The Importance of Language
One of the reasons I first gravitated to the earlier ancient civilizations of the Sumerians, Greeks, and Egyptians, was the vast amount of information we have about their cultures. They left behind an incredible legacy of literature, artwork, and monuments over thousands of years. This made it easier to incorporate into fictional stories.
Take, for example, the Sumerians of Mesopotamia who created the first known written language. Several examples still exist today in the form of clay Cuneiform tablets. These include a customer service complaint, the oldest known musical composition, and the enduring Epic of Gilgamesh. Because the Mesopotamians documented their own evolution from hunter gatherers to a sophisticated civilization, we have a clear understanding of who they were and what they believed. Arguably, only the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans can rival this ancient cache of knowledge.
With the Ancient Celts, this is not the case. The dawn of their culture began around 1200 B.C.E., which coincides with the catastrophic end of the Bronze Age. There is no known record of a Celtic written language from that era. How fascinating it would be to know their perception of events at that time. Were they aware of the other ancient civilizations of Egypt and the Levant? Did they know of the once mighty Sumerian civilization and that it had long since fallen? Had they heard tales of the mysterious Sea Peoples who invaded and destroyed countless cites before finally suffering defeat in Egypt at the hands of Ramses III?
We may never know. The archaeological record of Celtic language begins with the discovery of Lepontic inscriptions dated to around 550 B.C.E. A later form developed called Ogham Script dated to around 400 A.D. Without written records to shed light on earlier centuries, it is left to our imagination.
Lost Knowledge
To understand why we know so little about the Ancient Celts, it helps to look a their social hierarchy. It was complex with several levels, but the Druid class has achieved legendary status. At the highest tier of their religious order, the Druids held the heavy responsibility for keeping and passing along their culture’s history and knowledge in the oral tradition. Unfortunately, their doctrine prohibited them from writing down their beliefs and practices. What little we do know about them comes from Roman records, with the written account of Julius Caesar considered to be the most comprehensive.
To me, this is as tragic a loss as the burning of the Great Library of Alexandria. It pains me to imagine all that we might know today had it survived intact. Were it not for Caesar starting a fire during the Egyptian Civil War, or the Roman subjugation of the Druids, we might have answers to the greatest mysteries of ancient civilizations. It’s perhaps a kind of poetic irony that what little we do know what little we do about the Druids and Celtic people comes from Caesar himself.
Thankfully, despite the lack of contemporary written records, what the Ancient Celts did leave behind has kept their legacy alive. We find it in the Arthurian legends, Paganism, and faerie tales. It has even spurred a rebirth of Druidism that thrives to this day. From Stonehenge to Shamanism, the mythology that surrounds the secret rituals and beliefs of the Ancient Celts endures.
Perhaps this is why their culture is so compelling to myself and others. It is shrouded in mystery, and so it is destined to remain. To peer beyond the veil of history, we must listen to the ancient knowledge of humanity that speaks to all of us through dreams and imagination.