Celt and Roman: The Celts of Italy

by Peter Berresford Ellis

This is the first popular account of the Celts of Italy and the land known as Cisalpine Gaul--a much neglected area in the history of Rome's rise to dominance. In 390 BC, a Celtic army captured Rome and occupied it for seven months until the Roman senate paid them off. For the next fifty years, Celtic armies remained nearby, and for two centuries the Celts of Italy resisted Rome with a stubborn defiance, often annihilating entire consular armies sent against them. Rome could not claim to be master of the Po Valley Celts until 191 BC. This much-needed book explains the historical factors behind Rome's overt racial prejudice against the Celts and shows at the same time the important Celtic contribution to the development of Roman culture--in weaponry and warfare, in transport technology and, above all, in the Celtic contribution to early Latin literature.

Genres: History, Italy, Nonfiction

288 pages, Hardcover

First published June 15, 1998

About the author

Peter Berresford Ellis is a historian, literary biographer, and novelist who has published over 90 books to date either under his own name or his pseudonyms Peter Tremayne and Peter MacAlan. He has also published 95 short stories. His non-fiction books, articles and academic papers have made him acknowledged as an authority on Celtic history and culture. Under Peter Tremayne, he is the author of the international bestselling Sister Fidelma mystery series. His work has appeared in 25 languages.

He began his career as a junior reporter on an English south coast weekly, becoming deputy editor of an Irish weekly newspaper and was then editor of a weekly trade journal in London. He first went as a feature writer to Northern Ireland in 1964 for a London daily newspaper which had a profound effect on him. His first book was published in 1968: Wales: a Nation Again, on the Welsh struggle for political independence, with a foreword by Gwynfor Evans, Plaid Cymru's first Member of Parliament. In 1975 he became a full-time writer. He used his academic background to produce many popular titles in the field of Celtic Studies and he has written numerous academic articles and papers in the field for journals ranging from The Linguist (London) to The Irish Sword: Journal of the Irish Military History Society (UCD). He is highly regarded by academics in his own field and was described by The Times Higher Education Supplement, London, (June, 1999) as one of the leading authorities on the Celts then writing. He has been International Chairman of the Celtic League 1988–1990; chairman of Scrif-Celt (The Celtic Languages Book Fair in 1985 and in 1986); chairman and vice-president of the London Association for Celtic Education 1989–1995, and now is an Hon. Life Member); He was also chairman of his local ward Labour Party in London, England, and was editorial advisor on Labour and Ireland magazine in the early 1990s. He is a member of the Society of Authors.

Apart from his Celtic Studies interests, Ellis has always been fascinated by aspects of popular literature and has written full-length biographies on H. Rider Haggard, W. E. Johns, Talbot Mundy as well as critical essays on many more popular fiction authors. His own output in the fictional field, writing in the genre of horror fantasy and heroic fantasy, began in 1977 when the first "Peter Tremayne" book appeared. Between 1983 and 1993 he also wrote eight adventure thrillers under the name "Peter MacAlan". Ellis has published (as of January, 2009) a total of 91 books, 95 short stories, several pamphlets, and numerous academic papers and signed journalistic articles. Under his own name he wrote two long running columns: 'Anonn is Anall' (Here and There) from 1987–2008 for the Irish Democrat, and, "Anois agus Arís" (Now and Again) from 2000–2008 for The Irish Post. His books break down into 34 titles under his own name; 8 titles under the pseudonym of Peter MacAlan and 49 titles under his pseudonym of Peter Tremayne. He has lectured widely at universities in several countries, including the UK, Ireland, American, Canada, France and Italy. He has also broadcast on television and radio since 1968. With the great popularity of his 7th Century set Sister Fidelma Mysteries, in January, 2001, an International Sister Fidelma Society was formed in Charleston, South Carolina, with a website and producing a print magazine three times a year called The Brehon. In 2006 the Cashel Arts Fest established the first three-day international gathering of fans of the series which is now held bi-annually and receives the full support of the Society

Reviews

[Nathan Albright · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book could have been so much better than it was.  When one is writing a book about the interaction between two very different peoples whose relationship was very hostile, it is worthwhile to check one's advocacy at the door and try to write an honest but also balanced history.  If one cannot do that then one has no business trying to present oneself as an expert when one is clearly a shill.  In this case, the author is clearly a homer for the Celts and immensely hostile to the Romans, and almost gleeful about the struggles that they faced in gaining control over Italy.  The author's bias reeks on nearly every page of this book, and he gives a benefit to the doubt to the Celts that never even crosses his mind to give to the Romans.  One does not have to be a fan of the Romans or to think that they always behaved justly by others, but to think that the Celts were a noble people who behaved properly and the Romans were absolute monsters is to perpetuate the worst sort of injustice on the past by demonstrating an inability to recognize common humanity in the face of cultural conflicts.

This book is between 250 and 300 pages long and is divided into sixteen chapters.  The author begins with a note on terminology and then discusses the fateful sack of Rome as being the pivotal moment in the interaction of Rome and Celt (1).  After that the author gives a speculative look at the arrival of the Celts in Italy (2) as well as the relationship of the Italians and the Celts once they arrived (3).  The author discusses the fall of Rome (4) and then waxes eloquent about Celtic warriors, especially the nude ones (5), and then the return of the Celts to attack Rome repeatedly (6) as well as the terror that this caused to Romans who had to continually face Celtic raiding parties and armies based in the area (7).  The author discusses the relationship between the Celt, Etruscan, and Samnite in their common struggle against Roman hegemony (8) as well as the relationship between Pyrrhos, Carthage, and the Celts (9) as Rome recovered its strength.  A chapter on Telemon (10) precedes a discussion of Hannibal and the Celts (11) as well as the author stumping for a forgotten Celtic victory at Litana (12).  This leads to a look at the conquest (13) and colonization (14) of Cisalpine Gaul by the Romans, the last kicks at Rome in various rebellions against Roman rule (15), and the legacy of the Cisalpine Gauls to Rome, especially in matters of language and military technology (16), after which the book ends with acknowledgements, a bibliography, and an index.

The author has chosen a very interesting subject to write about in the fraught and tense relationship between Romans and Celts and the way that Romans responded harshly to the fear that they had faced from the Celts after decades of continuous conflict between the two.  That said, this book would have been greatly improved by the author being more interested in the truth of the matter, at least as best as it can be understood 2000 to 2500 years after the fact, than in promoting a picture of the Celts as being good guys and the Romans being bad guys.  The author spares few if any opportunities to paint the Romans in a negative light and this is deeply as unfortunate as it seriously distorts this work and turns what could have been a great book about a somewhat obscure aspect of ancient history into partisan propaganda on behalf of the Celts and more whining from historical losers in a world where a great deal too much of that happens already.  But it looks like the author has established his lane as a Celtic supporter in writing about ancient history, and that should be discounted accordingly by readers of his books looking for historical insights.

[TalesfromTheEV · Rating 5 out of 5]

(EV1) The story of the Celtic Descent in Italy and of the Second Punic War from the side of the underdogs. The Author exposes inconsistencies and protocolonialism in the Greek and especially Roman accounts of Celtic lifestyle and culture, setting them against archeological discoveries that belie Greco-Roman prejudice.
In Italy the memory of the Celts has been blackened by the instrumental use the far right made of them for xenophobic and secessionist purposes, however the Celts themselves were extremely well connected internationally in terms of commerce and diplomatic relationships and more than happy to gang up with Samnites, Umbri, Greeks and Carthaginians against the nascent imperialist power of Rome. The Lega lied knowig they were lying: there were Black Carthaginian people in Milan before there were Italians and the Celts were 100% OK with it.