Britons...

[Phil]

Little Odo said:

Although, in historical circles nowadays, the term “Celt” for inhabitants of the British Isles and Ireland is fast becoming something of a misnomer. Celts were supposedly only from Continental Europe - not sure what the new terminology is to be, but Pict, Welsh or Briton for mainland UK seem to be gaining momentum. Not sure why these “experts” are changing their minds on the naming - anyone else have any ideas or know why?

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No. It doesn't make sense to me. 'Insular Celt' always seemed to me to sum up the inhabitants of Britannia nicely - their culture was essentially Celtic, but with an 'island twist', perhaps due to the isolation from mainland Europe.

Phil

[steveD]

Gareth said:

Hi guys,

Great to hear that you are all waiting for the new boxes

if it is possible i think you guys ar more eager than us at Warlord HQ

We are hoping fingers crossed that they are going to be with us soon, so i think that it will be after the Birthday deal, but i am sure that I will be coming up with some cool release deals.

If you have any suggestions then fire away.

Gareth

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If the deal is anything less than one free box per 2 purchased I'll be pretty disappointed. How about putting up a pre-order for the new stuff, so that we can get the discount now and have it ship when it's available? How long does the Birthday sale last anyway?

[Centurio Cunibus]

Here is a quick translation from 'Bello Gallico', on the subject of the names.

"Gaul is divided in three parts. One is inhabited by the Belgians, the second part by the Aquitani and the third by those who are called Celts in their language, Gauls in ours."

The reason why British and Gaullic culture were alike, is, if I recall correctly, because many of the inhabitans of Britain, especially in England, are origionally Belgian. The teachings and religion were first invented by the Gauls, and by a group of Belgians brought to Britain. Caesar is wrong on this matter, tough, he says it's vice-versa. The real British are usually those with for example red hair, those who later lived in the more northern regions.

[SteveH]

Phil said:

Little Odo said:

Although, in historical circles nowadays, the term “Celt” for inhabitants of the British Isles and Ireland is fast becoming something of a misnomer. Celts were supposedly only from Continental Europe - not sure what the new terminology is to be, but Pict, Welsh or Briton for mainland UK seem to be gaining momentum. Not sure why these “experts” are changing their minds on the naming - anyone else have any ideas or know why?

---

No. It doesn't make sense to me. 'Insular Celt' always seemed to me to sum up the inhabitants of Britannia nicely - their culture was essentially Celtic, but with an 'island twist', perhaps due to the isolation from mainland Europe.

Phil

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If you read Brian Sykes book The Blood of the Isles, based on 10 years of DNA study

of the population you will see why these experts are moving away from the term Celt.

Regards Steve

[Fluffy05]

Any chance of some pictures of the new British Celts Phil?

Cheers,

Allan

[Sir Tobi]

I'm eagerly waiting for those pictures, too. It has been much to quiet on Phil's Blog-front for my taste, it seams he has spent a lot time painting those Brittons (which I want to see, pleeeeaaase - sadly tehere isn't an emoticon with "Bambi-Eyes"...)

By the way, Phil, have you checked out those pila muralia (for Austrians: sticks for a marching-camp defence) I've commented about in your blog?

Best regards,

Tobi

[Phil]

Sorry guys, real life has been getting in the way of the important stuff the past couple of weeks - hence the lack of blog updates - this weekend is unlikely to be much better either.

I am slowly getting the Britons painted - hopefully I'll get 'em finished by next weekend!

I did check out the stakes Tobi - as they're arranged as a 'fence' I'm not sure they're quite what I want - but thanks anyway. Used as a fence, it seems that the stakes are quite easy to uproot or push aside, so I favour the idea of lashing them together in threes to form a sort of giant caltrop, which provide a better barrier that is harder to move aside or get through.

Calling them pila muralia is probably a misnomer - 'wall spears' are now thought to be different from the stakes (sudis, plural sudes) used to form the palisade.

Cheers,

Phil

[hithero]

Not yet having assembled my Celts, I'm eagerly awaiting to know what Brit-bits and how many are included and whether they would be available seperately, so I can convert, mix 'n' match all my Celts before I start on them. - any hints please?

[Sir Tobi]

@ Phil: Yes, I know there really is an argument going on between historians in which way the stakes were used. I have to say I prefer the "fence", but that's just personal taste.

Alas, the name-bit is very interesting. We have a museum here in southern Germany - th "Limesmuseum" - which focuses on Roman military history. Due to their location on the ground of the biggest cavalry-camp (the only ala milliaria - named Ala II Flavia Augusta) stationed on the Limes (German frontier), they have many original finding exhibited. In a well several stakes for a marching camp have been found, and they are labeled as "pila muralia" there. Can you give me a source for the "sudis" name-debate, I'd really like to pass it on the the museum.

By the way, every two years there is a great convention (in fact it really is Europe's leading convention) of Roman reenactors every two years at this museum - two years ago the Ermine Street Guard was present, too. Every year there's Marcus Junkelman - yes the one who crossed the alps with a force of a dozen legionaries in the late 1980's. Here's a link to this years convention (sorry, it's in German): http://www.aalen.de/sixcms/detail.php?id=70902&_bereich=1599

Best regards,

Tobi

[Phil]

"Roman Military Equipment - from the Punic Wars to the Fall of Rome" by MC Bishop and JCN Coulston, 2nd Edition, Oxbow Books, 2006. Pages 116-118.

Phil