THE UNITED KINGDOM

OF GREAT BRITAIN AND

NORTHERN IRELAND
 ANCIENT BRITAIN
Ancient Britain, term used to denote the islands
of Great Britain from the time of the earliest
human presence, about 700,000 years ago, to the
arrival of the Angles and Saxons in the 5th and
6th centuries. During that time enormous changes
took place. The name Britain comes from the
Latin name Britannia, which the ancient Romans
applied to the island, and the name Britain is still
widely used to mean Great Britain.
This was the biggest
buildings for Britts
• Angles (people) (Latin Angli), Germanic tribe
that occupied the region still called Angeln
in what is now the state of Schleswig-
Holstein, Germany. Together with the
Saxons and Jutes, they invaded Britain
during the 5th century AD. With their
kindred ethnic groups, they formed the
people who came to be known as the English.
The name England is derived from them.
Unique creation
"Римляне учат древних бриттов
механическим искусствам"
 The Britons
• Britons, name applied to the inhabitants of Britain before the
invasions by the Germanic Angles and Saxons in the 5th and 6th
centuries AD. In modern usage the word denotes residents of
Great Britain in general. Little authentic information regarding the
antecedents of the ancient Britons has been unearthed. According
to most historians the aboriginal inhabitants of the island were
conquered, probably toward the end of the Bronze Age, by peoples
from the Continent speaking Celtic languages. Celtic groups
migrated to Britain periodically until the 1st century BC. The
Britons maintained close commercial ties with the Celtic peoples in
Gaul and other parts of the Continent. Although divided politically
and often at war with one another, the various tribes of Britons,
especially those in the southern part of Britain, slowly developed a
distinct civilization that included organized communities and the
use of iron and gold coinage. The Britons excelled in certain fields
of art, particularly in the making of bronze weapons and jewelry.
When the Angles and Saxons invaded Britain, many Britons fled to
the Roman province of Armorica in northwestern France. This area
was later named Brittany after the Britons, who subsequently
became known as Bretons.
 ... которые несли его
изображение на своих знаменах;
древние бритты сделали ...
•
Celts
Celts, a people who dominated much of western and central Europe in the
1st millennium BC, giving their language, customs, and religion to the other
peoples of that area.
• The earliest archaeological evidence associated with the Celts places them
in what is now France and western Germany in the late Bronze Age, around
1200 BC. In the early Iron Age, they are associated with the Hallstatt
Culture (8th century BC to 5th century BC), named for an archaeological
site in what is now Oberösterreich (Upper Austria). They probably began to
settle in the British Isles during this period. Between the 5th and 1st
centuries BC, their influence extended from what is now Spain to the
shores of the Black Sea. This later Iron Age phase is called La Tène, after
a site in Switzerland.
• The word Celt is derived from Keltoi, the name given to these people by
Herodotus and other Greek writers. To the Romans, the Continental Celts
were known as Galli, or Gauls; those in the British Isles were called
Britanni.
• In the 4th century BC, the Celts invaded the Greco-Roman world,
conquering northern Italy, Macedonia, and Thessaly (Thessalia). They
plundered Rome in 390, sacked Delphi in 279, and penetrated Asia Minor,
where they were known as Galatians. The “Cisalpine Gauls” of northern
Italy were conquered by the Romans in the 2nd century BC; Transalpine
Gaul (modern France and the Rhineland) was subdued by Julius Caesar in
the 1st century BC, and most of Britain came
under Roman rule in the 1st century AD. In the same period, the Celts of
central Europe were dominated by the Germanic peoples. In medieval and
modern times the Celtic tradition and languages survived in Brittany (in
western France), Wales, the Scottish Highlands, and Ireland.
 IBERIANS
Iberians, ancient people of eastern and southern Spain. The Iberian Peninsula, comprising Spain
and Portugal, takes its name from them. The origin of the Iberians is still largely a matter
for conjecture. Some scholars suggest that the region around the Ebro River (in ancient
times the Iberus) is the most likely place of origin; others theorize that the Iberians
migrated to the Iberian Peninsula from North Africa sometime before 1500 BC. The first
historical references to the Iberians, made by Greek colonists settled along the
Mediterranean coast of the peninsula, date from the 6th century BC. Later data, recorded
mainly by the Romans, who gained possession of the peninsula as a consequence of the
Second Punic War, reveal that by the 3rd century BC the Iberians had become mixed with
Celtic invaders from the east, producing the so-called Celtiberians; the present-day Spanish
are in part descended from these Celtiberians. (The name Iberians was also used by the
Greeks for the ancient inhabitants of Georgia, in Caucasia. The two groups of people were
not related, however.)
• Knowledge of the Iberians of Spain has been gained mainly from cross-dating of their coins
and pottery. The majority of the coins are inscribed in an alphabet partly derived from
those of the Phoenicians and Greeks. Most of the characters, however, are in an older,
apparently indigenous script of unknown origin. The script has been deciphered, and
numerous place-names mentioned in inscriptions on coins can be read, but little more is
understood at present. Iberian pottery has been uncovered in parts of France, Italy, and
North Africa, brought there originally through trade and travel.
• It is widely supposed that the Iberians were generally short and dark-skinned; that primarily
they were agriculturalists (some were also miners and metalworkers); that quite possibly
they lived in and around politically independent city-states; and that undoubtedly they
possessed a sophisticated written literature. Their culture, although earlier indebted to the
Carthaginians and Greeks who had colonized Spain before the Romans, had reached a high
level by the time of the Roman conquest. Little of it survived the overpowering influence of
Rome. The Iberian language was replaced by Latin during the six centuries of Roman rule.
• Theories that attempt in some way to relate the ancient Iberians to the Basques, and the
Iberian language to that of the Basques, are not supported by modern scholarship.
 JUTES

Jutes, early Germanic tribe of Denmark or

northern Germany that, according to the Anglo-
Saxon historian Saint Bede the Venerable,
participated in the conquest of southeastern
Britain along with the Angles and Saxons during
the 5th century AD. These people were the
inhabitants of Jutland. Their territory bordered
that of the Saxons, who, with the Angles, also
settled Britain and drove the Britons westward
into present-day Wales. Through assimilation, the
Jutes gradually lost their identity as a people, and
by the 8th century the term Jute had almost
completely disappeared from the English language.