Question

Directions for questions 107 to 111: Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow.

The Celts may be taken as a starting point for a study of the long series of people whose arrival and settlement in Britain have contributed to its history. They provide a link between the prehistoric period, at the end of which they had emerged ...

(Passage of 230 words, from "The Celts" by Nora Chadwick, Penguin edition.)

According to the passage, who were the enemies of the Celtic people?

• A. The people of Britain
• B. Romans
• C. The ancient classical writers
• D. The Vikings

Hint:

Think about where the historical record of the Celts actually comes from.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is C

Much of what later generations know about the Celts comes down through the accounts of outside writers rather than the Celts' own records, and the passage is building up to that point about how the Celts have been remembered in history.

1. The people of Britain: The Celts themselves settled in and became part of Britain, so the general population of Britain is not framed in the passage as a hostile or opposing group.
2. Romans: The Romans were a major military power that clashed with Celtic tribes, but the passage is concerned with how the Celts were written about and remembered in history, not just with who fought them in battle.
3. The ancient classical writers: The main source of early information on the Celts is the work of Greek and Roman authors, many of whom described the Celts in an unfavourable, one sided way, since they were writing about rival peoples from outside their own world. Because so much of the Celts' image was shaped by these biased accounts rather than by the Celts' own voice, the passage treats these classical writers as their real "enemies" in the way history remembers them.
4. The Vikings: The Vikings arrived in Britain much later, well after the Celtic period this passage discusses, so they are not relevant to the Celts' early historical record.

The passage points to the ancient classical writers as the enemies of the Celtic people, since it is their often unfair accounts that shaped how later generations came to view the Celts.

Let's summarize:

• The Celts left comparatively little of their own written record.
• Most early descriptions of them come from classical Greek and Roman writers who were frequently hostile to them.

So the correct answer is the ancient classical writers.