The next time you’re in a museum and see an ancient celtic symbol, try to guess what it means. Chances are you won’t be able to guess correctly. You may think that the circle represents the sun, perhaps the goddess of the sun. If so, you’ve run into one of the most common misconceptions about celtic symbols.
Taken as a group, celtic symbols are actually more subtle than other ancient symbols. The Greeks and Romans were pretty direct: their gods were anthropomorphic, and their symbols reflected that. The Egyptians had a canon of images representing different gods; in fact, many of their gods were animals or pieces of animals.
One reason for this is that the Celts didn’t have an alphabet until the Druids invented one in the first century BC, so they couldn’t write out words or sentences like other cultures did. So celtic symbols often depict ideas instead of objects or actions. They are abstractions rendered visually.”
The use of this iconic symbol was suggested by the similarity of their specific meanings. The Celtic Pentacle is symbolic of the four elements: Earth, Air, Fire and Water. This symbol represents the whole which is contained in each part and also the parts which make up the whole.
The interweavings of the five lines are symbolic of the indivisibility of life, our interdependence with each other and with nature. It is a symbol of harmony and balance. This design originated in Ireland over 2000 years ago and has been handed down to us through generations as an emblem of love and protection, a reminder that each person is important to the whole of humanity.
About Celtic Symbols:
Celtic symbols have a long history of being used as amulets or talismans worn by ancient Celts for protection against harm, or to bring good luck or health into one’s life. Ancient Celts believed that symbols possess magical powers and they used them as signatures at the end of inscriptions on stone monuments or on coins, brooches etc.
The use of Celtic symbols was later adopted by Christian Irish in illuminated manuscripts such as ‘Book of Kells’ (so called after a town in county Meath where it is kept today),
Celtic art refers to the artwork of the people known as Celts, in ancient times and up until the Roman invasion of most of their lands. The Celts inhabited large parts of Europe in the first millennium B.C., including areas now belonging to France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales.
Finding information about Celtic art is not always easy. Much has been destroyed over time and much has been scattered across different countries. Also, there are many different styles of decoration that have been given the name “Celtic.” Finally, some of the most beautiful pieces have never been documented.
In this blog I will try to find information about Celtic art from all over Europe and put it together to create one big resource for anyone interested in Celtic art. I will also include information about Celtic folklore and mythology so that people can gain a better understanding of the culture behind the art.
Celtic art and mythology were strongly influenced by the Bronze Age people who lived in the Alpine region of Europe. These include the Celts, the Etruscans, and the Ligurians.
The Alpine region was a crossroads for early peoples. It was a point where cultures from southern Germany and northern Italy met. The area was also a part of a trade route that connected northern Italy with central Europe to the north.
We find evidence of contact between these cultures in an artifact called an “Urnfield Culture Artifact” or UCA . The UCA is a small ceramic bowl with animal or human masks created during the Bronze Age (1800-1200 B.C.). This artifact shows similarities between Celtic, Etruscan and Alpine art. The UCA is also found in Sicily, Spain, France and Hungary. The most elaborate examples come from Austria and Bavaria.
These artifacts are found in burial sites and seem to have religious meaning. They may have been used as burial urns or as vessels for offerings at religious ceremonies such as funerals.*
The Alpine region supplied metals such as copper, tin, lead and iron to civilizations around the Mediterranean Sea.*
They traded these metals for salt from Salzburg and for gold from
The Celts were a diverse group of tribes in Iron Age and Roman times. The name “Celt” is derived from the Greek word Keltoi, which was used to refer to the Gauls, an ancient Celtic people that occupied an area corresponding to modern France and Belgium. The Romans later adopted this term for the tribes of what became Wales, Cornwall, Scotland and Ireland, as well as their diaspora in the rest of Europe.
The Celts were skilled in metalworking, especially in gold and bronze. They had advanced techniques in metallurgy, and are credited with the invention or refinement of a number of important techniques: casting, crucible steel production (the “champagne method”), filigree work and repoussé (raised) metalwork.
As Celtic art was produced over a wide geographical area and spanning a long period of time it is relatively difficult to describe succinctly; however, there are certain elements that are found consistently across the area where Celtic influence was prevalent (roughly equivalent to the Western European Iron Age), most notably those used for decoration on weapons, armour and everyday objects.
One of the most famous Celtic artworks is the Book of Kells from medieval Ireland. The book was written around 800 AD and is a richly illustrated manuscript of the four gospels. It is considered one of the most beautiful books in existence, with it’s intricate line drawings and vibrant colors. It also contains text, which makes it unique among Celtic works in that regard.
The Book of Kells contains three parts: The first part, known as the Evangelistarium, contains pictures that tell stories from the life of Christ; the second part is called the Canon Tables and is a set of tables used to calculate dates of Easter; and the third part, known as the Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum (or History of the Church of England), includes a history of England.
__Celticum also stands out from other art works from this time period because it is usually not associated with a religion that forbids depicting humans. Because Christianity generally forbids images of people, many early Christian artworks are abstract or hidden in some way.__
The Celtic style was very ornate and complex, using knotwork and interlacing patterns to create realism in their artwork. It was also characterized by decorations covering every square inch of space available. These
The Celts are the people that lived in the area encompassing most of western Europe between 600 BC and 400 AD. The term Celtic is used to describe a group of languages or dialects, known as Celtic languages and their respective cultures: Armorican, Brythonic, Goidelic and Gaulish. The Celts were also used to describe a group of people who are believed to have originated from within the central Danube region in Eastern Europe.
The Celts expanded outwards from this region into northern Italy, Austria, Bavaria and Germany; parts of France; northern Spain and Portugal; large parts of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales; the Island of Man; the Western Isles; Cornwall and Highland Scotland; Galatia in modern Turkey; parts of northern Greece, Serbia, Cyprus and Romania.
Although there was one well-known Celtic tribe called the Celts, there are many other small tribes which had their own names for themselves. Some examples include: Picts (Scotland), Galatians (Turkey), Belgae (northern France) and Goidels (Ireland).
The word “Celt” comes from either the Greek word Keltoi or Keltaios which means “the hidden people”. This was a name given by
