The Durdane series is a trilogy of science fiction books written by Jack Vance between 1971 and 1973, and detail the adventures of Gastel Etzwane on the world Durdane. The trilogy, as a whole, portrays his rise from common boy to the autocrat The Anome, and finally, as a saviour of his world against the alien Asutra of the third book.
112-534: The three books in the trilogy are, in reading and publication order: The land of Shant on the planet Durdane is ruled by a purposely anonymous dictator called the Anome or Faceless Man. He maintains control by virtue of the torc , a ring of explosive placed around the neck of every adult in Shant. The Anome is the product of a self-perpetuating, self-selecting dynasty. When one Anome grows old, he chooses his successor,
224-568: A store of value may have been an important part of their use. It has been noted that the Iberian gold examples seem to be made at fixed weights that are multiples of the Phoenician shekel . With bracelets, torcs are "the most important category of Celtic gold", though armlets and anklets were also worn; in contrast finger-rings were less common among the early Celts. The earliest Celtic torcs are mostly found buried with women, for example,
336-476: A " Disney style" of cartoon-like animal heads within the plastic style, and also an "Oppida period art, c 125–c 50 BC". De Navarro distinguishes the "insular" art of the British Isles, up to about 100 BC, as Style IV, followed by a Style V, and the separateness of Insular Celtic styles is widely recognised. The often spectacular art of the richest earlier Continental Celts, before they were conquered by
448-548: A classical style, and the piece may have been made by Greeks in the Celtic taste, or a "Graeco-Etruscan workshop", or by Celts with foreign training. Spiral ribbon torcs, usually with minimal terminals, continue a Bronze Age type and are found in the Stirling Hoard from Scotland, and elsewhere: "Although over 110 identifiable British [includes Ireland] ribbon torcs are known, the dating of these simple, flexible ornaments
560-511: A core, or woven gold wire. A rarer type twists a single bar with an X profile. Except in British looped terminals, the terminals of Iron Age torcs are usually formed separately. The "buffer" form of terminal was the most popular in finds from modern France and Germany, with some "fused buffer" types opening at the rear or sides. In both buffer types and those with projecting fringes of ornament, decoration in low relief often continues back round
672-439: A large bowl mounted on a shaft at the centre of the platform, probably for offerings to gods; a few examples have been found in graves. The figures are relatively simply modelled, without much success in detailed anatomical naturalism compared to cultures further south, but often achieving an impressive effect. There are also a number of single stone figures, often with a " leaf crown " — two flattish rounded projections, "resembling
784-485: A motif in many forms of popular design, especially in Celtic countries, and above all Ireland, where it remains a national style signature. In recent decades it has been used worldwide in tattoos, and in various contexts and media in fantasy works with a quasi- Dark Ages setting. The Secret of Kells is an animated feature film of 2009 set during the creation of the Book of Kells which makes much use of Insular design. By
896-510: A number of items using Roman forms such as the fibula but with La Tène style ornament, whose dating can be difficult, for example a "hinged brass collar" from around the time of the Roman conquest shows Celtic decoration in a Roman context. Britain also made more use of enamel than most of the Empire, and on larger objects, and its development of champlevé technique was probably important to
1008-506: A pair of bloated commas", rising behind and to the side of the head, probably a sign of divinity. Human heads alone, without bodies, are far more common, frequently appearing in relief on all sorts of objects. In the La Tène period faces often (along with bird's heads) emerge from decoration that at first looks abstract, or plant-based. Games are played with faces that change when they are viewed from different directions. In figures showing
1120-534: A preference for geometrical decoration over figurative subjects, which are often extremely stylised when they do appear; narrative scenes only appear under outside influence. Energetic circular forms, triskeles and spirals are characteristic. Much of the surviving material is in precious metal, which no doubt gives a very unrepresentative picture, but apart from Pictish stones and the Insular high crosses , large monumental sculpture , even with decorative carving,
1232-603: A relic, that no man dares swear falsely when it is laid before him." It is of course possible that this torc long pre-dated the reign of Prince Cynog and was a much earlier relic that had been recycled during the British Dark Ages to be used as a symbol of royal authority. It is now lost. There are mentions in medieval compilations of Irish mythology ; for example in the Lebor Gabála Érenn (11th century) Elatha wore 5 golden torcs when meeting Eriu . After
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#17327911331251344-416: A religious sanctuary, whose stonework includes what are thought to have been niches where the heads or skulls of enemies were placed. These are dated to the 3rd century BC, or sometimes earlier. In general, the number of high-quality finds is not large, especially when compared to the number of survivals from the contemporary Mediterranean cultures, and there is a very clear division between elite objects and
1456-526: A series of engraved scabbard plates. Thereafter, despite Ireland remaining outside the Roman Empire that engulfed the Continental and British Celtic cultures, Irish art is subject to continuous influence from outside, through trade and probably periodic influxes of refugees from Britain, both before and after the Roman invasion. It remains uncertain whether some of the most notable objects found from
1568-466: A series of vigorously curved elements. A form apparently unique to southern Britain was the mirror with a handle and complex decoration, mostly engraved, on the back of the bronze plate; the front side being highly polished to act as the mirror. Each of the more than 50 mirrors found has a unique design, but the essentially circular shape of the mirror presumably dictated the sophisticated abstract curvilinear motifs that dominate their decoration. Despite
1680-462: A system hundreds of years old. The reason for this harsh system of government is the extreme individuality of the folk of Shant. They are divided into dozens of different cantons , each with very distinctive customs and laws, united only by a common language. Prior to the ascendancy of the Faceless Man, Shant was plagued by constant civil war and dissension. The Faceless Man not only provides
1792-480: A variety of techniques but complex decoration was usually begun by casting and then worked by further techniques. The Ipswich Hoard includes unfinished torcs that give clear evidence of the stages of work. Flat-ended terminals are called "buffers", and in types like the "fused-buffer" shape, where what resemble two terminals are actually a single piece, the element is called a "muff". There are several types of rigid gold and sometimes bronze necklaces and collars of
1904-450: Is also found in northern Italy, where the hoops often end by being turned back upon themselves so that the terminals face out to the sides, perhaps enabling closure by hooking round. Both of these mostly used plain round bars or thin rods wound round a core. In the terminals of British torcs loops or rings are common, and the main hoop may be two or more round bars twisted together, or several strands each made up of twisted wire. Decoration of
2016-503: Is associated with the peoples known as Celts; those who spoke the Celtic languages in Europe from pre-history through to the modern period, as well as the art of ancient peoples whose language is uncertain, but have cultural and stylistic similarities with speakers of Celtic languages. The term "Celt" was used in classical times as a synonym for the Gauls (Κελτοι, Celtae ). Its English form
2128-430: Is elusive", perhaps indicating "a long-lived preference for ribbon torcs, which continued for over 1,000 years". The terminals were often slightly flared plain round cylinders which were folded back to hook round each other to fasten the torc at the throat. Other Celtic torcs may use various ways of forming the hoop: plain or patterned round bars, two or more bars twisted together, thin round rods (or thick wire) wound round
2240-1067: Is how Polybius described the gaesatae , Celtic warriors from modern northern Italy or the Alps , fighting at the Battle of Telamon in 225 BC, although other Celts there were clothed. One of the earliest known depictions of a torc can be found on the Warrior of Hirschlanden (6th century BC), and a high proportion of the few Celtic statues of human figures, mostly male, show them wearing torcs. Other possible functions that have been proposed for torcs include use as rattles in rituals or otherwise, as some have stones or metal pieces inside them, and representations of figures thought to be deities carrying torcs in their hand may depict this. Some are too heavy to wear for long, and may have been made to place on cult statues. Very few of these remain but they may well have been in wood and not survived. Torcs were clearly valuable, and often found broken in pieces, so being
2352-486: Is in northern France and western Germany, but over the next three centuries the style spread very widely, as far as Ireland, Italy and modern Hungary. In some places the Celts were aggressive raiders and invaders, but elsewhere the spread of Celtic material culture may have involved only small movements of people, or none at all. Early La Tène style adapted ornamental motifs from foreign cultures into something distinctly new;
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#17327911331252464-549: Is mentioned by other authors. It is not clear whether the Gallo-Roman "Warrior of Vacheres", a sculpture of a soldier in Roman military dress, wears a torc as part of his Roman uniform or as a reflection of his Celtic background. Quintilian says that the Emperor Augustus was presented by Gauls with a gold torc weighing 100 Roman pounds (nearly 33 kilograms or 73 pounds), far too heavy to wear. A torc from
2576-513: Is modern, attested from 1607. In the late 17th century the work of scholars such as Edward Lhuyd brought academic attention to the historic links between Gaulish and the Brythonic —and Goidelic —speaking peoples, from which point the term was applied not just to continental Celts but those in Britain and Ireland. Then in the 18th century the interest in " primitivism ", which led to the idea of
2688-793: Is not seen until the late 11th century when Irish metal work begins to imitate the Scandinavian Ringerike and Urnes styles , for example the Cross of Cong and Shrine of Manchan . These influences were found not just in the Norse centre of Dublin , but throughout the countryside in stone monuments such as the Dorty Cross at Kilfenora and crosses at the Rock of Cashel . Some Insular manuscripts may have been produced in Wales, including
2800-643: Is not, and its style is much debated; it may well be of Thracian manufacture. To further confuse matters, it was found in a bog in north Denmark. The Agris Helmet in gold leaf over bronze clearly shows the Mediterranean origin of its decorative motifs. By the 3rd century BC Celts began to produce coinage, imitating Greek and later Roman types, at first fairly closely, but gradually allowing their own taste to take over, so that versions based on sober classical heads sprout huge wavy masses of hair several times larger than their faces, and horses become formed of
2912-482: Is succeeded by the "vegetal", "Continuous Vegetal", " Waldalgesheim style ", or De Navarro II, where ornament is "typically dominated by continuously moving tendrils of various types, twisting and turning in restless motion across the surface". After about 300 BC the style, now De Navarro III, can be divided into "plastic" and "sword" styles, the latter mainly found on scabbards and the former featuring decoration in high relief . One scholar, Vincent Megaw, has defined
3024-739: Is the Greek krater from the Vix Grave in Burgundy , which was made in Magna Graecia (the Greek south of Italy) c. 530 BC, some decades before it was deposited. It is a huge bronze wine-mixing vessel, with a capacity of 1,100 litres. Another huge Greek vessel in the Hochdorf Chieftain's Grave is decorated with three recumbent lions lying on the rim, one of which is a replacement by a Celtic artist that makes little attempt to copy
3136-546: Is very rare. Possibly the few standing male figures found, like the Warrior of Hirschlanden and the so-called "Lord of Glauberg" , were originally common in wood. Also covered by the term is the visual art of the Celtic Revival (on the whole more notable for literature) from the 18th century to the modern era, which began as a conscious effort by Modern Celts , mostly in the British Isles, to express self-identification and nationalism , and became popular well beyond
3248-662: The Anglo-Saxon art of the rest of England. Some of the metalwork masterpieces created include the Tara Brooch , the Ardagh Chalice and the Derrynaflan Chalice . New techniques employed were filigree and chip carving , while new motifs included interlace patterns and animal ornamentation. The Book of Durrow is the earliest complete insular script illuminated Gospel Book and by about 700, with
3360-477: The Art Nouveau movement. Typically, Celtic art is ornamental, avoiding straight lines and only occasionally using symmetry, without the imitation of nature central to the classical tradition, often involving complex symbolism. Celtic art has used a variety of styles and has shown influences from other cultures in their knotwork, spirals, key patterns, lettering, zoomorphics, plant forms and human figures. As
3472-645: The Book of Kells and other masterpieces, and is what "Celtic art" evokes for much of the general public in the English-speaking world, is called Insular art in art history. This is the best-known part, but not the whole of, the Celtic art of the Early Middle Ages, which also includes the Pictish art of Scotland. Both styles absorbed considerable influences from non-Celtic sources, but retained
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3584-544: The Celtic nations , and whose style is still current in various popular forms, from Celtic cross funerary monuments to interlace tattoos . Coinciding with the beginnings of a coherent archaeological understanding of the earlier periods, the style self-consciously used motifs closely copied from works of the earlier periods, more often the Insular than the Iron Age. Another influence was that of late La Tène "vegetal" art on
3696-523: The Drustanus stone and the notorious Artognou stone show evidence for a surprisingly cosmopolitan sub-Roman population speaking and writing in both Brittonic and Latin and with at least some knowledge of Ogham indicated by several extant stones in the region. Breton and especially Cornish manuscripts are exceedingly rare survivals but include the Bodmin manumissions demonstrating a regional form of
3808-575: The Dunnichen and Aberlemno stones ( Angus ), and the Brandsbutt and Tillytarmont stones ( Aberdeenshire ). Class II stones are shaped cross-slabs carved in relief, or in a combination of incision and relief, with a prominent cross on one, or in rare cases two, faces. The crosses are elaborately decorated with interlace, key-pattern or scrollwork, in the Insular style . On the secondary face of
3920-535: The European Iron Age from around the 8th century BC to the 3rd century AD. For Iron Age Celts, the gold torc seems to have been a key object. It identified the wearer, apparently usually female until the 3rd century BC, thereafter male, as a person of high rank, and many of the finest works of ancient Celtic art are torcs. Celtic torcs disappeared in the Migration Period , but during
4032-627: The Lindisfarne Gospels , the Hiberno-Saxon style was fully developed with detailed carpet pages that seem to glow with a wide palette of colours. The art form reached its peak in the late 8th century with the Book of Kells , the most elaborate Insular manuscript. Anti-classical Insular artistic styles were carried to mission centres on the Continent and had a continuing impact on Carolingian , Romanesque and Gothic art for
4144-600: The Middle Ages was practiced by the peoples of Ireland and parts of Britain in the 700-year period from the Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century, to the establishment of Romanesque art in the 12th century. Through the Hiberno-Scottish mission the style was influential in the development of art throughout Northern Europe. In Ireland an unbroken Celtic heritage existed from before and throughout
4256-615: The Museum of Scotland , Edinburgh (which also exhibits almost all the major pieces of surviving Pictish metalwork), the Meffan Institute, Forfar ( Angus ), Inverness Museum , Groam House Museum , Rosemarkie and Tarbat Discovery Centre, Portmahomack (both Easter Ross ) and The Orkney Museum in Kirkwall . The revival of interest in Celtic visual art came sometime later than the revived interest in Celtic literature . By
4368-531: The Pictish Beast , and objects from daily life (a comb, a mirror). The symbols almost always occur in pairs, with in about one-third of cases the addition of the mirror, or mirror and comb, symbol, below the others. This is often taken to symbolise a woman. Apart from one or two outliers, these stones are found exclusively in north-east Scotland from the Firth of Forth to Shetland . Good examples include
4480-536: The Roman conquest of Britain , from about 75 AD for a century or more, a different type called the "beaded torc" appears in Roman Britain , mainly in the northern "frontier" region, in two types, A with separate "beads" and B made in one piece. These are in copper alloy rather than precious metal, and evidently more widely spread in society than the elite Iron Age Celtic examples. Most Achaemenid torcs are thin single round bars with matching animal heads as
4592-719: The Tolstaya burial and the Karagodeuashk kurgan ( Kuban area), both dating to the 4th century BC. A torc is part of the Pereshchepina hoard dating to the 7th century AD. Thin torcs, often with animal head terminals, are found in the art of the Persian Achaemenid Empire , with some other elements derived from Scythian art. Depictions of the gods and goddesses of Celtic mythology sometimes show them wearing or carrying torcs, as in images of
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4704-480: The Viking Age torc-style metal necklaces, mainly in silver, came back into fashion. Similar neck-rings are also part of the jewellery styles of various other cultures and periods. The word comes from Latin torquis (or torques ), from torqueo , "to twist", because of the twisted shape many of the rings have. Typically, neck-rings that open at the front when worn are called "torcs" and those that open at
4816-411: The gold lunulas and large collars of Bronze Age Ireland and Europe and the torcs of Iron Age Celts, all elaborate ornaments worn round the neck. The trumpet shaped terminations of various types of Bronze Age Irish jewellery are also reminiscent of motifs popular in later Celtic decoration. Unlike the rural culture of Iron Age inhabitants of the modern "Celtic nations", Continental Celtic culture in
4928-587: The " noble savage ", brought a wave of enthusiasm for all things Celtic and Druidic . The "Irish revival" came after the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829 as a conscious attempt to demonstrate an Irish national identity, and with its counterpart in other countries subsequently became the " Celtic Revival ". The earliest archaeological culture that is conventionally termed Celtic, the Hallstatt culture (from "Hallstatt C" onwards), comes from
5040-625: The 1840s reproduction Celtic brooches and other forms of metalwork were fashionable, initially in Dublin, but later in Edinburgh, London and other countries. Interest was stimulated by the discovery in 1850 of the Tara Brooch, which was seen in London and Paris over the next decades. The late 19th century reintroduction of monumental Celtic crosses for graves and other memorials has arguably been
5152-576: The 1980s a new Celtic Revival had begun, which continues to this day. Often this late 20th-century movement is referred to as the Celtic Renaissance. By the 1990s the number of new artists, craftsmen, designers and retailers specializing in Celtic jewelry and crafts was rapidly increasing. The Celtic Renaissance has been an international phenomenon, with participants no longer confined to just the Old-World Celtic countries. June 9
5264-494: The 1st century BC Winchester Hoard , is broadly in Celtic style but uses the Roman technique of laced gold wire, suggesting it may have been a "diplomatic gift" from a Roman to a British tribal king. A very late example of a torc used as ceremonial item in early Medieval Wales can be found in the writings of Gerald of Wales . The author wrote that there still existed a certain royal torc that had once been worn by Prince Cynog ap Brychan of Brycheiniog (fl. 492 AD) and
5376-413: The 2nd century BC (illustrated). Many finds of torcs, especially in groups and in association with other valuables but not associated with a burial, are clearly deliberate deposits whose function is unclear. They may have been ritual deposits or hidden for safekeeping in times of warfare. Some may represent the work-in-progress of a workshop. After the early period, torcs are especially prominent in
5488-486: The 8th century Lichfield Gospels and Hereford Gospels . The late Insular Ricemarch Psalter from the 11th century was certainly written in Wales, and also shows strong Viking influence. Art from historic Dumnonia , modern Cornwall, Devon , Somerset and Brittany on the Atlantic seaboard is now fairly sparsely attested and hence less well known as these areas later became incorporated into England (and France) in
5600-933: The Bronze Age but up to 20% in the Iron Age—can help decide the question. There are several flared gold torcs with a C-shaped section in the huge Mooghaun North Hoard of Late Bronze Age gold from 800 to 700 BC found in County Clare in Ireland. To the East, torcs appear in Scythian art from the Early Iron Age , and include "classicizing" decoration drawing on styles from the east. Torcs are also found in Thraco-Cimmerian art. Torcs are found in
5712-481: The Celtic cultures reaching to a coast of the Atlantic , from modern Spain to Ireland, and on both sides of the English Channel . Some very elaborately worked torcs with relief decoration in a late form of La Tène style have been found in Britain and Ireland, dating from roughly the 3rd to 1st centuries BC. There may be a connection with an older tradition in the British Isles of elaborate gold neckwear in
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#17327911331255824-512: The Greek style of the others. Forms characteristic of Hallstatt culture can be found as far from the main Central European area of the culture as Ireland, but mixed with local types and styles. Figures of animals and humans do appear, especially in works with a religious element. Among the most spectacular objects are "cult wagons" in bronze, which are large wheeled trolleys containing crowded groups of standing figures, sometimes with
5936-479: The Halstatt culture originated among people speaking Celtic languages, but art historians often avoid describing Halstatt art as "Celtic". As Halstatt society became increasingly rich and, despite being entirely land-locked in its main zone, linked by trade to other cultures, especially in the Mediterranean, imported objects in radically different styles begin to appear, even including Chinese silks. A famous example
6048-512: The Insular style. From the 5th to the mid-9th centuries, the art of the Picts is primarily known through stone sculpture, and a smaller number of pieces of metalwork, often of very high quality; there are no known illuminated manuscripts. The Picts shared modern Scotland with a zone of Irish cultural influence on the west coast, including Iona , and the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria to
6160-454: The Iron Age featured many large fortified settlements, some very large, for which the Roman word for "town", oppidum , is now used. The elites of these societies had considerable wealth, and imported large and expensive, sometimes frankly flashy, objects from neighbouring cultures, some of which have been recovered from graves. The work of the German émigré to Oxford, Paul Jacobsthal , remains
6272-651: The Pictish style, but lack the characteristic symbols. Most are cross-slabs, though there are also recumbent stones with sockets for an inserted cross or small cross-slab (e.g. at Meigle, Perthshire ). These stones may date largely to after the Scottish takeover of the Pictish kingdom in the mid 9th century. Examples include the sarcophagus and the large collection of cross-slabs at St Andrews ( Fife ). The following museums have important collections of Pictish stones: Meigle ( Perthshire ), St Vigeans ( Angus ) and St Andrew's Cathedral ( Fife ) (all Historic Scotland ),
6384-436: The Roman era of Britain, which had never reached the island, though in fact Irish objects in La Tène style are very rare from the Late Roman period. The 5th to 7th centuries were a continuation of late Iron Age La Tène art, with also many signs of the Roman and Romano-British influences that had gradually penetrated there. With the arrival of Christianity, Irish art was influenced by both Mediterranean and Germanic traditions,
6496-586: The Roman invasion of the south. However, while there are fine Irish finds from the 1st and 2nd centuries, there is little or nothing in La Tène style from the 3rd and 4th centuries, a period of instability in Ireland. After the Roman conquests, some Celtic elements remained in popular art, especially Ancient Roman pottery , of which Gaul was actually the largest producer, mostly in Italian styles, but also producing work in local taste, including figurines of deities and wares painted with animals and other subjects in highly formalized styles. Roman Britain produced
6608-413: The Romans, often adopted elements of Roman, Greek and other "foreign" styles (and possibly used imported craftsmen) to decorate objects that were distinctively Celtic. So a torc in the rich Vix Grave terminates in large balls in a way found in many others, but here the ends of the ring are formed as the paws of a lion or similar beast, without making a logical connection to the balls, and on the outside of
6720-415: The Vikings, this is debatable given the decline began before the Vikings arrived. Sculpture began to flourish in the form of the " high cross ", large stone crosses that held biblical scenes in carved relief. This art form reached its apex in the early 10th century and has left many fine examples such as Muiredach's Cross at Monasterboice and the Ahenny High Cross. The impact of the Vikings on Irish art
6832-446: The archaeologist Catherine Johns put it: "Common to Celtic art over a wide chronological and geographical span is an exquisite sense of balance in the layout and development of patterns. Curvilinear forms are set out so that positive and negative, filled areas and spaces form a harmonious whole. Control and restraint were exercised in the use of surface texturing and relief. Very complex curvilinear patterns were designed to cover precisely
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#17327911331256944-422: The archaeologist, the rich "princely" burials characteristic of the Hallstatt period greatly reduce, at least partly because of a change from inhumation burials to cremation . The torc was evidently a key marker of status and very widely worn, in a range of metals no doubt reflecting the wealth and status of the owner. Bracelets and armlets were also common. An exception to the general lack of depictions of
7056-467: The back "collars". Smaller bracelets and armlets worn around the wrist or on the upper arm sometimes share very similar forms. Torcs were made from single or multiple intertwined metal rods, or "ropes" of twisted wire. Most of those that have been found are made from gold or bronze, less often silver, iron or other metals (gold, bronze and silver survive better than other metals when buried for long periods). Elaborate examples, sometimes hollow, used
7168-462: The best preserved other than pottery, do not refute the stereotypical views of the Celts that are found in classical authors, where they are represented as mainly interested in feasting and fighting, as well as ostentatious display. Society was dominated by a warrior aristocracy and military equipment, even if in ceremonial versions, and containers for drink, represent most of the largest and most spectacular finds, other than jewellery. Unfortunately for
7280-537: The coast of Pictland and is often regarded as mostly of Pictish manufacture, representing the best survival of Late Pictish metalwork, from about 800 AD. Pictish stones are assigned by scholars to 3 classes. Class I Pictish stones are unshaped standing stones incised with a series of about 35 symbols which include abstract designs (given descriptive names such as crescent and V-rod, double disc and Z-rod, 'flower' and so on by researchers); carvings of recognisable animals (bull, eagle, salmon, adder and others), as well as
7392-553: The complicated brew of influences including Scythian art and that of the Greeks and Etruscans among others. The occupation by the Persian Achaemenid Empire of Thrace and Macedonia around 500 BC is a factor of uncertain importance. La Tène style is "a highly stylised curvilinear art based mainly on classical vegetable and foliage motifs such as leafy palmette forms, vines, tendrils and lotus flowers together with spirals, S-scrolls, lyre and trumpet shapes". The most lavish objects, whose imperishable materials tend to mean they are
7504-442: The culture of the European Iron Age from around 1000 BC onwards, until the conquest by the Roman Empire of most of the territory concerned, and art historians typically begin to talk about "Celtic art" only from the La Tène period (broadly 5th to 1st centuries BC) onwards. Early Celtic art is another term used for this period, stretching in Britain to about 150 AD. The Early Medieval art of Britain and Ireland, which produced
7616-460: The culture to the earlier Hallstatt culture and La Tène culture . More recent genetic studies have indicated that various Celtic groups do not all have shared ancestry, and have suggested a diffusion and spread of the culture without necessarily involving significant movement of peoples. The extent to which "Celtic" language, culture and genetics coincided and interacted during prehistoric periods remains very uncertain and controversial. Celtic art
7728-438: The decline in Celtic ornament in the Sixth Exhibition of the Arts and Crafts Society of Ireland said, "National art all over the world has burst long ago, the narrow boundaries within which it is cradled, and grows more cosmopolitan in spirit with each succeeding generation." George Atkinson , writing the foreword to the catalogue of that same exhibit emphasized the society's disapproval of any undue emphasis on Celtic ornament at
7840-425: The decoration of practical objects had for its makers, and the subject and meaning of the few objects without a practical function is equally unclear. About 500 BC the La Tène style, named after a site in Switzerland, appeared rather suddenly, coinciding with some kind of societal upheaval that involved a shift of the major centres in a north-westerly direction. The central area where rich sites are especially found
7952-431: The early European Iron Age, c. 800 –450 BC. Nonetheless, the art of this and later periods reflects considerable continuity, and some long-term correspondences, with earlier art from the same regions, which may reflect the emphasis in recent scholarship on "Celticization" by acculturation among a relatively static population, as opposed to older theories of migrations and invasions. Megalithic art across much of
8064-483: The expense of good design. "Special pleading on behalf of the national traditional ornament is no longer justifiable.”The style had served the nationalist cause as an emblem of a distinct Irish culture, but soon intellectual fashions abandoned Celtic art as nostalgically looking backwards. Interlace, which is still seen as a "Celtic" form of decoration—somewhat ignoring its Germanic origins and equally prominent place in Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian medieval art—has remained
8176-617: The form of gold lunulas , which seem centred on Ireland in the Bronze Age , and later flat or curved wide collars; gold twisted ribbon torcs are found from both periods, but also imported styles such as the fused-buffer. The most elaborate late Insular torcs are thick and often hollow, some with terminals forming a ring or loop. The most famous English example is the 1st-century BC multi-stranded electrum Snettisham Torc found in northwestern Norfolk in England (illustrated), while
8288-411: The foundation of the study of the art of the period, especially his Early Celtic Art of 1944. The Halstatt culture produced art with geometric ornament, but marked by patterns of straight lines and rectangles rather than curves; the patterning is often intricate, and fills all the space available, and at least in this respect looks forward to later Celtic styles. Linguists are generally satisfied that
8400-409: The glue that holds Shant together; he communicates anonymously with the cantonal leaders. Those who lose their heads are largely those who have violated local law. The protagonist of the trilogy is Gastel Etzwane, the son of a prostitute and an anonymous musician. The first two volumes chronicle his coming of age, his discovery of the identity of his father, his struggles to become a musician himself,
8512-467: The god Cernunnos wearing one torc around his neck, with torcs hanging from his antlers or held in his hand, as on the Gundestrup cauldron . This may represent the deity as the source of power and riches, as the torc was a sign of nobility and high social status. The famous Roman copy of the original Greek sculpture The Dying Gaul depicts a wounded Gaulish warrior naked except for a torc, which
8624-689: The gold torc from the La Tène period chariot burial of a princess, found in the Waldalgesheim chariot burial in Germany, and others found in female graves at Vix in France (illustrated) and Reinheim . Another La Tène example was found as part of a hoard or ritual deposit buried near Erstfeld in Switzerland. It is thought by some authors that the torc was mostly an ornament for women until
8736-483: The hoop as far as the midpoint of the side view. In Iberian torcs thin gold bars are often wound round a core of base metal, with the rear section a single round section with a decorated surface. The c. 150 torcs found in the lands of the Iberian Celts of Galicia favoured terminals ending in balls coming to a point or small buffer ("pears"), or a shape with a double moulding called scotiae . The pointed ball
8848-454: The human figure, and of the failure of wooden objects to survive, are certain water sites from which large numbers of small carved figures of body parts or whole human figures have been recovered, which are assumed to be votive offerings representing the location of the ailment of the supplicant. The largest of these, at Source-de-la-Roche, Chamalières , France, produced over 10,000 fragments, mostly now at Clermont-Ferrand . Several phases of
8960-511: The human mother, who is a host only. This process, by design, also renders the woman sterile. The trilogy is set in the same broad Gaean Reach milieu of many of Vance's books. Like most of his work, it is full of color, ornately bizarre cultures and heroic adventure. The Durdane trilogy was originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction , in six parts, two per novel, between February 1971 and June 1973: The trilogy
9072-433: The importance of Ireland for Early Medieval Celtic art, the number of artefacts showing La Tène style found in Ireland is small, though they are often of very high quality. Some aspects of Hallstatt metalwork had appeared in Ireland, such as scabbard chapes , but the La Tène style is not found in Ireland before some point between 350 and 150 BC, and until the latter date is mostly found in modern Northern Ireland , notably in
9184-683: The invaders. In response to the social upheaval caused by the war, Etzwane lays down his office, and the torc system is abolished. In the third and final volume, Etzwane learns - the hard way - that the invaders were the creation of an alien race known as the Asutra , who designed these caricatures of humanity in a first attempt at biological warfare against the peoples of Durdane. Since the Roguskhoi are all males, they can only reproduce by sexual intercourse with human women, and they are insanely lustful. The resulting "imps" have no genetic relationship to
9296-462: The late 3rd century BC, when it became an attribute of warriors. However, there is evidence for male wear in the early period; in a rich double burial of the Hallstatt period at Hochmichele , the man wears an iron torc and the female a necklace with beads. A heavy torc in silver over an iron core with bull's head terminals, weighing over 6 kilos, from Trichtingen, Germany, probably dates to
9408-644: The later European Bronze Age , from around 1200 BC, many of which are classed as "torcs". They are mostly twisted in various conformations, including the "twisted ribbon" type, where a thin strip of gold is twisted into a spiral. Other examples twist a bar with a square or X section, or just use round wire, with both types in the three 12th– or 11th-century BC specimens found at Tiers Cross, Pembrokeshire, Wales. The Milton Keynes Hoard contained two large examples of thicker rounded forms, as also used for bracelets. The terminals are not emphasized as in typical Iron Age torcs, though many can be closed by hooking
9520-506: The later Medieval art of the whole of Europe, of which the energy and freedom derived from Insular decoration was an important element. Enamel decoration on penannular brooches , dragonesque brooches , and hanging bowls appears to demonstrate a continuity in Celtic decoration between works like the Staffordshire Moorlands Pan and the flowering of Christian Insular art from the 6th century onwards. Celtic art in
9632-600: The latter through Irish contacts with the Anglo-Saxons , creating what is called the Insular or Hiberno-Saxon style, which had its golden age in the 8th and early 9th centuries before Viking raids severely disrupted monastic life. Late in the period Scandinavian influences were added through the Vikings and mixed Norse-Gael populations, then original Celtic work came to end with the Norman invasion in 1169–1170 and
9744-582: The medieval and Early Modern period. However archaeological studies at sites such as Cadbury Castle, Somerset , Tintagel , and more recently at Ipplepen indicate a highly sophisticated largely literate society with strong influence and connections with both the Byzantine Mediterranean as well as the Atlantic Irish, and British in Wales and the ' Old North '. Many crosses, memorials and tombstones such as King Doniert's Stone ,
9856-444: The modern period, as well as the art of ancient peoples whose language is uncertain, but have cultural and stylistic similarities with speakers of Celtic languages. Celtic art is a difficult term to define, covering a huge expanse of time, geography and cultures. A case has been made for artistic continuity in Europe from the Bronze Age , and indeed the preceding Neolithic age ; however archaeologists generally use "Celtic" to refer to
9968-575: The most awkward and irregularly shaped surfaces". The ancient peoples now called "Celts" spoke a group of languages that had a common origin in the Indo-European language known as Common Celtic or Proto-Celtic. This shared linguistic origin was once widely accepted by scholars to indicate peoples with a common genetic origin in southwest Europe, who had spread their culture by emigration and invasion. Archaeologists identified various cultural traits of these peoples, including styles of art, and traced
10080-595: The most enduring aspect of the revival, one that has spread well outside areas and populations with a specific Celtic heritage. Interlace typically features on these and has also been used as a style of architectural decoration, especially in America around 1900, by architects such as Louis Sullivan , and in stained glass and wall stenciling by Thomas A. O'Shaughnessy , both based in Chicago with its large Irish-American population. The "plastic style" of early Celtic art
10192-544: The much plainer goods used by the majority of the people. There are many torcs and swords (the La Tène site produced over 3,000 swords, apparently votive offerings ), but the best-known finds, like the Czech head above, the shoe plaques from Hochdorf and the Waterloo Helmet , often have no similar other finds for comparison. Clearly religious content in art is rare, but little is known about the significance that most of
10304-427: The murder of his mother and sister by a race of alien barbarian invaders known as the Roguskhoi, and his struggle for revenge against them. This leads to Etzwane's discovering the identity of the Anome, who, strangely passive, refuses to mobilize the armies of Shant against the aliens. Etzwane is forced to assume the role of Anome himself and, through luck and improvisation, leads an eventually successful struggle against
10416-516: The nickname Torquatus (the one who wears a torc), and it was adopted by his family. After this, Romans adopted the torc as a decoration for distinguished soldiers and elite units during Republican times. A few Roman torcs have been discovered. Pliny the Elder records that after a battle in 386 BC (long before his lifetime) the Romans recovered 183 torcs from the Celtic dead, and similar booty
10528-576: The period were made in Ireland or elsewhere, as far away as Germany and Egypt in specific cases. But in Scotland and the western parts of Britain where the Romans and later the Anglo-Saxons were largely held back, versions of the La Tène style remained in use until it became an important component of the new Insular style that developed to meet the needs of newly Christianized populations. Indeed, in northern England and Scotland most finds post-date
10640-493: The rest of the Middle Ages . In the 9th and 11th century plain silver became a popular medium in Anglo-Saxon England, probably because of the increased amount in circulation due to Viking trading and raiding, and it was during this time a number of magnificent silver penannular brooches were created in Ireland. Around the same time manuscript production began to decline, and although it has often been blamed on
10752-579: The ring two tiny winged horses sit on finely worked plaques. The effect is impressive but somewhat incongruous compared to an equally ostentatious British torc from the Snettisham Hoard that is made 400 years later and uses a style that has matured and harmonized the elements making it up. The 1st century BC Gundestrup cauldron , is the largest surviving piece of European Iron Age silver (diameter 69 cm, height 42 cm), but though much of its iconography seems clearly to be Celtic, much of it
10864-412: The same oppidum . Later Celtic torcs nearly all return to having a break at the throat and strong emphasis on the two terminals. The Vix torc has two very finely made winged horses standing on fancy platforms projecting sideways just before the terminals, which are flattened balls under lions' feet. Like other elite Celtic pieces in the "orientalizing" style, the decoration shows Greek influence but not
10976-447: The simple terminals together. Many of these "torcs" are too small to be worn round the neck of an adult, and were either worn as bracelets or armlets, or by children or statues. Archaeologists find dating many torcs difficult, with some believing torcs were retained for periods of centuries as heirlooms, and others believing there were two periods of production. Differing ratios of silver in the gold of other objects—typically up to 15% in
11088-616: The single hollow torc in the Broighter Gold hoard, with relief decoration all round the hoop, is the finest example of this type from Ireland, also 1st century BC. The Stirling Hoard , a rare find in Scotland of four gold torcs, two of them twisted ribbons, dating from the 3rd to 1st century BC, was discovered in September 2009. The Roman Titus Manlius in 361 BC challenged a Gaul to single combat, killed him, and then took his torc. Because he always wore it, he received
11200-532: The south. After Christianization, Insular styles heavily influenced Pictish art , with interlace prominent in both metalwork and stones. The heavy silver Whitecleuch Chain has Pictish symbols on its terminals, and appears to be an equivalent to a torc. The symbols are also found on plaques from the Norrie's Law hoard . These are thought to be relatively early pieces. The St Ninian's Isle Treasure of silver penannular brooches, bowls and other items comes from off
11312-581: The stone, Pictish symbols appear, often themselves elaborately decorated, accompanied by figures of people (notably horsemen), animals both realistic and fantastic, and other scenes. Hunting scenes are common, Biblical motifs less so. The symbols often appear to 'label' one of the human figures. Scenes of battle or combat between men and fantastic beasts may be scenes from Pictish mythology. Good examples include slabs from Dunfallandy and Meigle ( Perthshire ), Aberlemno ( Angus ), Nigg , Shandwick and Hilton of Cadboll ( Easter Ross ). Class III stones are in
11424-421: The style are distinguished, under a variety of names, including numeric (De Navarro) and alphabetic series. Generally, there is broad agreement on how to demarcate the phases, but the names used differ, and that they followed each other in chronological sequence is now much less certain. In a version of Jacobsthal's division, the "early" or "strict" phase, De Navarro I, where the imported motifs remain recognisable,
11536-514: The subsequent introduction of the general European Romanesque style. In the 7th and 9th centuries Irish Celtic missionaries travelled to Northumbria in Britain and brought with them the Irish tradition of manuscript illumination , which came into contact with Anglo-Saxon metalworking knowledge and motifs . In the monasteries of Northumbria these skills fused and were probably transmitted back to Scotland and Ireland from there, also influencing
11648-504: The terminals in the finest examples is complex but all abstract. In these two types the hoop itself normally has no extra decoration, though the large torc in the Irish Broighter Gold hoard is decorated all round the hoop, the only Irish example decorated in this way. Celtic art Celtic art is associated with the peoples known as Celts ; those who spoke the Celtic languages in Europe from pre-history through to
11760-418: The terminals, facing each other at the front. Some Early Celtic forms depart from the normal style of torc by lacking a break at the throat, and instead are heavily decorated at the continuous front, with animal elements and short rows of " balusters ", rounded projections coming to a blunt point; these are seen both on the sculpted torc worn by the stone " Glauberg Warrior" and a gold torc (illustrated) found in
11872-549: The three covers form one continuous painting. Torc A torc , also spelled torq or torque , is a large rigid or stiff neck ring in metal, made either as a single piece or from strands twisted together. The great majority are open at the front, although some have hook and ring closures and a few have mortice and tenon locking catches to close them. Many seem designed for near-permanent wear and would have been difficult to remove. Torcs have been found in Scythian , Illyrian , Thracian , Celtic , and other cultures of
11984-458: The whole body, the head is often over-large. There is evidence that the human head had a special importance in Celtic religious beliefs. The most elaborate ensembles of stone sculpture, including reliefs , come from southern France, at Roquepertuse and Entremont , close to areas colonized by the Greeks. It is possible that similar groups in wood were widespread. Roquepertuse seems to have been
12096-544: The world uses a similar mysterious vocabulary of circles, spirals and other curved shapes, but it is striking that the most numerous remains in Europe are the large monuments, with many rock drawings left by the Neolithic Boyne Valley culture in Ireland, within a few miles of centres for Early Medieval Insular art some 4,000 years later. Other centres such as Brittany are also in areas that remain defined as Celtic today. Other correspondences are between
12208-650: Was designated International Day of Celtic Art in 2017 by a group of contemporary Celtic artists and enthusiasts. The day is an occasion for exhibits, promotions, workshops, demonstrations and gatherings. From June 6 to 9, 2019 the First International Day of Celtic Art Conference was held in Andover, New York. Thirty artists, craftsmen and scholars from Scotland, Ireland and from across the United States and Canada attended. The second IDCA Conference
12320-404: Was first published in book form in the U.S. by Dell , with the title of the first part changed to The Anome : The Anome (1973), The Brave Free Men (1973), The Asutra (1974). The first U.K. publication was by Coronet : The Anome (1975), The Brave Free Men (1975), The Asutra (1975). The Coronet edition is notable for its cover artwork, by Jim Burns : when placed side by side
12432-400: Was known as Saint Kynauc's Collar. Gerald encountered and described this relic first-hand while travelling through Wales in 1188. Of it he says, "it is most like to gold in weight, nature, and colour; it is in four pieces wrought round, joined together artificially, and clefted as it were in the middle, with a dog's head, the teeth standing outward; it is esteemed by the inhabitants so powerful
12544-633: Was one of the elements feeding into Art Nouveau decorative style, very consciously so in the work of designers like the Manxman Archibald Knox , who did much work for Liberty & Co. The Arts and Crafts Movement in Ireland embraced the Celtic style early on, but began to back away in the 1920s. The governor of the National Gallery of Ireland, Thomas Bodkin , writing in The Studio magazine in 1921, drew attention to
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