The Celts
This month instead of march I will be putting on some ancient battles and I thought I would like to add a theme.
The earliest archaeological culture that may justifiably be considered Proto-Celtic is the Late Bronze Age Urnfield culture of Central Europe, which flourished from around 1200 BC.[2] Their fully Celtic[2] descendants in central Europe were the people of the Iron Age Hallstatt culture (c. 800–450 BC) named for the rich grave finds in Hallstatt, Austria.[3] By the later La Tène period (c. 450 BC up to the Roman conquest), this Celtic culture had expanded by diffusion or migration to the British Isles (Insular Celts), France and The Low Countries (Gauls), Bohemia, Poland and much of Central Europe, the Iberian Peninsula (Celtiberians, Celtici and Gallaeci) and northern Italy (Golaseccans and Cisalpine Gauls)[4] and, following the Gallic invasion of the Balkans in 279 BC, as far east as central Anatolia (Galatians).[5]
Each week this month the Celts will be taking on a different opponent from the ancient world.
The Romans
Eastern Gaul became the centre of the western La Tène culture. In later Iron Age Gaul, the social organisation resembled that of the Romans, with large towns. From the 3rd century BC the Gauls adopted coinage, and texts with Greek characters from southern Gaul have survived from the 2nd century BC.
Greek traders founded Massalia about 600 BC, with some objects (mostly drinking ceramics) being traded up the Rhone valley. But trade became disrupted soon after 500 BC and re-oriented over the Alps to the Po valley in the Italian peninsula. The Romans arrived in the Rhone valley in the 2nd century BC and encountered a mostly Celtic-speaking Gaul. Rome wanted land communications with its Iberian provinces and fought a major battle with the Saluvii at Entremont in 124–123 BC. Gradually Roman control extended, and the Roman Province of Gallia Transalpina developed along the Mediterranean coast.[46][47] The Romans knew the remainder of Gaul as Gallia Comata – "Hairy Gaul".
In 58 BC the Helvetii planned to migrate westward but Julius Caesar forced them back. He then became involved in fighting the various tribes in Gaul, and by 55 BC had overrun most of Gaul. In 52 BC Vercingetorix led a revolt against the Roman occupation but was defeated at the siege of Alesia and surrendered.
Following the Gallic Wars of 58–51 BC, Caesar's Celtica formed the main part of Roman Gaul, becoming the province of Gallia Lugdunensis. This territory of the Celtic tribes was bounded on the south by the Garonne and on the north by the Seine and the Marne.[48] The Romans attached large swathes of this region to neighboring provinces Belgica and Aquitania, particularly under Augustus.
The Greeks
The Celtic military pressure toward Greece in the southern Balkans reached its turning point in 281 BC. The collapse of Lysimachus' successor kingdom in Thrace opened the way for the migration.[4] The cause for this is explained by Pausanias as greed for loot,[5] by Justin as a result of overpopulation,[6] and by Memnon as the result of famine.[7] According to Pausanias, an initial probing raid led by Cambaules withdrew when they realized they were too few in numbers.[5] In 280 BC a great army, comprising about 85,000 warriors,[8] coming from Pannonia and split into three divisions, marched South in a great expedition[9][10] to Macedon and central Greece. Under the leadership of Cerethrius, 20,000 men moved against the Thracians and Triballi. Another division, led by Brennus[11] and Acichorius[12][13] moved against Paionians while a third division, headed by Bolgios, aimed for Macedonians and Illyrians.[5]
After these expeditions returned home, Brennus urged and persuaded them to mount a third united expedition against central Greece, led by himself and Acichorius.[5] The reported strength of the army of 152,000 infantry and 24,400 cavalry is impossibly large.[14] The actual number of horsemen has to be intended half as big: Pausanias describes how they used a tactic called trimarcisia, where each cavalryman was supported by two mounted servants, who could supply him with a spare horse should he have to be dismounted, or take his place in the battle, should he be killed or wounded.[15][16]
In the East, Persians
The Galatians were in their origin a part of the great Celtic migration which invaded Macedon, led by Brennus. The original Celts who settled in Galatia came through Thrace under the leadership of Leotarios and Leonnorios c. 270 BC. These Celts consisted of three tribes, the Tectosages, the Trocmii, and the Tolistobogii
Brennus invaded Greece in 281 BC with a huge war band and was turned back before he could plunder the temple of Apollo at Delphi. At the same time, another Gaulish group of men, women, and children were migrating through Thrace. They had split off from Brennus' people in 279 BC, and had migrated into Thrace under their leaders Leonnorius and Lutarius. These invaders appeared in Asia Minor in 278–277 BC; others invaded Macedonia, killed the Ptolemaic ruler Ptolemy Ceraunus but were eventually ousted by Antigonus Gonatas, the grandson of the defeated Diadoch Antigonus the One-Eyed.
The invaders came at the invitation of Nicomedes I of Bithynia, who required help in a dynastic struggle against his brother. Three tribes crossed over from Thrace to Asia Minor. They numbered about 10,000 fighting men and about the same number of women and children, divided into three tribes, Trocmi, Tolistobogii and Tectosages. They were eventually defeated by the Seleucid king Antiochus I, in a battle where the Seleucid war elephants shocked the Celts. While the momentum of the invasion was broken, the Galatians were by no means exterminated.
Instead, the migration led to the establishment of a long-lived Celtic territory in central Anatolia, which included the eastern part of ancient Phrygia, a territory that became known as Galatia. There they ultimately settled, and being strengthened by fresh accessions of the same clan from Europe, they overran Bithynia and supported themselves by plundering neighbouring countries.
The Gauls invaded the eastern part of Phrygia on at least one occasion.[3]
The Carthaginians
Hannibal recognized that he still needed to cross the Pyrenees, the Alps, and many significant rivers.[24] Additionally, he would have to contend with opposition from the Gauls, whose territory he passed through. Starting in the spring of 218 BC, he crossed the Pyrenees and, by conciliating the Gaulish chiefs along his passage, reached the River Rhône before the Romans could take any measures to bar his advance. Arriving at the Rhône in September, Hannibal's army numbered 38,000 infantry, 8,000 cavalry, and 37 war elephants, most of which could not survive the harsh conditions.[25]aginians
This should give you a flavour of this months up and coming games
I will be posting a few alteration/clarifications to the ancient rule set later.
Mark
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