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notactuallythor :

Silver Neck Ring (Torque), Celtic, circa 475–400 B.C.

 Neck rings, worn by both men and women, were often seen as symbols of divinity or 

high rank, while also offering protective powers. Ancient writers noted that the first-

century Celtic queen Boudicca, who fought against the Romans in Britain, wore a gold

neck ring in battle. Celtic artists often depicted deities wearing or holding such rings.

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Celtic Christianity or Insular Christianity refers broadly to certain features

of Christianity that were common, or held to be common, across the Celtic-speaking

world during the Early Middle Ages. ”Celtic Christianity” has been conceived of with

differing levels of specificity: some writers have thought of it as a distinct “CelticChurch” uniting the Celtic peoples and distinguishing them from the “Roman” Catholic

Church, while others classify it as simply a set of distinctive practices occurring in those

areas. Scholars now reject the former notion, but note that there were certain traditions

and practices used in both the Irish and British churches but not in the wider Christian

world. These include a distinctive system for determining the dating of Easter, a style

of monastic tonsure, a unique system of penance, and the popularity of going into “exile

for Christ”. Additionally, there were other practices that developed in certain parts of 

the Celtic world, but which are not known to have spread beyond a particular 

region. Rituals associated with Celtic Christianity are now almost completely lost,

though two books, the Bobbio and the Stowe Missals, contain the Irish Ordinary of a

daily Mass in late, Romanized form.

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The term “Celtic Church” is deprecated by many historians as it implies a unified and

identifiable entity entirely separate from the mainstream of Western

Christendom. Others prefer the term “Insular Christianity”. As Patrick 

Wormald explained, “One of the common misconceptions is that there was a ‘Roman

Church’ to which the ‘Celtic’ was nationally opposed.” Celtic-speaking areas were part

of Latin Christendom as a whole at a time in which there was significant regionalvariation of liturgy and structure with a general collective veneration of the Bishop of 

Rome that was no less intense in Celtic areas.

 Nonetheless, it is possible to talk about the development and spread of distinctive

traditions, especially in the sixth and seventh centuries. Some elements may have been

introduced to Ireland by the Briton St. Patrick, later others spread from Ireland to

Britain with the Irish mission system of Saint Columba. The histories of the Irish,

Welsh, Scots, Breton, Cornish, and Manx Churches diverge significantly after the

eighth century (resulting in a great difference between even rival Irish traditions).

“Celtic Christianity” has been conceived of in different ways at different times. Someideas are fairly consistent. Above all, Celtic Christianity is seen as being inherently

distinct from – and generally opposed to – the Catholic Church. Other common claims

are that Celtic Christianity denied the authority of the Pope, was less authoritarian than

the Catholic Church, more spiritual, friendlier to women, more connected with nature,

and more comfortable dealing with the ancient Celtic religion. One view, which gained

substantial scholarly traction in the 19th century, was that there was a “Celtic Church”,

a significantly organized Christian body or denomination uniting the Celtic peoples and

separating them from the “Roman” church of continental Europe. Others have been

content to speak of “Celtic Christianity” as consisting of certain traditions and beliefs

intrinsic to the Celts.

However, modern scholars have identified issues with all of these claims, and find the

term “Celtic Christianity” problematic in and of itself. The idea of a “Celtic Church” is

roundly rejected by modern scholars due to the lack of substantiating evidence. Indeed,

there were distinct Irish and British church traditions, each with their own practices, and

there was significant local variation even within the individual Irish and British

spheres. While there were some traditions known to have been common to both the

Irish and British churches, these were relatively few. Even these commonalities did not

exist due to the “Celticity” of the regions, but due to other historical and geographical

factors. Additionally, the Christians of Ireland and Britain were not “anti-Roman”; the

authority of Rome and the papacy were venerated as strongly in Celtic areas as theywere in any other region of Europe. Caitlin Corning further notes that the “Irish and

British were no more pro-women, pro-environment, or even more spiritual than the rest

of the Church.”

Corning notes that scholars have identified three major strands of thought that have

influenced the popular conceptions of Celtic Christianity. The first arose in the English

Reformation, when the Church of England declared itself separate from the Catholic

Church. Protestant writers of this time popularized the idea of an indigenous British

Christianity that opposed the foreign “Roman” church and was purer (and proto-

Protestant) in thought. The English church, they claimed, was not forming a new

institution, but casting off the shackles of Rome and returning to its true roots as theindigenous national church of Britain. Ideas of Celtic Christianity were further 

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influenced by the Romantic movement of the 18th century, in particular Romantic

notions of the noble savage and the intrinsic qualities of the “Celtic race”. The

Romantics idealized the Celts as a primitive, bucolic people who were far more poetic,

spiritual, and freer of rationalism than their neighbors. The Celts were seen as having an

inner spiritual nature that shone through even after their form of Christianity had been

destroyed by the authoritarian and rational Rome. In the 20th and 21st centuries, theseideas were combined with appeals by certain modern churches and neo-pagan and New

Age groups seeking to recover something of ancient spirituality that is felt to be missing

from the modern world. For these groups Celtic Christianity becomes a cipher for 

whatever is lost in the modern religious experience. Corning notes that these notions say

more about modern desires than about the reality of Christianity in the Early Middle

Ages, however.

By the early fifth century the religion had spread to Ireland, which had never been part

of the Roman Empire. The highly successful 5th-century mission of 

Saint Patrick established churches in conjunction with civitates like his own in Armagh;

small enclosures in which groups of Christians, often of both sexes and including themarried, lived together, served in various roles and ministered to the local population.

Irish society had no history of literacy until the introduction of Christianity, yet within a

few generations of the arrival of the first missionaries the monastic and clerical class of 

the isle had become fully integrated with the culture of Latin letters. Besides Latin, Irish

ecclesiastics developed a written form of Old Irish. During the late 5th and 6th centuries

true monasteries became the most important centres: in Patrick’s own see of Armagh

the change seems to have happened before the end of the 5th century, thereafter the

 bishop was the abbot also. Finnian of Clonard is said to have trained the Twelve

Apostles of Ireland at Clonard Abbey.

In the sixth and seventh centuries, Irish monks established monastic institutions in parts

of modern-day Scotland (especially Columba, also known as Colmcille or, in Old

Irish, Colum Cille), and on the continent, particularly in Gaul (especially Columbanus).

Monks from Iona under St. Aidan founded the See of Lindisfarne in Anglo-

Saxon Northumbria in 635, whence Celtic practice heavily influenced northern

England.

The achievements of insular art, in illuminated manuscripts like the Book of Kells, high

crosses, and metalwork like the Ardagh Chalice remain very well known, and in the

case of manuscript decoration had a profound influence on Western medieval art. Themanuscripts were certainly produced by and for monasteries, and the evidence suggests

that metalwork was produced in both monastic and royal workshops, perhaps as well as

secular commercial ones. Irish monks also founded monasteries across the continent,

exerting influence greater than many more ancient continental centres. The first

issuance of a papal privilege granting a monastery freedom from episcopal oversight

was that of Pope Honorius I to Bobbio Abbey, one of Columbanus’s institutions.

At least in Ireland, the monastic system became increasingly secularised from the 8th

century, as close ties between ruling families and monasteries became apparent. The

major monasteries were now wealthy in land and had political importance. On occasion

they made war either upon each other or took part in secular wars - a battle in 764 issupposed to have killed 200 from Durrow Abbey when they were defeated

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 by Clonmacnoise. From early periods the kin nature of many monasteries had meant

that some married men were part of the community, supplying labour and with some

rights, including in the election of abbots (but obliged to abstain from sex during fasting

 periods). Some abbacies passed from father to son, and then even grandsons. A revival

of the ascetic tradition came in the second half of the century, with the culdee or “clients

(vassals) of God” movement founding new monasteries detached from familygroupings.

Others who influenced the development of Christianity in

Ireland include Brigid and Moluag.

Saxon connections with the greater Latin West led to papal preferment and brought the

Celtic-speaking peoples into closer contact with the orthodoxy of the councils. The

customs and traditions particular to Insular Christianity became a matter of dispute,

especially the matter of the proper calculation of Easter. Synods were held in Ireland,

Gaul, and England (e.g. the Synod of Whitby) but a degree of variation continued in

Britain after the Ionan church accepted the Roman date.

The Easter question was settled at various times in different places. The following dates

are derived from Haddan and Stubbs: South Ireland, 626-8; North Ireland, 692;

 Northumbria (converted by Celtic missions), 664; East Devon and Somerset, the Celts

under Wessex, 705; the Picts, 710; Iona, 716-8; Strathclyde, 721; North Wales, 768;

South Wales, 777. Cornwall held out the longest of any, perhaps even, in parts, to the

time of Bishop Aedwulf of Crediton (909).

A uniquely Irish penitential system was eventually adopted as a universal practice of the

Church by the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215.

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notactuallythor :

Sword, mid-1st century B.C.; Late Iron Age

This sword offers eloquent testimony to the value that Celts placed on war and

weaponry. Celtic artists often ingeniously integrated animal and human forms in the

decoration of precious objects; here a warrior serves as the dramatic hilt for a double-

edged sword. With its carefully defined features and finely drawn curls, the figure’s

head contrasts with the abstract form of the limbs and body. The arms and legs are V-

shaped, terminating in round knobs, while the body is made up of three turned ringmoldings. The scabbard, now amalgamated to the iron blade, still displays much of its

original ornamentation in the form of three small hemispheres on the front upper end, a

molding element at the tip, and an elaborate loop at the back for attaching the scabbard

to a belt. Swords with an anthropoid hilt are characteristic of Celtic Europe in the first

century B.C., with some fifty surviving from this period. Their inclusion in richly

outfitted graves suggests that they were the valued property of aristocratic warriors.

They may have been meant to enhance the power of the owner, or perhaps served as

talismans in battle.

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 beast-of-man:

Celtic women were distinct in the ancient world for the liberty and rights they enjoyed

and the position they held in society. Compared to their counterparts in Greek, Roman,

and other ancient societies, they were allowed much freedom of activity and protectionunder the law. The Iron Age Celts were nevertheless a patriarchal people and for the

most part men had the ultimate power in politics and the home.

Despite this, ancient Celtic women remain an inspiring example of womanhood from

the past.

Roman author Ammianus Marcellinus wrote (which confirmed by some other Roman

authors) that the Gaulish women combined an extraordinary beauty with remarkable

courage and great physical force; they participated in armed combat. He gave this

description of a Gaulish woman: “A whole band of foreigners will be unable to cope

with one Gaul in a fight, if he calls in his wife, stronger than he by far and with flashingeyes; least of all when she swells her neck and gnashes her teeth, and poising her huge

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white arms, begins to rain blows mingled with kicks, like shots discharged by the

twisted cords of a catapult”.

Previous Next

art-of-swords:

Celtic Sword

Date: ca. 60 B.C.

Culture: Celtic

Medium: Iron blade, copper alloy hilt and scabbard

Dimensions: Overall: 19 5/8 x 2 5/8 x 7/8 in. (49.8 x 6.7 x 2.2 cm)

Classification: Metalwork-Bronze

~~~

This magnificent anthropomorphic Celtic sword is also one of the best preserved. The

 beautifully modeled head that terminates the hilt is one of the finest surviving images of 

a Celtic warrior.

The human form of the hilt—appearing as a geometric reduction of a classical warrior 

 —must have been intended to enhance the power of the owner and to bear a talismanic

significance. The face is emphatically articulated with large almond eyes, and the head

with omega-shaped and finely drawn hair.

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Although the scabbard has become amalgamated to the iron blade, affecting parts of the

surface, its ornamentation and the exquisitely worked hilt make the whole an evocative

statement about the technical ability of the Celts, the powerful conquerors of ancient

Europe.

The sword is of a type associated with the La Tène culture, named after the importantCeltic site on Lake Neuchâtel in present-day Switzerland and eastern France. Other 

related anthropomorphic swords from diverse finds in France, Ireland, and the British

Isles demonstrate the expansion of the Celts across Europe.

As the first such example in the Museum’s collection, the sword is a superb and

singular example that richly adds to a select group of Celtic works of art.

Ancient Celtic music

Main Article Talk  Draft Related Articles [?] Bibliography [?] External Links [?]

Article approved  by an editor from at least one of the listed workgroups. The Music, 

Classics and Archaeology Workgroups are responsible for this article. While we have done

conscientious work, we cannot guarantee that this article is wholly free of mistakes.

Help improve this article further on the draft page!

This article is about the music and instruments of the ancient Celts until late Antiquity. For the modern

 folkloristic genre and its history see Celtic music. 

The ancient Celts had a distinct culture, which is shown by their very sophisticated art

work. The Hallstatt culture and especially the later  La Tène culture are characterized by

a high aesthetic level, which must have also left traces in Celtic music and musical

 practices. Music will surely have been an integral part of this ancient cross-European

culture, but with only very few exceptions its characteristics have been lost to us.

Deductions rely primarily on Greek  and Roman sources as well as on archaeological

finds and interpretations including the reconstruction of the Celts' ancient instruments.

In 54 BC Cicero wrote that there were no musically educated people on the British isle.[1] Independent of the validity of Cicero's remark [2] the situation was different for the

Gallic regions. By the time of Augustus, musical education must have widely gained

ground in Gaul, otherwise Iulius Sacrovir couldn't have used the erudite Gauls as a

decoy, after Sacrovir and Iulius Florus had occupied the city of Augustodonum during

the Gallic insurrection in 21 AD.<ref>Tacitus,  Annals 3.43</ref> The Gauls took great

 pride in their musical culture, which is shown by the remark of Gaius Iulius Vindex, the

Gallic rebel and later senator under Claudius, who shortly before the arrival in Rome

called emperor  Nero a malus citharodeus ("bad cithara  player") and reproached him

with inscitia […] artis ("ignorance of the arts").[3] However, Celtic music culture was

spread inhomogeneously over Europe: Maximinus Thrax, the Thracian-Roman emperor 

of Gothic descent, annoyed his fellow Romans because he was unable to appreciate a

mimic stage song.[4] 

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Most of the information on ancient Celtic music centers on military conflicts and on

maybe the most prominent Celtic instrument of its time, the carnyx.

Contents

[hide]

• 1 The carnyx

o 1.1 Playing techniques and features

o 1.2 Use of the carnyx

o 1.3 Archaeological finds

• 2 Other Celtic instruments

o 2.1 Brass instruments

2.1.1 The Celtic horn

2.1.2 The Celtic trumpet

2.1.3 Other brass instruments

o 2.2 Woodwinds and similar instruments

o 2.3 Percussion and dance

o 2.4 Crwth — the ancient Celtic lyre

o 2.5 Celtic use of Roman instruments

• 3 Chant

o 3.1 Germanic chants

3.1.1 Barditus — the battle song

3.1.2 Heroic songs

• 4 The Romans as ethnographers

• 5 References

• 6 External links

The carnyx  

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Two ancient carnyces[5]

© 1972 Haupt (Bern) (Used by permission)

The carnyx (plural: carnyces; Greek: κάρνυξ  —"karnyx"—or rarely: καρνον —"karnon")

was a Celtic-Dacian variant of the Etruscan-Roman lituus and belongs to the family of 

 brass instruments.[6] It was an ſ-shaped valveless horn made of beaten bronze and

consisted of a tube between one and two meters in length, whereas the diameter of the

tube is unknown.[7] Archaeological finds date back to the Bronze Age, and theinstrument itself is attested for in contemporary sources between ca. 300 BC and 200

AD. The carnyx was in widespread use in Britain, France, parts of Germany, eastward

to Romania and beyond, even as far as India, where bands of Celtic mercenaries took it

on their travels.[8] 

Gallic coins show the carnyx behind the head of the goddess Gallia or held by a

chieftain, a charioteer or a Gallic Victoria. On British coins the instrument is seen

swung by mounted Celtic warriors or chiefs. Roman coins, e.g. those heralding Caesar's

victory over Gaul, depict the carnyx on Roman tropaea as spoils of war. Other 

depictions are known from the Augustus statue of Prima Porta.[9] In addition several

instruments are illustrated on Trajan's Column, carried by Dacian warriors.

The carnyx's most prominent feature is the bell, which was constructed as an animal

head, either as one of a serpent, a fish, a bird, a wolf, a horse, an ass or a wild boar. The

earliest depiction shows the head of a dragon and was found on Aetolian victory coins

from the 3rd century BC, which commemorate the expulsion of the Gallic warriors, who

had marauded the Delphi sanctum.[10] Behn (1912) interpreted the many bell types as

distinguishing features of the various Celtic clans and chiefdoms.[11] Others have

suggested a mythological component,[12] which is the most logical explanation, since the

 Deskford Carnyx in Scotland was a sacrificial offering, of which the possibly

dismantled head could have been the key element.

[13]

Based on this independentdevelopement of the bell an attempt was made to derive the Etruscan lituus from the

carnyx, but without success.[14] 

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Playing techniques and features

Pitch compass of the reconstructed Deskford carnyx

The sound of the carnyx was described as lugubrious and harsh, perhaps due to the

loosened tongue of the bell,[15] which shows that the instrument must have been a

discrete enhancement of the Etruscan lituus, the sound of which was mostly described

as bright and piercing.[16] The carnyx was held vertically so that the sound would travel

from more than three meters above the ground. Reconstructions have shown that the

instrument's embouchure must have been cut diagonally as an oval opening, so the

carnyx could be played in a similar fashion as a modern-day trumpet, i.e. with vibrating

lips, however blown from the side.[17] Due to the absence of valves and crooks, melodies

were created by producing harmonics with overblowing techniques, as the

reconstructional work by John Kenny has convincingly shown ( see External links for arecording sample).[18] The fairly wide bell guaranteed a very high playing volume, and

the instrument itself must have had a considerable dynamic range. The best surviving

 bell of a carnyx was found in North East Scotland as part of the so-called Deskford 

Carnyx and featured a movable tongue. In addition the bronze jaw of the animal head

may have been loosened as well in order to produce a jarring sound that would surely

have been most dreadful when combined with the sound of a few dozen more carnyces

in battle.[19] The demoralizing effect of the Gallic battle music must have been

enormous: When the Celts advanced on Delphi under Brennus in 279 BC, the unusual

echoing effects of the blaring horns completely overawed the Greeks, before even a

single fight could commence.[20] 

Use of the carnyx

A Roman tropaeum with a carnyx © VRoma (Used by permission)

Since most ancient Roman sources are based on bellicose encounters with the Celtic

chiefdoms, the carnyx is today mostly seen as an instrument used during warfare, as

Polybius e.g. reports for the battle of Telemon, Gallia Cisalpina, in 225 BC, where the

Gauls used the instrument together with other brass instruments to frighten the Roman

enemy.[21] The limitation to acoustic or   psychological warfare is however erroneous.

Brass instruments were regularly used as a means of communication during battle,

relaying orders for troop positioning, movement and tactics, also by the Gauls.[22] Other sources confirm that the Gauls kept their military order even in situations of military

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mishaps. The musicians of their army camps played their horns to ensure a cohesive and

controlled retreat.[23] After the victory of Marius near Vercellae, his Roman rival Catulus

Caesar reserved a Cimbrian  signaling horn from the loot for himself.[24] Music,

musicians and instruments were strategically important elements for the Roman and

Celtic armies alike.

Furthermore, the instrument can be seen in action on the famous Gundestrup cauldron 

in the depiction of a warrior initiation ritual (2nd or 1st century BC), a clear evidence

for the use of the instrument outside of the purely military realm. [25] The ritual use of the

instrument is further supported by the Deskford Carnyx, which was shown to have been

a sacrificial offering to an unknown god.

Archaeological finds

Apart from the Scottish Deskford Carnyx found in 1816 on the shores of Moray Firth in

Aberdeenshire, fragments of only four other carnyces had been found (e.g. the Glanum

Carnyx in the Bouches-du-Rhône region), until in 2004 archaeologists discovered afoundation deposit of five well preserved carnyces from the first or second century AD

under a Gallo-Roman fanum at Tintignac (Corrèze, France), four of which feature boar 

heads, while the fifth exemplar appears to have a serpent bell.[26] The fact that the

carnyces were deposited on a holy site underlines the sacrificial importance of the

instrument in Gallic culture.[27] The archaeologists responsible for the Tintignac

excavation assume that the carnyces were offered to a deity identified with the Roman

god Mars. There is still debate on the dating, because parts of other finds discovered in

the deposit seem to be older than the first century, possibly dating to the first century

BC, which means that some of the musical instruments may have been stored inside the

sanctuary long before being buried.

Other Celtic instruments

Brass instruments

In his accounts of the battle of Telemon, Polybius clearly distinguishes between horn-

and trumpet-like instruments played by the Gallic warriors.[28] In general the Celtic

 peoples had a variety of instruments at their disposal. Aside from the carnyx, at least

two other brass instrument types are known from Roman and Greek depictions.

Celtic horn© 1972 Haupt (Bern) (Used by permission)

The Celtic horn

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The Celtic horn was a large, oval-curved horn with a thin tube and a modestly large bell,

not unlike the Roman cornu, especially since it also had a crossbar as a means of 

supporting the instrument's weight on the player's shoulder. Like the carnyx it is

therefore and in all probability an instrument of Etruscan origin from the first period of 

hellenization.[29] On a Pompeian fresco, the horn is carried by a female dancer,[30] and a

Gallic warrior carries a broken exemplar, fastened together by a (leather?) band, on aCapitoline sculpture.[31] Like the Roman cornu, the Celtic horn will have been held

horizontally to ensure a more comfortable playing position.

Celtic trumpet© 1972 Haupt (Bern) (Used by permission)

The Celtic trumpet

The Celtic trumpet was similar to the straight Roman tuba and probably came in

different lengths. A Celtic musician is depicted playing the instrument on a late Greek 

vase.[32] A related instrument could be the early mediaeval Loch Erne horn that was

found in Ireland.

Other brass instruments

Many regional variants of the Celtic horns are known and came in different shapes,

sizes and diameters, like the Loughnashade Trumpa from Ireland and similar horns

from Scandinavia and other regions. Couissin (1927) documented a third Celtic wind

instrument type with a bent horn, similar to the Caledonian Caprington Horn[33] or the

infamous prehistoric Sussex horn that was however lost and of which only drawings and

reproductions survive. It is not known whether the horn mentioned by Couissin was a

fragment of another Celtic horn or a simple cow horn of the rural population, a bowed

horn-instrument known all across Europe.

Woodwinds and similar instruments

Bone flutes, mostly made from birds, are known since the Stone Age.[34] Wooden flutes

were introduced later and corresponded to the Roman  fistula (shepherd's flute). But

terracotta and bone whistles remained in use throughout antiquity.[35] In addition

woodwinds made of tubes and pipes, similar to the Greek  syrinx ( pan flute), were in use.[36] 

Percussion and dance

Crotales (hand bells) made of bronze or wood as well as terracotta rattles are knownsince the Bronze Age, some of which came in the shape of birds. [37] Closed bells were

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sometimes built with a ring and could be strapped to the player's apparel. Weapons and

shields—apart from their use for rhythmic noises on the battlefields—must have been

widely adopted as percussion instruments, but the only sources in this respect are on the

Gallaecian and Celtiberian culture: In his epic on the second Punic war  Silius mentions

the exotic songs of the Gallaecian military allies, to which they beat the rhythm on their 

shields.[38]

Celtiberian weapon dances are reported for the funeral of  TiberiusSempronius Gracchus.[39] The most famous dances of Hispania however were performed

 by the Gaditanae, the women of  Gades in Hispania Baetica,[40] which were so popular in

Rome that special teachers from Spain were hired for Roman music education. [41] The

dancers used hand clappers as an accompanying instrument, creating a lascivious dance

similar to modern-day castanet performances.[42] If the Celts used drumming instruments

like the Roman tympanum is unknown, but very likely, because other forms of hand

drums like the ceramic German Honsommern Drum, which was similar to the African

djembe, are known since the Neolithic. A later Iron Age drum is the Malemort Drum

found in the central French Corrèze region.[43] 

Crwth — the ancient Celtic lyre

 Not much is known about the ancient Celtic lyre, only that it was used by Celtic bards 

since the 8th century BC and that it was later well-known in Rome, where it was called

lyra.[44] Its resonator was made from wood, while only few components were made from

 bones. The instrument's strings were made from animal intestine. The Gauls and other 

Celtic peoples regarded the crwth[45] as a symbol of their independent musical culture,[46]

although they had probably received it from the Ancient Greeks. The Goths invoked

their tribal gods with prayers and chants, which they accompanied by lyre play. [47] By

the time of the Barbarian Invasions in the 5th century AD the lyre had become the most

important stringed instrument of the Germanic tribes [48] and was a six-stringed wooden

lyre with hollow ledger arms and wooden vortices in the ledger rod. The original Celtic

lyre however came with different numbers of strings, as the  Lyre of Paule, which is

depicted on a statue from Côtes d'Armor in Bretagne, apparently had seven strings.[49] 

Celtic use of Roman instruments

Since many Celts like the Gauls and Germans became part of the Roman army, they

must have also used Roman instruments, especially during battle. However, only one

source seems to have been passed down: At the time of emperor Claudius' inauguration,

the troops stationed in Germania and Pannonia mutinied. When an unexpected lunar 

eclipse commenced, the insurgent Pannonians feared the wrath of the gods and orderedtheir musicians to play against their perdition aeris sono, tubarum cornuumque

concentu, i.e. with their tubae and cornua.[50] 

Chant

The Romans have left us a variety of sources on chants from various regions.  Sallust

mentions the Spanish custom of ancestral songs honoring their military deeds. [51] The

recital of "barbaric songs" is reported for a member of the Celtiberian infantry during

the battle of Cannae in 216 BC, as he was attacked by the Roman consul.[52] National

songs are already attested by Tacitus for the Caledonians.[53]

 Livius reports Gallic war songs that were heard at the river Allia.[54] After the Gallic victory (ca. 387 BC) the

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city's inhabitants had to endure the dissonant battle chants. [55] A sole Gallic warrior is

reported to have gone into a fight singing.[56] Livius on the other hand only describes the

Roman Titus Manlius, who would defeat him in 361 BC, as remaining in defiant silence

to concentrate all his anger on the impending fight.[57] In 218 BC the Gauls resisted the

enemy commander Hannibal and his troops during his crossing of the Rhône with

furious battle cries and the demonstrative clashing of their swords and armor.[58]

 

Since many of the Gauls and Germans joined Caesar's army after his victory over Gaul,

their war chants were added to the Roman oeuvre of army songs: When 2000 soldiers

from the Gallic cavalry defected to Octavian before the battle of Actium, they didn't

only cheer for Caesar but presented genuine Gallic war songs. [59] Probably the most

 popular vocal performers were the Celtic bards, whose national heroic songs were

known in Rome throughout antiquity.[60] 

Germanic chants

The Roman sources on Germanic chants are not based on ethnographical topica, butoriginate from actual experiences. The primary attributes of Germanic singing can be

derived from the accounts on the Germanic tribes by Publius Cornelius Tacitus. As

scant and recapitulary Tacitus' observations might be, it is possible to deduce two

discrete music genres, the war chant (barditus) and the heroic songs.

 Barditus — the battle song

Among other heroes and gods the Germans especially worshipped Heracles as their god

of war with their battle songs,[61] which must have inspired Hecataeus of Miletus to use

the name Κελτοὶ 

( Keltoì) for the Celtic Hallstatt tribes of Western and South-WesternGermany,[62] since Celtus was the son of Heracles and Keltine in Greek mythology.[63]

The warriors inferred the outcome of the battle from the character of the so-called

barditus[64] and also accompanied their cries with the beating and rattling of their 

weapons and armour, which directly parallels the custom that the Gauls exhibited at the

Rhône ( see above). The fact that the name barditus also describes the trumpeting of an

elephant might be a hint that also wind instruments were used, but this must remain

 pure speculation. It is more feasible that Tacitus used the term for purely objective

reasons, since Germanic war songs would not be expected to come as a particularly

aesthetic experience. The most important aspect was namely the intonation before the

 battle,[65] and the abrupt start of the barditi doesn't speek for music with words. The

characterization as an acoustic crescendo rather points at noisy battle clamor than anormal song with lyrics.

The Germans fighting for Aulus Vitellius Germanicus went into battle singing, after 

they had been surround by Othonian enemy forces.[66] In his account of the Batavian

rebellion lead by Gaius Iulius Civilis the author Tacitus contrasts the hesitant attitude of 

the Roman soldiers with the sullen Batavian chants. [67] The writings of Ammianus

specify that the descriptions of the raw, dull and thundering battle songs, which were

also given by Tacitus, allude to the music of the Germans fighting on the Roman side. [68]

The fact that he actually mentions "Romans" intoning Germanic songs clearly shows

how extensively the Roman army had been enforced with Germanic troops.[69] 

Heroic songs

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Although Tacitus doesn't distinguish between the barditus and the heroic songs, his

choice of words implies a second genre. Tacitus' cumulation of alliterations[70]  is

 probably the first mention of rhyme in Europe, an early form of the German Stabreim,

which became widely popular in the Mediaeval Ages.[71] 

The Romans were acquainted with Germanic heroic songs, e.g. from the poetic andmusical Nachleben of Arminius.[72] The Tacitus source can be seen as the first testimony

of early Germanic heroic songs.[73] Festive singing is also attested for the night of the

Roman advance in the Ems region in 15 AD.[74] In 26 AD the insurgent Thracians were

surprised by the attack of the Roman consul and general Poppaeus Sabinus during a

feast with dance and singing. The Sicambri, who fought for the Roman side, countered

the situation with defiant songs of their own,[75] which could be evidence that the Celts

knew improvisation as well as the ancient tradition of singing contests, which are e.g.

reported by Virgil.[76] The Goths sang heroic songs to worship their ancestors,[77] and

their tradition of tribal songs is well attested.[78] After the battle of Campus Mauriacus 

the Goths were heard singing dirges for their fallen king. [79] 

The Romans as ethnographers

Elephant treading a carnyx © Harlan J. Berk (Used by  permission)

The Roman historians and poets were often interested in foreign music, especially the

music of the Gallic and Germanic Celts, but sometimes their literary aims had priority

over a detailed ethnographical observation. Many modern scholars had long presumed

this to have been a common characteristic of Roman historiography.[80] One of the most

 prominent victims of this generalizing misconception was C. Iulius Caesar , whose

excurses in his Commentaries on the Gallic War often show an exceptionallyautonomous ethnography, especially in the later books.[81] Only in a minor number of 

other cases, ethnographical detail is presented by Caesar to benefit purely as a foil for 

Roman behavior. An example is his detailed description of the Gallic women's

opportunistic behavior,[82] where their inconstantia is used to contrast the magnitudo

animi of the Roman military. Furthermore the colorful account helped to play down

Caesar's military setback in Gergovia.

Caesar can therefore not be seen as completely free from the preferral of political goals,

especially in his reports on the enemy's military campaigns, which can furthermore be

exemplified by his mention of the Gallic signaling horns in his Commentaries. The

instrument was used in Alesia by orders of Vercingetorix to alarm his troops, and theBelgian tribe of the Bellovacians used it to summon a council of war, after they had

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 been defeated by the Romans in 51 BC.[83] Caesar calls the instrument a tuba, although

the correct term must have been known to him, so it's unclear if it was a carnyx or one

of the other Gallic brass instruments ( see above), although Caesar's rendition might well

suggest the Celtic trumpet. Here the interpretatio Romana obscures the ethnographical

detail, although it can be derived from the many illustrations on victory reliefs that the

distinctiveness of the Gallic horns had not been passed unnoticed by the Romans.

A good example of how many Romans viewed the Germanic Celts is given by the

soldiers after the triumph of Lepidus and Plancus 43 BC in Spain. For their songs the

soldiers improvised lyrics that used the term germani ("brothers", "Germans") for their 

fellow Romans to ambiguously allude to the barbaric proscriptions of the second

triumvirate.[84]