 The Celtic history of parts of Turkey is hardly the first thing that springs to mind when you think of Turkey. Yet this fascinating country, which bridges Europe and Asia, was home to various Celtic tribes thousands of years ago that came to occupy a highland region of Anatolia known as Galatia. Settled in the 3rd century BC, Galatia was comprised of three main Celtic tribes that had travelled all the way from Gaul and Western Europe. These tribes were the Trocmai, the Toliste de Beguay and the Tectosages, with the Tectosages originally coming from a region in ancient south-east France around Toulouse. The Galatians spoke a now extinct Celtic language that was closely related to Gaulish, known simply as Galatian. The main cities of Galatia included Gordeon and Ansaray, which is modern-day Ankara. Known as Gallia of the East, Galatia was named after the Gauls of Thrace, with Thrace being an area in the ancient world that included parts of eastern Greece, western Turkey and southern Bulgaria. Yet how did Celts from Gaul, who occupied a region in western Europe are in modern-day France, end up settling an area in modern Turkey? The short answer is through a combination of invasion and invitation throughout the 4th and 3rd centuries BC. The Celts swept across Europe. They invaded Italy and southeast Europe, with a key action during this period being the Celtic invasion of the Balkans in 279 BC. Sometimes the Celts were sent east by other leaders who employed their services. In the 4th century BC, for instance, many accounts suggest that Dionysius, the first of Cyrecus, the ruler of the Italian city of Cyrecus in Sicily, sent Celts to fight alongside the Macedonians against the Thebans. In the 3rd century BC, important Celtic leaders emerged, who spearheaded the Celtic expanse across Europe. In 279 BC, Brenas, a Gallic leader, unified many Celtic factions and pushed southwards from Bulgaria into ancient Greece and associated Greek territories. Famously, Brenas went on to attack the ancient city of Delphi in Greece, although this proved unsuccessful. Around this point, however, a section of the Celts split from the main army and headed for Anatolia. This detachment was led by two Celtic leaders, Leonorius and Lutarius. They were initially invited to participate in the Bithynian Civil War in 278 BC, after a power struggle had broken out in the Kingdom of Bithynia in Northern Anatolia. Nicomedes I of Bithynia employed 20,000 Celts as mercenaries to help defeat his brother, Zippotis. The Celts duly obliged, no doubt seeing it as a way to explore new lands and territories. After helping Nicomedes I defeat his brother, the Celts were no longer in his service. For the next few years, the Celts caused chaos in the surrounding area. Their power was eventually checked by Antiochus I, the King of the Seleucid Empire at the so-called Elephant Battle in 275 BC. The Celts then settled down into the region that became known as Galatia or Galatay, which was named in reference to the home of Celtic civilization in Gaul. They were often referred to as the Gauls of the East. After Galatia was established, they had many skirmishes and battles with their neighbours. In 241 BC, for instance, the Galatians were defeated at the battle of the Cacus River by Attilus I, the ruler of the Greek Kingdom of Pergamon in western Anatolia. It was Attilus I who then commissioned the initial Dangle statue in around 230 BC, which depicts a fallen Celtic warrior, most likely a Galatian one, in around 190 BC. The Galatians sided with the Seleucid Empire against the Romans, a mistake that led to a Roman invasion. The Roman Republic triumphed in the Galatian War of 189 BC, which heavily weakened the independence of Galatia. In 85 BC, Galatia became a Roman protectorate that went on to be ruled by a series of puppet kings loyal to Rome. One such king was Diotaris, who ruled Galatia until his death in 40 BC. In 25 BC, Galatia was incorporated into the Roman Empire as a province by Augustus. Initially, the Galatians retained a large part of their identity. By the 2nd century AD, however, this had largely been lost, as Galatia was absorbed by the Hellenistic civilization. The Galatians became so Hellenized that some Greek writers described them as Helleno Galati, which essentially meant Greek Celt. Despite this, the Galatian language was still spoken in Galatia in the 4th century AD, and perhaps even later. Given all this, Galatia stands as a fascinating part of Celtic and Turkish history. Thanks for watching, please subscribe and hit the bell to turn on notifications. You can also support this work through buymeacoffee.com and Patreon. All the links are in the description below. Thanks again, speak to you next time.