Picts

[highlandcelt]

I am very interested in Pictish culture, art, music etc. I am only learning of the Pictish peoples as of recently via the History Channel, and the info they gave was just a LIGHT touching on of the subject when they did a show about King Henry the 8th. They said that very little is known about the Picts because artifacts from the Pict era is extremely rare, and little is known about those peoples. History Channel was trying put the Picts and the Celts in a "low-brow" light. Making them out to be completely barbaric, with NO culture, no history and of little to no intelligence. They even compared the Picts and early Celts to neanderthal man. The only thing they showed in favor of the Celts was the knot-work designs and the stone carvings on Celtic burial graves. They even showed the Celts as blood-thirsty, religious fanatics. So much so, that the Celts would sacrifice men, women and children, young and old, in a "hunt", chasing down the victim after being tied and bound, and more than likely tortured before the chase, and then finally caught and killed, cutting out their hearts, much like the Incas used to do, and then sacrificed the victims to Odin. Isn't Odin a Norse god?
How that pertained to King Henry the 8th, I do not know. They never explained. History Channel flubbed that one up.
Any accurate info and web links would be much appreciated.

[smaughazard]

I can't pretend to be an authority on the Picts, but the Wikipedia page has a ton of references and links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picts

[James]

Certainly Odin was a Norse deity, and for that matter is still the principal deity of those looking to the true faith of Northern Europe today.

As for the depiction of the Picts and Celts in the programme cited, it does appear rather odd and not of necessity accurate.

True they lived in bloodthirsty times, and there is evidence of human and animal sacrifice. However there is also ample evidence that both the Picts and the Celts were sophisticated races, and not mere savages.

James

[davedove]

True they lived in bloodthirsty times, and there is evidence of human and animal sacrifice. However there is also ample evidence that both the Picts and the Celts were sophisticated races, and not mere savages.

So true. Just because a culture does barbaric things does not make them barbarians. For instance, the Mayans did some awful things, but had an incredibly sophisticated culture.

[bubba]

Most of what's known about the Celts and Picts is from Roman writings since neither had a written language, only an oral tradition relying on bards and Druids to pass on knowledge and information. Given the Romans tried conquering them whenever they met it's little wonder they were described as warlike and savage.

[auld argonian]

I seem to remember that this series touched on the Pre-Roman times in Ireland:

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/ancientireland/index.html

...an excellent series...I think that they touched on the Picts...anyway, the evidence is that the early cultures were actually pretty advanced...certainly not running around naked.

Best

AA