I.

Introduction

Celtic Art, the art of the ancient Celts. Celtic art emerged as an identifiable tradition in about 600 bc and flourished until the mid-1st century ad, when the expansion of the Roman Empire and the Roman conquest of the Celts of Britain, Gaul, and Germany largely extinguished Celtic culture.

In the 6th century bc the locus of the Celtic world was in the area covered by Austria, southern Germany, Switzerland, and south-eastern France. In the following century, the centre of gravity of Celtic culture shifted north-westward to the Rhineland and eastern France, and in due course its influence expanded both westward and eastward to cover a great part of Europe. Celtic art has been found as far afield as Ireland and the northern isles of Britain; in continental Europe from Spain to the Black Sea; and in a part of central Turkey where Celts are known to have settled in the 3rd century bc.