10 – The Ancient World’s Celtic Mercenaries
In the centuries before Julius Caesar’s conquest of Gaul and its subsequent pacification and Romanization, the Celtic peoples, who dominated most of Europe north of the Po and Danube river valleys, had a fearsome reputation that terrified many. The Romans in particular saw the barbarian Celts – whom they referred to as Gauls – as their greatest national threat, and for centuries, Roman mothers quieted down their fussy tots by warning them that the Gauls might hear them.
The Romans had good reason for alarm. Throughout much of Rome’s early history, Celtic/ Gaulish tribes dominated Italy north of the Po River and along much of Italy’s Adriatic coast – not that far as the crow flies or as the barbarian marches. That was driven home in 387 BC, when Gaulish tribesmen, led by a chieftain named Brennus, defeated a Roman army, then marched on to capture and sack Rome. It was a feat no foreigners would repeat for another eight centuries.
The era’s Celtic warriors were famous for the quality of their weapons, their courage and ferocity in battle, their frightful battle cries, and their terrifying, butt-naked, headlong charges. That reputation made them highly sought after as mercenaries. Starting in the 4th century BC – and especially after the fragmentation of Alexander the Great’s empire into feuding Hellenistic states – Celtic mercenaries became all the rage from Sicily to Asia Minor. In addition to fighting for the various Greek kingdoms, Celts also fought for Carthage, and formed a significant part of Hannibal’s army when he invaded Italy in the Second Punic War.
Celtic mercenaries were also a bulwark of Egypt’s Ptolemaic Dynasty in the third century BC, and were included in the Egyptian army’s order of battle. For example, Ptolemy II Philadelphus hired 4000 Celtic mercenaries, recruited from the Balkans with help from the Anigonids of Macedon. They played a decisive role in beating back a challenge from a half-brother who made a bid for Ptolemy’s throne.
However, the Celt mercenaries then made a bid of their own to dethrone Ptolemy and seize Egypt for themselves. After crushing their rebellion, Ptolemy dumped them into a small island in a Nile, to die of starvation. Notwithstanding, the Ptolemies continued to hire Celts mercenaries – their lack of local roots made them particularly useful in putting down uprisings by native Egyptians. They remained in Ptolemaic service until the end, and the dynasty’s final ruler, Cleopatra, was known to have employed Celtic mercenaries.