charioteers of the 'Britons, engage their <en€>mies on foot. It'
does not appear from any ancient notice that the institution
of the druids extended t o ,-Spain, or was ever in vogue
among -the Celtic inhabitants iof the peninsula.' All that
we .are told of their religion is that the Celtiberians, at the
full of the moon, spent the nightbefore their < houses s in
dancing to the honour of some god whose name has not been
preserved. It appears however that the sacred rites of the
Celtiheri were different from^thoseof the Spanish tribes who.
were of the unmixed Iberian race ; this may. be inferred from
a passage of Pliny, which will .presently be «cited.
Celtiberia, properly sq termed, occupied a wide tract in
the inland parts of Spain. It comprehended a large portion
of Amgonjmd rCastile, andrreaehedinopthward to th e sDuriiiis,
and nearly to the Iberus, or Ebro;: to the northward of :febe
Celtiberi was the tribe of Verones-, who; foord ered fon ith©
Cantabri; their principal city was Varia, on the. Ebro. Strabo
assures us that the Verqnes or Berona%^as swell jfe the'CehiH
beri, were a Celtic people; and the same thing is .-reported
of the Carpetaiii, whose principal town was-Alea-f5:. These
tribes belong to the Celtici of the interior.
Ah Another Celtic people in Spain were in the .south-
western extremity. They occupied an extensive country
between.the Tagus, and the Anas ortGaadiana, now forming
parts of Portugal, Algarve, and Alenttf®. This'region was
chiefly filled by Celtic people, among whom,^usy Strabo observes?
the Romans introduced some, s e t t l e from Ahuiitania.
The principal city of this Celtic nation was^oin^t©fFsis.^^<'iThe
Celtici of Conistorsis and the surimndingT conn ti^ partook
of . the; civilization and mildness of their neighbours, the
Turdetani, to whom they were related, as Strabo says;; meaning
probably by intermarriages, f
' ^ e s e Celtici also occupied |a considerable country to the
-southward of the Anas, in Bsetica, or Beeturia. The ancient
writers are not consistent with, each other in their-limitation
of the different .regions of Spain, and im the denominations
which they respectively affix to each part, and hence it is
Steph. Byzadt. V o c . Alea. •“f ’Bw rr]v a vyjivtiav.
•difficult to follow their distribution. Pliny terms the country
to the northward. of the Anas; Lusitania, and the other
side of thukriVer,: to the south-east, Bsetica, or Bseturia.
He divides Bseturia into two parts, .atid .says that one part
belonged to.thd! Celtici, and the other' to the Turduli. The
•passage in which he mention^ the .Celtic towns is a curious
one, as it contains the-firstieffort to trace the Celtici in Spain
by the fiaffii^ioijiplaeesy Pliny hcile anticipa4esd the idea
which became tbe .folindaéion of M. de Huilfbohlt’s work.
He sNps that the Celtici; passed o v e rtly Anas into .Bg^tica
frpm the■ Celtiberi, who, according • to ihis division : ofvpra-
ivinccs, werb in Lusitania. “43Ihis,” as freid^ljtres,f“ k>manjf#j^
by theiMseuffilabcevO&'w^edi by thekda-nguage, :,and by
the names pf .their .towns ; ‘f qiuaeJ cognominihu S - «a JB^tieis
"distinguuntur.” # Ptöle-my lrkewise mentions. of
Bsetica?die enumerates® fivercfties asbelongingjto'thedi^and
^eleven in - .llie^ountry of the .Celtici, bctweena the,; Anas and
the TagSls.^ Tke^p^itic ^co'uutryyto the southward of the
;Anas comprehended a part of Estremadura&b'ieh^f^cut off
Ihyt-fliat,riyer, now termed Guadiana^-as well as some parts of
the kingdom of Seville, near Aroche.
A It seems, from these accounts; that a very Considerable part
of the- south-westernAre'gïon'dfSpain -w^sHhea'bodb b f a'Celtic
^people; and th a t1'these-people differed froni -thè neighbouring
tribeSi^of Tberian descent in tbeir religfous riteslas well as-in
their language, in both of which they, Resembled the Celtiberi.
This vs®.prevent fqnr adoptmg^the 'bjStmlflf-'bi soffié date
•writers, who'imagine that the’Celts-of Spain' had become
entirely assimilated to the native-Spaniards, brdShékaldunes.
i'iil’B. A part-of Galicia-'Vtëés also the territory so f^É Celtic,
people, from whom the’mod erri^hameibf > this'province may
possiM^ have'heëh derived. Thélf^oihontóry of' Ne'rium, or
Cape Fiiiisterre;; was the abode of a tribe termed Artabri;wh6
«are said1 by some to'havebeen a Celtic «race;^ Around it,’and
above -the Artabri, * weré spread the Villages of the-Celtici.
These people, according to -Strabo, were-defended from .the
: * Claud. Ptolem. G®og; tïbf*ü*,jcap..,4.
+ Blin. H. N. lib.Ai. cap. 1.
,, „ J Pomp. Mela, lib. iv. c. 30- fvid-. iiitson, p. 22-)