Posted on 10/07/2001 4:01:28 PM PDT by Pokey78
Wasn't too many years ago that I was taught that the Muslims of Indonesia were "moderates." Then they slaughtered the Chinese among them. And now I see they are riled up as much as the mobs in Islamabad. So I think you are right.
I'm curious: Isn't that where the Basques are concentrated. Then the Moors couldn;t handle them either?
I'm curious: Isn't that where the Basques are concentrated. Then the Moors couldn;t handle them either?
Galicia... Basque? Cough, hack, gasp.... No, Man! We conquered those Basque pansies. We were the meanest, nastiest, head-chopping, bunch of savages that the Romans ever encountered in Iberia.
We were Celts!
We were the last Celtic tribe conquered by the Romans on the European continent. After that, the Visigoths didn't conquer us and the Muslim Moors did not conquer us.
Today, the traditional musical instrument of Galicia is the bagpipe. During the Spanish colonial period, a very large number of Galicians (Gallegos) came to the Spanish colonies, especially Cuba. So, when you meet a blue eyed, blonde Cuban or Cuban American such as myself, don't say, "Gee, you don't look Cuban". Say, "Were your ancestors Gallegos?".
Anthropologists are not sure what the Basque origins are as their language has no common roots with any other European language. Some scholars think they may be the descendants of the original Iberians before the coming of the Celtic, Greek, Carthegenian and Roman invasions of ancient Iberia.
Well, not necessarily "our" guys but our cousins and the cousins of all the other Celts.
The Celts invaded lands extending from Turkey to Spain and from Italy to the British Isles.
Extent of the Ancient Celtic World
"Galicia" derives from the Roman name meaning "Land of the Celts". So, you will find a "Galatia" in Roman Turkey and a Galicia in Spain. You will also find a "Galicia" in Poland corresponding to the easternmost extension of the Celts. The Roman name for Celtic France was "Gallia" and, as Julius Caesar has taught every schoolboy suffering through Latin class, "Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres..."
The "Dying Gaul" is a famous statue from the ancient Greek city state of Pergamon in what is now Turkey commemorating a victory over the Celts in 239 B.C. The battle dress (buck naked), the battle trumpet, the shield and the gold neck collar (torque) is typical of Celtic warriors and is identical to the battle gear encountered by the Romans in their wars with the Celts in northern Italy, France and northern Spain.
The Celts did succeed in conquering central Turkey and that became the "Galatia" of St. Paul's letter.
In the British Isles, the Romans pushed back the Celts into Scotland and Ireland which was never invaded by the Romans. The Germanic invasions of Britain by the Angles and Saxons replaced the Romans in England but the Celts kept their bastions in Scotland and Ireland. The Romans could have called Britain "Galicia" also. Instead, they named it "Brittania" which was a corruption of the Greek name "Pretanic Islands" which in turn came from "Pritani" which is what the Celts in Britain called themselves.
Thanks. I found a transcript of the show at the PBS NOVA web site.
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