The Galatians - The Celtic Tribes of Ancient Anatolia

[Music] the term galatians is mostly associated with a letter sent by the apostle paul to a group of early christians living in asia minor at the turn of the first millennium while there have been countless books and commentaries written on the topics which paul discussed in his epistle there is little discussion about the galatians themselves who were they what was their origin in this episode we will dive into the often neglected history of the people who once lived in ancient galatia galatia was an ancient central anatolian kingdom which was settled around 280 bc by three celtic tribes these tribes had migrated from western europe in an area that was heavily steeped in latin culture and likely carried many of their associated beliefs and traditions with them as they traveled east overpopulation and a thirst for new lands and resources led the celtic tribes to form a large federation of warrior armies who marched their families through the balkans into thrace macedonia and pannonia many of the tribesmen settled into these areas permanently while others continued pressing further into greece [Music] under the command of brenes a large army of gulls fought the athenians and aetolians at the second battle of thermopylae following the skirmish the tribes were able to move further south toward delphi but were met with defeat furnace committed suicide by drinking great quantities of undiluted wine and many celts turned back toward europe however a group of roughly ten thousand warriors and their families continued their migration into asia minor leonarius and latarius led their tribesmen into the bosphorus where they began to lay siege to byzantium by 278 the celtic warriors had earned great fear and admiration for their strength and military abilities nicometes of bithynia had been entrenched in war with his brother who had allied himself with the seleucid king antiochus the first having heard numerous tales of the skilled warriors he employed the celts as mercenaries to fight for the northern league the celtic army was soundly defeated by antiochus forces in the elephant battle of 275 bc which kept them from moving further into seleucid lands in exchange for their efforts nicometes provided them with land in the northeast of phrygia they were further rewarded territories in cappadocia from mithridates the first for their services against the ptolemaic fleet rather than creating a single kingdom under the direction of one ruler they divided their territories amongst the three tribes and created a governing system much like those of conventional celtic tribes in europe from the larger tribes smaller subdivisions based on familial descent were established by the time of pliny in the first century a.d there were as many as 195 clans throughout the region [Music] strebo described the anatolian gauls as they existed at the turn of the first millennium in his geography to the south of the pathologonians are the galatians of whom there are three tribes two of them the trochme and the tulista bogey have their names from their chiefs the third the tecto sages from the tribe of the name and celtica there were three nations that spoke the same language and in no respect differed from one another each of them was divided into four portions called tetrakies and had its own tetrarch its own judge and one superintendent of the army all of whom were under the control of the tetrarch and the two subordinate superintendents of the army the council of the twelve tetrarchs consisted of 300 persons the trochme occupied the parts near pontus and cappadocia which are the best which the galatians possess they have three walled fortresses tavium a march for the people in that quarter where there is a colossal statue of jupiter and brass and a grove which is used as a place of refuge mithridatium and thirdly denali the tectus stages occupy the parts towards the greater phrygia they have the fortress ankara the tallista bogey border upon the bethinians they possess the fortress bluechium hestinus is the largest smart of any in that quarter it contains a temple of the mother of the gods held in the highest veneration the priests anciently were sort of sovereigns and derived a large revenue from their office near it runs the river sangarius and on its banks are the ancient dwellings of the phrygians of midas and of gordius before his time while some regions of galatia were desolate and arid there were many areas with thriving agricultural production the galatians were also skilled metal workers they established successful trade with neighboring kingdoms and their society flourished quickly while a few large cities developed the majority of galatia was filled with man-made hill forts which were used for farms and village settlements as these initial communities expanded galatians began to conduct raids against nearby kingdoms some local rulers paid the goals tribute to avoid conflicts but adolesce the first of pergamon chose to refuse payment and fought against their forces instead adolesce gained a decisive victory and commissioned multiple pieces of art and architecture to commemorate their victory it is from this time period that inspired famous works such as the dying gaul soon after the galatians were pulled into yet another conflict this time between the seleucid empire and the roman republic antiochus the great sought a large number of mercenaries for his war against pergamon who was allied with rome the seleucid ruler was killed in the battle of magnesia and after his defeat the romans held galatia responsible for their involvement in 189 bc manlius volso and adelus the first joined forces to wage war against the gauls rome put an end to their raids but protected them from further aggression by pergamon in 25 bc after the death of galicia's last tetrarch amentus the kingdom was officially annexed and to the roman empire under augustus and the citizens of the new province proved to be loyal subjects of the roman empire in the following centuries though they continued speaking a celtic language until at least the time of saint jerome in the 5th century a.d they became largely hellenized and it is thought the galatians eventually became absorbed into the surrounding greek and roman populations of anatolia what kind of influence do you think these celtic immigrants had on the history of asia minor let us know in the comments below if you liked this video don't forget to subscribe and click the notification bell so you don't miss future videos thanks for watching

Channel: History's Who Yesterday's Nation

Views: 6,884

Keywords: galatians, gauls, celts, celtic tribes, anatolia, ancient turkey, ancient anatolia, galatia, letter to the galatians, history of turkey, history of anatolia, history of the gauls, history of the galatians, migration period, celtic migration, brennus, celtic warriors, the dying gaul, galatian people, world history, ancient history, celtic history, trocmii, history of gaul, ancient gaul, early christians, elephant battle, antiochus i, pergamon, amyntas, volcae, la tene culture

Id: mhxW2BJBO58

Length: 7min 0sec (420 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 11 2021