The Picts
As to who the Picts were, they existed around 2000 years ago as a clan on the land of Scotland. The Roman empire took over most of Britain but were unable to secure Scotland’s territory, due to the Picts. They were considered savages, naked and armed with a spear in hand, yet the mightiest and most powerful empire at the time, seemed to have failed over and over again.
This wasn’t just due to overall power, as they did retreat during the first battle, but they did attack the Roman forces when they were unprepared, setting up and caught off guard, and this combined with the fact that they knew the land better made them a formidable force, and though 10,000 fell to them, their land of Scotland never fell to the Roman empire.
But it wasn’t a fearsome force that defeated the Picts, nor was there any event. In fact, there was no trace or evidence to date back to, as to how they vanished.
Julius Caesar said that the Picts “dye themselves with woad, which produces a blue color, and makes their appearance in battle more terrible. They wear long hair, and shave every part of the body save the head and the upper lip” and this dying on the skin granted them the name “Picts” by the Romans, as Pict was derived from ‘The Painted’ and ‘Tattooed People’. Though this was not used amongst the Picts themselves, as the Romans used it after their observations and recordings on them. This showing off of their colourful tattoos and painted bodies, would explain why apart from iron chains (around the waist and throat which served well to carry weapons) they wore practically nothing.
Although this was all information by the invading force, so it may not be the entire truth. As archaeological digs by the British, showed that there were signs of clothing, and though a warlike group, they were still peaceful with the main exceptions being the odd few cattle raids with other tribes, and the fact the Romans were invading forces. In fact, they were believed to be farmers and their faith lied within nature, and one of the reasons why they are so protective of their land, was because they believed a goddess walked across the land, and every patch she touched was sacred. This would have been a driving force to protect their land from invaders.
The interesting thing about the Picts to me, was there are 2 sides to this story, one by an invading force who’s known to rule, and the other being an unbiased form of discovery work.
Oliver, M. (2021, September 14). Meet The Picts: The Ancient Blue Wildmen Who Protected Scotland From The Roman Empire. Retrieved November 4, 2021, from All That’s Interesting: https://allthatsinteresting.com/picts
