More Celtic Madness

From: Peter Metcalfe <P.Metcalfe_at_student.canterbury.ac.nz>
Date: Wed, 10 Jul 1996 11:36:02 +1200


Joerg Baumgartner:

>Peter Metcalfe manages to completely miss my point, probably due to
>my phrasing.

I did not miss the point. Much of what you said was hyberbole (ie '...the "furor celticus" was feared all over the classical world'..." and it was this I objected to.

Me>>To suggest that Celts
>>could break a phalanx like a war elephant is sheer nonsense.

>Wasn't my intention, either. War elephants were devastating as long as the
>opponents weren't prepared to fight them. The same with berserk charges.

War Elepants are more of a problem than berserk charges (or cavalry charges for that matter). Even if the opponent finds the psychological stamina to resist the elephants, he still has problems physics-wise.

>Like with the Orlanthi, it took a hell of a lot to make the Celts go
>in force. Usually they raided, and the defending troops broke away
>from their furor. ^^^^^^

The definition of a successful raid is being where the enemy troops are not (or at best few in numbers). If the defending Greeks are breaking away from raiding Danube Celts, some other factor besides 'furor celticus' may be behind this, no?

Me>>Even the Roman legions could cope
>>with Celts on the battlefield (unless they were outnumbered).

>After learning how to at the cost of having their capital sacked
>[...] The Roman Republic had coped with its neighbours easily at
>the time of "Brennus" (i.e. "king" in Celtic), but the invasion of
>the Celts overthrew them in no time short, not only due to being
>outnumbered (which I'm certain the Romans were not every time they
>engaged, yet they lost every time).

When the Po Valley Gauls sacked Rome, the Sprawling Roman Republic had just subjugated their Archrivals, the inhabitants of the Evil City of Veii less than five years previously. Veii is less than fourty miles from Rome. The Gauls were probably a warband from the Po Valley who were marching down southwards to serve as professional mercenaries for the Tyrant of Syracuse. This was one of the first times the Romans had come into contact with the Gauls on battlefield and is miles away from the gloranthan parallel of Lunars fighting Sartarites.

Sandy Petersen:


Me>>To suggest that Celts could break a phalanx like a war
>>elephant is sheer nonsense.

> Except that they did.

When?

> The point of the furor celtica is not that it was some kind
>of unstoppable terror, but that it was recognized as significantly
>enhancing Celtic battle power. Obviously they could still be beaten.

And how is the furor celtica any different from the fury which the romans themselves exhibited on occasions? Y'know, breaking into a city and slaughtering even the animals.

End of Glorantha Digest V3 #23


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