The Gauls | History & Culture

Culture of the Gauls

Around 1200 BC, an Indo-European, proto-Celtic culture emerged in Central Europe around the Upper Danube. Though little is known about these tribes, they are distinguished in the archeological record by their funeral practices. This late Bronze Age culture cremated the dead and buried them in urns. From this defining cultural marker, the name Urnfield culture has been ascribed to them. This culture expanded rapidly out of Central Europe north to the Baltic coast, east into Eastern Europe, and south through the Alps.

Around 800 BC, possibly influenced by migrations of people coming west along the Danube, a new culture had emerged. Named after an important archeological site in Austria, the people of the Hallstatt culture had grown wealthy on trade in salt, copper, and iron. Iron had swept across Europe as new durable material and given rise to the Iron Age. The Hallstatt tribes had taken to elaborate burials, perhaps to display their wealth, clearly marking a cultural transition from the earlier Urnfield peoples.

The Hallstatt culture was a truly Celtic culture and expanded west across the Rhine. They brought their language with them, along with their art and weapons. Celtic is an Indo-European language, and the people west of the Rhine assimilated to this new culture and language, though there were a few holdouts. The Basques, for example, in south-western France and northern Spain, retained their non-Indo-European language, which has survived to the present day.

By 400 BC, the Hallstatt culture had waned, and the new La Tene culture had taken its place. Named for a site on the banks of Lake Neuchatel in Switzerland, the La Tene people had refined iron-working, simplified their burial rituals, and developed a distinctive style of art that still influences Celtic art today. The La Tene began to decorate objects, even practical, everyday objects, with swirls, spirals, and S-shapes. These interlaced symmetrical patterns can be found on brooches, swords, scabbards, cauldrons, and a myriad of other objects which have survived, often left in bodies of water as offerings to gods, such as Lake Neuchatel.

The Celtic tribes migrated out of Central Europe to lands west of the Rhine River developing the Urnfield, Hallstatt, and La Tene cultures.

These offerings are another hallmark of the La Tene Gauls and the Celtic tribes across Europe. The Celts were hardly a monolithic culture, but they did share some foundational beliefs. The concept of balance in the natural world seems to be an idea shared across Celtic tribes and the belief in animism. For the Celts, natural features of the world were sacred and revered as gods or goddesses. Bodies of water especially held an important place in Celtic religious belief. The origin of the Seine River, for example, was a holy place and the Celtic goddess Sequana was the divine spirit of the river.

Divine spirits in rivers and lakes were a part of the wide Celtic pantheon. There are references to hundreds of Celtic gods and goddesses, their importance varying by region. In addition to bodies of water, oak groves and heavenly bodies were also considered sacred. Animals were often associated with gods. The god Cernunnos, for example, was often depicted with the antlers of a deer and the Celtic goddess's name Epona means "divine horse." The boar was an essential figure often displayed on Celtic objects such as shields and medallions, being a symbol of divine strength across the Celtic world.

A depiction of a popular Celtic god, Cernunnos, with the antlers of a deer. The intricate patterns and abstract shapes are typical of Celtic art.

The skull was also important for the Celts, as they believed the soul resided in a person's skull. For the Celts, the soul was immortal, moving from this world to the Otherworld upon death. As the soul resided in the skull, the human head was a common figure in Celtic art, and many skulls have been found, presumably left as offerings, in bodies of water throughout the territory of Gaul.

While the Celtic pantheon was large and varied, there does seem to be one god who was more or less universally appealed to, Lugh. Lugh or Luga or Lugus was associated with arts, music, and crafts. He was also a warrior and symbolic of light and the sun. Lugus appears on and in many inscriptions and reliefs, and place names such as Lyon in France are derived from this figure.

Society and Politics in the Gallic Tribes

The Gauls lived in a hierarchical society. At the top were the warrior leaders. Celtic peoples across Europe were known for their fierce determination in battle, and much of their art and religion was dedicated to warfare. These warrior leaders were monarchs in early periods, while later elected councils or chiefs led tribes. There are known women leaders of Celtic tribes as well. Queen Boudicca led a revolt against the Romans in Britain, and burials in France show that some women were highly situated in society.

Warriors acted as monarchs and leaders in ancient Gaul, and a religious class occupied a place just below them on the social ladder. The most famous group in this class was the druids. The druids served as a repository of folklore and knowledge in Celtic society. They were responsible for maintaining cultural norms and had the power to "excommunicate" people who acted outside or against the social order. The druids oversaw religious ceremonies, including animal and possibly human sacrifices. They educated the children of the upper class and counseled leaders on questions of war and peace. The druids, however, kept their secrets through an oral tradition, so while they remain figures of interest and legend, much has been lost about their roles and practices.

A small group of craftsmen served as a middle class in Celtic society, skilled artisans such as smiths produced goods for those working the fields and forests as well as those waging war. Finally, at the bottom of society were the farmers and slaves. There is no evidence that these social classes were strictly bound, however. A person may move up or down the social ladder, for example, by proving oneself in battle.

The Gallic tribes were in an ever-shifting web of war and alliance. The tribes might be brought closer together through migration and increased trade. Intermarriage and the fostering of children were used to secure alliances across tribal lines. Often the appearance of a common enemy, for example, Germanic tribes or the Romans, spurred confederations of tribes to form. The Helvetii, Arverni, and Senones are just a few examples of the Celtic tribes which inhabited Gaul.

History of the Gauls and Romans

For centuries, the Gauls had been a warrior society, invading and expanding their territory through Central and Western Europe. At the beginning of the 4th century BC, a leader named Brennus rose in the Senones tribe. Around 390BC, Brennus led a raid into Italy, sacking Rome. The Senones demanded tribute from the defeated and humiliated Romans. The story of Brennus's sacking may be an early bit of Roman anti-Gaul propaganda but what has come down through history is Brennus's blunt statement "woe to the vanquished" when the Romans accused him of dealing unfairly with them in defeat.

In the Punic Wars, the Romans and Gauls found themselves on opposite sides again. Gallic mercenaries allied with or were hired by Hannibal. Famously crossing the Alps and invading the Italian peninsula, Hannibal was in need of reinforcements as crossing the mountains had taken a toll on his army. The Gallic tribes of Cisalpine Gaul were sympathetic as expansionist Rome posed a threat. Ultimately Hannibal's victories in the Second Punic War proved impossible to defend, partly owing to an expected Gallic uprising never materializing.

Cisalpine Gaul and Transalpine Gaul became targets of Roman expansion in the 2nd century BC. Cisalpine Gaul was conquered, and the Roman colony Narbo Martius was founded on the coast road from the Italian peninsula to the Iberian peninsula, beginning a permanent Roman presence in Transalpine Gaul. In 58 BC Julius Caesar invaded Transalpine Gaul, ostensibly to gain territory to keep Germanic tribes a safe distance from Rome. The Gallic Wars continued for nearly a decade, with various confederations of Gallic tribes attempting to stop the Roman advance. Caesar, however, left the conquered Gauls with some degree of autonomy, gaining allies, and with a decisive victory at Alesia in 51 BC against Vercingetorix, the leader of the Gallic confederation Gaul was subdued.

Vercingetorix attempted to unite the Gallic tribes against the Romans. His defeat at Alesia marked the end of the Gallic Wars.

The Gauls integrated into Roman society. Latin grew as a spoken language across the tribes. The Romans built new towns, modern by Gallic standards, and roads. The province was divided into Aquitania, Celtica, and Belgica. Roman law took root, and Gauls were even granted the right to seats in the Roman Senate. However, the Pax Romana did not last, and in the 2nd century AD, Germanic tribes began invading from across the Rhine. The Roman legions could not keep the peace, and by the 5th century, the Visigoths had supplanted the Gauls in Aquitania, the Burgundians had settled the Rhine Valley, and the Franks ruled in Belgica. The Gallic people were pushed out of Gaul. Although Celtic culture did survive in places on the continent and even more so in Britain and Ireland, the Franks soon ruled France.

A map of ancient Gaul as Rome divided it into three provinces following the conquest in 51 BC.

Lesson Summary

In the late Bronze Age, around 1200 BC, a group of Indo-European people called the Celts began migrating out of Central Europe. Over the next thousand years, into the Iron Age, Celtic tribes developed various cultural traditions, from the cremations of the Urnfield to the elaborate burials of the Hallstatt to the distinctive art of the La tene, identifiable by spiral shapes and interlace patterns. The Celtic tribes that settled west of the Rhine River in present-day France, Belgium, northern Italy, Germany, and Luxembourg, were called the Gauls by the Romans.

The Gallic tribes shared similar material cultures and religious beliefs. The druids, for example, served throughout the tribes in positions as priests, medical advisors, and upholders of cultural norms and laws. The Gauls had a wide pantheon of gods and goddesses, mostly local or specific to a tribe or region. Yet there were also a few universally worshiped figures, such as Cernunnos or Lugus. The Gauls lived in hierarchical societies, with farmers at the bottom and warriors at the top. The Celtic warriors were indeed fearsome, even sacking Rome on occasion, but in the end, they could not withstand the advanced tactics and equipment of the Roman legions. Gaul fell under Roman rule with Caesar's victory at Alesia, and the Gallic tribes enjoyed the peace of the Pax Romana. A few centuries later, however, as the Roman Empire crumbled, other foreigners took their place, the Franks, who finally established the Kingdom of France. Still, the name Gallia would be used for another thousand years to refer to the territories once inhabited by the Gauls, and they have left their mark on place names and surviving Celtic art and traditions.