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14 The Celtic World – a history
would eventually succumb to the power of Rome and other historical forces, and fade away by the early medieval period around AD 500. Celtic languages would then be confined to the western fringe of Europe, mainly to Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Brittany where they are still spoken today. In medieval Ireland these Continental beginnings were forgotten and native origin myths were aligned with an irrefutable biblical world history as expounded by the Christian church. In this fiction, Japhet, one of the sons of Noah who attempted to build the Tower of Babel after the Flood, became the ultimate ancestor of the peoples of Europe. While they had a long life, such eastern origin myths of one sort or another would eventually be rejected as an affinity between the Irish, Scots Gaelic, Welsh, Cornish and Breton languages was gradually recognized in the sixteenth century. It was a slow process however and eccentric speculation about Celtic origins would continue until the middle of the nineteenth century when the modern study of Celtic linguistics and archaeology began. Celtic Druids had been a subject of interest for several centuries because of their appearance in classical writings. They became especially popular in the eighteenth century when stone circles like Stonehenge and other archaeological monuments were often attributed to them. In the following century archaeological discoveries, in areas known to have been inhabited by Celtic-speakers, would be credited to prehistoric Celts with a greater degree of plausibility. A whole series of dramatic finds in France and Germany in particular would then bring these ancient people to scholarly and popular attention. In the twentieth century and in the new millennium the Celtic world of old would be clearly defined and new approaches in both linguistic studies and archaeology would add immeasurably to our understanding of a remarkable European phenomenon.
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