08-03-2010, 02:08 PM
Quote:Why indeed?Interesting points. And certainly the term "Celt" must have had some significance amongst themselves if a man who tried to be King of Gaul was known as Celtillus.
If Caesar mentioned unicorns it was probably because such tales were in circulation, and he knew the home folks wanted tales of the exotic. The bulls as big as elephants did exist: aurochs.hock: They were not quite as large as African elephants, but they were really, really big.
Since the Mediterranean cultures had had contact with the Celts for over five centuries by then, it's possible that many Celts had adopted the foreigners' name, even if they retained they own tribal identity in conversation among themselves. For example, many native Americans of a certain heritage answer to "Cherokee" today, even though their own name for themselves is entirely other: ???, pronounced "Tsalagi".
Todd Franks
"The whole race is madly fond of war, high spirited and quick to battle, but otherwise straightforward and not of evil character." - Strabo on the Celts
"The whole race is madly fond of war, high spirited and quick to battle, but otherwise straightforward and not of evil character." - Strabo on the Celts
