The Celts, a Thorn in the Side of Rome
It is probably questionable whether the Celts were an armed and belligerent society, or simply driven to militancy on account of the Roman invasion. Nonetheless, history tends to paint them as a society defined by war, and in fact, during some phases of their history, Celts were known to contract out their fighting prowess as far afield as Ptolemaic Egypt. It could not be said of the Celts, however, that they represented a coherent society, but rather a loosely configured language group spread over wide tracts of Europe.
Their reputation was one of fearlessness and ferocity, compounded by Berserker-type lunacy that seemed immune to the pain of injury or fear of death. The Greek historian Polybius wrote these laudatory and respectful words regarding the Roman attitude to the Celts:
‘The Romans were terrified by the fine order of the Celtic host, and the dreadful din, for there were innumerable horn -blowers and trumpeters, and…the whole army were shouting their war-cries…Very terrifying too were the appearance and the gestures of the naked warriors in front, all in the prime of life and finely built men, and all in the leading companies richly adorned with gold torcs and armlets.‘
All of this is easy to imagine, and a great many battles were fought between Romans and Celts during the long period of Roman activity in Europe. Perhaps the most iconic of these was the short campaign fought by the British Celtic Iceni Queen Boudica, who led a major uprising in the East Anglian portion of England, and initially had the Roman’s on the run.
Descriptions of the main battle, which took place in 60 or 61 AD, reveal a scene of desperate mayhem as Iceni warriors, led by a chariot borne queen, died blue by the woad of England were broken by the iron discipline of the Roman legions. The battle was a defeat for the Iceni, and Boudica and daughters committed suicide rather than fall into Roman hands, but in the long run, the Celts prevailed. At no point were Romans in England safe from native rebellions, which were an ongoing feature of the Roman occupation. The Romans eventually withdrew from England, handing it back, at least temporarily, the Gaelic-speaking people.