Paragraph on “Who were the Celts?” complete paragraph for Class 9, Class 10, Class 11 and Class 12

Who were the Celts?

The Celts were a barbarian people speaking an Indo-European language who had established their homeland in a large area of central Europe during the first millennium, or thou-sand years, before Christ. We know little about their early history, although their skill in the use of iron made their influence wide-spread.

About 500 BC they began to expand south-wards into Italy and Greece, westwards into Spain and France, and even as far as the British Isles.

The Celts were a fierce, warlike people and their invasion of Italy brought them into conflict with the Romans. About 390 BC they sacked Rome. Other groups of Celts moved further east, sacking Delphi in Greece in 279 BC.

The Romans called the Celts Gauls, and those who settled in northern Italy, in a region known as Cisalpine Gaul, remained a constant threat to the growing power of Rome until they were decisively defeated in 225 BC. During the second century BC the Romans began to occupy parts of what they called Transalpine Gaul, a huge area populated by Celtic tribes and stretching from the River Rhine and the Alps to the Atlantic. The conquest of Gaul was undertaken by Julius Caesar in 58 BC and the subjugation of the Celtic people, except in Scotland and Ireland, was completed with the Roman invasion of Britain.