Quote Originally Posted by Fondor_Yards
Since it was already brought up here, do you think the Celts were really able to sack Delphi? The "gods raining fire" and defeating them sounds kinda iffy to me, and I've read about how a large gold/artifact find had a lot of stuff probably from Delphi.
Yes, tales of the Gauls being defeated by Greeks gods and the ghosts of warriors past is obvious bolox …as unlikely as the accounts of them ripping babies from mothers stomachs to drink the infants blood.

Again, many if not most scholars (admittedly I have primarily studied Celtic ones) believe that the Gauls did indeed sack Delphi and sought to withdraw with the loot. Then once burdened / so encumbered, Greek forces engaged in a guerrilla campaign of ambush / hit and run on the now disorganised Gauls, inflicting significant casualties.

The Greeks like the Romans, often fail to acknowledge that Gauls were not always seeking permanent conquest but rather, more often than not, loot, plunder and glory. Thus when a large Gallic raiding party withdrew, both Greeks and Romans were tempted to cite fiction / fanciful interpretations of the reason for their doing so. Imaginary victories / campaigns, acts of gods, etc etc. As already mentioned, the Romans even named a road after a supposed Gallic rout that never happened.


my2bob