Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1896-02-15
ORIGINS OF CELTIC ART.
seems TO Have Been Derived Di-
rectIy from Greece and Egypt.


CThe Edinburgh Scotsman)
Mr.. Arthur j. Evans. keeper of the Ash
mclean Museum and Honorable Fellow Of
Brasenose College. oxford. delivered In
the hall of the National Portrait Gallery
Edinburgh, the fourth OF this year S
course OF the Rhind lectures H. archae-
ology. the subject Of which is "The Origins
of Celtic Art" THE Rise OF Late Celtic
Culture on the Continent and It's Mix
Hellenic Character" wa the special sub
ject Of the lecture.
BESIDES, Mr. Evans said, the contact
win the ancient Nenetians referred 70 In
the preceding lecture, the Celtic art was
largely influenced by direct conn srcial
intercourse with Greece. Finds OF this
period containing Greek vessels Of sixth
and fifth century fabric are scattered over
a wide area from Central Eastern France
TO Moravia. Among the most characters
tic Of the objects thus imported are bronze
tripods, hydrias nun erOus beaked wine
vases or oenOChOes, fiat bowls Of bronze
Ike the preceding. and painted vases.
These We're originally described by DR..
Lindenschmit and others as Etruscan, but
their Greek origin was now I'm almost all
cases authenticated, ana bespeaks a very
lively commerce with the Hellenic lands.
The general range OF the finds tends to
show that the bulk OF these objects
came by Adriatic routes. Some came
from Corinthian and Cheladian work
shops. others from Magma Graecia, and
in the Roseninsel. In Bavaria, fragments
Of painted pottery were found, which was
probably derived from Tarentum. The
greater part of the imported objects were
found beside 81; setons. often associated
with remains Of chariots.
II.
was found under these conditions a hydra
of sixth century Greek fabric. and with II
a late Hallstatt sword. and in a contem-
porary deposit at La Garenne In the Cote
dor a tripod similar 10 one found at
Olympia. At Durkheim, near Speyer in
the remains Of tumulus, was found an
other tripod and brOnL vessels of fifth
century date, similar to one found at
Nulci. Similar finds belonging 70 this pc
riod are specially frequent I'm the Valley
OF the Sa9r. and In these and kindred de-
posits We already begin to see the begin
niAgs OF Indigenous Celtic limitations Of
some OF the imported Greek models.
In the barrows Of the Marne and other
cemeteries OF Champagne we see impaired
oesochOes and painted vases associated
with arms and ornaments Of pronounced
Late Celtic character. Remarkable
t0mb-groups Of the same class, belonging
in this case 20 the fourth injury. H. c.,
are seen I'm the barrOws excavatcd at
Wald Algesheim, between the Saar ana
Nahc. and at Eygeubilsen, near Tongcrs.
1t thus appears that the sixth century
before our era onward there was a con
'lnual flow Of Greek commerce into these
East Gdulish regions, exercising a mOdi-
Tying influence on the later Hallstatt Gull
ture, and contributing an important fac
tor TO ihe formation Of the late Celtic
art About 400 3. c., before the great Gaui-
ish invaslOns, Gaulish swarms sacked
Rome and occupied Northern Italy, and at
the same time the Belgic tribes pushed
westward 10 Britain, while others adj
yanced 10 the Pyrenees and penetrated 10
Spain. Eastward the Danublan countries
were oyerrun, Delphi plundered. and Gel
tic kingdoms founded in Thrace. and.
finally in part Of Asia Minor-the later
Gaatia.
Nor was this ali. Bodies OF mercenar-
les took service with Greeks. Etruscane
and Carthaginians in Sicily, Central
Italy, Macedon, and elsewhere The DO
sition Of the Celtic tribes became thus
cosmopolitan, and we must be prepared
to find traces Of very various Influences
The migra ion which turned a large mart
OF North italy into "Cisalpine Gaulr has
lets its traces n cemeteries like that of
Maizabotto, the counterpart Of those of
Champagne, ana this settlement in the
Poe Valley greatly promoted the difru-
sion of Italian civilization among the
Gauls. More to the east their Dauubian
extension brought them into contact with
special Pontic or Greco-Scythian cul-
ture, offshoots Of which, moreover into
Central Europe mad been already Illus
trated by finds like that OF Vettersleld
In Silesa.
Mr.. Evans suggested that 1t was
through the intimate contact with the
PannCnlan and Illyrlan tribes (Which
may have begun much earlier) that the
Celtic craftsmen became acquainted with
thai survival OF the spiral system Of or
nanent of which the pure Hailstatt cul-
tire had preserved but little. but which.
rs had been already pointed out. ~
found ia the Bosnian remains OF the
early iron Age, and forms a distinguish
cd feature of the latest Bronze Age OF
Hungary, which overlaps the Hallstatt pc
Rod in the Alps. These spiraloform mo-
tiyes. which henceforth become an in
separable part OF late Celtic ornaments,
may In this way be traced back by a IL
neal descent to the much earlier spiral
decorations II the Aegean countries. OF
which thai OF Mycena was directly an
omshoot
This system had been spread by the
old course Of the amber commerce to
the Bronze Age population of Scandlna-
via, by whom IL seems 10 have been pro-
pasated 20 a limited dee gree TO the Ork-
neys, Scotland. and ireland But this
earlier wave had long been spent, and
IL was the later Celtic invaders that
brought the Celtic spiral system back,
as II still survived almost within the
memory Of maai-in the decoration, for
instance. Of Highland pistohs--to cur IS
lands. This was a later branch OF the
same parent trunk. but the question ma
turally arose, Where were its roots? In
the Aegean Ielancs thisA spiral system
went back 10 the third millennium before
our era, and the lecturer himself had
long suspected that this early European
system fitted on 10 that OF XII. dynasty.
Egypt. where The scarabs showed that
the returning spiral decoratlon-in Egypt