Sources On Gallic Culture

Hey guys.

First I would just like to say that EB is probably one of the best games I have ever played and I really admire the dedication of the team. This mod has made me really interested in the ancient period of history and especially the 'barbarians' of the period.

That is what I would like some help with.

I am about to write an essay regarding the Gallic culture and misrepresentations of it through popular media, and I have plenty of information about the Gauls, mainly through the EB site and from the game. The only problem is, I know this was researched by historians and is probably more accurate than many of the history books I could scrounge up, but I don't think anyone else would believe me.

So, what I would like your help with, is finding sources detailing Gallic culture and also some popular misrepresentations of it, such as History Channel documentaries but also roman propaganda, which I can review and criticise.

It would be best if they could be in English (so I can actually read them :P) and focused, so I don't have to scrounge through tons of irrelevant information to get to what I need. Also, it would probably be hard to find most books, since I live far from any library and in Denmark, where the libraries probably don't have the books anyway. So, I would prefer it if they were available online.

Of course I can't require anything of any of you, but if you happen to have come by some interesting information, I'd be very grateful if you would share it.

Thank you in advance (For reading the whole bloody post, anyway :P)

I personally can not help you, but check this thread: https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=70698. There is quite a lot of books about gauls so you might find something useful.

Most of the stuff we know about "Barbarians" comes from either Roman or Greek historians anyway, so why not try "Comentarii de bello Gallico" by a guy called Caius Julius Caesar or "Germania" by another guy Publius Cornelius Tacitus? :beam:

www.forumromanum.org
http://www.forumromanum.org/literatu...ar/gallic.html
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis...rmanygord.html

He should try one or more of the books in the EB book list. That is good literature.
From the original sources Strabon and Diodoros must be mentioned. They seem to rely heavily on Poseidoneios, a Greek scientist who lived near the Celts, was very interested in their culture and whose book is unfortunately mostly lost.

Hi AKP,

I own a book from a dutch historian (van rooijen i thought) who compares the Asterix-cartoons with sources of Gallic culture. It's a good and nice-to-read book but it's in dutch and I doubt it's translated.

Maybe you can use the Asterix-cartoons as an example of modern representation of gauls (in roman times) and do some research of your own in the sources mentioned by others.

Good luck.

Thank you for your suggestions.

I have in fact looked through the list. The problem is, I do not have enough time to scrounge up books unless they are available online.

'Comentarii de bello Gallico', for instance, is available online making it easy to browse and use, and I have looked at it and intend to use it as source material.

That is also a problem that I intend to touch on; the lack of primary sources from the Gauls. It seems all the information I can find is from Roman or Greek historians, which is very counter-productive if I want to debunk roman propaganda.

Many thanks for the help, though. I will be checking out the suggestions to see if they are readily available. Any trustworthy illustrations of gallic soldiers, art or construction you can find would also be very welcome.

Edit: Also something that I would like clarification on.

According to the EB site and game, the Adui tribe were the real inheritors of Gaul and descendants of the Biturige-Cubi confederation.
Does anyone know where this information comes from?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by akp211

Edit: Also something that I would like clarification on.

According to the EB site and game, the Adui tribe were the real inheritors of Gaul and descendants of the Biturige-Cubi confederation.
Does anyone know where this information comes from?

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That info comes from Daithi O hOgain's The Celts A History. Google Books has it here:
http://books.google.com/books?id=-yd...elts+a+history

A great book, and easy to follow. Not an entry level book, but not a high end scholarly book. Honestly, the best sources cannot typically be found online, for free at least. If you have a good university library you can really read about some wonderful ideas, interpretations, topics, and ideas about the Celts.