Quote Originally Posted by Cyclops View Post
While the Celts weren't quite the universal merchants that the Hellenes or Carthaginians were I'm sure they "culturally colonised" areas at least as often as they invaded them. Is this a case of the locals adopting cool Celtic imports rather than being conquered?

However ATHM's question is a fair one. Does the presence of Celtic material culture (eg in the Pontic Steppe) suggest an area would be more amenable to a celtic* overlord than somewhere without Celtic material remains? What about Celtic style troops? AOR perhaps, or Mercs? The engine has a few tools for the team to play with here.

*I suppose this means Gallic or Brithonic in EB2 terms, unless we're getting Bastarnae...
No, it doesn't. The only major contribution the Celts made to the material culture in this region is in arms and armour, and since that is one of the most fluid categories of cultural transfer, it is hardly an indicator of any sort of actual Celtic presence at all. If it was, it could just as easily be argued that Bactria should revolt to a Galatian general because the Bactrians employed the thureos. I've reviewed this topic a fair bit, and so far I've not seen any compelling evidence that there were significant numbers of Celts in the northern Black Sea littoral in any capacity in the Hellenistic period.