The Origin of the Celts According to Greek Mythology

Reconstruction of an Iron Age Celtic village. Credit: Wikimedia Commons, Marek Novontak, CC-BY 3.0

The Celts lived acold to the westbound of Greece, truthful they seldom diagnostic successful Greek mythology. They were composed of nations specified arsenic the Gauls, the Britons, the Irish, the Celtiberians and others. What does Greek mythology person to accidental astir the root of the Celts?

The transportation betwixt the Odyssey and the root of the Celts

There are 2 main legends successful Greek mythology that woody with the root of the Celts. One of them is small much than a notation to a mythological genealogy. Interestingly, this communicative has a transportation to the Odyssey, Homer’s communicative of Odysseus’ efforts to instrumentality location aft the Trojan War.

In the Odyssey, Odysseus encounters a Cyclops named Polyphemus who lives connected an island. The Greek historiographer Appian, penning successful the 2nd period CE, wrote successful his Illyrian Wars astir however Polyphemus was the forefather of the Celts. Regarding Illyria, Appian wrote:

“They accidental that the state received its sanction from Illyrius, the lad of Polyphemus; for the Cyclops Polyphemus and his wife, Galatea, had 3 sons, Celtus, Illyrius, and Galas, each of whom migrated from Sicily; and the nations called Celts, Illyrians, and Galatians took their root from them.”

According to this little account, the Celts were descendants of Polyphemus the Cyclops. They migrated to their lands successful Gaul from Sicily.

Why the Illyrians were considered relatives of the Celts

The information that Appian associated the Celts with the Galatians is not surprising. After all, the Galatians were really conscionable a subgroup of the Celts, being Gaulish tribes that had migrated to Anatolia.

However, it is absorbing to enactment that this story recorded by Appian makes the Illyrians adjacent relatives of the Celts. This is astonishing due to the fact that historically the Illyrians were not Celts astatine all. They had their ain chiseled language, which was not Celtic, and archaeology makes their differences clear.

Nevertheless, arsenic the Celts migrated eastbound from c. 400 BCE onwards, the Illyrians were Celticized to a important degree. They adopted assorted aspects of Celtic culture, some successful presumption of carnal artifacts and besides taste practices.

Therefore, by virtuousness of this important taste influence, it makes consciousness that the Greeks of Appian’s clip considered them to beryllium relatives.

This may, perhaps, bespeak that the alleged root of the Celts successful Sicily according to Greek mythology was partially inspired by the beardown Greco-Italic taste influences that the Celts themselves experienced from the sixth period BCE onwards.

Hercules and the root of the Celts

The different large communicative successful Greek mythology astir the root of the Celts comes from Parthenius of Nicaea. In the archetypal period BCE, Parthenius wrote Erotica Pathemata, besides known as Love Romances. In the thirtieth story, we work astir an incidental involving Heracles (also commonly known arsenic Hercules).

The communicative successful its entirety reads:

Hercules, it is told, aft helium had taken the kine [cattle] of Geryones from Erythea, was wandering done the state of the Celts and came to the location of Bretannus, who had a girl called Celtine. Celtine fell successful emotion with Hercules and hid distant the kine, refusing to springiness them backmost to him unless helium would archetypal contented her. Hercules was so precise anxious to bring the kine harmless home, but helium was acold much struck by the girl’s exceeding beauty, and consented to her wishes; and then, erstwhile the clip had travel round, a lad called Celtus was calved to them, from whom the Celtic contention derived their name.

According to this, Hercules met a king named Bretannus portion travelling done the onshore of the Celts aft stealing the cattle of Geryon. Since the Greeks mostly placed Geryon successful Spain, this makes sense. Hercules would so person needed to walk done Gaul, the main onshore of the Celts, to instrumentality to Greece.

Hercules had relations with Bretannus’ daughter, Celtine. Their lad was named Celtus, and helium became the forefather of the Celts.

How this story relates to the past Britons

This relationship successful Greek mythology is acrophobic with the root of nations, successful this lawsuit the Celts. This is wherefore the sanction of Celtus’ parent is Celtine, a fig who appears obscurity other successful Greek mythology.

Given this context, it is evident that the sanction of Bretannus is important too. Like Celtine, it is not a sanction that we spot elsewhere successful Greek mythology. With this successful mind, it seems that helium is meant to beryllium the forefather of the past Britons.

While the Greeks ne'er explicitly called the Britons ‘Celts,’ this is apt due to the fact that their individuality was linked much intimately to their island, Britain, than to the wider radical of whom they were a part. By mode of comparison, Tacitus ne'er explicitly called them Gauls adjacent though that is what helium believed that they were.

Nevertheless, this relationship of the root of the Celts successful Greek mythology intelligibly links them to the Britons. This shows that the Greeks did person a conception of the Britons and the Celts sharing an origin.

While it is simply a shame that the disposable sources bash not grow connected Bretannus’ relation successful Greek mythology, Parthenius’ relationship provides america with a invaluable penetration into what the Greeks believed astir the root of the Celts.