of the terms "Celt" and "Celtic." It is the practice to speak of rather short and dark-complexioned Celtic-speaking people of France, Great Britain and Ireland as Celts, although the ancient writers seem to have applied the term "Celt" chiefly to folk of great stature and with fair hair and blue or grey eyes.
The ancient writers regarded as homogeneous all the fair-haired peoples dwelling north of the Alps, the Greeks terming them all Keltoi. Physically they fall into two loosely-divided groups, which shade off into each other. The first of these is restricted to north western Europe, having its chief seat in Scandinavia. It is dis tinguished by a long head, a long face, a narrow aquiline nose, blue eyes, very light hair and great stature. Those are the peoples usually termed Nordic. The other group is marked by a round head, a broad face, a nose often rather broad and heavy, hazel grey eyes, light chestnut hair; they are thick-set and of medium height. This race is often termed "Celtic" or "Alpine" from the fact of its occurrence all along the great mountain chain from south-west France, in Savoy, in Switzerland, the Po valley and Tirol, as well as in Auvergne, Brittany, Normandy, Burgundy, the Ardennes and the Vosges. It thus stands geographically and in physical features between the "Nordic" type of Scandinavian and the so-called "Mediterranean race" with its long head, long face, its rather broad nose, dark brown or black hair, dark eyes and slender form, and medium height. In the Alps and the Danube valley some of the Celts or their forefathers had dwelt from the Stone Age. But it was during the development of the La Tene culture that the Celts attained their maximum power, and it was the La Tene period (500 B.C.—A.D. 1) that witnessed the tremen dous and remarkable expansion of these people from their home land in Central Europe. Much of their power has been ascribed to great skill in metallurgy, especially as regards the working of the native iron resources.
The beginning of the 3rd century B.C. was the period of the greatest Celtic movement, but the expansion had no doubt begun long before that period. One of the earliest advances was directed against the Mediterranean coast of France, and at much the same time other bands of the Celts spread southwards into Spain, penetrating into that country as far south as Gades (Cadiz), some tribes, e.g. Turdentani and Turduli, forming permanent settlements and being still powerful there in Roman times ; and in northern central Spain, from the mixture of Celts with the native Iberians, the population henceforward was called Celtiberian. About this time also took place a great invasion of Italy ; Sego visus and Bellovisus, the nephews of Ambigatus, led armies through Switzerland, and over the Brenner and by the Maritime Alps, respectively (Livy v. 34). The tribes who sent some of their numbers to invade Italy and settle there were the Bituriges, Arverni, Senones, Aedui, Ambarri, Carnuti and Aulerci.
Certain material remains found in north Italy, e.g., at Sesto Calende, may belong to this invasion. The next great wave of Celts recorded swept down on north Italy shortly before 40o B.C. These invaders broke up in a few years the Etruscan power, and even occupied Rome herself after the disaster on the Allia (390 B.c.) . Bought off by gold they withdrew from Rome, but they continued to hold a great part of northern Italy, extending as far south as Sena Gallica (Sinigaglia), and henceforward they were a standing source of danger to Rome, especially in the Samnite Wars, until at last they were either subdued or expelled, e.g., the Boii from the plains of the Po. At the same time as the invasion of Italy they had made fresh descents into the Danube valley and the upper Balkan, and perhaps may have pushed into southern Russia, but at this time they never made their way into Greece, though the Athenian ladies copied the style of hair and dress of the Cimbrian women. About 28o B.C. the Celts gathered a great host at the head of the Adriatic, and accompanied by the Illyrian tribe of Autariatae, they overthrew the Macedonians, overran Thessaly, and invaded Phocis in order to sack Delphi, but they were finally repulsed, chiefly by the efforts of the Aetolians (2 79 B.c.). The remnant of those who returned from Greece joined that part of their army which had remained in Thrace, and marched for the Hellespont. Here some of their number settled near Byzantium, having conquered the native Thracians, and made Tyle their capital. The Byzantines had to pay them a yearly tribute of 8o talents, until on the death of the Gallic king Cavarus (some time after 2 20 B.C.) they were annihilated by the Thracians. The main body of the Gauls who had marched to the Hellespont crossed it under the leadership of Leonnorius and Lutarius. Straightway they overran the greater part of Asia Minor, and laid under tribute all west of Taurus, even the Seleucid kings. At last Attila, king of Pergamum, defeated them in a series of battles commemorated on the Pergamene sculptures, and hence forth they were confined to a strip of land in the interior of Asia Minor, the Galatia of history. Their three tribes—Trocmi, Tolistobogians and Tectosages—submitted to Rome (189 B.c.), but they remained autonomous till the death of their king Amyn tas, when Augustus erected Galatia into a province. Their descend ants were probably St. Paul's "foolish Galatians" (see GALATIA.) Nor was it only towards the south and the Hellespont that the Celtic tide ever set. They passed eastward to the Danube mouth and into southern Russia, as far as the Sea of Azov, mingling with the Scythians, as is proved by the name Celto-scyths. Mithridates VI. of Pontus seems to have negotiated with them to gain their aid against Rome, and Bituitus, a Gallic mercenary, was with him at his death.
The Celts moved westwards likewise and two divisions of them reached the British Isles, namely the Brythons and the Goidels. The Brythons crossed the channel and established them selves in England and Wales but the Goidels, probably in the 4th century B.C., passed directly from the mouth of the Loire to Ire land where they quickly became a ruling caste. At a much later period there were settlements of Goidels from Ireland on the western fringe of England, Wales and Scotland. The Celtic invasions of the British Isles are in all probability to be correlated with the advent of the La Tene culture (though this is a disputed point), and it is now thought to be unlikely that the invaders came over in large migrating hordes that displaced the older popu lation. It is more probable that the new Celtic strain was quickly merged in the native races and that the principal result of the invasion was that the Celtic over-lords imposed the Celtic language on the indigenous folk.
See Ridgeway, Early Age of Greece, vol. i., and Oldest Irish Epic; Ripley, The Races of Europe; Sergi, The Mediterranean Race; Eoin MacNeill, Phases of Irish History; T. D. Kendrick, The Druids.