06-20-2007, 11:25 PM
(Polybius' description of the Battle of Telamon, 225BC)
"The Insubres and the Boil wore their trousers and light cloaks, but the Gaesatae had discarded their garments owing to their proud confidence in themselves... At first the battle was confined to the hill... In this action Galas the Consul fell in the melee fighting with desperate courage, and his head was brought to the Celtic kings... All [the naked Gaesatae] in the leading companies [were] richly adorned with gold torcs and armlets. The sight of them indeed dismayed the Romans, but at the same time the prospect of winning such spoils made them twice as keen for the fight... [Later in the battle,] reduced to the utmost distress... some of [the Gaesatae] in their impotent rage, rushed wildly on the enemy and sacrificed their lives, while others, retreating step by step on the ranks of their comrades, threw them into disorder by their display of faint- heartedness."
Gaesatae lit."spearmen" derive their name from the gaelic word for spear - gae
They seem to have been some sort of warrior guild or society, outside the normal tribal hierarchy, and are sometimes described as 'mercenaries'.
They came across the Alps to aid their fellow celts in Cisalpine Gaul (northern Italy) against the Romans, and fought with the Boii and Insubres tribes who fought in trousers, bare chested, whilst the Gaesatae stripped naked, either out of bravado on a hot day, or for religio-magical reasons - 'purity/nakedness' perhaps invoking divine protection.
They suffered badly in the defeat, and disappear from history.
Whilst interesting, they are hardly typical of Celtic warriors!
"The Insubres and the Boil wore their trousers and light cloaks, but the Gaesatae had discarded their garments owing to their proud confidence in themselves... At first the battle was confined to the hill... In this action Galas the Consul fell in the melee fighting with desperate courage, and his head was brought to the Celtic kings... All [the naked Gaesatae] in the leading companies [were] richly adorned with gold torcs and armlets. The sight of them indeed dismayed the Romans, but at the same time the prospect of winning such spoils made them twice as keen for the fight... [Later in the battle,] reduced to the utmost distress... some of [the Gaesatae] in their impotent rage, rushed wildly on the enemy and sacrificed their lives, while others, retreating step by step on the ranks of their comrades, threw them into disorder by their display of faint- heartedness."
Gaesatae lit."spearmen" derive their name from the gaelic word for spear - gae
They seem to have been some sort of warrior guild or society, outside the normal tribal hierarchy, and are sometimes described as 'mercenaries'.
They came across the Alps to aid their fellow celts in Cisalpine Gaul (northern Italy) against the Romans, and fought with the Boii and Insubres tribes who fought in trousers, bare chested, whilst the Gaesatae stripped naked, either out of bravado on a hot day, or for religio-magical reasons - 'purity/nakedness' perhaps invoking divine protection.
They suffered badly in the defeat, and disappear from history.
Whilst interesting, they are hardly typical of Celtic warriors!
"dulce et decorum est pro patria mori " - Horace
(It is a sweet and proper thing to die for ones country)
"No son-of-a-bitch ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country" - George C Scott as General George S. Patton
Paul McDonnell-Staff
(It is a sweet and proper thing to die for ones country)
"No son-of-a-bitch ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country" - George C Scott as General George S. Patton
Paul McDonnell-Staff
