All language subtitles for BBC.The.Celts.Blood.Iron.and.Sacrifice.2of3.720p.HDTV.x264.AAC.MVGroup.org

2 ,000 years ago, this small plateau in
a rural corner of France was the front

line between two very different
cultures.

They ordered civilising presence of the
Roman Empire, facing

off against an ancient Iron Age tribal
people, the Celts.

In Britain we're never far from our
Celtic past.

The Celts seem to belong to a shadowy,
wilder, more primal time than anything

more recent history.

But much about their origins, beliefs
and ultimate fate remains a mystery.

But a story etched in vivid colour.

is how these powerful tribal people
battled for survival against their

archenemy, the Roman Empire.

From the first Celtic raiding parties
that rampaged through ancient Italy to

Julius Caesar's campaign in Gaul and the
Celts' last stand under the warrior

queen, Boudicca.

One of the greatest cultural conflicts
that still defines our world today.

and reveals Europe's most enigmatic
ancient people.

By the 4th century BC, the Celts were at
the peak of their military and cultural

powers.

They were establishing themselves far
beyond their homeland, aggressive in

pursuit of new territory.

In 387 BC, they burned the city of Rome
to the ground.

This marked a new era for the Celts.

when conflict and war became a means of
gaining social status.

An era when the warrior was king.

But the Celts weren't alone as a
military force.

After the destruction of Rome, the city
had been rebuilt, and the Romans were

flexing their muscle right across the
Mediterranean world, forging a new

It would become the model for all
empires to come.

But the Roman army had yet to conquer
the Celtic heartlands of central and

western Europe.

And the Celts presented a formidable
obstacle to Rome's expansionist plans.

What was at stake was the future of
Europe and the civilisation that would

it. On the one hand... Centralised
modern Rome. On the other, an Iron Age

culture that had its roots deep in
prehistory.

Two vast armies and a brutal conflict
fought between two of the age's greatest

generals.

The Celts' new era will forever be
associated with a tiny village that lies

the shores of Lake Neuchatel in
Switzerland.

It's now perhaps the most famous name in
Celtic history.

La Tène.

Those are words writ large in every book
about the Celts.

For many archaeologists, they're a kind
of shorthand for that period when the

Celts were at the peak of their power.

and of their artistic achievement.

There are objects, artefacts of La Tène
culture scattered across Europe, from

Britain to the Balkans.

It was their golden hour.

This golden age is epitomised by
intricate Celtic art and craftsmanship.

It's this art that has come to be seen
as quintessentially Celtic.

But beneath that romance and beauty,
there appears to be a much darker

underbelly to Celtic culture.

Savage customs and bloody brutality.

In 1857, archaeologists excavating an
ancient riverbed on the shores of Lake

Neuchatel discovered the remains of an
Iron Age wooden bridge.

Surrounding the structure they found an
enormous hoard of Celtic artefacts,

including swords, scabbards and
spearheads.

In total, over 3 ,000 objects, all
beautifully preserved in the mud.

What they'd stumbled upon is believed by
some archaeologists to have been a

wooden platform used by Celtic warriors.

are the sacrificial altar to their gods
one where the victims of bloody conflict

might have been richly displayed

the fines from the lake

are now held in the latinium museum
under the watchful eye of mark antoine

what do you think happened here at latin
why

Do we have this huge collection of
material here?

Well, I think first, La Tène is an
important place, a passage place, with

or these bridges on the water, on the
river.

And probably after a big battle, the
people put all those weapons

and other kinds of objects.

in display as a show commemorating the
battle.

So these were obviously kinds of
offerings, offerings to the gods, and it

discovered 2 ,000 years later.

In addition to all the weaponry, we
have, you see this human skull.

Yeah. And you see the marks on the
forehead.

Slices. Is that from a sword?

Yeah. But the main interesting thing is
that these are not marks of wounds which

you went... have received it into
battle.

So we think these are marks of
sacrifice.

Ah, so a trophy. Exactly.

We have many skulls of horses like this
one. If you look at the inside here, you

see that the palate has been smashed
through. And you see here

the small hole.

from the point of something a spear or
yeah another spear a pike so the horse's

head was on display like that on a pike
right so you've got the possibly the

whole bodies of dead men or their heads
and then accompanied by horses heads as

well it's a very grisly tableau It's not
just a spectacular

display of beautiful weapons, it's also
the bloodied and ultimately rotten

corpses.

It's almost, well, it is theatrical.

La Tène exposed a culture where war was
a way of life and where the tools of

battle, beautifully crafted weapons,
became a means of displaying a warrior's

status.

When you handle and look at these
objects, what are the details that leap

you and say this is something special,
this is not just a tool?

Well, if you take a look at the objects,
and especially here, when you see the

surface here, the treatment of the
surface, which is quite particular, and

you have the decor, the figures which
you see here.

Every object.

Every thought is unique.

And this was different then, to see
weapons, but weapons that were also

art. Since it's a way of life, you have
to show all the art, all the beauty

which you invest into your warlike
occupation.

So as well as being a tool of his trade,
it shows his status and the fact that

the way in which he makes his living
is...

It's almost an art.

Yeah.

The finds at La Tène revealed a very
different Celtic world, one that was

aggressive and warlike.

It was also a world of stark contrasts
in which beauty and creativity

were entwined with cruelty and extreme
violence.

This double edge of beauty and beast is
epitomised by one extraordinary and

apparently sacred object, the Gundestrup
Cauldron.

Beaten into the silver are images of
Celtic gods, strange beasts and rituals.

But even this exquisite object points to
a preoccupation with war.

Warriors are depicted being dipped into
what some believe to be sacred liquid to

improve their military rank in the
afterlife.

It's thought the cauldron was used
ceremonially at feasts where soldiers

drink from it before battle in the
belief that it bestowed immortality.

Although the silver work is rich in
their imagery, it was not the work of

but probably crafted by a people known
as the Thracians and believed to be a

gift of friendship to their neighbours,
the Celts.

The cauldron was made not in the
traditional Celtic heartland of central

but over a thousand miles further east,
in the Balkans.

So, as well as embodying the beauty and
violence of La Tène culture, the

cauldron shows a civilisation seeking
power and land.

more forcefully than ever before.

Where they had previously negotiated
through trade, Celtic warriors and their

raiding parties now seized slaves and
luxury goods with the blade of a sword.

And by the early 3rd century BC, Celts
could be found as far south as Delphi in

Greece.

Their skill and bravery on the
battlefield were legendary.

As a result, they became hired guns,
willing to kill for whoever was willing

pay.

This was the La Tène kelt in full flow.

We think of the Celts as European
people, traditionally originating in

Europe during the Iron Age, but with new
theories suggesting that they might

have originated much earlier in Western
Europe.

But by the 3rd century BC, we know that
they were here, in what is now

Turkey.

Alexander the Great once ruled these
lands.

But when he died in 323 BC...

his empire started to crumble leaving a
power vacuum celtic

raiding parties crossed from europe into
this part of asia and they came to the

heart of turkey just south of modern
-day ankara this was once galatia

and its capital was gordian this is what
i'm interested in

that's Flat -topped hill over there,
that is the remains of ancient Gordion,

the city that's famous for Alexander the
Great having come and cut the Gordion

not there.

But that's not why I'm here. I'm here
because the Celts also settled in

And we know this from the Roman
historian Livy.

Gareth Derbyshire is an archaeologist
who has been working at Gordion since

1998.

So, Gareth, when did the Celts arrive
here in Gordion?

Well, we don't know precisely when, but
it would have been sometime in the mid

to later 3rd century BC.

And what were they doing here?

Well, we know that from written sources
that they were serving as mercenaries in

various Hellenistic period armies.

They were probably also looking for land
for settlement, either taken by force

or the same kind of thing through
diplomatic negotiations.

So they were given free reign to come
here and settle and then to raid around

Asia Minor? That's the picture we get.

What kind of evidence are you finding of
their material culture?

We're finding items that are new to this
region and which are comparable in

various ways with areas further west in
Celtic Europe. For example, in the lower

town, very dramatically, we're finding
human and animal remains mixed together

with signs of violence, broken necks,
beheadings, etc., which again, you know,

they're attested in various forms in
areas to the west, areas that are known

have been Celtic speaking.

Classical historians associated the
Celts with violent death rituals, and at

Gordion, archaeologists think they found
evidence of gruesome, possibly Celtic,

practices.

The skeletons here are some of the human
remains from the site at Gordion, but

they're a bit odd. This woman is about
30 to 45 years old. If we look at the

back of the skull here, the side of the
skull, you can see...

this depression so that is a blunt
injury she's been struck on the head

and we can imagine that this probably
was the cause of death so somebody who

died a violent death

and her body was

placed on top of that of a younger woman
she was laid out like this i've got the

the actual photograph of the

the excavation back in the 90s but
rather strangely she's got these two

stones buried just on top of her now the
roman authors tell us about all

sorts of what seemed to us very bizarre
and even gruesome rituals that the celts

indulged in human sacrifice decapitation
and some experts have suggested that

we've got something like this happening
at gordian There's certainly evidence of

strange rituals. I mean, just look at
this.

And there's evidence of violent death.

But when it comes to decapitation and
human sacrifice, I'm not sure.

Some of the bones at Gordian were found
alongside animal bones, possibly as part

of the burial ritual.

Archaeologists have come across similar
practices as far afield as Yorkshire,

and northern france celtic graves have
been discovered containing

bones of pigs and horses mixed with
human remains and sometimes entire

chariots perhaps providing the deceased
with transport into the afterlife

death

rituals played a central part in celtic
civilization

But these ancient people were now being
confronted by a very different power.

A structured, ordered culture with a
conflicting idea of what civilization

meant.

Galatia represents the easternmost
extent of the Celtic world. But by the

century BC, the Celts here were coming
under pressure from the expanding Roman

Empire. And we learned from Livy that in
189 BC, a Roman army came to attack

Gordion and ended up fighting the
Galatians in the mountains.

And within a century, Galatia would be
subsumed into the Roman Empire.

Since their defeat at the hands of the
Celts in 387 BC, Rome had been rebuilt

and was now the fastest developing power
in Europe.

By the middle of the 1st century BC, the
Roman Empire dominated the

Mediterranean region from Syria to
Spain.

But standing in the way of further
expansion to the north and west was the

Celtic heartland.

Southern Gaul had long been under the
influence of the classical world.

As long ago as 600 BC, a port had
developed on the south coast of France

Massalia, now Marseille.

It became a trading hub for ships
importing exotic luxuries from Italy and

Greece.

Celtic tribes were only too happy to
barter with their Mediterranean

offering grain, leather and slaves in
exchange for Roman wine.

But these two very different worlds of
the Celts and Romans were now about to

collide.

The job of subjugating Gaul was assumed
by the most famous Roman of all time,

the seasoned general, Gaius Julius
Caesar.

Caesar was an inspirational leader.

He was a fighting man.

His cunning and daring had earned him
the respect of his men.

He was confident of his own decisions,
while at the same time able to take

advice from his centurions.

But he had plenty of enemies back in
Rome where he faced allegations of

political corruption.

A stunning victory here in Gaul would
enable him to go home a war hero.

But Gaul was a treacherous land
populated with warring and infighting

tribes.

Caesar set about crushing those hostile
to him while cementing alliances with

others. or accepting of Roman control.

The Roman Empire had forged trading
connections with Celtic tribes for some

time.

One tribe in Gaul in particular had had
a lucrative formal arrangement with them

for almost a hundred years.

This is Bibract in Burgundy, nearly 200
miles south -east of Paris.

It was once the territorial capital of
one of the most powerful Celtic tribes

Gaul, the Aedui.

Bibrak's chief archaeologist is Vincent
Guichard.

What was the relationship between the
Aedui and the Romans before the

We've got trace of a military treaty
between the Aedui and Rome.

And why would the Romans take that step?
Why would they sign a document with a

neighbor? The territory of the Edwin,
modern -day Burgundy, is just midway

between the Mediterranean and the North
Sea. So it's a really key location along

two main rivers, which are the Saône
River and the Loire River.

And, of course, the Romans wanted to...

to have this route free for trading and
especially for metal ores of any sort,

like tin, for example.

But on the reverse side, what was
brought from Italy to Gaul was Italian

It's that traditional model of alcohol,
of all things, greasing the wheels of

commerce and bringing people together.

The Gauls were trapped by their taste
for Roman wine.

And I suppose it's easier, isn't it,
from the Roman point of view, rather

go in and fight.

If you can just softly get involved with
the people who have the things that you

want, then it's less effort and less
expense.

Yes, make business.

Business can make a lot, and that's what
they did, actually.

And yet, with his invasion of Gaul,
Caesar effectively tore up the treaty.

His aim was to bring the more
troublesome Gallic tribes with their

ritual. under control to assimilate them
into the civilized roman empire

by 53 bc five years into his campaign

he believed the job was almost done the
savage celt he boasted

had been tamed

But Caesar couldn't have been more
wrong. In the early months of 52 BC,

returned to complete his Gallic
campaign, he found his progress

young Celtic warrior named
Vercingetorix, son of Celtilus, leader

tribe, a man Caesar himself described as
having boundless energy and iron

discipline.

The legendary challenge of Vercingetorix
has meant that he's been elevated to

French national hero.

And he's celebrated with a 19th century
romantic statue.

At only 30 years of age, this warrior
king was a brilliant military tactician.

For months, his band of rebels had used
guerrilla tactics to provoke and harry

Caesar at every turn.

Vercingetorix persuaded his fellow
chiefs that victory depended upon

the supply lines that Caesar needed to
keep his men fed and watered.

So they adopted a scorched earth policy.

Every main settlement on Caesar's path
of advance was burned to the ground.

Every field of standing crops was
cleared. Not a stalk was left standing.

Fersen Getterich reminded his people
that if they didn't do as he said, their

fate was inevitable.

Slavery or death.

Two great armies, led by two charismatic
leaders, would soon go head to head

in a battle that would shape the future
of Europe.

Vercingetorix was a warrior from the
Celtic Golden Age of La Tène.

Yet almost everything we know about him
comes from the campaign diaries of his

archenemy, Caesar.

But there's one place, 25 miles
northeast of Frankfurt, that gives us a

how the Celts themselves depicted their
leaders.

We have plenty of images of Julius
Caesar, but we don't know what

looked like. The most famous image of
him is a 19th -century statue, but it's

more romantic than accurate, I think.

But in 1996, an incredible discovery was
made in a field just here

in Glauberg in Germany.

And here it is. Or perhaps I should say
he.

The Glauberg warrior.

Isn't that wonderful?

I'm going to get up here.

And get a better look.

I'm looking right into his face.

He's got this...

Astonishing headgear. Some people have
suggested that this is a mistletoe leaf.

I'm not sure. It's just an odd -looking
helmet.

And round his neck, he's wearing
something very Celtic indeed.

He's got this fantastic neck ring.

So this is a talk. These are these neck
rings which we know were worn by rich

and powerful people, and we've also got
Celtic imagery showing gods wearing

talks as well.

symbols of power and perhaps even
offered some kind of protection to their

wearers. This statue dates to about 400
BC, so he is two and

a half thousand years old.

He's a little bit early for
Vercingetorix. This statue was carved a

centuries before Vercingetorix was born,
but what we're seeing here is this

fantastic representation made by Celts.

of what a Celtic warrior looked like.

The person who carved this knew these
warriors.

This statue is one of four that
surrounded a burial mound close to the

hill fort.

Inside it lay the body of a real Celtic
warrior.

And these are the remains of the person
buried underneath that mound.

We can tell quite a bit about this
individual from analysis carried out on

bones and the teeth, and in particular
looking at his teeth, we can see that

there's some wear on those. You can tell
that this is quite a young individual,

perhaps in his 20s when he died.

But really it's what was buried with him
that is absolutely astonishing.

This is quite clearly the grave of
somebody who was very high status,

essentially Glauberg royalty.

This beautiful piece of jewellery, which
is a brooch or a fibula, there's a

fantastical horse -like creature here,
perhaps with wings, and then a little

human head with a face looking back at
the horse.

This is classic, this playfulness,
this...

combination of animals and humans and
here is the incredible gold

talk that was lying around the neck of
this individual in the grave and you can

see that he's got this plain band around
the back of his neck and then here a

lot of detail

And here is the sword of the warrior
that lay at his right side.

And then the scabbard is absolutely
beautiful.

It's made of bronze, but it has iron
overlaying it as well.

And there's even a piece of textile.

Can you see that there?

And you can see the weave of that
material, where it's been lying close to

sword, and it's been preserved because
it's close to the metal.

And there's something else as well that
provides a connection with that statue

outside the grave.

There was the wire frame and even the
remnants of some leather of his

And it was the same helmet with those
strange projections on each side.

The lavish grave goods buried with this
young man,

stunning jewellery and that beautifully
decorated sword tell us that he was a

person of extremely high social
standing.

And being a warrior was inextricably
bound up with that status.

He lived and died at a time when the
Celtic world was evolving, and amongst

those changes was the emergence of a new
type of leader, the warrior king.

The ritual burial of the Glauberg
warrior, complete with lavish grave

part of a rich and ancient culture.

Hundreds of years later, it would fall
to Vercingetorix to defend that shared

heritage.

In the spring of 52 BC, leaders of the
Celtic tribes convened to agree a

strategy for the survival of Gaul.

Their tactics now required a much larger
offensive if they were to defeat the

forces of Rome.

The only option was to overcome tribal
rivalries, combine forces and elect

Vercingetorix the supreme commander of
the allied army of Gaul.

An arc of resistance formed from the
river Seine in the northeast.

to the Garonne in the southwest.

United, Gaul's Celts were now a more
formidable force than ever.

52 BC was shaping up to be a decisive
year for Rome, for the Celts,

and the entire future of Europe.

By the summer of 52 BC, Vercingetorix
and his army of 80 ,000 men and 15 ,000

cavalry were in position on top of a
huge Celtic hillfort or opidum called

Alessia in the heart of Gaul.

After a bloody skirmish with the Roman
army, Vercingetorix commandeered the

Heartland Fortress, home of the Mandubii
tribe.

Caesar had pursued him and was now
positioned on the plain below.

But Alessia provided Vercingetorix with
an ideal vantage point.

Vercingetorix had every confidence in
his decision.

The plateau at the top is fully 400 feet
above the plain below.

There are sheer cliffs at one end. By
the standards of the day, Alessia was

but impregnable.

While the Celts were here, they would
have kept this place clear of trees, so

anyone on the high ground would have had
a perfect panorama of the surrounding

low ground.

The hill is further cut off from its
surroundings by two gorges, two valleys

running either side, cut by rivers.

Across the gentler slope of Alethia,
Vercingetorix ordered his men to dig a

ditch and build a six foot high stone
wall.

Now safely inside this apparently
impregnable fortress, Vercingetorix must

believed he held the upper hand.

But Caesar saw it as the perfect
opportunity for siege warfare, a

tactic of the Roman general, who had
many more years of battle experience

his younger opponent.

By surrounding Alessia, he could trap
the Celtic rebel army and their Mandubii

supporters inside the stronghold,
cutting them off from vital

provisions. He now had Vercingetorix
exactly where he wanted him.

The area was cleared.

The trees logged.

Three and a half metre high palisade
walls were erected.

and studied with observation
watchtowers.

Caesar's plan was for the fortifications
to eventually run 11 miles around the

entire plateau.

To protect his army from attack, he also
included a deadly system of defences.

Mike Lodes, an expert in ancient
military strategy, has been researching

battle tactics.

How did the Romans prepare the ground,
Mike?

Well, what we're doing here is we're
digging a minefield.

That's what they did. In front of these
great earthworks, they dug a really

elaborate minefield with spikes and
stakes and ditches and moats and mounds

palisades. It's a good reminder of what
an old word minefield is, isn't it? We

think of the explosive, but it's a field
that has been mined, that people have

dug. Traps in.

Exactly that.

So what we're digging here is a hole for
a stimuli.

One of these.

It's set in a bit of wood to hold it in
place, but you've got this iron shank

coming up with that barb. You step on,
and if it's hidden, you just do not see

that in the ground. So whether you're a
horse or a human foot stamping down on

there, it shoots right through your
foot. And see that barb? It will not.

pull out easily.

So they're a terrible, terrible, ugly
thing.

It would stimulate you, wouldn't it? If
you stood on that, you'd be squealing

like a stuck pig.

Inside this defensive line were moats
and ditches that the Celts would first

have to cross.

And after... the water -filled ditches,
the booby traps, you run onto this

forest of sharpened stakes.

Yeah, they're very simple. They're
called sippy.

They're kind of groin height for a man
and chest height for a horse. So men

would come with shields protecting men
while they cleared a path through here.

So they'd be slowed.

But slowed is important because up there
you've got archers, you've got

slingers, you've got javelin men. Up
there you've got ballista.

Catapult, a scorpion, all these great
throwing engines. And these guys would

bombarded with missiles.

Another problem, I suppose, for the
Celts up there far away on the hilltop

even begin to conceive of the connected
scale of what Caesar's got in mind down

here. Absolutely. And that's one of the
interesting things about coming to the

place is you see the scale of it.

In the hillfort of Aletheia, Verthan
Getarix witnessed Roman progress.

It was clear he needed more troops.

Under cover of night, he released a
group of riders to summon help from

Gaul, before Caesar's defences were
finished.

On their arrival, the Celtic relief
force would attack the Roman army from

behind.

Only days later, the Roman
fortifications were completed.

The siege had begun.

And Caesar had already predicted
Vercingetorix's next move.

It's all very well digging that to keep
Vercingetorix and his men in, but how do

you protect...

You're rear, because you are, after all,
outside something in open space.

That's exactly right, and Caesar knew
that, and he knew that there were

reinforcements. I mean, by his account,
hundreds of thousands of reinforcements

on their way. So what he did, having
sealed him in, having contained

Vercingetorix, is he says to his men,
build another wall.

Another wall. A bigger, longer wall, all
around that first wall, to protect my

flank.

Such a feat of ambition to even think
that you could put them both together

you've got something like 35 kilometers
of wall done in about five weeks.

To throw up these fortifications so
quickly involved almost superhuman

Caesar had contained Vercingetorix's
troops within his inner line.

and had now defended his rear against
attack from the approaching Celtic

army.

But even Caesar's plan had a flaw.

By sealing himself inside that double
line of wall and ditches, Caesar had

effectively caught himself in his own
trap.

The would -be besieger was now besieged.

Vercingetorix, also trapped in his
hillfort, had to wait for the arrival of

relief force before he could attack.

The question was, would his food and
water last?

After weeks of siege with still no sign
of the relief force, rations inside

Alessia were running dangerously low,
and the morale of Vercingetorix's men

waning.

He was left with no choice but to expel
all non -combatants from the hillfort in

the hope that Caesar would let the
Mandubii women and children cross the

to safety.

But Caesar showed no mercy.

The refugees pushed out by Vercingetorix
and ignored by Caesar were trapped

in no man's land.

Imagine Vercingetorix up on the ramparts
of Alesia, looking out and down onto

his own people, starving to death in the
valley below him. He was becoming

increasingly determined.

He wasn't just defending a hill fort,
but something much more important.

This was a fight between centralised
modern Rome and an ancient Iron Age

that had roots stretching deep into
prehistory.

What was at stake was an entire way of
life that the Celtic tribes had carried

with them.

into the classical age.

For centuries, the Celts had developed
and prospered.

They were technologically advanced and
respected as warriors.

They had migrated and their ideas had
spread right across Europe and beyond.

They'd established trading links with
the Mediterranean world of the south.

and with the temperate lands of the
north.

Now this great world was under threat.

By October 52 BC, after months of
standoff, a vast Celtic army was seen

massing on that string of hills rising
in the west.

A quarter of a million men had gathered
from every corner of Gaul.

Surely, just the thought of them, far
less the sight of them, would have been

enough to make the Romans turn and run.

Vercingetorix had a numbers advantage
over Caesar, but he also had a

psychological weapon.

Roman garrison camps were rife with
rumours of the grisly fate awaiting

they lost.

To understand what Caesar was up against
in Gaul, I've come to northern France,

to an area just a few miles outside of
Amiens, which is famous for the Battle

the Somme, and the spectre of that
terrible period in history still haunts

woods.

But 2 ,000 years before the First World
War, Another mass slaughter took place

here, one that shows us some evidence of
particularly gruesome Celtic practices.

In the 1960s, archaeologists excavating
near the village of Riedmont -sur -Angre

unearthed the dismembered bones of 200
people.

They believe that the bodies were the
result of an intertribal conflict and

their treatment bore the signs of Celtic
ritual.

These are just a few of the thousands of
bones discovered at this Celtic

sanctuary site at Riedmont, and many of
these bones bear evidence of violent

injuries. Here's a pelvis, and you can
see here that something, probably

the point of a spear, has made several
holes in this bone.

There are other cut marks.

This is a humerus, an arm bone, and
here's another blade injury right at the

top, just under the shoulder.

And here's a collarbone, and you can see
quite clearly along that where a blade

has come down on that surface, leaving
marks on it.

But what is conspicuously missing is any
evidence of

heads, of skulls.

And we see the reason for that in the
bones themselves.

This is the skeleton of a young man who
died in his 20s. And if we come up his

spine here, we get to a point where it
stops abruptly.

And if we then look at that vertebra, we
can see that it has been cleanly

sliced. A blade has come through the
front of his neck and his head was

He was decapitated.

So then we wonder what happened to those
heads.

And we might get a clue if we turn to
the classical writers.

The Greek writer Strabo, who lived from
the 1st century BC into the 1st century

AD, writes, There is among the Celts the
barbaric and highly unusual custom of

hanging the heads of their enemies from
the necks of their horses when departing

from battle.

The heads of those enemies that were
held in high esteem, they would embalm

cedar oil and display them to their
guests.

We'll never know exactly what happened
to the heads of all these decapitated

possibly beheaded people.

But I think to us it seems very bizarre.

And to the Romans coming into Gaul, it
must have seemed very strange

and very barbaric.

At Aletheia.

caesar knew he would need a combination
of tactics and luck if he was to avoid

ending up with his own head hanging from
a celtic horse

250 000 celtic warriors were

gathered overlooking the roman army
waiting to launch their attack

in spite of sacrificing

the women and children

Vercingetorix's troops were at breaking
point and close to starvation.

But even with reinforcements on the
hills opposite him, Vercingetorix still

a problem.

Besieged up there on his hilltop,
Vercingetorix had no way of

directly with the Celtic relief army, so
he was dependent upon tribal leaders

who didn't necessarily have his military
skill.

But the relief army had seen that there
was a vulnerable spot in the Roman

fortifications. And on October 2nd, 52
BC, they decided to strike.

Around noon, 60 ,000 Celtic warriors
launched an attack.

Their target was a Roman garrison up
here on Mount Rhea, the northwest

of Caesar's defences. The steep slopes
here had prevented the Romans from

digging proper ramparts and ditches. It
was a weak point in their defences. The

Celts knew that and closed in for the
kill.

In an attempt to coordinate the attack,
Vercingetorix led his troops downslope

to try and punch a hole through the
inner Roman fortifications.

His thinking was that such a move would
leave the Roman troops no alternative

but to fight in both the front and in
the rear.

So wave after wave of Celtic warriors
smashed against the Roman defences.

The stake could not have been higher.

For Caesar, this was his chance to
secure the title Conqueror of Gaul.

Whereas Vercingetorix was fighting for
his homeland.

And there are new ideas about how the
Celtic warriors might have fought the

decisive battle.

The Roman writers make a big deal about
the Celts being an undisciplined,

unruly, wild mob.

Is that right? The Celts did go into
battle with great cries and shouts, but

once they're fighting, I think it would
look more like this, because you

wouldn't survive for two minutes on the
battlefield unless you had some military

discipline.

So although it's not hundreds of men all
working together to the beat of a drum

in maybe the Roman fashion, it's
nonetheless small, tight units who are

attention to one another and working as
a group.

Exactly. That whole thing you said,
they're wild, slashing barbarians.

talks about the Celtic sword being a
slashing weapon.

Already. You're playing into the hands
of the Roman writers.

Slashing is a pejorative term. It
implies he just slashes like a clown in

wild sort of way. No, what the Celtic
weapon is, it's a cutting weapon. It

do very precise cuts. It's a thrusting
weapon. It will do both those jobs, and

they're both deeply unpleasant. But it's
not a wild slashing weapon.

The spear, for instance, this was really
the primary weapon.

So rather than the sword?

Yeah, I mean, swords were a relative
rarity. They were high status, but they

were relatively rare.

More people would have this because it's
so versatile.

It gives you reach in battle. It gives
you an ability. Look at that edge. It

gives you the ability to cut and scythe
at hamstrings and legs and the backs of

horses. It's a martial art. It's a
martial art, and the Celts were

martial men.

As the fighting continued, the Romans
desperately shored up their defences.

But the Celtic relief army, attacking
from the rear, was breaking through.

Sensing victory, Vercingetorix's
warriors on the other side pounded the

inner defensive line.

Caesar was on the brink of defeat.

He had one last card to play, and it
relied on his power as a charismatic

leader.

Draped in his distinctive red cloak,
Caesar led 6 ,000 men, every last

he had, into a desperate do -or -die
counter -offensive.

The sight of Caesar entering the fray re
-energised the men and a cheer erupted

from the legionaries as they gave
everything to one final push.

With Caesar leading from the front and
with his men believing in victory, the

battle began to turn in their favour.

Caesar boasts in his memoirs how his
troops forced the Celts to flee across

battlefield.

Burton Getterichs watched the final
defeat from the hillfort.

Still besieged, he was left with two
options, to surrender or die.

He left the decision to his war council.

The following day, together with his men
and in full regalia, he rode down the

slope.

Legend has it that he leapt from his
horse, threw down his arms and said,

am, a strong man, defeated by an even
stronger man.

The freedom fighter had finally been
outwitted by the wily old strategist.

The golden age of the Celts was over.

The Romans celebrated their victories in
monumental architecture.

This is the triumphal arch in Orange in
the south of France.

This archway tells a story all about the
Roman conquest of Gaul.

On the top, you can see Celtic warriors,
naked warriors, being trampled under

the hooves of Roman cavalry.

Piles of the spoils of war.

The archway straddles a road heading
south towards Rome and heading north to

land of the dead. And that's just about
right.

Julius Caesar reckoned there were about
three million Gauls.

By the time he'd finished with them, one
million lay dead. A second million had

been sold into slavery.

If that happened today, they'd call it
genocide.

As for Vercingetorix himself, Caesar
showed no mercy.

He had him taken to Rome, imprisoned for
six years, and then killed in a public

garrotting.

Centuries later, he would re -emerge as
a national hero, who gave his life for

the dream of a free Gaul.

Caesar's victory at Alessia was a
defining moment in European history. The

Celts, an ancient and deep -rooted
culture, lay crushed, not in some

field, but in their heartland.

It was a defeat that would consign
generations of Celts to Romanisation and

servitude.

This statue is known as the Vashur
Warrior.

It dates to around 28 BC, 24 years after
the Battle of Alessia.

You take a passing glance at him and you
see Roman soldier.

That's largely down to the clothes and
the weapon.

He's wearing a tunic, it's long, it
comes down to his thighs, a shirt of

mail. On his side here, on a belt, is a
gladius.

That's the classic short sword of the
Roman legionnaire.

Everything about it seems to say Roman
soldier.

But appearances are deceptive. Take a
closer look and you see around his neck

he's wearing a torc. Now that's the
status symbol of the elite warrior of

Celt. He is Celtic. He's a typical gallo
Roman soldier. That's to say a Celt

employed by Rome as an auxiliary
soldier.

Vercingetorix would be turning in his
grave.

The infamous, wild, long -haired
barbarian is gone.

He's been smartened up. He's been
romanised and tamed.

It looked like the end for a great
culture that had once stretched from

to France.

But the Celts weren't quite finished
yet.

By 51 BC, not long after the Battle of
Alessia, Mabract was sufficiently

Romanised that Julius Caesar himself
came to stay while he was writing the

Conquest of Gaul. It's one of the great
histories of the Roman Empire.

He may even have written some of it in
one of these rooms.

In that book, as well as writing about
the campaign, he also described...

two exploratory expeditions that he made
in 55 and 54 BC to a mysterious island

across the sea he called Britannia.

It's the first detailed eyewitness
account we have of Britain and the

lived there.

Next time, the Romans turn their
attention further north to one of the

bastions of Celtic culture, Britain.

An island of rich resources, powerful
tribes,

advanced military equipment, and another
great leader.

A woman.

The warrior queen, Boudica.

Stunning landscapes tomorrow on BBC Two
on a grand tour of the Scottish islands,

from the remote communities of Fula and
Feral to the landlocked islands of Loch

Lomond at seven.

Mock the Week's coming next, one on BBC
Four, rhymes, rock and revolution, the

story of performance poetry.