The Picts and Celts

Ginny’s P6 Project - 17\02\10

Picts • Picts (painted people) were the native inhabitants of Scotland.

Here is a picture of a Pictish warrior.

Spiral

The spiral is a popular theme throughout Celtic & Pictish artwork, found in the decorated panels of the gospels such

as the Book of Kells, Lindisfarne and Durrow as well as many Pictish Slab stones.

Info on the picts

Goose

Birds are numerous on Pictish symbol pairs, with eagle and goose the favourites. A good example of a Pictish

Goose can be found on the Easterton of Roseisle stone, now on display in the Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh.

• The Picts were the tattooed tribal nations of the north of Britain, the area now known as Scotland.

• In 600 AD, Isadore of Seville makes reference that the Picts took their name from the fact that their bodies had

designs pricked into their skin by needles, i.e. they covered their bodies in tribal tattoo designs

Painted people

Some examples of tattoo’s

Dolphin

Our modern interpretation using the Celtic/Pictish style, of one of today’s favourite mammals.

7000 BC to 845 AD

Bull

Such as the Buchan Bull or the Burghead Bull. Our version incorporates some aspect of all the known Pictish

original carvings.

• The Picts were known to have existed from about 7000 B.C. until about the year 845 A.D.

• An interesting feature of Pict society was that the crown was passed using a matrilineal basis; that is to say the crown was passed through the mother, and Pictish kings were not succeeded by their sons, but by their brothers or nephews or male cousins traced through the female line.

• Historians have traced a complicated series of intermarriages between seven Pict royal houses.

• The end of the Pict royal bloodline came when the crown of Alba and the title "Rex Pictorum", King of the Picts, passed to a Celtic Scot by the name of Kenneth MacAlpin, a son of a Pictish princess.

More info on the Picts { painted people }

• Kenneth MacAlpin had a familial hatred of the Picts due to his father's kingship over the Scots having been lost to the Pictishking Oengus, (who had ruled as both the King of the Picts and the Scots).

• In an act known as "MacAlpin's Treason", Kenneth murdered the members of the remaining 7 royal houses - securing the Alba throne for the Scots, and the complete destruction of the history of the Pictish race, culture and history.

• The Romans referred to these tattooed tribes in Latin as "Pictii", which translates as "The Painted Ones". This was in reference to the elaborate with which the Picts decorated their entire bodies.

Boar

Several examples of the wild boar symbol exist on stone slabs (St. Vigean’s and Dores) or crosses.

More info on the Picts { painted people }

• There is little known of the Picts today, which adds weight to the words of the Pictish chief Calgacus, recorded by Roman writer, Eumenius:

"We, the most distant dwellers upon the earth, the last of the free, have been shielded...by our remoteness and by the obscurity which has shrouded our

name...Beyond us lies no nation, nothing but waves and rocks.

Pictish chief Calgacus

Pictures of the Picts { painted people }

Hound

This version of one of the three running hounds found in the Book of Kells which is believed by

many to have been written on the Isle of Iona.

Pictish Art

Pictish art is found on many standing stones around Scotland.

There is even evidence of the Picts in the Western Isles.

Horse

A representative example of a Pictish style horse. A great many examples exist, (many with riders and tack), but by

far the most striking is the “Inverurie Horse”.

PICTISH FORT at BURGHEADPICTISH FORT at BURGHEADPICTISH FORT at BURGHEADPICTISH FORT at BURGHEAD• The Pictish fort at

Burghead, circa 6th Century AD.

• Reconstruction of the largest Pictish fort known. Burghead is famous for its' pagan artwork, notably the Burghead carved bulls, likely to have dressed the external walls of the wood and stone structure.

• $earby Sculptor's cave is so called due to proto-pictishcarvings found there.

Horse

A representative example of a Pictish style horse. A great many examples exist, (many with riders and tack),

but by far the most striking is the “Inverurie Horse”.

What did the Picts call themselves?

• No one knows what the Picts called themselves. The Irish recorded them as Cruithne, Cruithin, Cruithen, which is probably more accurate than the Roman-derived term, Pict (which the Romans used to refer to all the peoples they didn't conquer in the territories of Scotland...)

• Cruithne is, however, Q-Celtic of P-Celtic variant which the Picts *might* (or might not) have used for themselves: Prythin. It is a name rooted in pure semi-educated speculation.

Beastie

this draws on the Celtic love of animals in their artwork and

the theme of eternity symbolised by the biting of his own tail.

Other Names• Other names for the picts were variants i.e Prydain, Pritani, and Pryten, which

became Briton when corrupted by the Anglo-Saxon tongue.

• Pict seems to mean "Painted Ones" - it seems logical to assume that the Picts themselves would have a more self-inspiring reason for what they did call themselves, i.e. other than "Painted Ones" which is descriptive only.

• On a similar note - The Welsh, for instance, called their home "Cymru" - "Land of Comrades", whilst the Anglo-Saxons called it "Weahlas" (Wales) - "Land of Foreigners".

• The name the Picts called themselves is still unknown. The Latin word Picti is taken to mean "painted or tattooed people" (Latin pingere "to paint"; "pictus," "painted").

Harp

An original design, in Pictish style. Several examples of harps can be found on Pictish stones, most notibly on the

Aldbar Cross Slab in Brechin Cathedral.

Where I got my info and pictures

• http://www.arikiart.com/tattoo-body-art/tribal-tattoos.htm

• http://www.luckyfish.com/pages/port/ambitious.htm

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picts

• http://www.candledark.net/silver/picts.html

• http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&um=1&q=the+picts&sa=N

&start=72&ndsp=18

• http://www.learnnc.org/lp/multimedia/6278

• http://www.megalithic.co.uk/modules.php?op=modload&name=a312

&file=index&do=showpic&gid=157&pid=34557&orderby=dateD

Stag

The stag draws on the work of George Bain of Drumnadrochit, who devoted a great deal of time and energy

reviving Celtic & Pictish art. Examples of the stag can be found on the Eassie Cross Slab (Angus), and the

running deer on the Hilton of Cadboll stone.

The end

Thank you for

looking at my presentation

Wolf

A powerful image, the wolf was one of many animals the Picts carved on their stonework's. A fragmentary

image of a wolf can be found on the Ardross Stone, now in Inverness Museum.