The Celts: Blood, Iron And Sacrifice with Alice Roberts And Neil Oliver - Episode 2 of 3

[Music] two thousand years ago this small plateau in a rural corner of France was the front line between two very different cultures they ordered civilizing presence of the Roman Empire facing off against an ancient Iron Age tribal people the Celts [Applause] in Britain we're never far from our Celtic past the Celts seemed to belong to a shadowy Wilder more Primal time than anything in more recent history but much about their Origins beliefs and ultimate fate remains a mystery [Music] but a story etched in Vivid color is how these powerful tribal people battled for survival against their Arch Enemy the Roman Empire from the first Celtic reading parties that rampaged through ancient Italy to Julius Caesar's campaign in Gaul and the Celts last stand under the warrior Queen boudica one of the greatest cultural conflicts that still defines our world today and reveals Europe's Most enigmatic ancient people [Music] [Music] by the 4th Century BC the Celts were at the peak of their military and cultural powers they were establishing themselves far beyond the Homeland aggressive in the pursuit of new territory [Music] 387 BC they burned the city of Rome to the ground this marked a new era for the else when conflict and War became a means of gaining social status an era when the warrior was King but the Celts were alone as a military force after the destruction of Rome the city had been rebuilt and the Romans were flexing their muscle right across the Mediterranean world forging a new Empire that would become the model for all Empires to come but the Roman army had yet to conquer the celt kelston Europe and the Celts presented a formidable obstacle to Rome's expansionist plans what was at stake was the future of Europe and the civilization that would shape it on the one hand centralized modern Rome on the other an Iron Age culture that had its roots deep in prehistory two vast armies and a brutal conflict fought between two of the ages greatest generals foreign [Music] T's New Era will forever be associated with a tiny village that lies on the shores of lake nirchatel in Switzerland it's now perhaps the most famous name in Celtic history Latin those are words writ large in every book about the Celts for many archaeologists that are kind of shorthand for that period when the Celts are at the peak of their power and of their artistic achievement there are objects artifacts of Latin culture scattered across Europe from Britain to the Balkans it was their golden hour this golden age is epitomized by intricate Celtic art and craftsmanship it's this art that has come to be seen as quintessentially Celtic [Music] but beneath that romance and Beauty there appears to be a much darker underbelly to Celtic culture lavage customs and bloody brutality in 1857 archaeologists Excavating an ancient riverbed on the shores of lake near chatel discovered the remains of an Iron Age wooden bridge surrounding the structure they found an enormous horde of Celtic artifacts including swords scab and spearheads in total over 3 000 objects all beautifully preserved in the mud what they'd stumbled upon is believed by some archaeologists to have been a wooden platform used by Celtic warriors as a sacrificial alter to their gods one where the victims of bloody conflict might have been richerly displayed [Music] the lake and now killed in the latinium museum under the watchful eye of Mark Antoine Kaiser what do you think happened here at Latin why do we have this huge collection of material here well I think first Latin is a an important place a passage place with this or these bridges on the water on the river and probably after a big battle the peoples put all those weapons and other kinds of objects in display as a show commemorating the battle so these were obviously kinds of offerings offerings to the gods and it was discovered two thousand years later in addition to all the Weaponry we have you see this humans call yeah and you see the marks on the forehead slices is that from a sword yeah but the main interesting thing is that these are not marks of wounds which you and have received into battle so we think this is a these are marks of sacrifice I so it's a trophy exactly we have many skulls of horses like this one if you look at the inside here you see that the palette has been ah smashed through smashed through and you see here the small hole from the point of something a spear yeah a not a spear a pike so the horse's head was on display like that on a pipe right so you've got the possibly the whole bodies of dead men or their heads and then accompanied by horses heads as well it's a very grisly Tableau it's not just a spectacular display of beautiful weapons it's also the bloodied and ultimately rotten Corpses [Music] well it's theatrical Latin exposed a culture where war was a way of life and where the tools of battle beautifully crafted weapons became a means of displaying a warrior status for new handle and look at these objects what are the details that leap out at you and say this is something special this is not just a tool well uh if you take a look at the the objects and especially here when you see the surface here the the treatment of the surface which is quite particular and then uh you have the the decor the the um the figures which you see here every object every thought it is unique and this was different then to see uh weapons but weapons that were also works of art since it's a way of life you have to show that all the Arts all the the beauty which is uh which you invest into into your uh your warlike occupation so as well as being a tool of his trade it's it shows his status and the fact that the way in which he makes his living is is almost an art yeah [Music] the fines at Latin revealed a very different Celtic world one that was aggressive and warlike it was also a world of Stark contrasts in which Beauty and creativity were entwined with cruelty and extreme violence this double edge of beauty and beast is epitomized by one extraordinary and apparently sacred object the Gunda strip cauldron [Music] beaten into the silver are images of Celtic gods strange beasts and rituals but even this Exquisite object points to a preoccupation with war riers are depicted being dipped into what some believe to be sacred liquid to improve their military rank in the afterlife it's thought The Cauldron was used ceremonially at feasts where soldiers would drink from it before battle in the belief that it bestowed immortality [Music] although the silver work is rich in their imagery it was not the work of Celts but probably crafted by a people known as the Thracians and believed to be a gift of friendship to their neighbors the Celts The Cauldron was made not in the traditional Celtic Heartland of Central Europe but over a thousand miles further east in the Balkans so as well as embodying the beauty and violence of Latin Culture The Cauldron shows a civilization seeking power and land more forcefully than ever before [Music] they had previously negotiated through trade Celtic warriors and the raiding parties now seized slaves and luxury goods with the blade of a sword and by the early 3rd Century BC Celts could be found as far south as Delphi in Greece their skill and bravery on the battlefield were legendary as a result they became Hired Guns willing to kill for whoever was willing to pay [Applause] this was the Latin celt in full flow foreign [Music] European people traditionally originating in Central Europe during the Iron Age but with new theories suggesting that they might have originated much earlier in Western Europe but by the 3rd Century BC we know that they were here in what is now turkey Alexander the Great once ruled these lands but when he died in 323 BC his Empire started to crumble leaving a power vacuum [Music] Celtic reading parties crossed from Europe into this part of Asia came to the heart of turkey just south of modern day Ankara this was once galatia and its capital audience that's flat tops Hill over there that is the remains of ancient gouldian the city that's famous for Alexander the Great having come and cut the gordian knobs there but that's not why I'm here I'm here because the Celts also settled in gouldian know this from the Roman historian Livi Gareth Darbyshire is an archaeologist who has been working at Guardian since 1998. so Gareth when did the Celts arrive here in gouldian well we don't know precisely when but it would have been sometime in the mid to later 3rd Century BC and what were they doing here well we know that from written sources that we're serving as mercenaries in various Hellenistic period armies they're probably also looking for land for settlement either taken by force or same kind of thing through diplomatic negotiations so they were given free reign to come here and settle and then to raid around Asia that's the picture we get what kind of evidence are you finding of their material culture we're finding items that are new to this region and which are comparable in various ways with areas further west in Celtic Europe for example in the Lower Town very dramatically we're finding uh human and animal remains mixed together with signs of violence broken necks beheadings Etc which again you know they're attested in various forms in areas to the West areas that are known to have been Celtic speaking archaeologists think they find evidence of gruesome possibly Celtic practices the skeletons here are some of the human remains from the site at gordian but they're a bit old this woman is about 30 to 45 years old if we look at the back of the skull here on the side of the skull you can see this depression so that is a blunt injury she's been struck on the head and we can imagine that this probably was the cause of death so somebody who died a violent death [Music] and her body was placed on top of that of a younger woman she was laid out like this I've got the the actual photograph of the the excavation back in the 90s but rather strangely she's got these two corn Stones buried just on top of her now the Roman authors tell us about all sorts of what seemed to us very bizarre and even gruesome rituals that the Celts indulged in human sacrifice decapitation and some experts have suggested that we've got something like this happening at gordian there's certainly evidence of strange rituals I mean just look at this and there's evidence of violent death but when it comes to decapitation and human sacrifice I'm not sure some of the bones at gordian were found alongside animal bones possibly as part of the burial ritual archaeologists have come across similar practices as far afield as Yorkshire and northern France Celtic Graves have been discovered containing disarticulated bones of pigs and horses mixed with human remains and sometimes entire chariots perhaps providing the deceased with transport into the Afterlife death rituals played a central part in Celtic civilization but these ancient people were now being confronted by a very different Power [Music] a structured ordered culture with a conflicting idea of what civilization meant galatia represents the easternmost extent of the Celtic world but by the second century BC the Celts here were coming under pressure from the expanding Roman Empire and we learned from Livy that in 189 BC a Roman army came to attack gordian and ended up fighting the Galatians in the mountains and within a century galatia would be subsumed into the Roman Empire since their defeat at the hands of the Celts in 387 BC Rome had been rebuilt and was now the fastest developing power in Europe by the middle of the first century BC the Roman Empire dominated the Mediterranean region from Syria to Spain but standing in the way of further expansion to the north and west was the Celtic Heartland of Gaul [Music] Southern goal had long been under the influence of the classical world [Music] as long ago as 600 BC a port had developed on the south coast of France called masalia now Marseille it became a trading hub for ships importing exotic luxuries from Italy and Greece Celtic tribes were only too happy to barter with their Mediterranean Neighbors offering grain leather and slaves in exchange for Roman wine but these two very different worlds of the Celts and Romans were now about to collide [Music] in 58 BC the job of subjugating Gaul was assumed by the most famous Roman of all time the seasoned General Gaius Julius Caesar Caesar was an inspirational leader he was a fighting man his cunning and daring had earned him the respect of his men he was confident of his own decisions while at the same time able to take advice from his centurions but he had plenty of enemies back in Rome when he faced allegations of political corruption a stunning Victory here in Gaul would enable him to go home a war hero but Gaul was a treacherous land populated with warring and infighting Celtic tribes Caesar set about crushing those hostile to him while cementing alliances with others or accepting of Roman control the Roman Empire had forged trading connections with Celtic tribes for some time [Music] One Tribe in goal in particular had had a lucrative formal arrangement with them for almost a hundred years [Music] this is bibrax in burgundy nearly 200 Paris it was once the territorial capital of one of the most powerful Celtic tribes in Gaul the ajui bibrax Chief archaeologist is valson gisha what was the relationship between the edui and the Romans before the conquest we've got trace of a military City between the Edwin and Rome and why would the Romans take that step why would they sign a document with a a neighbor uh the territory of the aduine modern Dan burgundy is just midway between the Mediterranean and the North Sea so it's a really key location along two main rivers which are the Sun River and the Loire River okay and of course the Romans wanted to to have this route free for trading and especially for metal oars of any sort like tin for example but the on the reverse side what was brought from Italy to goal was Italian wine it's that traditional model of alcohol of all things greasing the wheels of Commerce and bringing people together the girls were trapped by The Taste for women wine and I suppose it's easier isn't it from the Roman point of view rather than go in and fight and Conquer if you can just softly get involved with the people who have the things that you want and it's less effort and less expense make business this this can make a lot and that's what they did actually [Music] and yet with his invasion of Gaul Caesar effectively tore up the treaty his aim was to bring the more Troublesome gallic tribes with their barbaric rituals under control to assimilate them into the Civilized Roman Empire by 53 BC five years into his campaign he believed the job was almost done The Savage celt he boasted had been Tamed but Caesar couldn't have been more wrong in the early months of 52 BC when he returned to complete his gallic campaign he found his progress challenged by a young Celtic Warrior named version son of keltilis leader of the ivani tribe a man Caesar himself described as having Boundless Energy and iron discipline the legendary challenge of versing getterex has meant that he's been elevated to French national hero and he's celebrated with a 19th century romantic statue [Music] tree tactician for months his band of rebels had used Guerrilla tactics to provoke and Harry Caesar at every turn IPS persuaded his fellow Chiefs that Victory depended upon disrupting the supply lines that Caesar needed to keep his men fed and watered so they adopted a scorched Earth policy every main settlement on Caesar's path of Advance was burned to the ground every field of standing crops was cleared not a stock was left standing person reminded his people that if they didn't do as he said their fate was inevitable slavery or death great armies led by two charismatic leaders would soon go head to head in a battle that would shape the future of Europe [Music] was a Warrior from the Celtic golden age of Latin and almost everything we know about him comes from the campaign Diaries of his arch enemy Caesar but there's one place 25 miles Northeast of Frankfurt that gives us a sense of how the Celts themselves depicted their leaders we have plenty of images of Julius Caesar but we don't know what verse and getterex looks like the most famous image of him is a 19th century statue but it's more romantic than accurate I think but in 1996 an incredible Discovery was made in a field just here in glauberg in Germany [Music] [Applause] and here it is or perhaps I should say he the globe Warrior [Music] isn't that wonderful [Music] and get a better look I'm looking right into his face but this astonishing headcan some people have suggested that this is a mistletoe leaf I'm not sure it's just an odd looking helmet and round his neck he's wearing something very Celtic indeed he's got this fantastic neck ring so this is a talk these are these neck rings which we know were worn by Rich and powerful people and we've also got Celtic imagery showing Gods wearing talks as well so they're symbols of power and perhaps even offered some kind of protection to their wearers this statue dates to about 400 BC so he is two and a half thousand years old he's a little bit early for versus this statue was carved a few centuries before versus born but what we're seeing here is this fantastic representation made by Celts Celtic Warrior looked like person who car Ved this knew these Warriors this statue is one of four that surrounded a burial mound close to the glauberg hill foot inside it lay the body of a real Celtic Warrior [Music] underneath that mind we can tell quite a bit about this individual from analysis carried out on the bones and the teeth and in particular looking at his teeth we can see that there's some wear on those you can tell that this is quite a young individual perhaps in his twenties when he died that really is what was buried with him that is absolutely astonishing this is quite clearly the grave of somebody who was very high status essentially glaubergy [Music] beautiful piece of jewelry which is a broach or a fibula there's a Fantastical horse-like creature here but with wings and then a little human head with a face looking back at the horse this is Classic this playfulness this combination of animals and humans and here is the incredible gold talk that was lying around the neck of this individual in the grave and you can see that you've got this plane band around the back of his neck and then here a lot of detail and here is the sword of the warrior that lay at his right side and then the Scabbard is absolutely beautiful it's made of bronze but it has iron over laying it as well and there's even a piece of textile can you see that there and you can see the weave of that material where it's been lying close to this sword and it's been preserved because it's close to the metal and there's something else as well that provides a connection with that statue outside the grave there was the wireframe and even the remnants of some leather of his headgear and it was the same helmet with those strange projections on each side the lavish grave Goods buried with this young man His stunning jewelry and that beautifully decorated sword tell us that he was a person of extremely high social standing and being a warrior was inextricably bound up with that status he lived and died at a time when the Celtic world was evolving and amongst those changes was the emergence of a new type of leader the warrior king [Music] the ritual burial of the globerg warrior complete with lavish grave Goods was part of a rich and ancient culture hundreds of years later it would fall to versongetricks to defend that shared heritage the Celtic tribes convened to agree a strategy for the survival of Gaul the tactics now required a much larger offensive if they were to defeat the forces of Rome flashing to the top the only option was to overcome tribal rivalries combined forces and elect verson gatherets the supreme commander of the Allied Army of God [Applause] an arc of resistance formed from the river sen in the Northeast to the Goron in the Southwest United gaul's Celts were now a more formidable Force than ever 52 BC was shaping up to be a decisive year for Rome for the Celts and the entire future of Europe [Music] by the summer of 52 BC versus and his army of 80 000 men and 15 000 Cavalry were in position on top of a huge Celtic Hill Fort or operam called Alessia in the heart of Gaul after a bloody Skirmish with the Roman army versus commandeered the Heartland Fortress home of the mandubi E tribe foreign had pursued him and was now positioned on the plane below but Alessia provided versing getrix with an ideal vantage point Thurston get Alex had every confidence in his decision the plateau at the top is fully 400 feet above the plane below there are sheer Cliffs at one end by the standards of the day Alessia was all but impregnable while the Celts were here they would have kept this place clear of trees so anywhere on The High Ground would have had a perfect Panorama of the surrounding low ground the hill is further cut off from its surroundings by Two Gorges two valleys running either side cut by Rivers across the gentle slope of Alessia versus ordered his men to dig a deep ditch and build a six foot high stone wall now safely inside this apparently impregnable Fortress versus getrix must have believed he held the upper hand [Music] Caesar saw it as the perfect opportunity for Siege Warfare a favored tactic of the Roman general who had many more years of battle experience than his younger opponent by surrounding Alessia he could trap the Celtic Rebel Army and their mandubi supporters inside the stronghold cutting them off from vital communication and Provisions he now had versus getterex exactly where he wanted him the area was cleared the trees logged three and a half meter high Palisade walls were erected and studied with observation watchtowers Caesar's plan was for the fortifications to eventually run 11 miles around the entire plateau [Music] to protect his army from Attack he also included a deadly system of defenses Mike loads an expert in ancient military strategy has been researching the Battle Tactics how did the Romans prepare the ground Mike well well what we're doing here is we're digging a Minefield that's what they did in front of these great Earthworks they dug a really elaborate Minefield with spikes and stakes and ditches and moats and mounds and Palisades it's a good reminder for an old world Minefield is isn't it we think of the explosive but it's a field that has been mined that people have dug traps in exactly that so what we're digging here is a hole for a stimuli one of these it's set in a bit of wood to hold it in place but you've got this iron shank coming up with that barb you step on and if it's hidden you you just do not see that in the ground so whether you're a horse or a human foot stamping down on there it shoots right through your foot and see that barb it will not pull out easily so they're a terrible terrible ugly thing it would stimulate you wouldn't it if you stood on that you'd be squealing like stuck pig inside this defensive line were moats and ditches that the Celts would first have to cross and after the water fill ditches the booby traps you run onto this Forest of sharpened Stakes yeah they're very simple they're called sippy and I mean they you know they're kind of growing height for a man and chest height for a horse so they men would come with shields protecting men while they cleared a path through here so they'd be slowed but slowed is important because up there you've got archers you've got Slingers you've got Javelin men up there you've got ballista catapulter scorpion all these great throwing engines and these guys would be bombarded with missiles another problem I suppose for the Celts up there far away on their Hilltop is to even begin to conceive of the connected scale of what Caesar's got in mind absolutely and that's one of the interesting things about coming to the place is you see the scale of it [Music] in the hill Fort of Alessia versus witnessed Roman progress it was clear he needed more troops [Music] under cover of night he released a group of riders to summon help from across goal before Caesar's defenses were finished on their arrival the Celtic relief force would attack the Roman army from behind the Raymond fortifications were completed the siege had begun and Caesar had already predicted versus next move it's all very well digging that to keep versongetricks and his men in but how do you protect urea because you are after all outside something in open space that's exactly right and Caesar knew that and he knew that there were reinforcements I mean by his account hundreds of thousands of reinforcements on their way so what he did having sealed him in having contained versus getterex as he says to his men build another wall a bigger Longer wall all around that first wall to protect my flank such a feat of ambition to even think that you could you put them both together and you've got something like 35 kilometers of wall done in about five weeks throw up these fortifications and so quickly involved almost superhuman effort either had troops had now defended his rear against attack from the approaching Celtic relief Army even Caesar's plan had a flaw by sealing himself inside that double line of walls and ditches Caesar had effectively caught himself in his own trap the would-be procedure was now besieged [Music] also Trapped In His Hill Fort had to wait for the arrival of the relief Force before he could attack the question was would his food and water last [Music] after weeks of Siege with still no sign of the relief Force rations inside Alessia were running dangerously low and the morale of versing getrix's men was waning [Music] he was left with no choice but to expel all non-competence from the hill fort in the hope that Caesar would let the mandubi women and children cross the lines to safety but Caesar showed no mercy the refugees pushed out by versing gethericks and ignored by Caesar were trapped in no man's land imagine version up on the ramparts of Alessia looking out and down onto his own people starving to death in the valley below him he was becoming increasingly determined it wasn't just defending a hill Fort but something much more important this was a fight between centralized modern Rome and an ancient Iron Age culture that had Roots stretching deep into prehistory what was at stake was an entire way of life that the Celtic tribes had carried with them into the classical age [Music] for centuries the Celts had developed and prospered they were technologically advanced and respected as Warriors they had migrated and their ideas had spread right across Europe and Beyond they'd established trading links with the Mediterranean world of the South and with the temperate lands of the North [Music] now this great world was under threat by October 52 BC after months of standoff a vast Celtic Army was seen massing on that string of Hills rising in the West quarter of a million men had gathered from every corner of Gaul surely just the thought of them far less the sight of them would have been enough to make the Romans tunnel and run [Music] thank you version gatrix had a numbers advantage over Caesar but he also had a psychological weapon Roman Garrison camps were Rife with rumors of the grisly fate awaiting them if they lost against in goal have come to northern France to an area just a few miles outside of Amil which is famous for the battle of the Somme and the Specter of that terrible period in history still haunts these Woods but two thousand years before the first world war another Mass Slaughter took place here one that shows us some evidence of particularly gruesome Celtic practices in the 1960s archaeologists Excavating near the village of Reed Mall Sur Ankara on Earth the dismembered bones of 200 people [Music] they believe that the bodies were the result of an inter-tribal conflict and their treatment were the signs of Celtic ritual these are just a few of the thousands of Bones discovered at this Celtic Sanctuary site at Riemann and many of these bones bear evidence of violent injuries here's a pelvis and you can see here that something probably the point of a spear has made several holes in this vein there are other cut marks this is a humerus and arm bone and here's another blade injury right at the top just under the shoulder and here's a collarbone and you can see quite clearly along that where a blade has come down on that surface leaving marks on it but what is conspicuously missing is any evidence of heads of skulls and we see the reason for that in the bones themselves this is the skeleton of a young man who died in his twenties and if we come up his spine here we get to a point where it stops abruptly and if we then look at that vertebra we can see that it has been cleanly sliced a blade has come through the front of his neck and his head was removed he was decapitated so then we wondered what happened to those heads and we might get a clue if we turn to the classical writers the Greek writer strabo who lived from the first century BC into the First Century A.D writes there is among the Celts the barbaric and highly unusual custom of hanging the heads of their enemies from the necks of their horses when departing from Battle the heads of those enemies that were held in high esteem they would embalm in cedar oil and display them to their guests now we'll never know exactly what happened to the heads of all these decapitated and possibly beheaded people but I think to us it seems very bizarre and to the Romans coming into Gaul it must have seemed very strange and very barbaric atalacia Caesar knew he would need a combination of tactics and luck if he was to avoid ending up with his own head hanging from a Celtic horse 250 000 Celtic warriors were gathered overlooking the Roman army waiting to launch their attack in spite of sacrificing the women and children versing getterex's treats were at breaking point and close to starvation but even with reinforcements on the Hills opposite him versing getherick still had a problem besieged up there on his health top Burson getterex had no way of communicating directly with the Celtic relief Army so he was dependent upon tribal leaders who didn't necessarily have his military skill vulnerable spot in the Roman fortifications and on October the 2nd 52 BC they decided to strike [Applause] [Music] [Applause] around noon 60 000 Celtic warriors launched an attack the target was a Roman Garrison up here on Mount rare the northwest corner of Caesar's defenses the steep slopes here had prevented the Romans from digging proper ramparts and ditches it was a weak point in the defenses the Celts knew that and closed in for the kill [Music] in an attempt to coordinate the attack versus LED his troops downslope to try and punch a hole through the inner Roman fortifications [Music] his thinking was that such a move would leave the Roman troops no alternative but to fight in both the front and in the rear to wave after wave of Celtic warriors smashed against the Roman defenses Stakes could not have been higher for Caesar this was his chance to secure the title conqueror of Gaul whereas versus fighting for his homeland and there are new ideas about how the Celtic warriors might have fought the decisive battle the Roman writers make a big deal about the Celts being an undisciplined unruly wild mob is that right the Celts did go into battle with great cries and shouts but once they're fighting I think it would look more like this because you wouldn't survive for two minutes on the battlefield unless you had some military discipline foreign so although it's not hundreds of men all working together to the beat of a drum and maybe the Roman fashion it's nonetheless small tight units who are paying attention to one another and working as a group exactly that whole thing is here they're wild slashing barbarians everyone talks about the Celtic sword being a slashing weapon already you're playing into the hands of the Roman writers slashing is a pejorative term it implies he just slashes like a clown in in a wild sort of way no what the Celtic weapon is it's a cutting weapon it will do very precise Cuts it's a thrusting weapon it will do both those jobs and they're both deeply unpleasant but it's not a wild slashing weapon oh the spear for instance this was really the primary weapon so rather than the sword yeah I mean the swords were a relative Rarity they were high status but they were relatively rare more people would have this because it's so versatile it gives you reach in battle it gives you an ability look at that edge it gives you the ability to cut and size at hamstrings and legs and the backs of horses it's a martial arts it's a martial art and the Celts were professional Marshall men as the fighting continued the Romans desperately shored up their defenses [Applause] but the Celtic relief Army attacking from the rear was breaking through [Applause] sensing Victory versus Warriors on the other side pounded the Romans inner defensive line oh Caesar was on the brink of defeat [Music] he had one last card to play and it relied on his power as a charismatic leader Drayton his distinctive Red Cloak Caesar LED six thousand men every last Soldier he had into a desperate Do or Die counter-offensive [Applause] the sight of seas of entering the free re-energize the men and a cheer erupted from the legionaries as they gave everything to one final push with season leading from the front and with his men believing in Victory the battle began to turn in their favor Caesar boasts in his Memoirs how his troops forced the Celts to flee across the battlefield person gatherix watched the final defeat from the hill fort still besieged he was left with two options to surrender or die he left the decision to his war council [Music] the following day together with his man and in full regalia he rode down the slope [Music] [Applause] Legend has it that he let from his horse threw down his arms and said here I am a strong man defeated by an even stronger man ly being outwitted by the Wily old strategist the Golden Age of the Celts was over [Music] thank you the Romans celebrated their victories in Monumental architecture this is the triumphal arch in Orange in the south of France this Archway tells a story all about the Roman conquest of Gaul on the top you can see Celtic warriors naked warriors being Trampled Under the Hooves of Roman Cavalry and on either side there are piles of The Spoils of War the archway straddles a road heading south towards Rome and heading north to the Land of the Dead and that's just about right Julia Caesar reckon there were about three million Galls by the time he'd finished with them one million lay dead a second million had been sold into slavery if that happened today they'd call it genocide [Music] as perversing getterex himself Caesar showed no mercy he had him taken to Rome imprisoned for six years and then killed in a public garage [Music] centuries later he would re-emerge as a national hero who gave his life for the dream of a free call [Music] Caesar's victory at Alessia was a defining moment in European history the Celts an ancient and deep-rooted culture lay crushed not in some foreign field but in their Heartland it was a defeat that would consigned generations of Celts to romanization and servitude [Music] thank you [Music] foreign this statue is known as The vashir Warrior ditched around 28 BC 24 years after the battle of Alessia you take a passing glance at him and you see Roman soldier that's largely down to the clothes and the weapon he's wearing a tunic it's long it comes down to his thighs a short of chain mail on his side here on a belt is a Gladius that's the classic short sword of the Roman Legionnaire everything about it seems to say Roman soldier but appearances are deceptive take a closer look and you see around his neck he's wearing a torque now that's the status symbol of the elite Warrior of the Celts he is Celtic he's a typical Gallo Roman soldier that's to say a celt employed by Rome as an auxiliary Soldier arsengetricks would be turning in his grave the infamous wild long-haired Barbarian is gone he's been smartened up he's been romanized and tamed [Music] it looks like the end for a great culture that had once stretched from Turkey to France but the Celts weren't quite finished yet [Music] by 51 BC not long after the battle of Alessia the brat was sufficiently romanized that Julius Caesar himself Came To Stay while he was writing the conquest of Gaul it's one of the great histories of the Roman Empire he may even have written some of it in one of these rooms in that book as well as writing about the campaign he also described two exploratory Expeditions that he made in 55 and 54 BC to a mysterious island across the sea he called Britannia it's the first detailed eyewitness account we have of Britain and the people who lived there next time the Romans turn their attention further north to one of the last bastions of Celtic culture Britain an island of Rich resources powerful tribes Advanced military equipment and another great leader a woman Warrior Queen Boudicca [Music] tomorrow on BBC 2 on a grand tour at the

Channel: Bart Verheyen

Views: 543,763

Keywords: Celts, Blood, Iron, Sacrifice, ALICE ROBERTS, Neil Oliver, episode, episode 2, s01e02

Id: KGI6gud8MUo

Length: 58min 29sec (3509 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 14 2015