The Forgotten History of Celtic Anatolia

Galatia was a region in north-central Anatolia (modern-day Turkey) settled by the Celtic Gauls c. 278-277 BCE. The name comes from the Greek for “Gaul” which was repeated by Latin writers as Galli. The Celts were offered the region by the king of neighboring Bithynia, Nicomedes I (r. 278-255 BCE) and established themselves in three provinces made up of four cantons (wards) comprised of city-states (known as oppidum) governed, respectively, by the three tribes which made up the initial group: the Tectosages, Trocmil, and Tolistogogii.

The Galatian Celts retained their culture at first, continuing to observe their ancient religious festivals and rituals, but gradually became Hellenized to the point that they were referred to as Greek-Gauls by some Latin writers. They were conquered by Rome in 189 BCE, becoming a client state, but were granted a degree of autonomy under the reign of Deiotarus (“the Divine Bull”, r. c. 105-c. 42 BCE) after Pompey the Great (l. c. 106-44 BCE) defeated Mithridates VI (r. 120-63 BCE) of Pontus in 63 BCE and was later absorbed into the Roman Empire in 25 BCE by Augustus Caesar. It is best known from the biblical Book of Galatians, a letter written to the Christian community there by Saint Paul.

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The Original Article titled Galatia.

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[StayRadDontDieB]

This is such an awesome niche of history. This is a gem for me thank you

[denizcaprak]

I'm from Galatia. When you look at the map in the beginning I'm from actually where it says Galatia about 30 miles south east of Gordion. There are still reminents of Galatians. A lot of people from my village or surrounding villages have red hair and red beard or blond hair and beard. We are also taller than most people of Turkey.

[xxyy]

In Turkey today, excluding the Thrace (Rumeli) region and the eastern and central Black Sea regions (I mean Kipchak, Balkan and Caucasian origin Turks), the region (city) with the highest number of blond people is yozgat. Having blonde hair is a common feature among Yozgat Turks. At the same time, Yozgat is the city with the highest rate of red-haired people in Turkey. This situation BC. It is related to the Celts who came to Anatolia in the 300s and founded the Galatia kingdom in Anatolia. The Celts managed to preserve their language for a long time. Some of them took Greek names and became Greek. In the sources, the king of Galatia is mentioned in the Battle of Manzikert. When the Turks came to Anatolia, this people is not mentioned at all. These people did not suddenly disappear. They became Muslims and became Turkish. In other words, the Celts did not disappear, they still live in Central Anatolia (especially around Yozgat and Çorum). People who have traveled all over Anatolia will understand what I'm talking about.

[Orphus]

The human story is always more Bizarre than we imagined.

[rockinbobokkin]

I like the vibe on this celtic content. Adding up all the little known history and highlighting when the narrative might have been propagandized.
It's fascinating, since most of my lifetime, ancient history was dominated by Hellenistic superiority, but the archeaology shows that despite the Celts not being empirical, as a group they dominated and held a massive region for a very long time. I can only hope we can learn more in the future.

[noname]

This is fascinatingto learn. A tribe of warlike Celts migrating from Gaul on foot/horseback and making their way through present day Balkans, Greece and eventually crossing into present day Turkey and settling in the area of present day Ankara.
If they had survived as a distinct group today, it would be amazing to see a Celtic speaking nation in present day Turkey.

[mweskamppp]

A roman writer of old said, the language of the galatans were the same as that from the Mosel area, today Germany/Luxembourg/France.

[hikmetgiraysonmez]

Some Galatians still live in the north Caucasus. I don't know why they might have gone there. A year ago, I got a 45% Irish result in DNA research and started researching it. My Ancestors came from the North Caucasus to Turkey (1845) and they belong to a Highlander tribe of Chechen / Ingush origin. The name of this tribe is Аьккхий тайпана Akkiy a warrior tribe. Ingush's name is "Galgai / Galgoi" in their own language. In some ancient finds triple spiral symbols are quite common. I think the north Caucasus is a region that has received a great deal of Celtic immigration.

[shanecarubbi]

Very awesome, I'm liking these Celtic history video's 👍 thank you.

[matthewmann]

The Celts really expanded, extended, accelerated, enlarged, and increased

[turkcukayi]

Today, some of our people in Central Anatolia in Türkiye are red. It took its place in the Asia Minor DNA soup in the Galatians. When Roussel de Bailleul came to Asia Minor to help Eastern Roman, he encountered a people similar to their own culture in Central Anatolia and established a state in this region.

[jcastle]

Very interesting, liking these celtic videos!

[andybeans]

The whole "land for mercs" motif seems to be popular throughout history, what to do with trained murderers once you've finished with them?

[trailtrs]

Very good layout of Galatia. Fantastic history and relation of these things to the ministry of St Paul- who’s letter is why we presently know of Galatia as a unique ethno-group

[apostolosmate]

The Galatians (Gallo-Graeci) had also a presence in Hellenistic Egypt, before the Roman control.

[davewatson]

Brennus, brenhin is modern Welsh for king.

[onbedoeldekut]

There was me tricked by the title into thinking I was clicking a video about the Anatolian origins of the people the Celts displaced in Europe!
(I must pay more attention)
The culture which made the first (known) standing stones placed in circles across Europe were said to have originated in Anatolia, and imagine the dropped jaws when Gobekli Tepe was discovered to have been built by their ancestors!

I'd love to see more work regarding the GT peoples and the course of their migration into Europe proper if any have been made.

[erichtomanek]

If only the Galatian people were around today with their language, culture and religion, the world would be a better place; at least a little bit.
We need more Celtic peoples.

[xxyy]

Türkiye'de bugün Trakya(Rumeli) bölgesi ve doğu ve orta karadeniz bölgeleri (kastettiğim şey Kıpçak, Balkan ve Kafkasya kökenli Türkler) hariç tutulduğunda en fazla sarışın insana sahip bölge (şehir) yozgattır. Yozgatlı Türkler arasında sarı saçlı olmak yaygın bir özelliktir. Aynı zamanda Yozgat Türkiye'nin en fazla kızıl saçlı insan oranına sahip şehridir. Bu durum M.Ö. 300'lü yıllarda Anadolu'ya gelip Anadolu'da galatia krallığı kuran keltlerle ilgilidir. Keltler uzun süre dillerini korumayı başarmışlardır. Bir kısmı Yunanca isimler alıp yunanlastilar. Kaynaklarda Malazgirt Savaşı'nda galatia kralı geçiyor.Türkler Anadolu'ya geldiklerinde bu halktan hiç bahsedilmiyor. Bu halk birdenbire yok olmadı. Müslüman olup türkleştiler. Yani keltler yok olmadı bugün hala iç Anadolu'da (özellikle Yozgat ve Çorum dolayları) yaşıyorlar. Anadolu'nun her tarafını gezen insanlar ne dediğimi iyi anlayacaktır.

[spclunadope]

the Sea of Galilee, near Golan Heights, there was definitely something going on with Celts, Gauls, Sythians, Phoenicians, Carthage, slave trade settlement colony's throughout the Danube. that Rome clearly wanted erased from knowledge and history.