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Sims-Williams, Patrick, “The location of the Celts according to Hecataeus, Herodotus, and other Greek writers”, Études Celtiques 42 (2016): 7–32.
- journal article
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Article
“The location of the Celts according to Hecataeus, Herodotus, and other Greek writers”
Periodical
Études Celtiques 42 (2016)
Études Celtiques 42 (2016).
Persée – Études Celtiques, vol. 42, 2016: <link>
Volume
42
Pages
7–32
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Abstract (cited)
[FR] La localisation des Celtes d’après Hécatée, Hérodote et d’autres auteurs grecsC’est par erreur que l’on a compris le texte d’Hécatée et d’Hérodote, deux contemporains des premières inscriptions celtiques du Nord de l’Italie et du Sud de la Suisse, comme des documents localisant les Celtes en Autriche et dans le Sud-Ouest de l’Allemagne, ce qui a eu pour résultat malheureux de conférer l’étiquette celtique à la culture halstattienne de cette région. En réalité, Hécatée et Hérodote renvoient à une localisation en Gaule – comme il a été confirmé plus tard par Timagète, Pythéas et Apollonius de Rhodes –, ainsi que, peut-être, dans une partie de la péninsule Ibérique, comme il a été affirmé par Éphore au IVe siècle. L’aire ou les aires celtiques de la péninsule auxquelles se réfèrent Hérodote et Éphore ne peuvent pas aujourd’hui être définies, mais il n’est pas nécessaire de les faire s’étendre à l’ouest de la Celtibérie – au centre de l’Espagne –, d’où proviennent, plus tard, les plus anciennes inscriptions celtiques de la péninsule. Au milieu du IVe siècle, le Pseudo-Scylax fait mention de l’installation de Celtes en Italie dans la plaine du Pô, de même peut-être que Apollonius au siècle suivant. À l’époque d’Apollonius, les Celtes étaient déjà engagés dans des migrations vers l’Ouest, si bien que tous les témoignages postérieurs concernant leur localisation, même les données toponymiques, sont d’une valeur incertaine comparée à celles des premiers auteurs, notamment Hécatée et Hérodote, malgré leurs limites et leur point de vue méditerranéen. Certes, les premiers auteurs sont eux-mêmes trop tardifs pour nous indiquer la région où sont apparus les Celtes et la langue celtique. Cependant, nous pouvons dire négativement qu’ils ne permettent d’appuyer ni une localisation à l’Est, en Allemagne ou en Autriche, ni une localisation à l’Ouest sur le rivage atlantique. Ce qu’ils nous disent s’accorde certainement avec une origine des Celtes située en Gaule, mais cette hypothèse ne peut être développée sans attribuer des identifications ethniques spéculatives aux données archéologiques préhistoriques.
[EN] Hecataeus and Herodotus, who were contemporary with the earliest Celtic-language inscriptions in northern Italy and southern Switzerland, have been misunderstood as localising the Celts in Austria and south-west Germany, with the unfortunate result that its archaeological ‘Hallstatt culture’ has been wrongly labelled ‘Celtic’. In fact, Hecataeus and Herodotus point to locations in Gaul (as later confirmed by Timagetus, Pytheas, and Apollonius of Rhodes) and possibly in part of the Hispanic Peninsula (as stated by Ephorus in the fourth century). The Celtic area or areas in the Peninsula to which Herodotus and Ephorus may refer cannot now be defined, but need not have extended west of Celtiberia in central Spain, which is later the source of the earliest Celtic inscriptions in the Peninsula. In the mid-fourth century the Italian Celtic settlements around the Po valley are referred to by Pseudo-Scylax, and possibly by Apollonius in the third. By Apollonius’ day, Celts were already migrating eastwards, so that any subsequent evidence for their location, including onomastic data, is of doubtful value compared to that of the earlier writers, especially Hecataeus and Herodotus, despite their evident limitations and Mediterranean perspective. Even the earliest writers are too late to guide us to the area where the Celts and the Celtic language emerged. Negatively, however, we can conclude that they neither support a location in Germany or Austria in the east nor support a location on the Atlantic seaboard in the west. What they say is certainly consonant with Celtic origins in Gaul, but that hypothesis cannot be taken further without attaching speculative ethnic labels to prehistoric archaeological data.
[EN] Hecataeus and Herodotus, who were contemporary with the earliest Celtic-language inscriptions in northern Italy and southern Switzerland, have been misunderstood as localising the Celts in Austria and south-west Germany, with the unfortunate result that its archaeological ‘Hallstatt culture’ has been wrongly labelled ‘Celtic’. In fact, Hecataeus and Herodotus point to locations in Gaul (as later confirmed by Timagetus, Pytheas, and Apollonius of Rhodes) and possibly in part of the Hispanic Peninsula (as stated by Ephorus in the fourth century). The Celtic area or areas in the Peninsula to which Herodotus and Ephorus may refer cannot now be defined, but need not have extended west of Celtiberia in central Spain, which is later the source of the earliest Celtic inscriptions in the Peninsula. In the mid-fourth century the Italian Celtic settlements around the Po valley are referred to by Pseudo-Scylax, and possibly by Apollonius in the third. By Apollonius’ day, Celts were already migrating eastwards, so that any subsequent evidence for their location, including onomastic data, is of doubtful value compared to that of the earlier writers, especially Hecataeus and Herodotus, despite their evident limitations and Mediterranean perspective. Even the earliest writers are too late to guide us to the area where the Celts and the Celtic language emerged. Negatively, however, we can conclude that they neither support a location in Germany or Austria in the east nor support a location on the Atlantic seaboard in the west. What they say is certainly consonant with Celtic origins in Gaul, but that hypothesis cannot be taken further without attaching speculative ethnic labels to prehistoric archaeological data.
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Contributors
Dennis Groenewegen, Pierre Faure
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April 2020
