\'The myth of Celtic and Roman Britain\'

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It states that there apparently was no such thing as a 'Celtic' Britain. This appears to be a very controvertial argument, as it has always been believed Britain was Celtic.

"The first myth is that of 'Celts' in Britain.There were NONE! Wilson and Blackett'sresearch is supported by brave academicsProfessor John Collis and Dr Simon Jameswho, together, prove that not until 1707did the terms Celtic and British becomefatally joined in a marriage of ideological expedience...

Hi Lorenzo,

What people like James mean is that there was no self identity as Celts and 'fellow Celts'. When we think of Celts in Britain today we think of Wales, the South West, Scotland, Ireland etc. That identity is linked to the Act of Union and is quite artificial, made worse by the Victorians and Scottish tartan shortbread etc. He doesn't mean that no one spoke a celtic language.

The problem with the Celtic label and the reason why many are trying to get rid of it is that it creates the impression that they were one single people, simply grouped together under different tribal names with regional leaders. In fact there was no universal celtic culture where what was true or typical for one group was also true or typical for every group that spoke a Celtic language. The Brigantes in the Pennines for example show a good deal of continuity with the bronze age whereas their neighbours in East Yorkshire show a sudden change in the 5th cent. BC with the emergence of the Arras culture. People like James use terms like Arras culture and avoid using terms like Celts to avoid giving the impression that they were the same, even if they did speak the same or a similar language. We don't think of the germanic speaking nations, England, the Netherlands, Germany and the Scandinavian countries etc as all having the same lifestyle and culture, so why do we do it with the celtic speaking nations?

The way in which the concept is presented however is of dubious merit. It does smack of the 'man bites dog' type headline because it goes too far and gives the impression that no one even spoke a celtic language and had nothing in common with any celtic speakers on the continent. It is designed to make you read it, not for its informative content, but for its controversy.

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