LA TÈNE CELTS

 

Around 500 BCE another Iron Age culture emerged -- the La Tène. Carts were now two-wheeled chariots. Groups of extended families were organized in clans (tuatha). The La Tène Celts never really transcended the level of clan organization, and their forays outside the Celtic sphere were for wealth more than systematic territorial expansion. They defeated Rome in 387 BCE, they raided Delfi in 279 BCE, and in 278 BCE a group of Celtic mercenaries settled in Asia Minor (the Galatians). While the Celts were quickly Romanized on the continent, La Tène culture may have persisted in Ireland until as late as the fourth century CE. They were metalworkers in bronze, silver, and gold as well as iron. Their art influenced the Germanic and, to a lesser extent, the Classical world.

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