Who were the Celts?
Caesar in particular gave a very one-sided view of the Celts which was accepted unquestionably for many years. Modern scholarship now disputes this one sided view and paints a much more balanced picture.
Theirs was a culture with a history and legacy at least the equal of the Greeks and the Romans. It was their ancestors in Galatia who received a letter from the Apostle Paul, their mercenaries (as body-guards) who guarded Cleopatra, and they were the ones who attacked Rome in 390 BC and Delphi in 278 BC and even fought at Thermopylae.
The names of the cities of London, Paris, Vienna and Gallipoli are Celtic in origin. And it was not only the Romans who built roads, for since the early Iron Age the Celts had had a network of paved and semi-paved roads good enough to transport their famous chariots.
It should not be assumed that the Celts looked like paint-daubed savages; the Romans, who described the British as “vain,” noted their attention to appearance and personal hygiene. Gold and bronze torcs, :solid heavy necklaces, have been found at numerous Iron Age sites.
The Celts were also expert in weaving and dyeing and loved bright colours. One of Britaain’s experts was the clothing produced by the Celts which were especailly valued by the Romans and may have been another reason for the invasion. The National Museum in Cadiff gives a good background to their culture, legacy and history.
The Celtic Tribes of Wales
Much of what is known about the people of Wales at this time comes from Roman sources and often scholars are unsure of what the tribes called themselves, most of the tribal names coming from Roman sources.
The Deceangli
Are the people of what is today broadly North Wales. The number of hill-forts in the area and the length of their occupation indicates that they probably lived mainly in hill-forts. There are a series of such forts along the entire length of the Clwydian Range.
From Moel Hiraddug near the mouth of the Clwyd river to the eastern bank of the Moel y Gaer river they run in a closely formed chain. Further west along the northern Welsh coastline from the mouth of the Clwyd, are Deceanglian forts at Pen y Corddyn, Conwy Mountain at the mouth of the Conwy and Pen y Gaer further inland along the Conway valley, and Dinas Dinorwig overlooking the Menai Straits and Ynys Mon Insula.
The Demetae
This tribe lived in the modern counties of Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire and their capital was Moridunum, modern Carmarthen.
Not much is known about the Demetae. Since they were not a warlike tribe and did not resist the Roman occupation like the Silures and the Ordovices little was written about them. Probably due to this peacefulness, their lands were not strongly garrisoned.
The Romans did explore for gold in the mines of Luentinum (Pumpsaint) in the Demetae lands and one of the mines they exploited was that of Dolaucothi.
The Silures
Rhiannon’s village of Cwtch was situated in the land of the Silures. They were a powerful and warlike tribe who occupied broadly the counties of Monmouth, Brecon and Glamorgan. Their capital was at Caerwent near Chepstow.
The Ordovices
The Ordovices had a strong military tradition and lived in fortified strongholds and hill-forts but were also farmers and shepherds. Their lands were located between the Silures to the south and the Deceangli to the north.
The Cornovaii
Their territory probably covered the modern counties of Staffordshire, Shropshire and Cheshire. Little is known of the Cornovaii themselves, but their capital was probably Oswestry where Rhiannon and Geraint travel to the Cyfaddod.
Interestingly some Romanised Cornovii are known to have served as Roman legionaries.
The tribe’s control of the south-Cheshire salt-making industry and its distribution probably gave them a fair degree of wealth, multiplied by trading and cattle breeding. However, their economy was mainly a pastoral one.
The Wisdom of Rhiannon 