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The Roman Invasion of Angelsey

© Sion Grufydd

For the next few weeks I am very proud to present a series of articles about the Roman invasion of Anglesey. This series was sent to me by a very talented writer, Sion Grufydd. I have been so impressed by his narrative that I thought you too might enjoy reading these well written pieces. I would like to thank Sion for his contribution to this topic.Enjoy!

Preface

The Celts were around at the dawn of European civilisation and can thus be said to be one of the great founding peoples of Europe. Historians have stated that the Celts came to Europe from their original homeland around the headwaters of the Danube, the Rhine and the Rhone – rivers that still carry their Celtic names. This took place around the First Millennium BC and by the Third Century BC; settlements were established across Europe – from the Turkish Central Plain to Britain and Ireland. When we talk of the Celts today then we can refer only to six peoples who have survived. These are the Scots, Irish and the Manx, whose indigenous tongue is Gaelic. Then there is the Cornish, Breton and Welsh peoples, whose tongue is Brythonic.

The period of the Celtic demise throughout Europe can be said to be due to the ruthless advance of the Romans. So that the Celts could be brought under the pax Romana, they were either assimilated within the Roman way – or were annihilated. Some areas in the British Isles escaped the Romans completely, these being Ireland and some parts of northern Britain. Wales itself was one of the last parts of Britain to succumb to the Romans - and Anglesey probably the last, certainly in terms of the Welsh campaign.

History shows us that the Celts were not a religious people. They did not have what we perceive nowadays as a sense of worship nor did they have any formal God structure. They were, however, superstitious. For the Celts believed that the environment and many objects had magical links. This resulted in both ritual and sacrifice to appease these myriad deities – including, according to Roman records, human sacrifice. It also resulted in the telling of sacred myths, whose legacy lives on today in traditional Celtic literature. However, the Celts were orators – they did not commit these legends and myths to paper; that came much later on in history long after the Celts had vanished as a separate group of people.