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The name Pict comes from the Romans: in Latin the word Picti means painted folk or possibly tattooed ones and may be akin to the Welsh word Pryd meaning to mark or draw. Julius Caesar mentions the Celtic custom of body painting in his The Gallic Wars stating "all Britons stain themselves with woad which makes them blue and more terrifying to confront in battle." But the first written reference to the Picts themselves appears in Tacitus' description of their defeat by the Romans at the battle of Mons Graupius around 83.

1 History

There are plenty of archaeological remains in the form of buildings and jewelry to indicate the society of the Picts but little in the way of writing. The society seems to have been made up of small kingdoms which occasionally clashed.

Modern scholars believe that seven ancient Pictish Kingdoms existed:

1. Cait — situated in modern Caithness and Sutherland
2. Ce — situated in modern MarThis article discusses the historic area of Scotland known as Mar . For Mar as an abbreviated form of a name of a month of the year, see March. Mar one of the ancient divisions or provinces of Scotland, comprised the larger portion of Aberdeenshire, exten and BuchanBuchan comprises a traditional area and earldom of north-eastern Scotland. It is also the name of an administrative area of modern Aberdeenshire. The earldom of Mar and Buchan formed one of the seven original Scottish earldoms; later Buchan became separat
3. Circinn — situated in modern AngusThis article is about the region in Scotland. Angus can also refer to Angus cattle or to a film (Angus about an overweight boy who is humiliated by his peers. In Celtic mythology, Angus is an alternative spelling for Aengus the legendary hero. Angus is on and the Mearns
4. Fib — situated in the modern FifeThis article is about the area in Scotland. For other uses, see Fife (disambiguation). Fife is a unitary council region of Scotland situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth. It was originally one of the Pictish kingdoms and is still known and KinrossKinross is a burgh in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, though traditionally in Kinross-shire. It has expanded rapidly since the construction of the M90 motorway, which bypasses the town. It lies on the shore of Loch Leven, and ferries sail from the burgh arou (Fife is still known as the Kingdom of Fife)
5. Fidach — situated in modern MorayMoray one of 32 unitary council regions in Scotland, lies in the north-east of the country and borders on the regions of Aberdeenshire and " Highland". It covers parts of the traditional counties of Nairnshire, Morayshire, Inverness-shire and Banffshire. and Ross
6. Fotla — situated in modern AthollThe Highlands district of Atholl or Athole in the north of Perthshire in Scotland lies between Braemar, Badenoch, Breadalbane and Lochaber. see also Athol. and Gowrie
7. Fortriu — situated in modern Strathearn and Menteith

However, good archaeological evidence and some written evidence suggests that a Pictish kingdom also existed in Orkney.

From the 6th century AD onwards the Picts came under increasing pressure from the invasions of the Dalriadan Scots in the west and of the Vikings in the east. They defeated the Dalriada militarily, but intermarried repeatedly with the royal house of Dalriada until in AD 843 the Dalriadan heir, Kenneth Mac Alpin, took the throne of a united kingdom of Scotland. Gaelic culture and Scots Gaelic gradually supplanted Pictish culture and (presuming it existed as a separate linguistic entity) the Pictish language.