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The Picts- Scotland's People

© Matthew White

The first record of the Picts comes from the writings of the Roman orator, Eumenius, in 297 AD. He reported that the Britons were 'already being accustomed to the Pictii and Hibernii as enemies'. The term 'Britons' referred to those people who lived under Roman rule. In many respects (eg language) they were of the same stock as those tribes who lived north of Hadrian's Wall. This statement implies that the Picts had been around for some time, but had not yet been powerful enough to warrant the attention of the Romans.

But all that was to change. The Picts were replacing the Caledonians as the most powerful tribe in the area. Some historians have thought that the Picts and the Caledonians were the same people but they may have been separate tribes. (it depends on how you translate the original Latin!) See Caledonia for more information. The Romans had called the area north of Hadrian's Wall 'Caledonia' but now began to refer to it as 'Pictavia', implying a change in the power structure. In that area, they were to be the dominant military power for almost 500 years.

Most sources state that the name 'Pict' was given to these people by the Romans and means 'Painted Ones' but another possibility exists. The name may have derived from a tribal name like 'Pexa'or 'Pecht'.

It is believed that they spoke a form of Celtic, known as P-Celtic, similar to modern Welsh. This differs from Gaelic, which is a Q-Celtic language. They have been referred to as Scotland's indigenous people. However it is difficult to know whether they derived from the early Mesolithic peoples of Scotland or whether they were part of one of the Celtic invasions in the first millenium BC. Another Celtic tribe, with a similar name, the Pictones or Pectones, were sea-traders who lived in Gaul. It is possible that they crossed the sea to the shores of Scotland. The likeliest explanation is that the Picts were the product of the assimilation of the native people by Celtic tribes. Certainly, writers of the period noted that the ruling classes appeared to be of Celtic origin but that they differed in looks from the rest of the people.

The Picts were farmers, fishers, hunters and craftspeople as well as warriors. They were probably a loose alliance of tribes who occupied the land now known as Scotland, mainly living in the low-lying areas on the eastern coast. They did not keep written records but many of the place names in Scotland derive from Pictish names.