Timothy P. Bridgman Hellenic and Roman Perceptions of Celtic Ethnic Identity  

Hellenic and Roman authors identified a need to record information about the legends, traditions, history and current events of their own peoples at an early date. In doing so, they also included references to other peoples with whom they came into contact. Among these peoples figured the Celts (Avienus, Ora Mritima 4.132-134; Hecataeus of Miletus in Jacoby, FGrH 1F 54-56; Hdt. 2.33.3, 4.49.3). These contacts stimulated observations and information gathering, the fruit of which was written down and became part of the texts we use today to study aspects of the ancient world. This paper seeks to explore some of the ways in which ancient authors identified and portrayed the Celts to their audiences/readers.

Classical source material reports on the customs, habits, rituals, gods, clothing, society, physical appearance and even the sex lives of the Celts. If we accept, however, Helleno-Romano texts as unbiased accounts of the Celts, we run the risk of limiting our knowledge of this people by subscribing to only one viewpoint. It could also be argued that Helleno-Romano authors were participant-observers and that their accounts were filtered through their social mores and values, rather than being veridical accounts of what they witnessed. The remarkable amount of literary attention given to the Celts may have been due to the frequent contacts the Hellenes and the Romans had with them and to the possibility that the Celts were so different that they were regarded as ehtnographic curiosities by Hellenes and the Romans, as they lived on their immediate borders and made frequent incursions on their lands. Nevertheless, the classical texts are valuable as they express a valid view point and when they are used in conjunction with other types of sources, contribute to a richer and more complete perspective of this people who have stimulated ther historian's interst then and now.