The Picts In Heart Of Darkness

THE PICTS
At the beginning of Heart of Darkness, Captain Marlow beings a tale in which he explains the darkness that has existed in the world before civilization brought the light. He makes on observation on how the isle of England was once dark before the Romans came. But the light did not conquer England, for there were men who withstood them and presided the dark and its mysteries. These people were known as Picts who stopped Rome cold in the northern end of England in what is now Scotland and today remain one of history’s great mysteries who disappeared by the end of the tenth century.
The Romans called this pre-Celtic people Pictii, or "Painted, but the ancient Picts actually tattooed their bodies with designs. For many centuries, they

What is known is that these ravagers resisted the vast legions of Rome. Legend tells us that Rome's mighty Ninth Legion, the famous "Hispana" legion, was sent to deal with these fearsome people and never heard of again We also know that they were distinguished sailors. It was well known that the Romans feared the Pictish Navy as much as they did the tattooed and ferocious barbarians who came down from the Highlands like a storm, attacking Roman settlements along the great wall erected for the sole reason to keep the invaders out. By the legacy of their standing stones, we have also learned that as far as the 9th century they wrote in stone a language and were not absent of talent in the art of

The Picts were almost held in legendary status as a people of the past, but many questions remained unanswered. The historian who studies these tribes is consumed by obstacles such as legend, lack of facts and a general absence of its customs, culture, laws and art. Perhaps the greatest mystery of Scottish or even European history is these strange folk who once inhabited the lands north of Hadrian's Wall and as far north as the Shetlands. Who were these fiercely independent people who lived in the wet and cold forests and plains of upper England, and what exactly happened to them?
It is in the sculptured stones of Scotland, left behind by the Pictish that some information may be gleaned. This was a race who not only held Rome at bay but slaughtered the invincible barbarian hordes of Angles Germans and hammered the invading Vikings back from whence they came, forever preserving a separate culture and race in Scotland. It is in these both tremendous and delicate stones that the history of ancient Scotland is now recorded. Were they descendants of the ancient Basque people of northern Spain? Are they the offspring of the dark tribes of some forgotten people? It is a