The Celts were a group of peoples of Iron Age Europe who spoke Celtic languages, part of the Indo-European family, and shared similar styles of art and religion. The archaeological cultures of Hallstatt in central Europe, from about 800 BCE, and La Tene, from about 450 BCE, are associated with them. Celtic-speaking peoples spread across much of Europe, from Iberia and Gaul to the British Isles, and some settled in Anatolia, where they became known as Galatians. They sacked Rome around 390 BCE, but they were later conquered by the Romans, with Julius Caesar subduing Gaul in the 50s BCE. They never formed a single state, and historians debate how far the term Celt describes a unified people. Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh and Breton descend from their languages.
Before and after
- from c. 1,258 BCE to 1,180 BCETrojan War
- from 13th century BCE to 6th centuryAncient Greece
- from 13th century BCE to 6th century BCEAncient Israel and Judah
- from 13th century BCE to 4th century BCEMagadha
- 13th century BCEAncient Celts
- c. 1,201 BCEThe Olmec civilisation emerges at San Lorenzo
- from c. 1,200 BCE to 1,150 BCEBronze Age collapse
- c. 1,200 BCEIron Age
- from c. 1,200 BCE to 450 BCEHallstatt culture
More in Civilizations & archaeology
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- c. 2,560 BCEConstruction of Great Pyramid of Giza
- 600 BCEFounding of Milan
- from January 27 BCE to January 395 CERoman Empire
- 80 CEThe Colosseum is inaugurated
- 25 March 421 CEFounding of Venice
The era
This moment belongs to the Ancient civilizations (3,200 BCE to 500 CE), writing, cities and empires.