1000 BC to 1 BC

1000-750 BC: Proto-Celtic people of the Urnfield culture dominate much of Continental Europe. They also start to spread out over northern Asia as far as the frontiers of China. Development of the deliberate smelting of iron in the Middle East and China around the same time, prompting the title 'The Iron Age' for this period.

1000 BC: Standing Stones such as those in North Down erected.

900 BC: Goidelic-speaking people in England.

950 BC: Relatively sudden climatic deterioration leading to wetter conditions and a reduction in population in lowland areas.

c.700-c.600 BC: Celts arrive from parts of Gaul, Britain, and central Europe. They continued to arrive, up to the time of Christianity. Belonging linguistically to the Indo-European culture, Celts soon began to dominate Ireland, and the earliest settlers. Ireland divided into provinces.

700-500 BC: Hallstatt culture develops in Austria.

700 BC: Early Celts in Austria bury iron swords with their dead.

680 BC: Radiocarbon dating for first circular inhabitation enclosure at Emain Machae (Navan Fort, near Armagh) Note 1 Note 2.

650 BC: The Hallstatt people learn to make use of iron and emerge as the great Iron Age Celtic culture of northern Europe. As trade routes reach them via the Rhône and Danube rivers, so their influence grows. They bury their chiefs in great style, the dead leader lying in his four-wheeled chariot with his weapons around him. They make their swords of iron or from iron models copied in bronze.

600 BC: Goidelic-speaking Celts from Spain arrive in Ireland. Celts into Italy. Greeks found the colony of Massilia, opening up trade between the Celts of inland Europe and the Mediterranean. First evidence of Britain having a name - Albion - (albino, white - called after the chalk-cliffs of Dover). A major rebuild of old Bronze Age defences, and construction of new hillforts takes place in Britain.

550-500 BC: A princess in Vix (Burgundy) is buried with a 280 gallon bronze Greek vase, the largest ever made. 60 miles away a prince is buried layed out on bronze chais-lounge in a hugh chamber tomb.

550 BC: Celts begin to arrive in the British Isles, mainly in Ireland, but also in Scotland and England.

520 BC: Great riches are placed in the tomb of a princess at Vix, France, including a massive wine-mixing bowl from Greece. This illustrates not only the wealth of Celtic chiefs, but also their desire for objects from the classical world, in particular those connected with wine. Heuneberg, an elaborate contemporary Iron Age fort on the river Danube, also imports Greek drinking vessels.

500 BC: Trade between the Etruscans and the Celts begins. Chariots are used by the Celts in Britain; they are introduced via the Etruscans. Lá Téne phase of Celtic culture speads through Europe. Brythonic Celts reach Britain. Iron metallurgy in Ireland, though bronze age economy still in evidence. The Greeks record the name of a major tribe - The KELTOI - and this becomes the common name for all of the tribes. Celts (the Gaels - from Galicia) arrive in Ireland from Spain.

500 BC- 400 BC: The Celts begin to make an impression on European history. They are divided into a number of different tribes, sharing a distinctive decorative style of art, characterized by curving designs and mythical animals. These can be seen on their jewelry (gold and bronze torques), their weapons (decorated shields and sword scabbards), and their pottery and other vessels. The Celts probably originate in northwest and central Europe, France (particularly the area of Champagne), Switzerland, Lower Austria, and western Slovakia. The area of the western Hallstatt, Upper Austria, is also associated with the Celts.

480 BC: Celts of the Hallstatt culture of upper Austria begin to arrive in Britain in substantial numbers. This is the main period of Celtic immigration, greatly augmenting and changing the balance of Britain's population, and is known as Britain's "Iron Age" culture.

450 BC: End of Halstatt Era, beginning of La Téne Era; New wave of Celtic tribes come to Italy.

410 BC: Celtic tribes (soon to become known to the Romans as the Gauls) migrate south across the Alps into the Italian region during this period.

c.400 BC: Celtic tribes begin to move into northern Italy; the Boii and Senones cross the river Po and settle in the Po valley. The Insubres occupy Lombardy, with their capital at Milan (Roman Mediolanum). These Celtic tribes are collectively called Gauls by the Romans. At the same time, other Celtic groups are colonizing the banks of the Yonne and Seine rivers in France, and yet others are moving into Bohemia and Bavaria. Reference. Celts attack the Etruscan city of Clusium.

390 BC: A wandering tribe of Celts (whom the Romans call Gauls) under Brennos defeats the Romans at the Battle of the Allia and Rome is besieged until only the Capitol is unconquered. When the citizens of Rome flee before the Gauls' attack of the Capitol, the senators, according to legend, stay seated majestically in their robes while the barbarian Gauls wonder at them. When a Gaul strokes the beard of Papirius, he strikes the offending Gaul, and the Gauls massacre the entire Senate. The rest of the city is sacked by the Gauls. Offended by the dirty conditions of the city, they demand a ransom to leave the Romans alone. Brennus demands his weight in gold and when the Romans complain he throws his sword on the scales to be weighed as well with the cry "VAE VICTUS" - (Woe to the Vanquished). After the sack of Rome by the Gauls, Rome has to deal with unrest and revolt by all its former enemies and most of its allies, including Etruria, the Aequi, the Volsci, the Latins, and the Hernici.

340 BC: Romans prohibit single combat to settle conflict with the Celts.

335 BC: Alexander the Great encounters Celts on the Danube: Alexander receives envoys from the Celts, and exchange pledges of alliance. Large numbers of Celtic warriors join the Greeks in a war against the Etruscans.

323 BC: Alexander dies and the Celts push into Macedonia.

320 BC: Pytheas [a Greek geographer] refers to the British Isles as the 'Isles of the Pretani'. The Pretani were the ancient British people and are made up of the Ulster Cruithin, Scottish Picts, and the Welsh Ancient Britons.

300 BC: Macha Mong Ruad - The First Milesian Queen of Ireland reigned.

298 BC: Third Samnite War.

285 BC: Battle of Vadimonian Lake.

280-275: BC Celts in Asia Minor: Galatia founded in what is present day central and northern Turkey. References : 1, 2, 3.

279 BC: Celtic tribes invade Greece: a horde of Gauls - a Celtic people from central Europe - sweeps down from the Danube valley through Macedon into Greece, killing and plundering. They are only just halted by the Aetolian League before they reach Delphi, where they intended to plunder the shrine. They turn back north, where King Antigonus II defeats them in Macedon, winning popular support for his kingship. The Celtic chieftain Brennus the Gaul is reputedly prevented from desecrating the shrine of Apollo at Delphi by a miraculous storm and, having been defeated in this way, kills himself in shame.

275 BC: Celts of the La Tène culture (known in Britain as the Iron Age B culture) settle in England, particularly in the Yorkshire Wolds. They spread out from Yorkshire and where they meet Iron Age A forts they tend to refortify them in a most elaborate way, with triple fortifications.

264-241 BC: 1st Punic War.

250-230 BC: Galatian Celts defeated in battle by Greek forces in western Turkey.

250 BC: A group of Celts of the tribe of the Volcae Tectosages invade southern France and settle there, mixing with the local population. Another group settles in Bohemia.

225 BC: Celts march on Rome again; Roman army routs invading Celtic Gauls at Telamon in central Italy.

200-40 BC: Manching, a Celtic Oppidum south of the Danube in Bavaria, was the site of highly advanced metal working techniques. References - 1, 2.

200 BC: The Celts establish permanent fortified settlements (Oppida, or towns). Bronze and iron objects; sculpture in stone and wood; Turoe stone. The Celtic culture of the La Tene civilization, named after a Celtic site in Switzerland, reaches Ireland. Celtic Ireland was not politically unified, only by culture and language. The country was divided into about 150 minitature kingdoms, each called a 'tuath'. A minor king ruled a 'tuath', subject to a more powerful king who ruled a group of 'tuath', who was in turn subject to one of the five provincial kings. (Early on there were five provinces, with Meath as a separate province.) This caused constant shifting in power, among the most important contenders. Celtic Ireland had a simple agrarian economy. No coins were used, and the cow was the unit of exchange. There were no towns. Society was stratified into classes, and was regulated by the Brehon Laws, based largely on the concepts of the 'tuath' as the political body, and the 'fine', or extended family as the social unit.

197 BC: First Celtiberian revolt.

191 BC: Cisalpine Gaul is taken by the Romans.

181 BC-179 BC: In Spain, the Lusones, a Celtiberian tribe, try to migrate into Carpetania, and the First Celtiberian War begins. Fulvius Flaccus defeats them at Aebura, captures their capital at Contrebia, and takes the district known as Celtiberia Citerior (Nearer Celtiberia) to the Romans. The following year Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus senior takes over the war, and continues to defeat the Celtiberians. He makes a treaty with the Nearer Celtiberians, by which they provide tribute and auxiliary troops, and an alliance with Further Celtiberia.

150 BC: A fresh wave of Celts, partly Germanic, begins to arrive in Britain - the Belgae, known as the Iron Age C people.

150-121 BC: Rome takes Provence.

125 BC: Romans annex Gallia.

120 - 60 BC: Central Gallic tribes (the Arverni, Brituriges, Aedui, Sequani, and Helvetii) begin organizing themselves into basic state governments, or civitates. Each civitates elected a chief magistrate, and was divided into smaller units (pagi) with at least one trade center (oppida) or hillforts.

121 BC: Rome defeats the Gauls on the lower Rhone River, opening Gaul to Roman occupation.

118 BC: Rome founded its first colonia (veteran's town) in Gaul at Narbo Martius (Narbonne). Its province of Transalpina, later renamed Narbonensis (today's Provence), extended from the Maritime Alps westward to the Pyrenees, and north to Lake Geneva. After the Cimbric Wars, Germano-Celtic uprisings that occurred between 109-101 BC, regular Roman trade and organization became more secure.

113 BC: War between Rome and Celtiberians. A Celtic tribe known as the Cimbri to the Romans, having migrated south from Denmark, reach the river Meuse. They defeat a Roman army at Noricum (modern Austria) and threaten northern Italy.

112-109 BC: The Getae joined the Celts to invade Roman possessions in the western Balkans.

109-101 BC: Cimbric Wars - Germano-Celtic uprisings - after which Roman trade and establishment became more stable.

107 BC: The Cimbri inflict yet another defeat on the Romans.

105 BC: The Cimbri inflict a still more serious defeat on the Romans at Arausio (modern Orange) on the river Rhône; the province of Transalpine Gaul in southern France now appears to be at their mercy and Rome itself seems threatened.

104 BC: Gaius Marius is elected consul again in Rome and reforms the army to meet the threat of the Cimbri, a Celtic tribe. The captured Jugurtha of Numidia is displayed at the triumph (victory procession) of Marius and his staff officer, Cornelius Sulla, in Rome. The reforms of the Roman consul Gaius Marius make the Roman army more professional and democratic. He increases the legion from about 5,000 to 6,000; changes the 120-strong maniple to the 600-strong cohort; abolishes dependence upon class for recruitment to various ranks of the army; and converts the cavalry to an auxiliary arm. He gives the legions names and numbers and introduces the eagle as a standard for each.

102 BC: The Roman consul Gaius Marius, preparing to meet the Cimbri trains his army with great strictness. Homosexuality is punished, with death in the case of one of Marius' own nephews. His soldiers, practicing route-marches, call themselves "Marius' Mules."

101 BC: The Roman consul Gaius Marius completely defeats the Cimbri at the Battle of Vercellae in the Po valley, northern Italy, with a reputed slaughter of 120,000 men. Rome has no more threats from the Celtic and Germanic barbarians for another five centuries. Marius returns to Rome a hero.

c.100 BC: Celts, probably of the Iron Age B culture of Britain, build their most remarkable stone forts in Scotland. The forts, known as brochs, are dry-stone towers surrounding a circular internal area of about 8.5 m/28 ft in diameter with walls as thick as 4 m/13 ft, in which rooms and staircases are sometimes inset.

100 BC: Arrival of the Gaels in Ireland; Black Pig's Dyke built by the Ulaid and Cruithin. This was a defensive structure running along the southern border of Ulster. Belgae tribes migrate to Britain to escape Roman domination.

95 BC: A 40 meter structure was built at Navan Fort at Emain Macha.

91 BC: The distinctive curvilinear decorative art of the Celtic La Tène culture is introduced into Britain. The Celts of this culture also introduce the practice of throwing votive offerings into sacred waters, as at Llyn Cerrig Bach on the island of Anglesey, which is probably used as a holy place until the Roman destruction of AD 78-79. The enameled bronze shield found in modern times in the river Thames at Battersea dates from this period.

80 BC: The second wave of Celtic Belgae arrives in Britain from Gaul during this period. They settle mostly in the southeast and tackle the less well-drained and still forested land, farming with a plow that can turn the sod. They are probably responsible for the white horse on the chalk downs at Uffington in Oxfordshire.

c.80-60 BC: Romans arrive in Gaul; the region was occupied by about 60 different tribes speaking Celtic languages.

72 BC: Romans launch a retaliatory strike against the Getae and the Celts across the Danube but withdraw because, one account reports, the soldiers were "frightened by the darkness of the forests."

70 BC: Druids (a fire cult from the Middle East) arrive in Britain and gain control of the ruling classes.

65 BC: The situation in Rome is deteriorating into a struggle for power between individuals, with the support of the common people felt to be a necessary asset. The Roman politician Julius Caesar becomes aedile (with responsibility for temples, buildings, streets, markets, and public games), and he spends vast sums on pleasing the public. The Roman politician Catiline conspires to gain power in Rome by force. His plans are betrayed to the orator and statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero, however, by representatives of the Gallic tribe of the Allobroges, who are in Rome to attempt to settle grievances concerning the governing of the province of Gallia Narbonensis in France.

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