Pre-Christian Ireland was populated by the ancient Celts (pronounced with a hard
“C”), a tribal people who once ranged across much of Western, Central, and Southeast
Europe. Through conquest by the Romans and other peoples the Celts lost most of the
territory they had controlled. The ancient Celts were a warlike people who lived
primarily by pastoralism and farming. Cattle were so important to the ancient Celts that a
person’s worth was measured by how many cattle he or she owned. They practiced
cattle-raiding, wore lavish personal ornamentation, produced intricate decorative art, and
developed a rich tradition of poetry, storytelling, mythology, and oral history.