Ginny’s P6 Project - 17\02\10

The Picts and Celts

 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
• 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

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.
 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
• The Picts were known to have
• Historians have traced a
existed from about 7000 B.C.
complicated series of
until about the year 845 A.D.
intermarriages between seven
Pict royal houses.
• An interesting feature of Pict
society was that the crown was
• The end of the Pict royal
passed using a matrilineal basis;
bloodline came when the crown
that is to say the crown was
of Alba and the title "Rex
passed through the mother, and
Pictorum", King of the Picts,
Pictish kings were not succeeded
passed to a Celtic Scot by the
by their sons, but by their
name of Kenneth MacAlpin, a son
brothers or nephews or male
of a Pictish princess.
cousins traced through the
female line.

Bull
Such as the Buchan Bull or the Burghead Bull. Our version incorporates some aspect of all the known Pictish
original carvings.
 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 Pictish
king 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 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-pictish
carvings 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.