Irish folk dancers performing on Saint Patrick’s Day in downtown Denver, Colorado
The heritage of the ancient Celts is still felt in the modern world. Historian Jennifer Paxton traces how perceptions and knowledge of the Celtic peoples have changed over the centuries, and how their legacies affected culture and politics in the nations and regions linked by language and traditions (Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, Cornwall, and the Isle of Man) commonly known as the Celtic Fringe—as well as in the wider world. As our understanding of the Celts continues to evolve, Paxton examines the impact of new ideas about the Celts on our contemporary fascination with all things Celtic.
9:30–10:45 a.m. The Classical Celts: What the Greeks and Romans Knew
The Greeks and Romans created the stereotype of the Celts as ferocious, individualistic warriors, but how much can we trust their accounts? While classical authors emphasized Celtic military prowess, archaeology reveals a sophisticated culture open to artistic influences from the Mediterranean world.
11 a.m.–12:15 p.m. The Language of the Celts: What Early Modern Scholars Knew
It was not until the 16th century that the inhabitants of Britain and Ireland were called Celts. Learn how linguists discovered a connection among the languages of the Celtic Fringe and that of ancient Gaul, and how interest in the Celts led scholars to create fraudulent “Celtic” texts that took the European literary world by storm.
12:15–1:30 p.m. Lunch (participants provide their own.)
1:30–2:45 p.m. The Celtic Revival: What Modern Nationalists Knew
In the 19th century, the fascination with the Celts took on a distinctly political dimension in Ireland, where Celtic identity was used to differentiate the Irish from their English rulers. Celtic themes appealed both to cultural nationalists, who were content to assert a distinctive literary heritage, and to political nationalists, who saw the Celtic legacy as a justification for armed struggle.
3–4:15 p.m. The Celts Today: What Modern Scholars Know and What Popular Culture Loves
Interest in all matters Celtic has never been stronger. The popularity of Irish music and dance worldwide continues to grow, and Celtic art motifs can be found everywhere from album covers to tattoos. Yet at the same time, modern scholars have been slowly deconstructing the identity of the Celts as an ancient ethnic group that survives in the modern Celtic Fringe. What does it mean to be a Celt today? And do the popular and scholarly notions of the Celts necessarily have to coincide?
Paxton teaches Irish and British history at The Catholic University of America where she is a clinical assistant professor in the department of history and director of the university honors program.
Other Connections
The recent exhibition Celts: Art and Identity organized by the British Museum and National Museums of Scotland examined 2,500 years of Celtic history through a cultural lens. Take a look at some the objects and art that were on display.
