| ROMANS AND DRUIDS |
| The best records we have about the Druids come from the ancient Roman historians who made observations on the practises of the Celtic priests. Some of the best known Roman historians who wrote about the Druids are Tacitus, Strabo, Pliny the Elder, and Diodorus Sucellus, among others. The Greek historian/anthropologist Herodotus of Halicarnassus had travelled to the Celtic lands in his time, and wrote a great deal about the Celtic people in general. (The accounts of the latter are frequently much more reliable than those of the Romans.) Bear in mind that the perceptions by these writers is heavily influenced by the notion of their own cultural superiority and are therefore not always accurate descriptions. Many of the inaccurate assumptions about cultural practises among the Celts were originally made by Roman historians, and it is not uncommon to encounter falsehoods even today that began with these writers. This is not to say that every Roman writer thought the Celts/Druids were a nasty bunch of people. Strabo thought very highly of the Druids when he wrote of them: "They are considered the most of just men" and so did Diodorus when he said: "They are of much sincerity and integrity, far from the craft and knavery of men among us, contented with homely fare, strangers to excess and luxury." It is rather the interpretations that say the Druids were avid human sacrificers, for example, that the truth gets lost. It is true that human sacrifice was practised in Celtic society. So far, the records we have point to the fact that it was required for a Druid to merely officiate at such a rite, not necessarily to perform it. It is wrong to impose modern-day standards on an ancient society in any instance, and it should likewise be avoided here. |
| Quotes from the Roman historians taken from The Druids by Peter Berresford Ellis, 1994. Copyright 2001 by M. Mackery |