Description
Most of the northern European tribes were not naval powers, but there were still able seafarers to be found amongst them. Shipbuilding techniques were well understood, so while many vessels were small leather-skinned boats for inland and inshore use, bigger sea-going vessels were also made. Shipwrights used heavy planking for hulls, stitched together and then fastened to a wooden skeleton to create sturdy craft able to cope with Atlantic conditions. Julius Caesar was surprised at the quality of the enemy ships when his fleet clashed with the Veneti from modern-day Brittany. The Veneti vessels had flat bottoms to cope with shallows, but were also of heavy oak construction to cope with rough seas. This made them tough opposition for Roman galleys, and capable of shrugging off a ramming attack. Caesar said that the enemy ships "...were constructed of planks a foot in breadth, fastened by iron spikes the thickness of a man's thumb; the anchors were secured fast by iron chains instead of cables”. When the Romans were forced to board, they faced fearsome warriors used to close-quarters fighting at sea.
The fierce and proud Galatians dominated central Anatolia and eastern Phrygia. Having splintered from the migrating Celts following Brennus’ invasions of Macedon and Greece in 279BC, three tribes, the Tectosages, Tolistobogii and Trocmi, moved through Thrace and crossed the Bosporus into Asia Minor. They came as allies of Nicomedes of Bithynia and secured a victory for him in a dynastic struggle against his brother. After a brief and inconclusive war between Nicomedes and the Seleucid king, Antiochus, the Galatians settled down to stay. Their territory was split between the three tribes, each maintaining its own capital, but with a council at Drynemeton, a sacred grove of oaks near the Tectosages’ capital at Ancyra. Ruled by a military aristocracy, the Galatians left the indigenous Cappadocian people in control of their own towns and lands in return for tithes. Galatian mercenaries were highly prized and respected by Greek, Roman and Seleucid commanders. In fact, the personal bodyguard of the Ptolemies of Egypt consisted of Celtic mercenaries, and it is highly likely that these men came from Galatia.
