Celts

Celts (кельти; kelty). Tribes that inhabited, in the 6th–1st century BC, a large part of western and central Europe, mainly the territory of present-day France. Influenced strongly by the Greeks, the Celts had an advanced culture, which they spread throughout Europe during their migrations. The culture was brought to Ukraine by the Celtic tribes of the Bastarnae and Skiri. The mass production of iron articles, mostly weapons and farm implements, the widespread use of pottery made on a potter’s wheel, and fine ornamentation are characteristic of the Celtic culture. The main occupations of the Celts were mixed farming and trading, in which they used their own Celtic coins.

 [This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 1 (1984).]