Who were the Celts?

0:00 Imagine spending 20 whole years in school, every single day, but you're never allowed to write a single word down on paper.

0:08 Or imagine an army building an 11-mile wall just to trap their enemy. And then turning around and building another 13-mile wall to trap themselves inside a giant circle.

0:21 Welcome to History's Not Boring by Kidopoly.com. I'm Mira. And I'm Finn. A massive hello to Thomas, who is eight in Australia, and actually requested today's amazing topic. Thomas, you picked a brilliant one.

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0:55 Today we're travelling back over 2,000 years, long before the days of medieval castles and knights in shining armour, to meet a fierce, colourful, and mysterious group of people. Wait, who were they? Were they like the Vikings? They lived way before the Vikings. They were the Celts. Famous and fearless warriors, brilliant metal workers, and people of wild, magical myths, who even the mighty Roman Empire was terrified of.

1:23 So, who exactly were the Celts? And where did they live in the ancient world?

1:30 They weren't just one single massive empire like the Romans or the Greeks. They started around 800 BC in Central Europe, but they were actually made up of hundreds of different independent tribes. Hundreds of tribes? How far did they spread out? They spread almost everywhere across ancient Europe. From modern-day Turkey in the east, all the way to Ireland, Britain, and Spain in the west.

1:56 They didn't share one single king, but they shared a similar language, incredible swirling art, and a completely unique way of life. What was their daily life like? Did they live in big stone cities? Not usually. They mostly lived in wooden farming villages or heavily defended hilltop forts called hillforts, and they looked absolutely amazing.

2:19 The warriors wore brightly patterned, colourful clothes, kind of like early Scottish tartans, and heavy twisted gold neck rings called torques.

2:29unknown Haha!

2:29 Did they have cool hairstyles to go with the gold jewellery?

2:32 Oh, definitely. Some warriors washed their hair in thick lime water, which bleached it brightly blonde and made it stick straight up like stiff spikes. It made them look super tall and absolutely terrifying when they charged into battle.

2:47 That is the ultimate ancient punk rock look. But what about their leaders? Who was in charge?

2:54 Their most important people were the druids. They were the priests, judges, doctors, and teachers. And remember that 20-year school I mentioned in the intro? Wait, that was the druids? Yes. They had to memorize thousands and thousands of ancient verses of laws, medicine, and astronomy. It took up to 20 whole years because it was strictly against their religious rules to write any of their sacred secrets down.

3:21 If they were so fierce and looked so scary, did they ever fight the Romans? Oh, they had an epic, centuries-long rivalry. Let's go all the way back to the year 390 BC. A powerful Celtic leader named Brennus marched his army of the Sinones tribe right down into Italy. Did they attack the city of Rome itself?

3:44 They really did. Brennus absolutely crushed the Roman army at the river Alia. The Roman citizens were so panicked that they actually abandoned the main streets of their own city and hid inside a fortress on a steep hill called the capital. They just hid up there. How long were they trapped on the hill?

4:04 For seven long, miserable months. Finally, the starving Romans begged for peace. Brennus agreed to leave their city, but only if Rome paid him a massive, unbelievable ransom. How much did he ask for? It must have been a lot. He demanded 1,000 pounds of solid gold. That is about the weight of a grand piano, but made entirely of glittering, priceless gold.

4:32 That's an absolute fortune. Did Rome actually pay it? They brought out the gold and started weighing it on a giant scale. But the Romans noticed the Celts were using heavier, rigged weights to cheat and get extra gold out of them. Hey, that's not fair at all. Did the Romans complain to Brennus? They did.

4:54 They told him the weights were wrong. And you know what Brennus did? He took off his heavy iron sword and threw it right onto the gold side of the scale, making it even heavier. No way, he just added his sword. What did he say? He shouted, Vi Victus, which is famous Latin for woe to the conquered. Basically saying, You lost the war, so I make the rules.

5:20 The Romans had to pay every single ounce, including the weight of his sword.

5:25 Wow, so the Celts totally bossed the Romans around. I bet the Romans hated that. They never forgot it.

5:33 Fast forward to 52 BC, and a brilliant Roman general named Julius Caesar decided to conquer the Celtic tribes in Gaul, which is what they called modern-day France. Did the Celts fight back against Caesar? Yes. A heroic Celtic leader named Versingeterix gathered 80,000 Celtic warriors and locked his army inside a giant, heavily defended hilltop fort called Elysia.

5:59 80,000 soldiers inside one fort. How did Caesar fight that many people?

6:05 Caesar's army did something unbelievable. They built a massive wooden and dirt wall all the way around the entire fort. It was 11 miles long, packed with hidden traps, watchtowers, and sharp wooden spikes. He literally trapped 80,000 people inside a wall. Exactly. But then Vercingeteric sent messengers sneaking out for help.

6:31 And a gigantic Celtic relief army of 100,000 warriors marched toward Elysia to attack the Romans from behind.

6:40 Wait, so the Romans were trapped between the fort and the new army?

6:44 Yep. So Caesar ordered his men to build a second wall, 13 miles long, facing outwards. It was a giant doughnut of walls. The Romans fought off attacks from both sides at the exact same time, and eventually the Romans won.

7:01 So the Celts lost France entirely.

7:04 They did, but they weren't done fighting Rome. In 60 AD in Britain, a Celtic queen named Boudica led a massive rebellion. The Romans had stolen her land and treated her terribly, so she gathered an army of over 100,000 Celtic warriors.

7:22 A hundred thousand? What did Queen Boudicca do to the Romans?

7:27 She drove a war chariot, had flaming red hair down to her knees, and her army completely burned down the Roman city of Londinium, which is modern London. They burned it so hot that there is still a thick layer of red ash under London today. Although Queen Boudicca's massive army was eventually defeated in a final battle, she scared the Roman Emperor Nero so much that he actually considered abandoning the province of Britain completely.

7:55 That proves exactly how tough the Celts really were. But wait, if the Romans eventually conquered most of them in France and Britain, what happened to the Celts? Are they completely gone?

8:06 They didn't disappear at all. As the Roman Empire grew, the Celtic culture survived most strongly in the western edges of Europe, in places like Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and a region of France called Brittany.

8:21 So their history and legacy are still around today?

8:24 Oh, absolutely! The ancient languages they spoke evolved over thousands of years into modern Welsh, Irish, and Scottish Gaelic. Millions of people still speak those languages today, and they still tell the ancient Celtic myths and legends.

8:41 That is so cool. Okay, I need to know some weird Celtic facts before the quiz. Give me your best ones.

8:48 Well, when they went into battle, they wanted to be as loud and terrifying as humanly possible. To do that, they blew giant bronze horns called carnixes. What in the world is a carnix? It was a huge, tall trumpet that stood taller than a grown person, and the top of the horn was shaped exactly like a wild boar's head with a moving jaw.

9:13 When they blew into it, it didn't sound like music. It sounded like a screaming, roaring animal.

9:21 Imagine hearing 10,000 of those wild boarhorns screaming at you all at once. I would run away immediately.

9:28 Right? And remember those beautiful heavy gold torque necklaces. They were so thick and sturdy that if a warrior was riding a galloping horse in battle, the torque wouldn't bounce around or choke them. It acted almost like magical golden armour for their necks.

9:46 Haha. Spiked hair bleached with lime, screaming boarhead trumpets, and giant gold necklaces. The Celts honestly had the best style in all of ancient history.

9:56 Alright, Finn, time for the quiz. Are you ready?

10:00 Okay, I'm ready.

10:02 First question. What was the heavy gold neck ring worn by Celtic warriors called? Next one. How long did it take for a druid to memorize all their ancient knowledge? Question three. Which Celtic leader sacked Rome and threw his sword on the gold scales? Here's number four. What was the name of the battle where Julius Caesar built two massive walls?

10:43 Last question. Which Celtic queen burned down Roman London? Great job! Let's see how you did. The first answer is it was called a torque. For question two, it took up to twenty years. three the answer is it was Brennus. Question four, that was the Battle of Elysia. And the final answer is it was Queen Boudica.

11:18 Wow, I still can't get over those thirteen miles of walls Julius Caesar built, and Brennus demanding a grand piano's weight in solid gold.

11:27 The ancient Celts definitely made history exciting. If you loved this episode and learning about all these amazing Morrias, please leave us a five-star review. Tell us in your review if you'd rather be a wise druid memorising secrets or a fierce warrior with spiked hair. Just scroll down and tap the stars.

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