The Harp
The harp has maintained and increased its importance in Europe. It is omnipresent
in folktales and legends; it is the national symbol of Ireland. The Celtic harp
must have been in use as early as the 10th century, and fragments of one were
found in the 7th-century Sutton Hoo burial ship unearthed at Suffolk, Eng. In
Gaul, Ireland, Wales, and Scotland the harp was an important and favoured symbol;
it was said that there were but three things necessary to a comfortable household—a
virtuous wife, a chair cushion, and a harp. By the end of the 18th century the
harp had almost gone out of use in the Celtic realms, but by then the large
orchestral harp had made its appearance in other places in Europe.
Manuscript illumination and related forms
Among the earliest surviving forms of manuscript painting are the papyrus rolls
of the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead, the scrolls of Classical Greece and
Rome, Aztec pictorial maps, and Mayan and Chinese codices, or manuscript books.
European illuminated manuscripts were painted in egg-white tempera on vellum
and card. Their subjects included religious, historical, mythological, and allegorical
narratives, medical treatises, psalters, and calendars depicting seasonal occupations.
In contrast to the formalized imagery of Byzantine and early Gothic manuscript
painters, Celtic illuminators developed a unique, abstract style of elaborate
decoration, the written text being overwhelmed by intricate latticework borders,
with full-page initial letters embraced by interlacing scrolls.
The 6th-century BC Hallstatt culture of the Bavarian and Bohemian areas had an advanced life-style for its time. Finds from this early phase of the Iron Age, however, are chiefly weapons and jewellery. In the 4th century BC the Celtic peoples from central Europe invaded Italy and moved on to Britain, Ireland, and Spain. Finds of the Celtic culture, which consist largely of jewelry, toilet articles, and ornaments, illustrate both the high Celtic standard of craftsmanship, especially in metal, and the individual character of their design. Museums in many countries—notably Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Britain, and Czechoslovakia—display a wealth of such work.
In Europe the chariot was transmitted, perhaps by the Etruscans, to the Celts,
who were using it in the British Isles about the 5th century BC. The bodywork
of Celtic chariots was somewhat heavier than that of the Greek, and metal, sometimes
inlaid with fine enamels, was extensively used for axle and draft pole, and
occasionally for solid wheels. On the fringe of the Celtic world, where the
chariot remained in use until the 4th century AD, small ponies, yoked four abreast,
were used for draft.
Soap has been known for at least 2,300 years. According to Pliny the Elder,
the Phoenicians prepared it from goat's tallow and wood ashes in 600 BC and
sometimes used it as an article of barter with the Gauls. Soap was widely known
in the Roman Empire; whether the Romans learned its use and manufacture from
ancient Mediterranean peoples or from the Celts, inhabitants of Britannia, is
not known. The Celts, who produced their soap from animal fats and plant ashes,
named the product saipo, from which the word soap is derived.