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The Romans didn't conquer Ireland, of course, but did conquer Britain when it was still a Celtic culture. Regarding the Britons, Tacitus , in "Agricola", a book named in honor of his father-in-law (Roman governor of Britain), described a diversity among them -- with three phenotypes depending on proximity to other lands: pale brunets with light eyes resembling the people in Gaul, others resembling the Germanic tribes (stereotyped as redheads by Tacitus), and a third group, which even then (the idea of Iberian influence is ancient), Tacitus said were Swarthy like the natives of Hispania.
I was working from memory, so I found the quotation with my added gloss in square brackets:
“The reddish hair and large limbs of the Caledonians [Latin name for Scots] proclaim a German origin, the swarthy faces of the Silures [group of tribes in part of modern Wales], the tendency of their hair to curl, and the fact that Hispania lies opposite, all lead one to believe that Spaniards crossed in ancient times and occupied that part of the country. The people nearest to the Gauls likewise resemble them.”
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