Beginning with the reign of Julius Caesar in the first century B.C., the Romans launched a military campaign against the Celts, killing them by the thousands and destroying their culture in much of mainland Europe.

Both Celts and Romans liked art. The Romans made mosaics whereas the Celts made patterns with swirly lines and patterns. The Celtic patterns were interwoven such that they looked like knots. The Celts fought for themselves and not as a team.

When the Romans invaded, the Celtic tribes had to decide whether or not to fight back. If they made peace, they agreed to obey Roman laws and pay taxes. In return, they could keep their kingdoms. However, some Celtic leaders chose to fight.

And so the invasion of Britain began. Like their Gaulish cousins before them, the British were to discover that the era of mutually beneficial collaboration between Celts and Romans had come to an end. Barry Cunliffe was formerly professor of European archaeology at the University of Oxford.

Brennus’ taunt, wrote the classical historian Livy, was “intolerable to Roman ears,” and thereafter the Romans harbored a bitter hatred of the Celts, whom they called Gauls. The Romans ultimately enclosed their capital within a massive wall to protect it from future “barbarian” raids.

The Celts were eventually defeated by Romans, Slavs and Huns. After the Roman conquest of most Celtic lands, Celtic culture was further trampled by Germanic tribes, Slavs and Huns during the Migration Period of roughly 300 to 600 A.C.

The Celts were the ones who founded Belgrade in 3rd century BC, after what it became a Roman settlement called Singidunum. The original Slovene name of the city, “Beligrad”, which means “white city”, was first used in 878, and the city became the capital of Serbia in 1405.

Under the leadership of Julius Caesar in the 1st century BC, the Romans killed large numbers of Celts, wiping out their language and culture in many parts of Europe.

The Celts had their own ancient languages such as Gaulish and Lepontic and had many different customs. For example, they often lit huge fires to symbolise the changing of the seasons and to worship their many gods. These Celts who conquered Rome in 390 BC came from a land called Gaul.

Gauls
The Romans preferred the name Gauls (Latin: Galli) for those Celts whom they first encountered in northern Italy (Cisalpine Gaul). In the 1st century BC, Caesar referred to the Gauls as calling themselves “Celts” in their own tongue.

The Celtic tribes of the third century B.C. had established their domain all along the Danube River from its sources down to the Danubian Delta on the Black Sea. Rather than forming a distinct and recognizable over-class, they tended to assimilate and blend with their conquered foes.

These wars last fifty years and Celts, having conquered them, towards – 310, settle on their place. Macedonian empire stands in their way and Celts go back up towards Transylvania. The Dacians developed fortresses with embankments and stone walls in the 3rd B.C. as defense against the Celts.

The eastern Danubian Celts would copy the primary coin of the region that they controlled. The Larissa drachm with facing bust of Larissa and standing horse reverse was copied north of Thessaly. The coinage of Philip and Alexander was a popular design used especially north of Macedonia.

At the time of the Roman Empire, a large population of Celts from central Europe migrated to Dacia in Eastern Europe. They brought with them skills and traditions that continue to be evident in today’s Romania, which roughly encompasses the former lands of ancient Dacia.