In his De Bello Gallico Caesar give a short and
enigmatic description of the inhabitants of Britain. Enigmatic, because he assigns
to them the custom of polyandry. Polyandry
– the sharing of a woman between various men – is rarely found and is best
known from Himalayan tribes. Caesar also says that they were clad in skins, but
this is definitely not true as wool and linen were in use too. It could be that
he wanted them to depict as primitive as possible. Still, it could be that Caesar
was somehow right about polyandry, but that can hardly have been a practice of
the whole population, as there would have been an enormous amount of unmarried
women. Also, granted that it did exist, the number of ten to twelve men for
each woman seems absurd high.
It is
also possible that this custom did exist, but not amongst the Celtic tribes,
but with pre-Celtic tribes. In this case the Picts come to mind. Their origin
is unclear and though some claim they are a Celtic tribe, this is far from
sure. Their name comes from Roman pictus as they painted or tattooed their
bodies, which would be in line with what Caesar says is this passage too. How
the Picts called themselves is unknown. So it is possible that Caesar is
conflating Celtic and Pictish customs.
Some
commentators have seen this passage as a proof for the high esteem women were
held in amongst the Celts, as if polyandry mirrors polygamy, but I doubt that,
though women were certainly respected and could even become leaders, be it in
exceptional circumstances, as Boudicca proves. The wiki link below clams on
this single reference that this practice was common amongst the Celts, but Caesar
says nothing about this practice in Gaul. So be careful with claims on Wikipedia:
check and double check! I am leaving aside all those claims on internet that
Celtic women had a great sexual freedom as if they were happy hippies from the
sixties. There is always a great danger of reading into texts once own ideology…
Caesar, De Bello Gallico, V.14
Ex his
omnibus longe sunt humanissimi qui Cantium incolunt, quae regio est maritima
omnis, neque multum a Gallica differunt consuetudine. Interiores plerique
frumenta non serunt, sed lacte et carne vivunt pellibusque sunt vestiti. Omnes
vero se Britanni vitro inficiunt, quod caeruleum efficit colorem, atque hoc
horridiores sunt in pugna aspectu; capilloque sunt promisso atque omni parte
corporis rasa praeter caput et labrum superius. Uxores habent deni duodenique
inter se communes et maxime fratres cum fratribus parentesque cum liberis; sed
qui sunt ex his nati, eorum habentur liberi, quo primum virgo quaeque deducta
est.
Ex his omnibus: i.e. of all the inhabitants of Britain.
Cantium: Kent
maritima omnis: actually only half of Kent is surrounded by
the sea
interiores: those living away from the sea
frumenta: kinds of wheat
sero sevi satum: to sow (from the same Indo-European root as
English `seed’.)
vitrum:
woad (Isatis tinctoria, a plant used
for its blue colour.)
inficio infeci infectum: to paint
caeruleus: bleu
aspectu: ablativius limitationis with horridiores.
capillo promisso: loose hanging hair (ablatives descriptionis)
rado rasi rasum: to shave
labrum: lip
deni: ten each
parentesque cum liberis: of course only fathers and sons
habentur: are counted as
quo = ad
quem
deduco deduxi deductum: to marry (A bride was led in
procession to the house of her bridegroom.)
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