CELTS
Celtic civilization was one of the vertices of the prehistory of Europe, this is the first known species of European culture. Their name "Celts" they received from the Greeks and the Romans called them Gauls. Celts - the direct descendants of the Indo. Europeans, as well as Russian and other Slavs. And where did the Indo-Europeans come from? Some researchers believe their homeland is Hyperborea - north country, some denied it, and put another hypotheses. The Celts came to Europe and settled on the islands long ago, long before Ellada was come the cradle of culture and art. In fact, the Celts marked the beginning of many tribes and cultures of Europe.
There are two versions of the Celts came from: 1) from the territory of today's Iran, Afghanistan, northern India, and 2) from the North, with one of the islands - the cradle of Celtic civilization. Since the migration of Indo-Europeans had lasted for centuries, perhaps, both hypotheses are true. The earliest archaeological evidence associated with the Celts, date from the beginning of the third millennium BC. From about 500 BC Celts began to settle in Europe.
The Celts have a long and difficult road before appeared in Europe. Based on the results of excavations on the territory Russia, they started this great way from the southern Urals. After passing through the northern Black Sea coast, they moved further to the Baltic Sea, showed up in northern France, and only then, much later spread throughout Europe.
Not only is the commitment to the past and the inflexible character of the Celts have always been distinguished from other nations. The Celts saw the world differently than others. For them it was a fantastically beautiful, inhabited by countless fascinating creatures. Perhaps such a poetic vision of the world, they were required to druids - keepers of antiquity, priests, teachers, poets and predictors.
Druids, priests of the Celts, created a powerful organization, covering all habitat of the Celts, and which had a huge political authority. This organization had no analogues among the religious organizations of the ancient and modern times. All of their religious ceremonies are held in the wooden groves. Druids are forbidden to write down their main teaching, that`s why we know so little about that. Mostly known for that part, which the Druids handed the youth.
The success of the expansion of the Celts in Europe is not only due their exceptional military virtues, but also new technologies. They brought to Europe the Iron Age and horse chariots, their weapons were more advanced, vehicles(including ships) - faster. Despite the minimum of written sources, largely abandoned by the Celts and other peoples, the Celts have left an imprint on world culture. The trouble of Celts, who moved to Europe, was that under the influence of the Druids, and they have an archaic clan-political organization and does not want to create a centralized state, for which they paid the price - they defeated the Romans.