(Posted October 2003) What Really Happened To The Picts?

Runewright.tripod.com ^ | 10-27-2003

[marron]

Christianity does probably play a role in the disappearance of the Picts. They warred against all comers until after they were converted. Subsequent to this, over time, they simply intermarried with the Celts. The infamous Kenneth McAlpin was king of both the Scots and the Picts. There were probably many marriages between Picts and Scots, and eventually the two nations simply merged.

I am beginning to suspect that they were also Celts, simply because there are almost no linguistic traces of them at all. If they were Basque, or Saami, place names at the very least would have survived. You can tell, for instance, where the Danes lived by variations in the accent. But its as if the Picts never were. But if their language was closely related, and they eventually shared a common religion with their Scot neighbors, it would not be so surprising that, having no written tongue, they would have simply "disappeared".

It may be frustrating to historians and for obsessive Pictophiles like us, but it is one of history's happy endings. They weren't slaughtered, they got married.

[Sabertooth]

High on his throne sat Bran Mak Morn
When the sun-god sank and the west was red;
He beckoned a girl with his drinking horn,
And, "Sing me a song of the race," he said.

[Sam Cree]

Are the Lapps also 4 footers? I htink I am skeptical about the height.

I was in northern England about 35 years ago with my brother. We were shown Hadrian's wall, which still exists in places in the beautiful English countryside.

Gives you a weird feeling to see the ancient thing going randomly through farms.

[metesky]

Smertae boy, drop the sheep nd take a look at this.

[csvset]

Very interesting.

[isom35]

the Picts? I know them by their new name, the jpegs.

[MayDay72]

"Kewl! A Pink Floyd thread. That was always my favorite song!" -tet68

LOL! Mine too!

[tet68]

Great! Thanks!

Folks you had to hear it, it wa awesome!

[SauronOfMordor]

They were small in stature (probably no more than 4 feet tall) and dark of hair and eyes. Archiological evidence shows that they probably spent the icy winters in underground structures which were entered by narrow tunnels, much like an igloo built of stone. These were hidden from view by a covering of sod which made the final stucture look like a rounded hill.

So THAT'S what become of those silly Hobbits!

[cavtrooper21]

Some of my more irrational English pals say that they are still there...
Hiding in the hills and deep glens, waiting patiently for us to go the same way the Romans did.
Not realistic, by makes for a neat daydream.

[VadeRetro]

Gary Gianni, huh? Thought it was a Frank Franzetta.

[Sabertooth]

Gary Gianni, huh? Thought it was a Frank Franzetta.

I thought I'd throw a curve.

Here's Frazetta's Bran Mak Morn...

[VadeRetro]

Woah!! Freakin' neanderthal!!

[Victoria Delsoul]

High on his throne sat Bran Mak Morn
When the sun-god sank and the west was red;
He beckoned a girl with his drinking horn,
And, "Sing me a song of the race," he said.

Her eyes were as dark as the seas of night,
Her lips were as red as the setting sun,
As, a dusky rose in the fading light,
She let her fingers dreamily run

Over the golden-whispered strings,
Seeking the soul of her ancient lyre;
Bran sate still on the throne of kings,
Bronze face limned in the sunset's fire

"First of the race of men," she sang,
"Far from an unknown land we came,
From the rim of the world where mountains hang
And the seas burn red with the sunset flame."

"First and the last of the race are we,
Gone is the old world's gilt and pride,
Mu is a myth of the western sea,
Through halls of Atlantis the white sharks glide."

An image of bronze, the king sate still,
Javelins of crimson shot the west,
She brushed the strings and a murmured thrill
Swept up the chords to the highest crest.

"Hear ye the tale that the ancients tell,
Promised of yore by the god of the moon,
Hurled on the shore a deep sea shell,
Carved on the surface a mystic rune:"

" 'As ye were first in the mystic past
Out of the fogs of the dim of Time,
So shall the men of your race be last
When the world shall crumble,' so ran the rhyme."

" 'A man of your race, on peaks that clash,
Shall gaze on the reeling world below;
To billowing smoke shall he see it crash,
A floating fog of the winds that blow.' "

" 'Star-dust falling for aye through space.
Whirling about in the winds that spin;
Ye that were first, be the last-most race,
For one of your men shall be the last of men.' "

Into the silence her voice trailed off,
Yet it echoed across the dusk,
Over the heather the night-wind soft
Bore the scent of the forest's musk.

Red lips lifted, and dark eyes dreamed,
Bats came wheeling on stealthy wings;
But the moon rose gold and the far stars gleamed,
And the king still sate on the throne of kings.

-Robert E. Howard

[Senator Pardek]

There's no way you read "Conan" books as a kid.

[Victoria Delsoul]

LOL!

[Senator Pardek]

With that painting of the broad with the tiger, I take it back ;)

[Victoria Delsoul]

What broad? Are you kidding me?

[Tribune7]

The Romans feared the picts and had very strict laws governing their use as slaves and servants.

While, it was acceptable for a Roman to restrict a Pict to a single estate or farm, the Roman was forbidden to take the Pict along when he traveled.

That was considered a moving Pict and hence illegal.

[farmfriend]

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