Iberian Peninsula at about 200 BC
The
Celtici were a
Celtic tribe of the
Iberian peninsula, akin either to the
Lusitanians and
Gallaecians or the
Celtiberians, living in what today are the provinces of
Alentejo and the
Algarve in
Portugal, though some migrated north alongside the
Turduli. Their presence was the result of a third or even fourth wave of migrations of Celts (or other speakers of
Indo-European languages) into Iberia. Their migration most likely occurred in the
4th century BC.
:
Strabo (3, 1, 6) echoed Poseidonius when he mentioned the Keltikoi as the main inhabitants of the region located between the rivers Tagus and Guadiana, approximately where the Alentejo (Portugal) stands today. The celtici were not considered a barbarian people, on the contrary they were what the greeks considered a civilized people almost in the same degree as the Turdetani.
:
They shared the same "gentle and civilized" character of the Turdetani. Strabo put this down to the fact that they:were neighbouring populations, and Polybius proposed that they were related, "although the Celtici are less [civilized] because they generally live in hamlets (Str., 3, 2, 15)."
Their main cities were Lacobriga (probably
Lagos in the Algarve), Caepiana (in Alentejo), Braetolaeum,
Miróbriga (near
Santiago do Cacém), Arcobriga, Meribriga, Catraleucus, Turres, Albae and Arandis (near
Castro Verde and
Ourique).
Map of the main pre-Roman tribes in Portugal and their migrations. Turduli movement in red, Celtici in brown and Lusitanian in blue.
They appear to be the main group responsible for the "celticization" of the
Conii, in the Algarve.
:
Their most famous city was Conistorgis (Str., 3, 2, 2), which, according to different sources, belonged to the Cunetes or Conii (App., Iber. 56-60). Similarly, Strabo (3, 2, 15) indicated that the Celtici established colonies, such as Pax Augusta.The origin of the Baeturian Celts was, according to Pliny, from the Celtici of Lusitania and were also kin to the
gallaeci:
:
Celticos a Celtiberis ex Lusitania advenisse manifestum est sacris, lingua, oppidorum vocabulis, quae cognominibus in Baetica distinguntur. :The Celtici from Guadiana had blood links with the Galician Celts, since there had been large-scale migration to the northwest of these Celts along with the Turduli (Str., 3, 3, 5).
:...
[Pliny] appears to regard [Celtici´s Lusitania] the original seat of the whole celtic population of the Iberian peninsula including the celtiberians, on the ground of an identity of sacred rites, language, and names of cities.Citations
