Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race - Knowledge Rush

CHAPTER I: THE CELTS IN ANCIENT HISTORY 17
Wallsend, in Northumberland), and the first term, sego, is
traceable in Segorbe (Sego-briga) in Spain. Briga is a Celtic
word, the origin of the German burg, and equivalent in meaning
to dunum.
One more example: the word magos, a plain, which is very
frequent as an element of Irish place-names, is found abundantly
in France, and outside of France, in countries no longer Celtic, it
appears in Switzerland (Uro-magus now Promasens), in the
Rhineland (Broco-magus, Brumath), in the Netherlands, as
already noted (Nimègue), in Lombardy several times, and in
Austria.
The examples given are by no means exhaustive, but they
serve to indicate the wide diffusion of the Celts in Europe and
their identity of language over their vast territory. 16
Early Celtic Art
The relics of ancient Celtic art-work tell the same story. In
the year 1846 a great pre-Roman necropolis was discovered at
Hallstatt, near Salzburg, in Austria. It contains relics believed
by Dr. Arthur Evans to date from about 750 to 400 B.C. These
relics betoken in some cases a high standard of civilisation
and considerable commerce. Amber from the Baltic is there,
Phoenician glass, and gold-leaf of Oriental workmanship. Iron
swords are found whose hilts and sheaths are richly decorated
with gold, ivory, and amber. [29]
The Celtic culture illustrated by the remains at Hallstatt
developed later into what is called the La Tène culture. La
Tène was a settlement at the north-eastern end of the Lake of
Neuchâtel, and many objects of great interest have been found
there since the site was first explored in 1858. These antiquities
represent, according to Dr. Evans, the culminating period of
Gaulish civilisation, and date from round about the third century
B.C. The type of art here found must be judged in the light of an
16
For these and many other examples see de Jubainville's “Premiers
Habitants,” ii. 255 sqq.