The course examines the Celtic-speaking peoples in the Iron Age and Roman periods at a time when Celtic languages were spoken throughout the British Isles but also extensively in Continental Europe, including parts of modern day France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Slovenia, and Turkey. Ethnographic accounts by Greek and Latin writers are used alongside the evidence of archaeology, art, and language to explore the history of the Celts (e.g. contact with the Mediterranean world, migration, conquest by Rome), their religion, and society, and, indeed, the very nature of 'Celticity' in this period.

Lectures: Weekly on Monday and Tuesday at 1pm; Seminar: Various times as scheduled on MyCampus

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Coursework: two worksheets (20%); one c1700-word essay (30%);

Examination: one 90 minute examination (50%).

This course will provide the opportunity to:

■ enable students to gain a coherent picture of salient aspects of the earlier history, institutions, society and culture of the Celtic peoples up to 400 A.D.;

■ enable students to understand and use critically the source material from which a picture of the ancient Celtic world may be formed.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ recognise the meanings of the terms Celt and Celtic

■ comment on the origins, distribution and movements of the Celtic peoples in the ancient world  

■ describe the different sources available and comment on their usefulness and drawbacks

■ describe the main features of Celtic society, as visible in these sources

■ describe the main features of pagan Celtic religion

■ describe the main features of the art of the ancient Celtic world

■ comment on the effect of the Roman colonisation of Celtic regions on the continent and in Britain

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.