h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

As mentioned in the original posting, knotwork doesn't appear until about ad600, by this time the people who called themselves Celts and were called Celts by the Romans and Greeks had been assimilated by Rome and then conquered by Germanic invaders. This art style seems to have originated in lands not inhabited by people called Celts and (as far as I know wasn't adopted by them in a big way).

Finally you were as likely to knotwork decoration on a viking longship or in an Anglo-Saxon feasting hall as in an Irish monastery so why on earth do we call it Celtic?

I'm quite happy to call it Pictish or Ultimate La Tene knotwork if you prefer

To the best of my knowledge the styles usually identified as Celtic knotwork consisted of the style elements described, whereas the artwork they developed from - the Viking and La Tene lacks some of these elements.

To be honest I call it Celtic because all my sources call it Celtic. What is described is recongnisably identifiable as "Celtic Knotwork". It is true that other cultures have produced interlaced designs and that some of the artwork seen as "Celtic" probably wasn't produced by card-carrying Celts. It may be misleading to call knotwork Celtic but it is a fairly unambiguous designation.

Pimms

Did you read the linked article in the entry: http://www.celtarts.com/celtic_interlace.htm

It says roughly the same thing I just propounded above: "that is what most people call it"