With druids loath to commit their knowledge to writing, there are no surviving sacred texts, hymns, or prayers for the Celtic religion.
This was a polytheistic religion with a multitude of gods, although our knowledge of them is limited to classical authors given the lack of written works by the Celts themselves. The second common characteristic of those people we call ancient Celts is their religion. Nevertheless, the term La Tène, one originally coined by archaeologists to classify artefacts, is still commonly (if imprecisely) used as a synonym for Celtic culture in Europe during the second half of the first millennium BCE. The La Tène culture does not exactly correspond to the Celtic peoples since it existed in non-Celtic areas, for example in Germanic-speaking Denmark. La Tène centres were particularly successful around major river points such as the Loire, Marne, Moselle, and Elbe. Once again, there is a multitude of evidence for trade with the Mediterranean states. Cultural features include ironworking, making votive offerings in water sources, depositing weapons in tombs, and art which is stylised with swirling, geometrical, and vegetal designs. Perhaps best identified as a group of diverse tribes unified by common features in art and religion, the La Tène culture was eventually present in a wide arc covering western and central Europe, spanning from Ireland to Romania. 50 BCE), named after the site of that name on the northern shores of Lake Neuchâtel in Switzerland. The third group significant in the formation of Celtic culture proper is the La Tène culture (c. La Tène centres were particularly successful around major river points such as the Loire, Marne, Moselle & Elbe. The Hallstatt culture went into decline in the 5th century BCE, likely due to local resources running out, increased tribal competition, and the shift of trade routes elsewhere. That trade reached as far south as the Mediterranean cultures (the Etruscans in Italy and the Greek colonies in southern France) is evidenced by the presence of imported goods in Hallstatt burial mounds and precious goods such as gold and amber jewellery. These peoples prospered thanks to local deposits of salt, iron, and copper commodities which could be traded along waterways. The Hallstatt culture likely spread via various means such as trade, tribal alliances, intermarriages, imitation, and migration.
It was the western side of this area that would eventually develop into what we might today call the ancient Celts. The Hallstatt culture spread to cover what is today western Austria, southern Germany, Switzerland, and eastern France on the one side, and eastern Austria, Bohemia, and parts of the Balkans on the other. 450 BCE but was at its peak in the 8th to 6th century BCE. The second proto-Celtic group was the Hallstatt culture, named after the site of that name in Upper Austria, which existed from c.