The Celts

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Celts. Around 400 BC a great swathe of Western Europe from Ireland to Southern Russia was dominated by one civilisation. Perched on the North Western fringe of this vast Iron Age culture were the British who shared many of the religious, artistic and social customs of their European neighbours. These customs were Celtic and this civilisation was the Celts.The Greek historians who studied and recorded the Celts’ way of life deemed them to be one of the four great Barbarian peoples of the world. The Romans wrote vivid accounts of Celtic rituals including the practice of human sacrifice - presided over by Druids - and the tradition of decapitating their enemies and turning their heads into drinking vessels.But what were the Celts in Britain really like? Was their apparent lust for violence tempered by a love of poetry and beautiful art? How far should we trust the classical historians in their writings on the Celts? And what can we learn from the archaeological remains that have been discovered in this country? With Barry Cunliffe, Professor of European Archaeology at Oxford University; Alistair Moffat, Historian and author of The Sea Kingdoms - The Story of Celtic Britain and Ireland; Miranda Aldhouse Green, Professor of Archaeology at the University of Wales.

→ Listen on BBC Sounds website

Guests

• Barry Cunliffe 3 episodes
  Professor of European Archaeology at Oxford University
• Alistair Moffat No other episodes
  Historian and author of The Sea Kingdoms - The Story of Celtic Britain and Ireland
• Miranda Aldhouse Green No other episodes
  Professor of Archaeology at the University of Wales

Related episodes

• The Druids
  
  20 Sep, 2012 290 Other religions
• The Picts
  
  9 Nov, 2017 930 History of the Ancient World
• Roman Britain
  
  1 May, 2003 930 History of the Ancient World
• The Lindisfarne Gospels
  
  20 Feb, 2003 270 History of Christianity
• The Mabinogion
  
  10 May, 2018 800 Literature, rhetoric and criticism
• The Geological Formation of Britain
  
  22 Oct, 2009 550 Earth sciences and geology
• Megaliths
  
  2 Mar, 2023 930 History of the Ancient World
• Byzantium
  
  19 Jul, 2001 940 History of Europe
• Icelandic Sagas
  
  9 May, 2013 830 German and related literatures
• The Orkneyinga Saga
  
  6 Jun, 2024 940 History of Europe

Experimental. For more related episodes, visit the visual explorer.

---

Programme ID: p0054894

Episode page: bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0054894

Auto-category: 936 (Europe’s ancient history)

Hello (First sentence from this episode)

Hello. Around 400 BC, a great swathe of Western Europe, from Ireland to southern Russia, was peopled by one civilisation.