Hater of celts at amazon.com

This is little bit off-topic (so I apologize for that in advance).

Also I dont want to start any flame war by this therad I respect all nations and cultures (I respect achievements of Romans and Greeks). But I just can't accept this badmouthing of celts. And to be honest I am pissed off by this guy at amazon.
I was searching some books at amazon and I have encountered this one reviewer called SG. And oh boy this guy has some serious problem with celts as his reviews show. And what is more important I think that he is factually wrong. For a review to Celtic Warrior by Osprey publishing this guy wrote following.

here is the link for that review
http://www.amazon.com/review/product...owViewpoints=1

G. wrote following:
.........................................................................................
SG -
The commentary on the plates are good, but some of the plates seemed almost cartoonish. Certainly not up to Angus McBride's standard. Their rigid individualistic and ritualistic military methods ensured their destruction! The author is another excuse maker who can't accept that "Rome Triumphed against the odds." No one before the 18th century called themselves Celtic! These various tribal peoples had no permanent victories and their oral traditions prove nothing! "They refused to write their histories down. Since they were not a singular people with cities as in a CIVILIZATION, one should not be surprised that they rejected literacy" The written histories are largely backed by the archaeological record. Basically, there is little in this book that is new or insightful. If you like this topic read juliette Wood, Miranda Green, & Barry Cunliffe's books.

(my note: contrary to this guy claims I think that celts had cities (some of those villages were pretty big so they could be called cities). Also when he claims that Celts had no permanent victories, it is bollocks. Because from what I know - Romans had pretty tough time with various celtic tribes for quite long period of time. (that was the reason why celtic warrior was used in Roman tales as some sort of bogy-man) After all Gauls under Brennus sacked Rome itself in 387 BC. And If I am not mistaken it was not until Ceasar when Romans were finally able to dominate over their celtic neighbours.)

Another reviewer called Black Knight reacted on the review from SG with this review.
Black Knight
Like all Osprey books, this volume is intended to give the reader a basic introduction to the subject, rather than a deep academic understanding. This volume succeeds in that endeavor. The book describes the basic societal structure of the Celtic peoples in the time period addressed, with information on arms and equipment, rituals, approaches to warfare, etc. The color plates are well done.

This particular book does not in any way present a political argument regarding the relative cultural merits of the Celtic peoples versus the Romans, and it is hard to see whay a reviewer would attack it on those grounds. [...]

to which SG replied by this
SG -
Why do you Celtophiles take everything personally? I do not believe in the singularity of these folks. I have written reviews disputing some of the absurd claims made by certain authors. Ex: Peter B. Ellis wants most everything the Greeks & Romans accomplished to be seen as if the Celts taught them, or was done earlier by them. He gave no proof. I also support those who question the single people theory. Respected authors like Stephen Oppenheimer, John Collis, Simon James, & Malcolm Chapman are not bigots as some claim. They simply point out that a very wide group of folks speaking different languages, having a different physical appearance, etc can't all be the same nationality or race. Example: Strabo, Caeser, etc stated clearly that there were no Celts in Britain. Modern "DNA," tests used by Oppenheimer prove that the folks on the western Isles of Britain usually have the same DNA as the Basques of Spain & France. Therefore, they can't be Celtic since the Basques speak a non-Indo-European language & have a very different culture. If the Celtophiles can't accept that? That is their choice.

(my note: of course we all know that celts were not singular people, but that doesn't suspend the fact that Celts had many achievements in technology on their own etc. And some of these things may have been adopted by Roman or Greeks. Also his claim that there were no Celts in Britain is obvious bullsh.t. The DNA thing is caused because of the fact that lots of people migrated to what is today known as Ireland from Iberia. (as it is mentioned many times in this wonderful EB mod). But again in Ireland there were even celtic people, they just mixed together with the newcomers)
...............................................................................


I would like to ask what resident experts on Celts think about opinions of Steve Guaralda? And if someone from here would like to respond to those reviews on Amazon. I would do that myself but my knowledge of Celts-celtic society is limited. Becaus to be honest I began to interest myself in this time period just recently thanks to discovery of this amazing game Europa Barbarorum.

BTW: I myself am of slavic origin so don't think of this rant of mine that it is result of some injured ethnic pride.

It seems this guy has the same views i had before i discovered EB and began reading and lreaning about ancient cultures other than Roman. I too saw them as a rag-tag band of cultureless barbarian raiders and bandits and savages and nothing more, but nothing could be further from the truth really. I think this is very deserving of a reply from someone here who has enough knowledge of the Celts to be able to call themselves a self-appointed expert on the matter.

Now completely off-topic, i ordered a book from Amazon that is now 8 days late. Has anybody else had this problem with them?

8 days doesn't seem so bad to me. Many times I had to wait for months (not using amazon) To be honest I ordered some DVD's like three month ago and they still did not arrived. I have just ordered Osprey's Alexander the Great and I will be lucky if it come before christmass. But I am not ordering from amazon (because I have no bank account) I am ordering from czech companies which allow payments through post service and I am just using amazon to check reviews.

Btw, does it still seem that Mail was developed by Celts? I'm not up-to-date on this.

Well the smoke signals...?

I don't get that kind of thing. I mean, I think the Romans were probably the worst bunch of dishonourable scum in all the Ancient World, but I don't make a fuss about it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Bactron

This is little bit off-topic

---

That is way off topic, in particular because that commentator is not member of this forum and has no chance to enlighten us with his ideas on the Celts (may be he has a point or two that's worth discussing?).

And since we are far OT: Please note that Amazon is a site where everyone can run everyone/-thing else down, save for Amazon itself. Usually this only happens to authors, artists, sellers, publishers and the like, but this time it had caught an entire civilization.

Hmm, yeah.

Thats what you have to be if you want an empire:laugh4:

Voted very definetly no, for was this review helpful to you. 53 of 64 people found it helpful, ughhh!

The nine nos were probably people from this forum who have voted since they saw this thread.:yes:

Celtic culture, a unified people or not, CAN be attributed with the invention of the byrnie (mailshirt) which is just about the best armor ever, concerning availability, resources and cost, effectiveness versus most attacks, ect. (imo)

Thanks.

Now would one spell it Kelt-o'phobia?

He needs to bone-up on his books, as he's a bit wrong. It was the ancient Gyptos that never developed cities. Pyramids yes; cities no. That is not till the Greeks took over. Not really sure what 'no permanent victories' means. Always thought unless your the last man standing, no victory is permanent? Also about this; 'No one before the 18th century called themselves Celtic.' Wasn't it the Classical Greeks themselves that first called all these people Kelts? I'm not seeing his point? If its about unity wasn't that what the Osprey book exposed?

And...
I've always thought that the Kelt act of having Rome ransom itself actually inspired what SPQR became. That, without the Kelts the Romans would never have amounted to anything more than a bunch of hillbilly greek wantabes. We must always have our bogie men.