A Hypothetical Historical Question?

Question

The Celts and the Visigoths were both nations that brought Rome to its knees. If either peoples had stayed in Rome, the Roman empire would have colapsed and there would undoubtably have been a magor shift in the course of history, for example the celtic language may have become the dominant language of today.

But my main question is would we have ever heard of christianity?

My last point is, if you want to answer this question from a religious perspective, lets have some historical facts and a lot more detail and not some fantasy answer such as Gods word will prevail.

Answer 1

The Celts were never really conquerors of Rome; but the Visigoths were. And the Visigoths did remain. Since the invasions of Italy in the 4th century, Visigoths settled in both northern and southern Italy. Larger numbers of them also took up permanent residence in Italy in the 5th century, whilst Rome still ruled .

They blended into the Italian culture and were eventually absorbed. There were never enough of them (probably at most, thirthy thousand) to upset the cultural dynamic of all Italy.

So your question about Chritianity is also answered. Of course you would have heard of it. The invader populations turned out to be easy converts, as, believe it or not, though invaders, they were deeply enamoured of Roman Culture, and tried to blend in.

That is why, when Odovocar who conquered Rome in 476 promptly had himself declared "King of Rome."

Answer 2

There are two major holes in this discussion.

1. Julius Caesar attacked the Celts and not the other way around. Therefor, even if the battle had been lost that does not mean the Roman Empire would have gone down.

2. The language and religion issues might not have changed either way. While Latin did lead to the Romance Languages, English became the universal language because of the power of Great Britian around the world, not because of the Romans. Christianity may or may not have survived if Constantine had not converted, but there is no clear answer to that question. It is just as likely that the Celts could have adopted Christianity for themselves.

Take care,
Troy

Answer 3

The fall of Pagan Roman expedited the flourishing of Christianity in the post-collapse period, which was formerly oppressed into the Catacombs of Rome. If the Celts had, hypothetically, remained as your fictional scenario suggests, the only difference that would have emerged is that instead of Latin the Liturgy and Mass would have been recited in the Celtic tongue, and the "Celtic Cross" would have been the pronounced symbol of Christianity. But there probably would not have been an extinguishing of Christianity at all, for the Roman collapse fueled its manifold growth, and the only difference that would have emerged would have been a Christanity with Celtic, rather than Latin, overtones.

Answer 4

The Germanic tribes knew that they could sack Rome, but they also knew they could not control it. There were too few of them and too many Romans. They would have simply toppled the government for a while, but once the Romans mounted an insurgency the Gothic tribes would have been defeated. Not much of history would have changed. Look at it this way, if, say, Britain wanted to mount a sneak attack on the United States today, they could probably capture and burn Washington, D.C., but could they control the United States for very long? Nope. Same analogy.

As for Christianity? It was a liberation theology designed to overthrow Roman rule. Constantine realized that the best way to save his empire from the Christian threat was to simply absorb Christianity and modify it to fit the Roman way of life. Had he continued the policy of oppression, he would have been less powerful. Constantine helped the spread of Christianity along, but he was not single-handedly responsible.

Answer 5

Monotheism (One God theory) was inevitable. Christianity succeded where force of arms could not. Religious revolution was born of slavery and oppression by the Roman Empire, but I feel that it would have occured no matter which civilization was dominant at the time. In spite of the fact that they were conquered peoples, the Celts and Visigoths have made contributions in history to the Human Race and its societies.

Answer 6

Christianity was going to become the dominant religion because of its emphasis on converting non-believers. The pagan religions in the rest of Europe had no such emphasis, and were doomed to the scrapheap of history. Christianity even "absorbed" many pagan holidays and beliefs in order to convert more pagans.
Likewise, Roman society wasn't so much conquered, as the Germanic tribes were absorbed into the Empire and "converted" to Roman ways. Roman citizenship was often offered to mercenaries and Germanic leaders as areward or payment. When Rome was finally conquered, their society was much like those who conquered the city.

Answer 7

Your points are as ridiculous are your bias. The Celts were barbarian idiots with no math, engineering, science, theater, poetry or culture. Incidental, Cesar killed or enslaved over 1 million of your great brethren when he subdued the tribes. Rome fell the due to it's internal weaknesses,, basically it had exhausted it's strength. give thanks for the roman civilizing your peoples, otherwise you'd probably be sitting in a hut next to a sheep.

Your comparing the Celts gifts to western civilization with The Romans. WHAT A JOKE. Barbarian morons driven out of there original home land due to there own weakness. 800 years of empire,, civic government that is still used today,, The PILLAR of western civilization, NO OTHER CIVILIZATION EVEN COMES CLOSE. Quit your belly button examination and whining. Krakhead

Answer 8

Ok the previous poster is an absolute moron who id personally like to thrash violently.

The Celts laid the foundation for the freedom and sovereignty of European states. Tribal government of Celtic and Germanic influence, oftentimes gauranteed their people thier rights to sovereignty, land, and community, rather than have them cede them to an autocrat like the Romans.

I suggest you educate yourself on the matter Running Ma-something, or rather, Running moron.