Abstract
The Celts have deep roots in European history. They were not a homogenous family of peoples possessing a single, selfconscious ethnic identity.
The Celts had much in common in terms of religion, material culture and social structure, but there was also a very great variability. The name Keltoi first appears in Greek texts dating to about 500 B C, and was used to refer to people in the northern fringes of the Classical Mediterranean world.