Lives of Celtic Women
Celtic women were distinct in the ancient world in their ability to have experienced liberties, rights, and positions in society (Savino H. P., 2002). This is contrary to the positions and standing their sisters in the majority of other contemporary European societies, such as in Greece and Rome experienced. This included various roles in society and public life, protection by laws pertaining to property and marriage, and sexual freedom. Mentions of customs such as polyandry, women having simultaneous marriage to multiple husbands, are alluded to by both Ceasar and Dio Cassius. According to Dio Cassius the Caledonii of Scotland, the Celts showed their extreme barbarism by holding their women in common, and by the children being reared communally (Green M. , 1996). In regards to the roles of women in Celtic society, by observers, Green includes an obscure comment by Strabo, “that in Gaul, ‘as in many barbarian societies’, the female roles were the reverse of those associated with Roman women.” However, the observations by Classical chronicler whom, either exaggerated or made much of the social prominence in Iron Age women, could have been in an effort to project an image of a primitive stereotype, which equated female rulers with primitiveness (Green M. , 1996).